Archive for April 2014 - Page 8

We’ve been thinking about Rocco Prestia a lot lately, as he’s been struggling with health issues. This man has been showing us how to do it for a long time. Here’s just another reminder: Tower of Power’s live performance of “Knock Yourself Out” in 2005. This is the funk. If you’d like to join us in supporting Rocco, please consider...

Guitarist Robert Cray is back with his blues/soul sound on his 17th studio album, . This time out, The Robert Cray Band includes Cray’s childhood friend Richard Cousins on bass, along with Dover Weinberg on keyboards and Les Falconer on drums. Cousins first played with the band from 1979-1991 and rejoined in 2007. Weinberg is also an early member who...

Spector introduced their Helium Series of NS and Forte basses at Winter NAMM this year. The series uses a unique combination of reclaimed woods to create basses that weigh in at seven pounds and twelve ounces. “The top of this neck thru body instruments wings are carved from quarter sawn sycamore obtained from salvaged logs of trees which have blown...

Alissia Benveniste floored everyone at No Treble with her first music video, “Let It Out“. Readers agreed – it was the most watched video for the whole month of February. Alissia is back with an equally funky original song called “Holdin’ On,” complete with a big horn section and even bigger groove.

Tim Wolfe Jr., who we featured in our Reader Spotlight in 2013, has released his first album as a band leader and composer, . As jazz bassist working and teaching in central/southeast Pennsylvania (as well as the grandson of two jazz musicians, including one bassist), Wolfe’s album nods to the East Coast hard-bop tradition. His band on the record hails...

Wounded Paw Effects has released the Black Sheep Bass Preamp, a rackmountable pre designed for tonal flexibility. Its sound is based around six parallel overdrives focusing on six different frequency bands, giving you control to drive different frequencies of your signal in varying amounts. The Black Sheep also has a fully buffered effects loop that can be run in parallel...

The Fender Jazz and Precision basses are iconic in their tonal qualities. Bruno Tauzin created a couple videos to showcase each with a groove on his Precision and a tasty solo on his Jazz. Which one do you prefer? Tell us in the comments. Fender Jazz Bass Solo Fender Precision Bass Groove

Brazilian bassist and composer Isaias Elpes has released a self-titled album that reflects both his Latin heritage (one track is even titled “Born in Brazil”) and his continuing education as a jazz/jazz fusion player. Elpes finished his master’s degree in music from Shepherd University in Los Angeles last year, where he studied under legendary session bassist Abraham Laboriel, who was...

This week we check out a cool collaboration between Bee Basses luthier Fred Bolton and Dan Lenard of the boutique bass website Luthiers Access Group. While many Bee Basses instruments are ordered as extended range instruments, Bolton and Lenard decided to create a “normal” bass in the form of a 5-string. The resulting Worker Bee 5 is still beyond normal....

The art of solo bass has been steadily growing for the past couple of decades, but one bassist has always been a leading figure in the field. That bassist is Michael Manring. It’s not just his use of extended techniques, his unusual tunings, or his unique gear that sets him apart. Manring consistently presents a level of artistry that touches...

It is truly remarkable to me how Aaron Gibson can make his bass sing. In this video, Aaron covers the Rich Mullins tune, “Hard to Get” with his trademark style. “My friend Perry Gerber lent me this fabulous Telefunken microphone, so naturally, I had to employ it for a video,” Aaron shared. “With little time available to take from recording...

You wanna get funky? Then it might be time to check out the latest album from Freekbass, Everybody’s Feelin’ Real. The album’s being billed as offering retro-modern funktronica grooves, and Freekbass cites everyone from David Bowie to Sly & the Family Stone to Dr. Dre as inspiration for the record’s sonic qualities. Horns on the record are handled by Les...