Archive for 2009 - Page 59

Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has withdrawn his candidacy for county clerk in the state of Washington.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...

Hot Tuna recently announced that they will be playing in Jamaica this December to celebrate the 50 year old friendship between the band’s two founding members, bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. The band will be offering an all-inclusive package for the Jamaican get-away from December 10-14 which includes accommodation at Lido Negril resort and spa. Tip of the...

Bassist Jon Burr is a composer, author, bandleader and educator. His performance career spans over thirty years, working with Tony Bennett, Stan Getz, Horace Silver, Buddy Rich, Chet Baker, Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio, Stephane Grappelli, Eartha Kitt, Rita Moreno, Barbara Cook, and many others. Check out Jon’s unaccompanied solo bass performance of “Makin’ Whoopee”: Jon is also a No...

The 32nd annual Freihofer’s Jazz Festival kicks off on June 27th, in Saratoga Springs, NY, with over 20 performances taking place during the two-day event. On Saturday, June 27, the festival kicks off with performances by SMV – Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Gary Burton Quartet Revisited with Steve Swallow, Pat Metheny and Antonio Sanchez, Patti LaBelle, Spanish Harlem...

GospelChops, a producer of gospel music instructional DVDs, is releasing Bass Sessionz: Volume 1 later this month. The DVD includes over three hours of instructional videos, performances and interviews with gospel and jazz bassists Andrew Gouche, Janek Gwizdala, Damian Erskine, Robert “Bubby” Lewis, Justin Raines, Jon Reshard, Dywane Thomas, Anthony Nembhard, and Hadrien Feraud, with special appearances by John Beasley,...

When I first saw the following video by 23-year-old Italian bassist 6nikola9 a while back I thought, “Cool! That’s how I want to making videos”. Check out his bass multi-track version of The Beatles’ classic “All You Need is Love”:

The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival kicks off next month, from July 31st to August 9th, in Scotland. Cream bassist Jack Bruce is among the headliners, performing with guitarist Robin Trower and drummer Gary Husband. The schedule and band line-up is pretty amazing. Chris Minh Doky will be performing with Doky/Ozone/Johansen/Smith. Bassist Mario Caribe will perform as part of Phil...

Black Sabbath, featuring bassist Geezer Butler, front-man Ozzy Osbourne, drummer Bill Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi, will release their best of album on June 15th. This band is unquestionably one of the most influential Hard Rock bands to date. VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock ranked them second to only Led Zeppelin. They have also sold millions of albums...

A festival with likely the longest name in festival history, The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival (XRIJF), kicks off today and runs through June 20th, in Rochester, NY. SMV, the bass trio consisting of Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten is among the festival’s headlining acts. More than 800 musicians will perform in more than 225 concerts. Maybe they...

Joshua Young, a 19-year-old bassist, was admitted to Berklee’s College of Music in 2007, but this meant that his parents would have to make some sacrifices to meet the payment of a yearly $40,000 for tuition and housing. They were soon to learn, however, that they would not have to make such sacrifices. An astonishing performance during a heart-thumping audition...