Archive for 2017 - Page 76

Lyle Ritz, who worked as a session bassist during L.A.’s golden era of recording, passed away on March 3rd. He was 77 years old. Ritz began his musical career working at the Southern California Music Company, where he worked in the small goods department. It was here that he picked up the ukulele, which he also became famous for. He...

Warwick unveiled their annual limited edition bass this year and this year is a landmark. The Thumb NT 2017, which comes in four and five-string versions, also marks the company’s 35th anniversary. The master-built instruments are built in Germany and limited to fifty units of each the four and five-string versions. Taking its cues from the standard Thumb NT model,...

Keyboardist Anthony Brancati put together a funky band for this recording of the aptly named “Neo-Funk.” Wesley Allen handles the groovy bass on this, which also features drummer Larnell Lewis. Dig it.

Asia has released a 2-CD/DVD live set called Symfonia – Live In Bulgaria 2013. The release captures the band in a concert at a second-century Roman theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. It also features the lineup of original Asia members John Wetton, Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes with guitarist Sam Coulson. After Wetton passed away two...

This week we’re checking out the Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo 4 HH, a bass they describe as “well balanced, comfortable, resonant and expressive with effortless playability.” The Bongo was introduced in 2003 with a modern double cutaway body design that complements the flagship StingRay model. It’s built with a basswood body in six color options: Black, Tangerine Pearl, Sky...

Double stops can present a major challenge for double bassists just being introduced to them, specifically in the arena of intonation. Finger spacing, shifting, and dropping and lifting of multiple fingers are all areas that can trip someone up. Below, using a famous passage from Edouard Nanny’s Concerto attributed to Dragonetti, are a few ways to approach double stops which...

Wes Stephenson is a favorite around here, thanks in part to his work with the Funky Knuckles. Here’s Wes laying down the low end with Mark Lettieri’s band, on the tune “Slant.” The track is from the band’s album, .

Three decades ago, Ibanez first introduced the SR bass. This year they’re celebrating their flagship bass model with four new instruments. “Throughout the past 30 years, Ibanez has been improving and developing the SR series by closely following market requirements and opinions from various artists and valued customers,” they write. “SR is now one of the most popular and distinctive...

KEXP is a constant source of musical discovery for us, and we just checked out Naked Giants for the first time on their channel. Here’s the band, anchored by bassist Gianni Aiello, performing their tune, “Twist.” We’re really digging this.

After teasing that they would be going on a North American tour this year, King Crimson has finally revealed the tour schedule for 2017. The trek kicks off on June 13th in Seattle, Washington and will make its way across the U.S. and Canada before ending with a pair of to-be-confirmed dates in Mexico City. “We can finally satisfy all...

Powafunk bassist Charlie Moreno sent me this video play-along video to their track, “Lost In Your Eyes.” “It’s the trickiest song on our record, so I decided to make a video of just Jeffe Otto and me playing it,” Moreno shared.

Hot off the release of his killer solo album, Uprising, upright bassist Miles Mosley has announced an extensive world tour that will cover North America and Europe from April to July. As usual, his band The West Coast Get Down will be by his side. The tour kicks off April 1st at Sage Gates Head in Newcastle, UK and circles...