Archive for November 2015 - Page 8

The second album from the bass duo EchoTest, featuring Julie Slick (Adrian Belew Power Trio, Crimson ProjeKct) and Marco Machera has arrived. Le Fil Rouge, recorded at The Bunker Home Studio in Latina, Italy, during the summer of 2014 and mixed and mastered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in January, is billed as blending trip-hop and post-rock elements to progressive rock, creating...

When I was growing up – and was a young and impressionable musician – every bass player wanted to be Jaco Pastorius (that’s not true, the rockers wanted to be Billy Sheehan). These virtuosos seemed unreachable. There was no Internet. There was no Twitter. No Skype. All we knew about these icons was what we heard on vinyl, cassettes and...

Fan clips and audio of the Dead & Company’s recent Halloween performance at Madison Square Garden have been trickling onto the web over the past few days, proving that the group is firing on all cylinders. The band features three original Grateful Dead members – Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann – with the “company” consisting of John Mayer,...

Status Quo bassist John “Rhino” Edwards has released his second album with his side band, Rhino’s Revenge, called Rhino’s Revenge II. The album comes 15 years after the original Rhino’s Revenge, released in 2000. “By any standards, that’s a long time between albums,” Rhino said, “but when you’re fortunate enough to be in a band like Quo, you’d don’t get...

NRBQ founder Joey Spampinato has been diagnosed with cancer. The bassist, who has more recently been touring with his band The Spampinato Brothers, will be going on a rigorous 12-month treatment plan. The news was broken via a YouCaring Crowdfunding page by his wife, Kami. “Joey has been diagnosed with cancer. It’s not stage four. We are grateful for that,”...

Q: I am a beginning bassist. I want to know your opinion about studying bass with a teacher vs. self-teaching. Which do you think is more useful and advantageous? I’ve studied with a teacher since last year, but I don’t find I’m progressing anymore, and I’m in doubt if I should continue with the same teacher. I feel like I...

Back in September, Berklee held their Beantown Jazz Festival. Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey and Derico Watson took the stage, and thankfully, they recorded it.

The latest release from experimental composer/bassist/producer Bill Laswell is absolutely all about the bass. The seven-track piece, Bass Culture, features not only Laswell, but a divers group of bassists including funk icon Bootsy Collins (James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, Bootsy’s Rubber Band), Robbie Shakespeare (one half of reggae legends Sly & Robbie), Jah Wobble (P.I.L.) and Gabe Katz (noise rockers Blind Idiot...

If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know I love the Reader Spotlight. It might just be my favorite thing we do here. This week, I’m thrilled to share Carlo Dellepiane’s story. Carlo is about to embark on his next big step in his musical career, which is awesome. But wait until you read the advice his father gave him...

Kiesel Guitars has introduced a bass version of their Vader Series of instruments. Available in four, five, and six-string versions, the basses feature a headless design with a compact, beveled body for ergonomics. Each version has 24 frets and a 34-inch scale, though the option of a 30-inch short scale is available. Standard features include an alder body, a carbon...

I’ve watched just one video of The Zamar Odongo Collective, and I’m already a big fan. Drummer Zamar Odongo and the group’s pianist, Timothée Bakoglu, came up with this terrific arrangement of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”. Making this even sweeter is the groove (and tone) by bassist Lucy Clifford. We’ll be watching for more from this group from Berklee.

It’s been a year since Jack Bruce’s Oct. 25, 2014, death at age 71. At the time of this sad anniversary, Polydor has released a set of Bruce’s work, called Sunshine of Your Love: A Life in Music. The two-CD set’s title comes from the Cream tune of the same name. The set includes music from Bruce’s time in that...