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Best of 2011

Our most popular stories, features, columns, lessons, interviews, videos and more from 2011.

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #1: Victor Wooten

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #1: Victor Wooten

One of the busiest bassists in the business, Victor Wooten was probably never busier than in 2011. Let’s run down the list: The bassist announced his new label, Vix Records, during the Winter NAMM show in January. That wasn’t Vic’s only announcement at NAMM. He also debuted the new Yin Yang Standard bass with Fodera, based on the company’s Victor...

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2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #2: Les Claypool

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #2: Les Claypool

Les Claypool said that Primus went “back on the front burner” in 2011, with the reintroduction of original drummer Jay Lane and the band’s release of Green Naugahyde, the first new full-length album since 1999. News of the reunion, the new CD and touring activity pushed the bassist to the #2 slot on the reader favorites list here. We caught...

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #3: Jaco Pastorius

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #3: Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius remains a force, nearly a quarter of a century after the world lost the bass legend way too soon. Jaco would have been 60 on December 1, 2011, so we honored him that day with an all-Jaco celebration, including our tribute to the one called “the world’s greatest bassist”. Thanks to the web and Youtube, previously unseen Jaco...

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #4: Esperanza Spalding

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #4: Esperanza Spalding

2011 was a monster year for Esperanza Spalding. She made bassists proud (and millions of teenage girls super sad/mad) by beating out Justin Bieber for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Esperanza was also the first jazz artist to win the award in decades. During the Grammy Awards, Esperanza teamed up with Bobby McFerrin for a memorable duet performance....

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #5: Bootsy Collins

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #5: Bootsy Collins

Bootsy Collins is one busy bassist. 2011 saw the release of his first studio album in five years, Tha Funk Capital of the World, a new transcription book of Bootsy’s Legendary Licks, the two year anniversary of the bassist’s Funk University and an appearance on Sly Stone’s first album in over 25 years, I’m Back! Family & Friends. One of...

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #6: Tal Wilkenfeld

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #6: Tal Wilkenfeld

Tal Wilkenfeld, last year’s #1 player on No Treble had a less busy year in 2011, but still made the top ten list. The always popular bassist wowed readers with her live performance with Ben Harper and Jackson Browne of “Steal My Kisses“, as well as another live performance with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, playing a medley of “Bolero”,...

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #7: John Entwistle

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #7: John Entwistle

The late, great John Entwistle remains as popular as ever. This year, we shared a couple of isolated bass videos from The Ox, including the 1979 “Won’t Get Fooled Again” performance and the Live at Leeds live performance of “Summertime Blues“. In August, Hal Leonard released The Who: Bass Play-Along Volume 28, a 72-page book offering up the bass notation...

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #8: Marcus Miller

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #8: Marcus Miller

Marcus Miller is a mainstay on the annual No Treble reader favorites list, and 2011 is no exception. The busy bassist released his live album, A Night In Monte-Carlo early in the year to rave reviews, including this one by Phil Wain here on No Treble. We teamed up with Marcus, Concord Music Group and DR Strings for a Marcus-focused...

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #9: Pino Palladino

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #9: Pino Palladino

Pino Palladino made the top 10 solely on a handful of videos featured on No Treble this year. But that’s just how good Pino is. Two of his videos made our top 10 for 2011, including “Ain’t No Sunshine“, performed live with the John Mayer Trio and the 1984 video for Paul Young’s “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” with...

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #10: Flea

2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists – #10: Flea

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea makes the No Treble reader favorites list once again this year. Flea and the Chili Peppers had a big year, announcing their first tour in five years and a new album and the release of that new album, I’m With You. Topping off a busy year, the band was inducted into the Rock and...

Best of 2011: The Top 10 Most Popular Bassist Interviews

Best of 2011: The Top 10 Most Popular Bassist Interviews

We interviewed many terrific and insightful bassists in 2011, and while this list doesn’t cover them all, it does cover the most read ones we featured throughout the year. Be sure to check out our interview archives for even more great conversations with some of the greatest bassists on the scene. 1. Alex Webster The evolution of heavy metal has...

Best of 2011: The Top 10 Most Active No Treble Readers

Best of 2011: The Top 10 Most Active No Treble Readers

This one is cool. No Treble’s Facebook page recently hit 50,000 fans, and we love reading your comments and replying to you there as much as we do on the articles here. We were curious as to who commented the most on No Treble and the Facebook page. We found out. So we thought: what an awesome top 10 list!...