The Damned Documentary Available on DVD/Blu-ray
A documentary film about seminal British punk band The Damned, by the maker of the “Lemmy” documentary about late Motörhead bassist/bandleader Lemmy Kilmister, is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead features interviews with Lemmy (who had a brief stint with the group), fans like Guns ’n’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, original...
Piano Trio Album from Cyrus Chestnut Features Jazz Bass Great
Jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut’s latest album, Natural Essence, features the work of noted jazz bassist Buster Williams (solo artist, Herbie Hancock Sextet, Art Blakey, Ron Carter and many more) and drummer Lenny White. The album features classic piano trio material, distinguished by Chestnut’s pleasure in playing, particularly when supported by such accomplished fellow musicians. The record isn’t Williams’ first time...
New Order Turns “Music Complete” Into “Complete Music”
If you don’t feel like your version of New Order’s Music Complete was actually complete, an extended version of the album has arrived for you as Complete Music. The band says that due to overwhelming demand, it decided to release the extended versions of the tracks, previously only available on a limited edition vinyl box set. Music Complete was New...
Learn More About Playing Like Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr in New Book
Hal Leonard’s book, Royal Blood for Guitar and Bass with Tab, provides an insight into how Mike Kerr, bassist/vocalist for the bass/drum duo Royal Blood, creates his sound. His bass setup allows him to use his bass to emulate two guitars, as well as carry its own sound. “Through careful arranging of the riffs and deft switching, he’s able to...
DevilDriver Releases “Trust No One”
Groove metal band DevilDriver has released its seventh studio album, Trust No One. The record was the band’s last with bassist Chris Towning (Bury Your Dead), who played on the group’s previous effort, 2013’s Winter Kills. Diego “Ashes” Ibarra, formerly of Static-X, has stepped in to handle bass duties as DevilDriver tours in support of the new album. The record’s...
Hatebreed Releases Seventh Studio Album
Metalcore band Hatebreed has released its seventh studio album, The Concrete Confessional. With Chris Beattie on bass, the album’s themes are wide-ranging, covering everything from the dissipation of the American Dream, to being doomed by vices, to experiencing night paralysis. Then there’s “Looking Down the Barrel of Today”: The Concrete Confessional is available on , and as a digital download...
Pat Metheny Releases Music from DVD with His Unity Group
Jazz guitar great Pat Metheny’s Unity Group has released The Unity Sessions, the CD version of a filmed performance by the group recently released on DVD. The two-CD set features 13 songs and the bass work of past Thelonius Monk competition winner Ben Williams, who also has a solo career. “Ben has a fearless and open-minded approach to what music...
Grateful Dead Set Gives Classic 1978 Show an Official Release
A show from one of the The Grateful Dead’s earliest stands at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre has finally received an official release as a three-CD set after circulating among fans for decades. As always, Phil Lesh holds down the low end on the set, simply called Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado, 7/8/78. The show’s audio is pulled from the Betty...
Onetime Zappa Bassist Releases Memoir
Bassist Arthur Barrow, known for his time with Frank Zappa in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as his multi-instrumentalist turns with Billy Idol, Nina Hagen, Berlin and more, has penned a book, Of Course I Said Yes!: The Amazing Adventures of a Life in Music. Barrow, who played on Zappa’s Joe’s Garage Act I, Joe’s Garage Acts...
Stanley Clarke Scores Latest Barbershop Film
Enormously influential jazz bassist/composer Stanley Clarke has brought his talents to the silver screen, yet again. Clarke has a long history of composing television and movie scores (“Boyz ’N’ The Hood,” “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” and far more), and his latest is for the fourth installment in the “Barbershop” series, “Barbershop: The Next Cut.” Check out “Brother One Stop” from the...
More Rare John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers 1967 Live Recordings Released
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Live in 1967 — Volume Two offers up even more gems from a short-lived Bluesbreakers lineup that featured Peter Green, bassist John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, a trio that would go on to form Fleetwood Mac. A fan from Holland captured this version of the group, together for only three months, as it played five London clubs....
Gregory Porter Releases “Take Me to the Alley”
Jazz singer-songwriter Gregory Porter has released Take Me to the Alley, his followup to 2013’s Grammy-winning album Liquid Spirit. Just as on Liquid Spirit, the new album features the bass work of Aaron James, who also played on Porter’s 2010 record Water and 2012’s Be Good. Here’s a taste of the album, via Porter and his band in a one...