Archive for January 2014 - Page 9

Herman “Trigger” Alpert passed away on December 21st at the age of 97. The jazz bassist was best known for playing in the original Glenn Miller civilian orchestra, where he was credited with adding some much needed swing to the rhythm section. Alpert was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1916. After studying at Indiana University, he moved to New York...

This week we check out the Nelson Instruments Coquette Bass, a neck-through bass that blends elements of retro styles. The quarter-sawn hard maple neck is flanked with basswood body wings, which the company says offers enhanced sustain, rigidity, and projection. The bass comes in single and dual pickup configurations. The pickups are Nelson’s Bass Chiefs mounted to the gold-anodized aluminum...

The last month of the year featured more new basses than anything else in the gear category, but a few pedals and accessories were announced as well. Here are the top 10 most popular gear stories in December. 1. Sandberg 5-String MarloweDK Signature Bass Two years after issuing MarloweDK’s signature bass, Sandberg has unveiled a five string version of the...

Miki Santamaria is back, this time with one of his own compositions. He said he doesn’t usually write songs. We think he should do it more often.

This one should make a lot of readers happy. Every year, plenty of people say the great James Jamerson should be #1, and we can never argue with that. In 2013, No Treble readers made it so, checking out the isolated bass videos we’ve shared along the way. What likely tipped the scales this year was the response to Jack...

Pino Palladino has made the top 10 Reader Favorites list before, and well deserved too. The busy bassist had a pretty notable year, touring with the Who and then announced as the touring bassist for Nine Inch Nails. There’s also the video of Pino performing with Nine Inch Nails that really got a ton of attention, as did the one...

It just wouldn’t be a top 10 list without the great Marcus Miller. A combo of stories and videos landed Marcus on the #3 spot, and none of them cooler than the work he did in support of the UNESCO Project. I was seriously eyeballing some of the basses in that sale. Of course, Marcus’ videos helped a lot too,...

Thanks to the web, we’re now able to see and hear recordings of Jaco Pastorius that otherwise would have remained in private collections or shared among traders as we did back in the day. And thanks to many of these videos we’re able to share, Jaco routinely makes the top 10 Reader Favorites list each year. Among the most popular...

Back in June, 2011, our Facebook friend Noah Sider shared a video with us that made me an instant fan of band known as Vulfpeck. There’s a ton to love about this band, as it is comprised of some monster musicians who know how to have fun and really know how to lay it down. But it was bassist Joe...

A fixture on our annual Reader Favorites list (and pretty much every other top bassist list out there), is the one and only Victor Wooten. Victor’s name was attached to a couple of cool gear features this year, starting with the Rybski Wooten Woods Camp Bass. Later in the year, Fodera introduced Victor Wooten Fretless Bass, in a tribute to...

There’s no sign of Paul McCartney slowing down. In 2013, Sir Paul released his new album, New, reissued Wings Over America, sat in with Eric Clapton on Old Sock, and announced the end to his fued with Yoko Ono. And then there was his isolated bass on the Beatles tune, “Dear Prudence”. Oh yes. Add it all up, and the...

Les Claypool was busy in 2013, as he always seems to be. His new project – Les Claypool’s Duo de Twang – released their debut album and toured. The versatile bassist was also keeping things moving with Primus, including a line-up change, a tour, and the reissue of Sailing the Seas of Cheese. It all added up to a lot...