Featured
A Review of Stephan Crump with the Rosetta Trio’s “Reclamation”
Inventive, deeply melodic and resonant, Reclamation is a great record featuring strong writing and arrangements, a unique string trio line-up and three unique voices. Stephan Crump is a fabulous jazz bassist and is joined by Jamie Fox and Liberty Ellman on guitars in a trio which has been together for some time. This is their [...]
Ask Damian Erskine: Relax, and don’t forget to listen
Q: What’s going through your mind when you solo?
A: Ideally, nothing! I play my best when I know the song well (don’t need to think about chords, etc.) and am playing with solid players who all serve the music. In that scenario, I am simply letting the music dictate what’s going to happen and if [...]
An Interview with Miles Mosley
We first discovered the music of Miles Mosley a year ago thanks to Youtube, with his performances of Voodoo Child and Shine.
Since then, we’ve wanted to learn more about this unique bassist who is pushing the upright to new heights, who studied with legendary bassists John Clayton, Ray Brown, and Al McKibbon, and [...]
What’s Spinning for… Michael Manring
Michael Manring is this week’s guest columnist for “What’s Spinning”
Thanks so much for your interest in the music I’ve been listening to lately. In addition to having precious little time for casual listening these days, my listening habits are a bit odd. I find that even for pieces of music I’m crazy about, if I [...]
Looping Lesson: Programming the Behringer FCB1010 with Mobius
This is a lesson based around use of the popular Behringer FCB1010 MIDI foot controller surface for hand-free control of the freely available and very capable, Mobius looping software from Jeffrey Larson at Circular Labs.
The Gear
The Behringer FCB1010 Foot Controller has 100 memory positions to store MIDI controller data for up to 5 separate MIDI [...]
The Lowdown with Dr. D.: Upright Slap Bass: Starter tips and etudes
This is part 2 of the Upright Slap Bass series by Dr. D.
Here are a few etudes to help you improve your slapping. We will use a two octave G blues scale (6 note version) as our starting point. You can use any scale, arpeggio or lick you want, but this is as good [...]
A review of Damian Erskine’s “So To Speak”
Wow, I love this record! Portland, Oregon resident and No Treble contributor Damian Erskine has produced an essential record that’s a real joy to listen to. So to Speak combines odd meters, Afro-Cuban percussion, passionate playing and carefully crafted arrangements to create a fine jazz fusion record. Damian composed all the tunes and his rich, [...]
The Lowdown with Dr. D.: Upright Slap Bass (Rockabilly/Psychobilly etc.) – Intro: part 1 of 3
In my opinion, one of the more interesting things you can do on the Upright these days is Slap it! Beyond it’s hipitude, it is a legitimate technique, just like arco (bow) and pizzicato (plucked), and it can make you more employable if you master it. So let’s take a look at the technique.
What [...]
Ask Damian Erskine: Best way to Shine?
Q: When you are presented with an opportunity to play with people you look up to, what is your approach? To you try and blow everyone away?
A: Great question! The first thing I would say is to be yourself! Don’t try and play like this guy or that guy you’ve seen them with, don’t try [...]
Bottoms Up: Melodies in Bass
Editor’s note: Help us welcome our newest columnist, Mark Saltman!
Hi, nice to meet all of you.
I’m here to discuss melodies in the bass: bass lines as part of tunes and great melodies written by bass players, and maybe a few surprises thrown in. In this column I’ll be discussing one of the all time [...]
