Bassists - Page 5

Meet Ronnie Brannan, who started out on tuba before spotting a bass in his school’s jazz band. “I was drawn to everything about it as soon as it came into my consciousness,” he said. Since then, he’s been doing his thing on the bass. Here’s his story...

Bassist Frank de la Rosa, who played with a who’s who of jazz artists, has passed away. He was 85 years old.

Meet Dave Turner, a bassist and educator who has an impressive resume in both arenas. Here’s his story…

Scott Mulvahill is not your average bassist. He’s also not your average singer-songwriter. His latest album, “Himalayas,” is proof of that. We caught up with Mulvahill to learn about his background, lessons learned on the road, and songwriting.

Meet Drue Williams, Jr., a bassist who got his start thanks to his dad, who was a great Gospel singer and inspired him to take up the instrument. Drue not only performs, but he also started his own bass cabinet company. Here’s his story...

Meet Arnaud Court, a bassist from France who got his start thanks to the inspiration of Steve Harris and Cliff Burton. He later expanded his list to Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, James Jamerson, and many others. Here’s his story…

The Allman Betts Band has just released their debut album, “Down To The River.” As you might expect, the group is tied to the Allman Brothers, with Berry Duane Oakley, son of Berry Oakley, on bass. We caught up with Berry Jr. to get the scoop.

READER SPOTLIGHT: Meet Brian Haringa, a bassist from California who got his start on bass thanks to demand, and now relies on his 1969 Fender Jazz (for 20 years and counting). Here’s his story...

Meet Tom Martin, a bassist from California who had some great answers to our “Why I Play the Bass” and “Superpower/claim to fame” questions. Here’s his story...

Barre Phillips has been playing bass for nearly all of his 84 years, and his 1968 album “Journal Violone” is credited as the first ever solo bass record. 51 years later he’s released what he says is his final solo album, “End to End.”

Last year, we shared what turned out to be a very popular video of ZYkR performing “Only Human,” with Pedro Zappa on bass. Now we get to learn more about him in this edition of Reader Spotlight.

Meet Pete Szaszfai, a bass player from Phoenix who got his musical start on clarinet before switching to bass. Like many of the readers in the spotlight here, Pete said: “Guitar and drums were already taken in the neighborhood band when I started, so I picked up the bass.” Here’s his story...