Archive for 2009 - Page 48

Blink 182 bassist Mark Hoppus has been interviewed by the Los Vegas Sun, to talk about the the 52-date tour scheduled to kick off this week, and their new album project. You may remember that we covered Blink 182’s announcement to reunite in March. The venues for Blink 182 tour have been selling out quickly. Hopper’s view on the huge...

This incredible video showcases upright bassist Catalin Rotaru playing Paganini Caprice 24 solo on the upright bass. Rotaru is a professor at Arizona State University. He has performed both solo classical and jazz bass throughout Europe, the United States, South America and Japan. He served as associate principal bass in the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, principal bass in the Sibiu...

Ever wonder what makes up a bass? The Examiner has posted an introductory article on the essential components to a bass guitar and upright bass. From the article’s introduction: The bass guitar is one of the most underrated positions in a band. Famous musicians and local heroes both agree that bass is the “glue that holds a song together”, yet...

Former Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney is playing in a cover group The Verve Forecast project, formed by John Fogerty. The group have put together a project known as The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, to be released on September 1st. The album features a new collection of some of the veteran rocker’s favorite classic songs including covers of songs...

Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx has posted a reactionary post to the Wall Street Journal’s alleged misrepresentation of his views. The opening line in the article is “Nikki Sixx thinks the Internet is ruining rock and roll.” Sixx’s Myspace Blog reaction: “It’s always a struggle to get what YOU have to say and not what THEY want you to say...

Creation labs has announced the dates for the First Annual Nashville Amp Expo. It will take place August 22-23, 2009, at the Hyatt Place hotel in Brentwood, Tennessee (Brentwood is a few miles south of Nashville). From the press-release: “The first annual Nashville Amp Expo will offer musicians of all levels, as well as engineers, producers, and, of course, weekend...

The Ibanez Musician Bass series debuted 30 years ago this year, and Ibanez is celebrating with an extremely limited special anniversary edition, the MC30TH. Ibanez shares some background on the bass in a recent release: “While the Musician wasn’t the first bass to feature active electronics, it was the first with that technology that most working musicians could afford. Ibanez’s...

I think most of the jazz-guys out there know John Coltrane’s classic Giant Steps. A challenging tune, as I’m sure many would agree. This is Kevin Wyatt shirtlessly doubling the bass part on his bass and Coltrane’s solo on his keyboard. [Editor’s note: when the walking bass part started, I almost fell out of my chair. Wow!]

August 25th 2009 will mark the release of a new album by Brian Bromberg: It Is What It Is. The album is sure to be another gem in Bromberg’s thematic collection using both bass guitar and upright bass to give cool jazz melodies and solid grooves. The album will also feature George Duke, Patrice Rushen, Jeff Lorber, Randy Brecker, Eric...

At the end of June we posted a player-watch notice for Iris Ornig and her CD New Ground. Now we want to give you an in-depth review of why we originally recommended her. Ornig is “a gifted instrumentalist, a talented composer, and a charismatic performer.” New Ground was released March 3rd, 2009 and features original compositions as well as original...

Epifani has released new additions to their performance series amplifiers, the PS1000 and PS400. It will be available for shipping on July 29th 2009. Epifani started as a creator of custom bass cabinets. It was not long before they moved into amplifier production and were pioneers in digital amps, working on them as early as 1999 with the first production...

Bassist Mike Gordon of Phish has announced that he will be starting a 20-plus date Fall Tour beginning just after Labor Day in Brooklyn, NY that will continue through the beginning of October in Burlington, VT with his solo band. From Gordon’s homepage: “After two highly acclaimed runs last year touring on the release of his album The Green Sparrow,...