Bassists - Page 136

Bassist Chris Squire from Yes, the successful prog-rock group from the 1970’s gone classic rock/jazz/pop, recently talked about the band’s journey in an interview with azcentral.com over their four-decade career. Squire has been with Yes the entire time, but still did other work including the solo album “Fish Out of Water” released in 1975. When asked about Yes’s 40 years...

A recent piece by AllAboutJazz.com has highlighted the influential musical life of bassist Hugh Hopper. We covered his passing early in June from Leukemia. Hopper grew up in Canterbury area of England starting his music journey on guitar and alto saxophone. He joined Wilde Flowers with his friend and Robert Wyatt. the Wilde Flowers eventually evolved into both Soft Machine...

Legendary Motown bassist James Jamerson is to be inducted into the Fender Hall of Fame on August 7, 2009 held at the Tempe Center of the Arts in Tempe, Ariz. The Fender Hall of Fame was created in 2007 and has celebrated artists, innovators, leaders, and historically significant contributors to the Fender legacy annually as part of Fender’s missions to...

Ray Brown, one of the legendary jazz bassists of our time, has a personal remembrance piece from NPR Jazz. From his work with Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and many other jazz greats, Brown has always stood out from the crowd with his melodic style and walking bass lines. As the article author remembers Brown’s performance: “For a 75-year-old veteran, let’s...

All About Jazz has posted a tribute piece, “Relentless Groove,” about jazz bassist Jymie Merritt, a musician with a 50+ year career and still actively composing. This tribute gives a brief but thorough account of his extraordinary and influential history. From the article: “Over the past fifty years there have been many stalwarts who’ve directed the course of jazz, but...

Godsticks’ Hartke-endorsed bassist Jason Marsh took some time to answer a few of our questions and give us some insight into his tone, practice and musical influences. Godsticks is a progressive-rock band from South Wales, UK, featuring Darran Charles (guitar, vocal, piano), Marsh (bass) and Steve Roberts (drums). We interviewed Jason and the band together to get a full take...

Released in March 2009, jazz bassist Iris Ornig’s New Ground is worth checking out. The album showcases Ornig’s melodic compositions with Yoshiro Okazaki (trumpet), Daisuke Abe (guitar), Danny Grissett (piano) and Tony Jefferson (drums). Preview the album: Amazon.com Widgets Be sure to visit Ornig’s home page.

Bassist and singer Sky Saxon passed away on Thursday in Austin, Texas. He was 63 and had been in the ICU with an undisclosed illness since Monday. Saxon had a long music history: he founded Seeds in 1965 releasing four albums with hit singles “Can’t Seem to Make Mine” and “Pushing Too Hard.” Saxon also played with the Ya Ho...

Bassist Nate Mendel has returned to play with Sunny Day Real Estate, after playing with the Foo Fighters. The reunion will be followed by a tour scheduled for this fall. Sunny Day Real Estate has split and re-formed two times already (once in 1998, reuniting without Mendel, and then again in 2001). Mendel’s comments on the reunion: “I wasn’t around...

Lita Ford, the 80’s hard-rock queen and lead guitarist for The Runaways, has recruited P.J. Farley from Trixter/Ra as her new touring bassist. Since her return in 2008 from a 15 year break, Ford has been planning to release a new album, Wicked Wonderland, on her JLRG Entertainment label later this year, as well as playing a 75-date tour. Be...

Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has withdrawn his candidacy for county clerk in the state of Washington. Novoselic had started the campaign a month ago as a protest. He was protesting the state’s system of allowing candidates to choose their own party affiliations. He was running under the “Grange Party” banner (a non-existent political party). From his blog page, Novoselic...

Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper has passed away at the age of 64. Hugh was diagnosed with leukemia in 2008 and had been receiving treatment. Hopper was an innovative bassist with a distinctive fuzz-bass sound. He’s credited as one of the leaders in the prog-rock/jazz fusion movement that included Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd and others. Fans can sign the...