Buzz
Michael Dease Releases “Coming Home”, Featuring Christian McBride
Trombonist Michael Dease has released his fifth album as a leader, entitled Coming Home. The 11-track release showcases the jazz side of his upbringing in Augusta, Georgia with a healthy mix of standards and original tunes. Dease recruited bass legend Christian McBride to anchor the album, citing his tastefulness and virtuosic playing. “Everything he plays feels so good,” Dease said....
Reader Spotlight: Catalina Villegas
Meet Catalina Villegas, a bass player from Miami, Florida, who now resides in Medellin, Colombia. She had us hooked with the very first sentence in her interview. We think you’ll like her story too. Catalina is the No Treble reader in the spotlight for the week of May 27, 2013. Bio: I’m Cat and I am madly in love with...
In Memoriam: Marshall Lytle
Marshall Lytle, bassist for Bill Haley and The Comets, has passed away at the age of 79 after a battle with cancer. Lytle left his mark on popular music as the bassist on the classic track “Rock Around the Clock,” a song that is often cited as the birth of rock ’n’ roll. Born in Old Fort, North Carolina in...
Hova Burian: Armenian Jazz Band
Now this is some fast-paced Armenian jazz! Bassist Hova Burian rips it up and gets filmed while doing so.
Molten Voltage Introduces OZ Looper Controller
Molten Voltage has released the OZ Looper Controller, a pedal that works in tandem with the Strymon Timeline Delay to offer advanced use of its MIDI capabilities. The OZ connects with a single MIDI cable to access and control the TimeLine’s Reverse, Half-Speed/Double-Speed, Undo, and Redo functions. The OZ also has single-press, soft-touch recording and play back, meaning that you...
App Review: Set List Maker
If you lead your own project, Set List Maker is probably going to be a game changer for you. If you’re like me, getting organized for a gig means being strapped to your desk with iTunes open, messing around with a playlist of all of your tunes, desperately playing with various song orders, playing the beginning and end of tunes...
Zander Zon: “Oracles of Her” Multi-Track Bass
The one man band known as Zander Zon has turned in another exceptional video, this time performing his tune, “Oracles of Her”. The song is from Zander’s album Saturn Return (also check out the Track by Track feature on that album). In the Track by Track feature, Zander shared that the tune spanned his musical years, with a nod to...
Daft Punk Releases “Random Access Memories”
Electronica duo Daft Punk have taken a turn towards humanity with their latest album, Random Access Memories, which almost exclusively uses live instrumentation. The 13-track effort brings together a spectacular cast of guest musicians including Julian Casablancas, Pharrell Williams, Paul Williams, Nile Rodgers, Chilly Gonzalez and others. “Making music with musicians and bringing back a certain craftsmanship, that was totally...
Weekly Top Ten: The Top Bass Stories, Videos and How To’s for the Week of May 19
There were a couple of unplanned trends this week on No Treble… starting with the top two how to’s being focused on open strings: one to get warmed up and the other to get funky. And funk was another: the open strings lesson I just mentioned, and a video demo on developing the funk/soul bass groove. There was sad news...
Adam Stevens: Solo Bass Loop Arrangement of Bootsy Collins’ “I’d Rather Be With You”
Adam Stevens has impressed us in the past with his solo bass arrangements, but I’m not sure I’ve enjoyed any more than this one. Here’s Adam’s arrangement of “I’d Rather Be With You”, from Bootsy Collins’ 1976 album Stretchin’ Out In Bootsy’s Rubber Band.
Phil Jones Announces Limited Edition Briefcase Ultimate Bass Amp Combo
It’s been ten years since the Phil Jones Briefcase was introduced, and the company is celebrating the milestone with a limited edition version of the compact bass amplifier. The Phil Jones Briefcase Ultimate will be a modified version of the original, bumping up output from 100 watts to 160 watts. Other upgraded features include new higher power Pirhana speakers with...
Francois Lamouche: “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” for Solo Bass
Bassist Francois Lamouche shares this video of him performing his arrangement of the song from The Legend of Zelda – A Link to the Past. He says the video is dedicated to his friend, T. Moustache, who “asked me a billion times to do this arrangement.” Francois also shared, “If you want Bass to control the world : share my...