Buzz

Jazz vocal group, Manhattan Transfer, is wrapping up their long-awaited new release, The Chick Corea Songbook, with the help of guest bassist Christian McBride. The release features vocal interpretations of popular songs from Corea’s vast library, including “Free Samba”, a new tune written for the album. Other guest musicians include Fred Hersch, Airto, Edsel Gomez, Lou Marini and Alex Acuna....

Bassist Chris Murphy, of the well-known Nova Scotia band Sloan, was hospitalized last week after being hit by a drunk driver. Murphy had been riding his bicycle. His injuries include a broken collarbone along with other collision damage. He’s been released from the hospital to rest, and he will require additional surgery later in the week. Sloan issued an optimistic...

Are you seeking a new way to get your music to fans or searching for new sources of online music? Jamendo may be exactly what you need. Jamendo is an online platform for free and legal music downloads. It offers the largest collection of music under Creative Commons licenses (a licensing model allowing artists to freely distribute their music and...

Here’s a nice one from the archives: bassist Sean Andrews‘s all-bass arrangement of the Beatles’ Strawberry Fields. Sean dedicated the arrangement to Mike Portnoy, saying “thanks for having us open for you on the Systematic Chaos tour!” Check out Sean’s Myspace page, indica trichome project [bass instrumentals].

How many times have you had a volume war during practice? Ever wish you could control the levels for each instrument? JamHub, “the silent rehearsal studio,” looks to give you that control. JamHub made it’s first appearance at this year’s Summer NAMM and is getting a lot of attention for good reason. Steve Skillings, JamHub inventor and CEO, says it...

Bassist Sebastiano Mereu (aka monsterbazz on Youtube) sent us this video featuring alekszmusic performing a remote collaboration of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition with him. Sebastiano shares: “After Aleks saw my Higher Ground cover, she told me that she is a huge Steve Wonder fan, and I took the initiative to ask her for a remote collab. Her singing is simply phenomenal,...

Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt has broken into fashion. He has been working with Macbeth footwear to design a shoe, the 45 RPM. The 45 RPM is completed vegan, all of the materials used in its creation are free of animal products. Dirnt is donating all royalties from sales to shoe charity Soles4Souls, the international shoe charity dedicated to providing...

Nick Lowe joined guitarist Ry Cooder as a bassist for his latest tour, which kicked off in June. The duo is planning to head to Australia. Lowe is best known for his songwriting efforts including (What’s so Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, Cruel to be Kind, and I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass. “I was very pleased [to...

Rich Brown: Lua

Bassist Rich Brown submitted this video to us, featuring his original composition for solo bass, “Lua”. As Rich describes it: “This new tune was written after spending many an evening gazing at the moon in it’s luminous splendor. A bit Metheny, a bit Gismonti, a bit Garrison.”

Bassist Ben Kenney of Incubus was recently interviewed by the Cleveland Scene. He talks about what everyone was up to during Incubus’s long hiatus and how they have matured as a band. Kenney joined Incubus in 2003 after playing with The Roots. From the interview: “It was the band’s choice to put out Monuments,” says Kenney. “We wanted to put...

You may remember earlier in the summer when Panic at the Disco split losing Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker. They have announced that bassist Dallon Weekes of The Brombecks will be joining them along with guitarist Ian Crawford. In a recent interview with MTV, Panic at the Disco said they were excited about the direction: ”… there was never...

Bassist Chris Morrissey has done an interview with CityPages, where he talks about his move to New York City and his latest album, The Morning World with the Chris Morrissey Quartet. You may know Morrissey from his work with Mason Jennings, Haley Bonar, Bill Mike Band, Tarlton, Ben Kweller on his “The Trio on the Train Track Tour” and Andrew...