Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 713

Led Zeppelin has confirmed the release of Celebration Day, a film of the one-off reunion concert they performed at London’s O2 Arena in 2007. The film will be shown in theaters worldwide October 17th with CD, DVD, Blu-ray and LP formats and hitting shelves on November 19th. Anchored by bassist John Paul Jones, the band reunited for the concert to...

Here’s an incredibly energetic duet by Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and pianist Tania Maria. NHØP is in his usual top-notch form with ridiculous speed and agility. Check out his masterful right hand technique at the 2:12 mark, and then be ready to want to practice.

Megadeth has announced a 20th anniversary edition of their seminal album Countdown to Extinction, which will be released October 16th in a box set as well as in digital format. The two-disc lift-top box set will contain a remastered version of the album as well as a previously unreleased 1992 concert recorded live at the Cow Palace in San Francisco,...

On-Stage Gear has a new clip-on stand light called the LED509. Featuring 9 LED lights, the LED509 can clip onto most music stands and illuminate up to four pages – a nice feature for bassists with large charts to read. It’s also designed to stand on its own on a flat surface. The power switch offers two brightness settings, while...

This month marks Höfner’s 125th anniversary, and part of the celebration includes a new hardback book that documents the company’s time in the business. Founded by luthier Karl Höfner in 1887, the company makes violins and guitars, but is renowned for their violin bass as made famous by the Beatles’ Paul McCartney. The 328-page book offers over 400 images and...

I’ve been watching tons of videos with Oteil Burbridge lately. Check out this one of him playing “Search Yourself” with the Aquarium Rescue Unit live at the Jacksonville Jazzfest. Burbridge really brings the band together and gets some time to shine by vocalizing his solo spots.

The Stooges are back to making new music, says bassist Mike Watt. The band, which hasn’t released any new material since 2007’s The Weirdness, is still in the very formative stages of writing. “I’ll tell you this: James Williamson a few months ago had me put bass on nine songs that he gave to Ig [Iggy Pop] and Ig is...

Philadelphia soul groups always hit the spot with me, so when Ted “Blyss” Gould, sent in his all bass cover of “People Make the World Go Round” by the Stylistics, I was sold. Enlisting the help of drummer Dante “Taz” Roberson, Blyss shows up in triplicate in the video playing the bass line, melody, and the chords. His axes are...

Tony Levin has released an iPad app version of his book Crimson Chronicles: The 80’s, which documents his time with the legendary prog rock band King Crimson through pictures. Levin, who is also an avid photographer, includes hundreds of photos from his collection to show what life in the band and on the road was like. Beyond the photos from...

Steve Lawson has released Invenzioni, the first of three albums with guitarist Mike Outram. Recorded in 2010, the album was the first time the duo had ever played together, though the music would suggest otherwise. “We’d never played together, we just set up our stuff and started playing,” said Outram. “What you hear is two people playing music together for...

Here’s another mind-blowing video by Italian bassist Serino Gianni, who takes a stab at Bach’s world of counterpoint with a composition for two basses. Gianni plays each part on separate sides of the screen with incredible precision and musicality. This one takes a few views, because you’ll be looking back and forth at the different parts as they go by.

This week we take a look at the Citron AE4 and AE5 Swallow Basses built by luthier Harvey Citron in collaboration with jazz legend Steve Swallow. Citron first presented Swallow with one of his acoustic/electric basses, and their work went from there. It was Steve’s perfectionism that pushed the bass builder to invent a new bridge. “Working with Steve has...