Archive for 2010 - Page 71

Meet Thomson Kneeland, our bassist in the spotlight for May 4, 2010. Bio: Acoustic bassist and composer Thomson Kneeland has established himself as a formidable sideman and leader since moving to New York City in 2003. He quickly found himself working with such established musicians as Ted Rosenthal, Kenny Werner, Billy Drummond, Lynne Arriale, Paul Bollenback, Peter Leitch, Jed Levy,...

Wow! This is the record I was hoping for: John McLaughlin letting rip within a band context. To The One is a passionate sonic blast. McLaughlin, bassist Etienne Mbappe, and drummers Mark Mondesir and Gary Husband set up in one room on the studio for a live recording with keyboard added by Husband. McLaughlin is now playing with musicians who...

Lately, my attention has been brought to a couple of Swedish bands which have then inspired me quite a bit. Via Ste’s playalong, I discovered The Flower Kings, and from there I stumbled upon the Mats & Morgan Band. This is the Mats & Morgan Band playing their tune “Hollmervalsen (Hollmer’s Waltz)” which is dedicated to Lars Hollmer of the...

Alice in Chains, Deftones, and Mastodon are all teaming up for a newly announced fall 2010 trek entitled the “BlackDiamondSkye” Tour. The three bands will make their way across North America in support of each of their newest albums from which the tour name was derived: Alice in Chains’ Black Gives Way to Blue, Deftones’ new Diamond Eyes, and Mastodon’s...

I took my 6-string to have the nut adjusted recently and I was talking to the guitar tech about adjusting the action to make the bass more playable around the middle to high register. He looked at me and said, “Be honest, how often to you play up there?” “All the time” I said, “I’m a solo player, I play...

What’s better than one bass? How about four basses! Here’s The Bass Gang, a double bass quartet performing “A Night In Tunisia”, live in Vilnius in September 2008.

1. Gear Watch: Epiphone Zenith Bass Epiphone has released the new Zenith bass, an instrument that pays homage to the jazz guitar tradition. Available as fretted or “lined” fretless, the key to this bass is its unique NanoFlex and NanoMag pickup combination. 2. Video: Gary Willis: The Chicken Here’s another great video of Gary Willis performing during a 2006 clinic...

Hal Leonard and The Rock House Method are releasing a new 2-DVD instructional video featuring David Ellefson. David Ellefson of Megadeth: Metal Bass covers the fundamentals of metal bass playing. The first DVD covers the basics: how to hold the bass, hand positions and reading tablature. David also covers playing with a pick and fingers, how to mute, basic scales,...

One year ago today, we officially launched No Treble. Over these last twelve months, we’ve made a lot of friends, thanks to the site, Facebook and Twitter. Those friendships have been the most rewarding part of this project, by far. We started No Treble, struggling to post two new stories a day. Now we’re posting at least 26 new features...

Here’s bassist Jason Matthews, performing Adam Nitti‘s “Fritter Boy”. Matthews studied with Nitti for a short time, and had this to say about the performance: “Obviously I don’t have a six string bass, so adjustments had to be made in certain parts, notably the sweeps. Beyond that, I don’t play Adam’s exact walking line at the end. Rather than transcribe...

The line up and theme have been announced for the Detroit International Jazz Festival, which is billed as the largest free jazz festival in North America. The festival’s theme is “Flame Keepers- Carrying the Torch for Modern Jazz,” and will include tributes to six “trailblazers of modern jazz,” including Art Blakey, Ray Brown, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Betty Carter, and...

Rush recently announced a tour, as well as a new documentary, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage. The film, produced by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC on April 24, and will make its television debut on June 26th on VH1 and VH1 Classic. In a recent interview with Philadelphia radio station 94 WYSP,...