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Archive for May 2010 - Page 4

Bass Videos

Avishai Cohen Trio: Gently Disturbed

Here’s a great live performance of Avishai Cohen and his trio performing “Gently Disturbed” at the Leverkusen Jazztage in 2007. Shai Maestro is on piano and Mark Guiliana is on drums.

New Albums

Esperanza Spalding’s New Album Announced: Chamber Music Society

Bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding is releasing her second album on the Heads Up label, Chamber Music Society, on August 17th. Chamber Music Society is Spalding’s follow up to the 2008 release, Esperanza, which sat atop Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart for over 70 weeks. Backed by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and pianist Leo Genovese, Spalding draws from her classical...

Bass Gear

Gear Watch: Pro Tone Pedals Blasko Bass Overdrive Pedal

Pro Tone Pedals has teamed up with metal bassist Blasko to produce the Blasko Bass Overdrive Pedal. The pedal is designed to be tonally versatile, which is “something Blasko needs as he rips through rock anthems as well as ballads onstage with Ozzy Osbourne.” The Blasko pedal, which is hand made in the USA, has a Baxandall EQ, and features...

Player News

Black Sabbath Bassist Remembers Dio

Black Sabbath bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler released a statement Tuesday remembering his friend and band mate Ronnie James Dio. A brief excerpt from his latest entry: “It’s impossible to express in mere words the relationship Ronnie and I, Wendy and my wife Gloria had. He was much more than a friend, fellow musician, band mate. If I have a soul,...

Bass Videos

Alain Caron: Slam The Clown Live

Here’s a great way to take a 10 minute break on a Friday: Watch this live performance of Alain Caron and his band at Cabaret de Montreal, performing “Sam The Clown”. Wait for the bass solo!

Contest

NPR’s Carrie Brownstein Announces Bass Solo Contest

Carrie Brownstein, former guitarist for Sleater-Kinney, has announced a bass solo contest on her NPR Blog, Monitor Mix. After receiving bass solos on her voicemail from her friend, she thought “If one bass solo could make my day, how would I feel after hearing 10 bass solos, or 20? More importantly, how would you feel? I bet you would feel...

Concerts & Tours

Marcus Miller Extends “Tutu Revisited” Tour to the US

After taking his tour of “Tutu Revisited” through Europe and Japan, bassist Marcus Miller will be bringing his show to the US this summer. Miller will be hitting up the east and west coasts in nine dates, beginning in Georgia at the Atlanta Jazz Festival on May 29th. “Tutu Revisited” refers to Miles Davis’ 1986 album, Tutu, which Miller played...

New Albums

Trey Gunn and Marco Minnemann: Modulator

Trey Gunn has teamed up with drummer Marco Minnemann for a new album, Modulator. The recording of Modulator has a twist: the entire album was composed and produced over top of a live, 51 minute drum solo by Minnemann. “This was the hardest recording I have ever taken on,” says Gunn. “The challenges of this process prove the old adage...

Bass Videos

Antonio Restucci, Emilio Garcia & Marcelo Cordova: Evocacion

This Chilean trio features Antonio Restucci on acoustic guitar, Emilio Garcia on mandolin and Marcelo Cordova on electric bass. They’re performing the tune “Evocacion” live in a Chilean jazz club.

Player News

All-Star Cast Projected for Bootsy Collins’ Funk University

We covered the launch of Bootsy Collins’ Funk University back in March. Since then, Bootsy’s confirmed an all-star cast for the initial guest-professor line-up, including Les Claypool, Victor Wooten, Divinity Roxx, John B. Williams, T.M. Stevens and Dennis Chambers. Class enrollment is still scheduled to start July 1st at Funk University. The university is now boasting daily uploads of new...

New Albums

New World Man: A Tribute To Rush

Magna Carta Records has released New World Man: A Tribute To Rush, an album that combines the labels previous two Rush tribute releases, Working Man (1996) and Subdivisions (2005), plus three previously unreleased tracks. Bassists Billy Sheehan, Robert Berry, Nathan Peck, Juan Alderete, Stu Hamm and Ron Tole all perform on the album. New World Man Track Listing (and performers):...

Ask Damian Erskine

Ask Damian Erskine: Following Up On Patterns

Q: I’ve almost gotten through all three videos, really good stuff in them. I really like the concept of knowing patterns/visualizations to have handy when your soloing, like your ascending 4ths, alternating major/minor, and alternating 6th/7th fingerings. I think I got away from having a set of licks/patterns when improvising, which I can see now is a big mistake! Seems...