Archive for February 2016 - Page 4

Simone Masina shared his latest with us, with his duo with vocalist Angelica Lubian, known as Peekaboom. “We have a brand new video made in a beautiful studio in Rome with a double bass solo in the middle,” Simone shared. “The ‘Blackbird’ version by Petro Klampanis that you shared the past year inspired us.” We love what this duo is...

Prong has released its 10th studio album, No Absolutes. Featuring Jason Christopher (Black President, Stone Sour, Sebastian Bach, Corey Taylor) on bass, the metal band’s latest album is one that bandleader/singer/guitarist Tommy Victor says exhibits ever greater technical proficiency and progress. “We feel the listener needs to be excited about every lyric, performance, sound, etc. for the duration of the...

Every instrument of distinction starts with a vision, but passion and commitment are the factors that make it a reality. That perfect storm has come together with Finland’s Tuli Basses, a fresh boutique bass company aimed at quality over quantity. The man with the vision is luthier Aron Bach. A lifelong bassist, the American-born bass builder cut his teeth as...

Bryan Ladd just shared his latest with us, performing along with Mark Bowers on guitar, Aaron Swinnerton on keys and Jason Patterson on drums. The tune is “3-4-4”, which Ladd wrote along with Bowers. This one grooves, and dig that bass solo!

If you’re a Rush fan and haven’t encountered this 1975 live recording of the band in Cleveland, Ohio, you’re in luck. It’s now available as an import as Beneath, Between and Behind: F.M. Broadcast 1975. According to the site, Rush Is A Band, the show by the Canadian trio with Geddy Lee on bass and vocals was recorded to air...

Fresh off of their Grammy wins for Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Alternative Music Album, the Alabama Shakes announced a string of new dates including international festivals and an expansive North American trek. Holding down the low end will be bassist Zac Cockrell, who helped to form the band with vocalist Brittany Howard in 2009. Get a...

Jeff Berlin’s signature Rithimic bass now comes in a five-string version. The Cort Rithimic V was displayed at the Winter NAMM show this year with the bassist on hand to talk about it. “I’m entirely a four-string guy,” Berlin noted, “but I wanted to help make an efficient an instrument as possible for five-string players. My contribution was to ask...

Federico Malaman sent me this video to share. “This is a song of mine, dedicated to the great Jaco Pastorius!” he said. “I composed it after watching the Jaco film. Hope you like it.” We loved it. We think you will too.

Trumpeter Avishai Cohen (not to be confused with the bassist of the same name) has released Into the Silence, featuring Eric Revis (Betty Carter, Branford Marsalis) on bass. The album, dedicated to the memory of Cohen’s father, was recorded in July 2015 at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France and produced by Manfred Eicher founder/producer of the ECM...

Swapping out your Jazz Bass pickups has just gotten a little easier. EMG’s new J System is a completely solderless setup that includes everything you need to drop a new set of their J pickups into your bass. The pickups come with a control plate that’s completely wired with a split shaft volume/tone control, an output jack, a battery clip...

Q: I had a student ask if there was some way of learning chords like kids learn multiplication tables. Sounds like it would be handy but I couldn’t think of anything like that. Any ideas? A: I assume your student was thinking of the grid-like table for learning multiplication. I also couldn’t think of a way to do that visually,...

Adam Ben Ezra is back with a new solo bass video – this time performing a tune he wrote 10 years ago. The track made it on his album, Can’t Stop Running. This performance is his solo-looper version of the song, filmed and recorded live at Mookie’s Rhapsody.