John Clayton, John Patitucci, Victor Wooten, and Steve Bailey: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Steve Bailey has a great tradition of spreading holiday cheer. He gathers his fellow bassists for a winter summit at Berklee College of Music, where he heads the bass department, and puts together star-studded arrangements of carols.

This year the group includes heavyweights John Clayton, John Patitucci, Victor Wooten, and Bailey playing a reggae/swing/funk version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

Here’s a note from Steve:

Happy Holidays from the Berklee Bass Department!

Recently, the four of us got together for some masterclasses, clinics, and concerts, as often happens at Berklee! We had intermittent short breaks in the action so I corralled my colleagues into my office/studio and thanks to modern technology, emerged with a BASSic version of a holiday classic with hints of Miles, Monk, and others!

Thanks to all of our musical brothers and sisters the world over for all that you have given us. This is our attempt to give something fun back to you.

We hope that you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it, in the Spirit of Giving.

BASSically Yours,
John Clayton (Herb Alpert Scholar), John Patitucci (Artist in Residence), Victor Wooten (Visiting Artist and Summer Bass Program co-director), and Steve Bailey (Chair, Bass Department)

If you’d like to download the audio file, here it is.