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Reader Spotlight: Maurizio Rolli

Meet Maurizio Rolli, our bassist in the spotlight for March 30th, 2010. Bio: Maurizio Rolli is a graduate in double bass and jazz music studies. He is currently teaching electric bass and double bass as well as jazz harmony studies at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese in Pescara, Italy. He has worked with: Jim Hall, Mike Stern,Peter Erskine, Bob Mintzer, Alex...

There is a special symbiosis that occurs when a bassist and drummer work together on projects for significant lengths of time. When those musicians are as great as the ones on this record, the results can be wonderful. Mazurka for a Modern Man, in part, is a documentation of such a symbiosis. It’s a wonderful contemporary jazz record, imbued with...

Here’s amazing French bassist Albin Suffys, playing a solo piece from a private demo at American producer Candace Forest’s house. Prepare to be impressed.

Mike Dirnt and Green Day will be coming back to North America for summer tour dates after they complete their overseas trek which wraps up in July. The group is still touring in support of their latest Grammy award winning album, 21st Century Breakdown. A musical inspired and featuring the music of Green Day will be opening on Broadway on...

The Ansir Bravura prize bass is complete and ready for the lucky winner to be announced on 3/31. Check out bassist Warren Harris (aka Hanna), giving the bass a good trial run: If you haven’t entered the contest, you still have time. The drawing will be held on March 31st. Enter here.

Recently I got a series of questions from a upright bass player in Norway regarding amplification of the double bass and the use of electronic effects (EFX). Since I get these sorts of questions often, I thought I would print some of my thoughts here as part of the lowdown. If you have your own questions, feel free to send...

Michael Manring: Sugar

Check out this great video of Michael Manring playing his solo bass arrangement of Stanley Turrentine’s song “Sugar”. The clip comes from Hudson Music’s “Bass Day 1998” DVD, which also features Victor Wooten and Rocco Prestia.

Here are the top 10 articles from No Treble for the week of March 21st, 2010. 1. Video: Jacogrow’s Funk Groove: Fretless Bass Improv Choi Dong-Ju, who goes by the screen name “jacogrow” posted this cool fretless bass jam, showcasing some of his great Gary Willis-inspired bass playing. 2. Gear: TC Electronic BG500 Combo Amps TC Electronic is introducing the...

Here’s a video of Chris Minh Doky sitting in with the Danish String Quartet, playing a beautiful Danish traditional called “I Skovens Dybe Stille Ro” which translates into “Tranquility of the Woods”.

John Ciambotti, bass player for the band Clover, passed away this week at the age of 67 from an abdominal aneurysm. Ciambotti and Clover backed up Elvis Costello on his debut album, My Aim is True, and reunited with him in 2007 to play the album live at fundraisers in San Francisco. He also found session work with artists including...

Here’s a video from the 1994 “Heineken Jazzaldia” event in Spain featuring Jeff Andrews taking a solo with the Mike Stern Band.

Korg has released the Micrometro, a compact clip-on metronome so you can keep time wherever you go. It uses 39 traditional pendulum settings to set the tempo between 40 and 208 beats per minute. It also has seven time signatures provided, as well as duplet, triplet, and quadruplet patterns. Volume is adjustable, and can be muted for practice with only...