Archive for October 2019

We’ve all heard that James Brown was the hardest working man in show business, but in the world of bass players, there’s no doubt in my mind that this title would go to Bryan Beller. He’s the focus of Ryan’s new “Bass Players to Know” column.

“Funk #49” is one of my favorite tunes from back in the day, thanks to the killer bass line. Here’s a great clip of the James Gang on the Howard Stern Show back in 2006 performing the tune at Stern’s request.

Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” is a must-have album for bassists. Its songs are textbook examples of grooving by the late great Bob Babbitt and James Jamerson. Now you can hear Jamerson craft those bass lines in a newly reissued live album from 1972.

Kasim Sulton’s Utopia will be hitting the road for a tour in 2020. The bassist and his group will be performing hand-picked songs from the 10 Utopia albums on which he played.

This week, Damian got a question about moving between triplets and 16th notes within a single line. He decided to reply with a video on how he feels and practices the divisions.

Sometimes an older video hits the radar that’s so good, I have to check our archives to make sure we haven’t shared it before. Four years ago, Anton Davidyants teamed up with Valeriy Stepanov to record a cover of Mike Mainieri’s “Self Portrait.”

Neil Young has played with plenty of bands over the years, but Crazy Horse is the one that keeps coming back. Now Young and Crazy Horse have teamed up again for “Colorado,” a ten-song album that is their first since 2012’s “Psychedelic Pill.”

Chris Thile’s “Live from Here” show has a tradition: “If you’re on the show during your birthday week, you get to choose a song to play...” The show’s musical director and bassist, Mike Elizondo, chose “YYZ” for his birthday.

Petros Klampanis has released a new album, “Irrationalities,” that puts the bassist in a new texture for his original compositions. Known for his lush string arrangements, Klampanis opted to make a trio recording.

Here’s a new bass from Jens Ritter Instruments created with Ish Guitars. The Princess Isabella Concept bass brings together Ritter’s Princess Isabella body with the “Concept” design, which streamlines it for a minimalist look.

We’ve featured Aram Bedrosian’s excellent tune, “A Dark Light” before. He’s now recorded an acoustic version, using his Ortega Guitars Striped Suite ACB. I’ve always loved this tune, and it is cool to hear as an acoustic version.

Jazz bassist and educator Danny Ziemann has launched a new publishing company, awesomely named Low Down Publishing. The venture will offer incredible instructional books, but it is also an avenue for teachers to publish their own work.