Archive for June 2009 - Page 4

Squarepusher will be releasing Solo Electric Bass 1 on August 17th 2009 via Warp records. This highly limited release is a collection of unedited live recordings of original compositions by Squarepusher. Squarepusher is the stage name for electronic music artist Tom Jenkinson, who performs drum and bass electronic music, with a significant jazz influence. The recording was taken at his...

Check out bassist John Riquelme L. taking a solo break at Studios Miel in Santiago, Chile. Great tone!

Mimi Jones, a talented bassist, vocalist and composer, will release her debut album A New Day with an eclectic mix of compositions that blend across musical genres. The album hits the streets on September 15th, 2009 and features Mimi Jones (voice, bass), Miki Hayama (piano, wurlitzer and keys), Marvin Sewell (guitar), Marcus Gilmore (drums), with special guests Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet)...

The band New Order officially finished with the loss of bassist Peter Hook last year, but the remaining band-mates singer-guitarist Bernard Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris and guitarist Phil Cunningham, have found their sound with the addition of Blur bassist Alex James. The buzz is that the band has already completed an album due for release in October.

This is becoming double bass week, I think. And for good reason – there’s a ton of videos of great upright players coming our way. Today we double the double bassists with this performance of “Bye Bye Blackbird” by Christian McBride and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, during the Concert for Ray Brown.

We’re really lucky to have an awesome group of friends on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. As those friendships have developed, a handful of great bass players have signed up to become contributors here. I never properly introduced these guys, so here’s a post all about them. Evan Kepner has been writing some great lead features and lessons over the past...

Aguilar Amplification has just announced their latest Master Class in their Artist Series, featuring Steve Jenkins and Matt Rubano on July 14, 2009. Steve Jenkins is a force in the jazz and and jam/funk scenes, having toured extensively with Vernon Reid and David Fiuczynski, as well as holding down a monster teaching schedule. His solo album, Mad Science, was released...

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...

Introduced as the “eighth wonder of the world on bass”, Tom Kennedy performs “Paper Moon” during the Sonny Costanzo Concert Series at Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, Connecticut. Tom performed with the his brother and pianist Ray Kennedy, Jeff Tillman on guitar (aka the Ray Kennedy Trio).

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...

Bassist Alun Vaughan is joining Cancer Research UK in a fundraising event, Busking Cancer, by performing a solo bass concert via webcast from his home. The event will be held live at 8:30pm UK time on June 20th (to find out your local time, visit this site), and recorded for anyone who can’t watch it live. The webcast will run...

This is the first chapter of “The Untold Secret to Melodic Bass.” Be sure to check out Jon’s previous lesson, Melodic Bass Lines, as well as the complete The Untold Secret to Melodic Bass in downloadable PDF or Kindle Book formats. I hope you, the bassist-reader, find the material useful; it’s an approach to the construction of bass lines based...