Buzz
Brian Bromberg Returns After Four Years With “Full Circle”
Renowned jazz bassist Brian Bromberg is back with Full Circle, his first album since 2012. In the interim between albums, Bromberg suffered an injury that left him with a back broken in two places and requiring rehabilitation to be able to walk. Full Circle is a testament to his recovery. A desire to play music with his late father, a...
Radial Engineering Adds Mix-Blender to Tonebone Series
Radial Engineering’s Tonebone family has a new member called the Mix-Blender. The dual function pedal allows for mixing two instruments or effects signals together and then blend in effects like a mixing console. It works for guitar, bass or keyboards, but Radial’s Senior Tech Team Associate Ryan Juchnowski says it’s especially helpful for bass players. “Typical guitar and bass effects...
Entheos: An Interview with Evan Brewer
After dropping their Primal EP last year, Entheos is returning with their full-length release The Infinite Nothing on April 1st. The band – comprised of singer Chaney Crabb, guitarist Malcolm Pugh, drummer Navene Koperweis and bass wizard Evan Brewer – have spent the year refining their sound in the studio and on the road. Brewer’s top notch bass work is...
Miles Davis with Marcus Miller: “Fat Time” Live (1982)
Here’s another great clip shared by Rick Suchow. This is Miles Davis’ “We Want Miles” band performing “Fat Time” live at the Hammersmith Odeon, in London in 1982. The band features Marcus Miller on bass, Mike Stern on guitar, Bill Evans on sax, Al Foster on drums and Mino Cinelu on percussion.
In Memoriam: James Jamerson, Jr.
Very sad news to report today: James Jamerson, Jr. has passed away at the age of 58. A cause of death has not been announced, though he had been ill for some time. Jamerson followed in the footsteps of his father, the legendary Motown studio musician, as a bassist. In fact, much of his childhood was spent around Motown’s Studio...
3Leaf Audio Introduces Octabvre Mini Octave Pedal
3Leaf Audio has introduced the Octabvre Mini, a compact version of the octave pedal developed with Tedeschi Trucks Band bassist Timothy Lefebvre. The new pedal pares the controls down to Volume, Mix, and Tone knobs. “It starts with the popular Tim-tuning mod from the original and takes it further with a reworked tone knob that runs the gamut from classic...
Dealing with Sound Engineers
Q: I have a question regarding how I might get my sound man to successfully change all the monitors on stage, (5 stage mixes) before a song with a different lead singer and making the original lead singer a backup and not in the musicians mix anymore. Changing to a song that is led by a female while still having...
John Legend and The Roots: Little Ghetto Boy, Live
When John Legend and The Roots released Wake Up! back in 2010, I had it on auto-play for at least a couple of weeks. I stumbled on this video yesterday of their live performance of Donny Hathaway’s “Little Ghetto Boy”. Owen Biddle is laying it down on this one.
Beathaven Offers Unique Opportunity To Be Heard and Paid for Your Music
The Beathaven service offers a players a unique way to be heard, and get paid. The process is pretty simple: pay $4.99 to access one of the many tracks on Beathaven’s site. Download the track. Add your parts to the track. Upload the track, with your parts. Get feedback from music industry professionals about your work. And, if your tracks...
Reader Spotlight: Simone Croes
Meet Simone Croes, a bassist from Holland who tells us she holds the distinction of being the first female bass guitarist to graduate from the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Simone is busy working on her debut album now. Here’s her story… Bio: I’m a bass guitar player from Amsterdam, Europe. I’ve played in several bands and worked as a session bass...
Advanced Bass: Anatomy of a Groove
What exactly is a groove? Aside from attempting to teach feel, which is predicated on stylistic interpretation and flight time on the bandstand, a groove is a repetitive idea – often organized into two, four or eight bar phrases that is based on the harmonic rhythmic and melodic content of a song. Often when coming up with an idea, bass...
Brian Wroten: David Bowie’s “Lazarus” Bass Play-Along and Transcription
When I first heard David Bowie’s Blackstar, I ended up repeating the third track (“Lazarus”) more than a couple of times. I was so drawn to Tim Lefebvre’s terrific bass line on the tune. If you agree, then Brian Wroten did us all a favor by transcribing it for us. Follow along with the video below and Brian’s transcription. Brian...