Archive for November 2015 - Page 3

Danish jazz bassist and composer Jesper Lundgaard celebrated his 60th birthday in 2014 by performing with Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and Danish drummer Alex Riel. Their performance at the Jazzhus Montmartre, Copenhagen, which focused on the American songbook, is now available as the record, 60 Out of Shape. Here’s the trio’s interpretation of “All the Things You Are”: 60 Out...

Welcome to our weekly installment of the reader favorite edition of No Treble. Here are the top 10 stories, columns, lessons, videos and more. Thanks as always for reading, watching, commenting and sharing. 1. Martha Reeves with James Jamerson: Live on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974 There’s not a whole lot of live footage of the late, great James Jamerson,...

Maddie Jay has released her second track with the The pH Collective – one she describes as “some good ol’ fashioned new age acid jazz.” The tune is “No Going Back,” which was written by Maddie with arrangements by the band. This one grooves.

Ben Hands, bassist for the British progressive metal band Endeavour and onetime No Treble Reader Spotlight subject, has released an e-book on bass playing. Beyond The Root: A guide on how to approach chord inversions for bass players is designed to help players extend their harmonic vocabulary and discover more options when creating bass lines. The books uses examples from...

Seymour Duncan has added to their line of bass pickups with the Apollo Jazz Bass Linear Humbucker. The new model employs two coils that sit next to each other under a standard single-coil-sized cover. Duncan’s head of R&D Kevin Beller designed the pickups to get a warm, traditional sound with modern attributes to clean up the sound. “I’ve been playing...

Evan Marien shared his new video with me this week, and it is so great to see another great performance from him. In this video, Evan performs his arrangement of the Allan Holdsworth tune, “Water On The Brain Pt2”. Check out the solo! If you dig this, Evan made this available on his Soundcloud page.

Recordings from Neil Young’s 1987-88 live dates fronting the Bluenotes (his regular backing band Crazy Horse augmented by a horn section) comprise Bluenote Café, a new release from the Neil Young Archives Performance Series. Performances by bassists Billy Talbot and the late Rick Rosas are captured on the set, which features songs from shows performed leading up to and following...

Volbeat bassist and founding member Anders Kjolholm has announced that he’s left the band. The group, which is reportedly in the studio for their next album, posted a message on their website with the information. “In connection with the planning and preparation of Volbeat’s extensive future plans and wishes for 2016 and onwards, Volbeat and Anders Kjølholm part ways. All...

Acoustic Amplification has introduced a new series of Class-D/Neo bass amplifiers including heads, cabinets, and combo amps. The new models are approximately 40 percent lighter than the company’s previous models. New head units include the B300HD, B600HD, and the B1000HD. Common controls on each head are a blendable overdrive circuit, an Acousti-Comp compression, a Notch filter with frequency control, an...

Rush hit the road this year for their “R40” tour – celebrating 40 years as a band. Each concert was a major production too: elaborate sets and the band starting with their newest work – Clockwork Angels – and moving back in time through their catalog. As they worked back, sets and equipment changed to match the time. Now they’ve...

Much of the work of late bebop pioneer Oscar Pettiford is now available in one package: The Classic Albums 1953-1960. The five disc set includes recordings made after the jazz double bassist began using the cello in earnest as his secondary instrument following an arm injury. The late Pettiford, who was a composer and bandleader as well, is known for...

SolidGoldFX’s Apollo phaser has been updated to The Apollo II. The stompbox combines an all-analog, four-stage phaser circuit with the company’s tap tempo microprocessor. The Apollo II now has an 11-position detent knob that controls a variety of distinct waveforms. Combined with its three different rhythmic patterns, SolidGoldFX says the pedal offers a vast array of unique phasing options from...