Buzz

In a performance from the North Sea Jazz Festival back in 1992, when the festival was in The Hague, Holland, here’s the Yellowjackets with Jimmy Haslip performing the lovely “Claire’s Song”:

Asia, the supergroup formed in 1981 by members of Yes, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Uriah Heep, has released their latest album, Omega. The four original Asia members, vocalist/bassist John Wetton, keyboardist Geoffrey Downes, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Carl Palmer, reunited for the first time in 23 years in 2006, resulting in successful world tours, the live...

Stanley Clarke has announced that he will release a new album under the title The Stanley Clarke Band on June 15, 2010. This will be the jazz legend’s 28th solo record. Joining Clarke on the album will be Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara, keyboardist Ruslan Sirota, and drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr. Hiromi also appeared on Clarke’s last release, Jazz in the...

Q: What scales are best to know for improvising and how can I go about trying to memorize them? A: Although it is important to learn your major and minor scales as well as all of the others (melodic minor, harmonic minor, blues scale, etc.), I’ve found that scales don’t really help me at all. I also find that guys...

Here’s an excerpt from Mel Brown’s original tune “Mr. Coltrane” which is based around the chord changes of John Coltrane’s legendary song “Giant Steps”. Watch for the very melodic slap bass solo.

R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills will be among those playing a memorial concert to pay tribute to Alex Chilton, who passed away earlier this year. Mills cites Chilton, who sang for the influential 70’s band The Box Tops and Big Star, as a main influence. Chilton died of a heart attack, just before he was heading to Austin, Texas for the...

Reader Spotlight: Thomson Kneeland

Meet Thomson Kneeland, our bassist in the spotlight for May 4, 2010. Bio: Acoustic bassist and composer Thomson Kneeland has established himself as a formidable sideman and leader since moving to New York City in 2003. He quickly found himself working with such established musicians as Ted Rosenthal, Kenny Werner, Billy Drummond, Lynne Arriale, Paul Bollenback, Peter Leitch, Jed Levy,...

Wow! This is the record I was hoping for: John McLaughlin letting rip within a band context. To The One is a passionate sonic blast. McLaughlin, bassist Etienne Mbappe, and drummers Mark Mondesir and Gary Husband set up in one room on the studio for a live recording with keyboard added by Husband. McLaughlin is now playing with musicians who...

Lately, my attention has been brought to a couple of Swedish bands which have then inspired me quite a bit. Via Ste’s playalong, I discovered The Flower Kings, and from there I stumbled upon the Mats & Morgan Band. This is the Mats & Morgan Band playing their tune “Hollmervalsen (Hollmer’s Waltz)” which is dedicated to Lars Hollmer of the...

Alice in Chains, Deftones, and Mastodon are all teaming up for a newly announced fall 2010 trek entitled the “BlackDiamondSkye” Tour. The three bands will make their way across North America in support of each of their newest albums from which the tour name was derived: Alice in Chains’ Black Gives Way to Blue, Deftones’ new Diamond Eyes, and Mastodon’s...

I took my 6-string to have the nut adjusted recently and I was talking to the guitar tech about adjusting the action to make the bass more playable around the middle to high register. He looked at me and said, “Be honest, how often to you play up there?” “All the time” I said, “I’m a solo player, I play...

What’s better than one bass? How about four basses! Here’s The Bass Gang, a double bass quartet performing “A Night In Tunisia”, live in Vilnius in September 2008.