Articles by Evan Kepner - Page 5

Bassist Evan Marien has released his latest album with Art of Life Records. Between Worlds is now available for download and ships after November 1st. The album features drummers Jovol Bell, Jeffrey Villanueva and Thomas Hartman; guitarists Andy Berman, Randy Runyon and David Fiuczynski (also playing fretless guitar); Jeremy Vovcsko on alto saxophone; and keyboardist Evgeny Lebedev. Between Worlds has...

Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx will be taking to the airwaves in 2010. Premiere Radio Networks has announced the upcoming launch of “Sixx Sense with Nikki Sixx” in January of 2010 to be played on rock and alternative music stations. Sixx will give listeners and inside look at the rock star life, including perspectives from celebrity guests. There is also...

Bassist Ben Williams was this year’s winner of the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Competition and has been making a splash in the music scene since. Williams took first prize in the competition with Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” performed with vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Judges included notable bassists Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Dave Holland. Williams recently performed with his quartet, including...

Kompoz is a music collaboration network innovating the way we work on music. They’ve recently launched a new online publishing feature allowing musicians to self-publish completed collaboration projects and retain all rights to the original work. In other words, you can launch a collaboration project on Kompoz, work with other musicians to develop the song (think of all those twitter...

While it is always important to have a strong theoretical backing and intellectual depth to your music there are times where you just need to focus on your chops. You can have the coolest idea ever, but if you don’t have the dexterity and agility to move freely and quickly around the fingerboard you won’t get anywhere. These drills are...

Ron McGovney, the former bassist for Metallica, is auctioning his bass on eBay. Bids will be open until November, 6th at 7:03pm Pacific Standard Time. The bass is a Fender Precision, purchased in 1985 and used in his post-Metallica band Phantasm. McGovney wrote, “This is an awesome bass and it does have a lot of history to it. I know...

Everyone has their own personal method to holding the bass guitar. Some people prefer a more extreme angle, others only use a slight tilt and still others flip it completely around. Ansir Music, a small start up company, is now creating fully customized basses to fit that perfect playing angle. They have a patented measuring system to produce your personal...

You may remember when we posted about bassist Freddie Washington releasing In the Moment. You can now download the track “When You Get Right Down To It” for free. Washington is currently on tour with Steely Dan, you can catch him with the band at the following venues: Nov 7 – Merrillville, IN – Star Plaza Nov 8 – Minneapolis,...

Many things come to mind with the upright bass. I guarantee that Donovan Stokes will prove to you that this instrument is more than what you think it is. Gadaha is an acoustic solo bass album – and it’s awesome. That’s right young travelers, there is an acoustic no-overdub upright bass album that that will drop your jaw both for...

In October we reported on Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture training to run the New York Marathon and simultaneously doing a fundraiser for New York Road Runners Foundation’s Team For Kids charity. The great news is that Fraiture met is $5,000 goal and completed the marathon in 4 hours 23 minutes and 35 seconds. He had trained for two and half...

Stanley Clarke is continuing with the Corea, Clarke and White reunion tour through December. If you have not gotten the chance to see them live yet they are well worth checking out. From first hand experience the show is unbelievable. The upcoming dates for November and December include: 11/02/2009 Wiener Konzerthaus-Vienna AUSTRIA 11/03/2009 Fabrik – Hamburg GERMANY 11/04/2009 Tonhalle-Dusseldorf GERMANY...

Bassist Michael Janisch is a relative newcomer to the international jazz scene, but definitely worth checking out. The London Times described him as “always hip, melodic, and bouncey” while JazzWise said he’s “a muscular, fluent player with an irresistible pulse and virtuosic soloing technique.” Janisch is releasing his debut solo album Purpose Built on October 26th 2009. Purpose Built features...