Groove – Episode #35: Steve Bailey

Here’s a little known personal fact about me: Steve Bailey’s 2007 album, So Low… Solo, is one my favorite instrumental music discs of all time. Beyond his stunning mastery of the six-string fretless bass, the composition and arrangements on this album are captivating. It’s still on high rotation in my weekly playlist.

With that, Steve is more commonly known as the Chair of the bass department at the coveted Berklee School Of Music. A gig he did not set out to get, but one that nonetheless puts him square in the middle of where bassists are grown and nurtured.its a role where Steve is helping musicians (and the world) better understand the role that the bass plays in music.

Steve is a virtuoso, in the pure definition of the word. His work with Victor Wooten in Bass Extremes is legendary. He has played with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie and Mel Torme to Jethro Tull and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He has previously been a faculty member at Coastal Carolina University, the University of North Carolina Wilmington and was also a faculty member at Hollywood’s BIT for 10 years. In short: Steve Bailey is a bass legend.

Enjoy the conversation…