Buzz

The Detroit International Jazz Festival turns 30 this year, and to celebrate, has named renowned bassist, composer and arranger John Clayton as Artist-in-Residence. As a central part of his residency, Clayton has been commissioned to create a piece honoring the contributions of the Jones brothers (Hank, Thad and Elvin) to the world of jazz. The festival has been subtitled “Keepin’...

Les Claypool Releases “Of Fungi and Foe”

Les Claypool‘s album Of Fungi and Foe is a collection of songs inspired by the projects the bassist has been involved in over the past few years. Since Claypool’s last album, the 2006 Of Whales and Woes, he’s been scoring films and video games, and touring. Claypool shares how the project came to be: “Sometime back I was commissioned to...

Return to Forever, the jazz fusion super group featuring Stanley Clarke on bass, Chick Corea on keyboards, Al Di Meola on guitar and Lenny White on drums, has released a live album, Returns. The 2-disc CD release was recorded during their first tour in 25 years reunion tour, at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival. Disc 1: Opening Prayer Hymn Of...

Nails bassist George Kaufman has passed away at the age of 58, following aneurysm surgery. A memorial service was held on Thursday in Yonkers, NY. Kaufman’s band, The Nails, released two albums in the 80s, including the hit “88 Lines about 44 Women”. He was also a music teacher and owner of Supreme Sound Engineering, a company producing sound modules...

Today’s featured bassist is Wester Désamours, hailing from northern Haiti, and our newest Facebook friend. At the age of five, Wester made his own guitar out of an oil drum, some wood and nylon strings. Since 2003, Wester has been studying music, composing and recording his debut album First Step. Check out Wester’s web site at www.westerbasla.com.

Paul McCartney Teaches You How to Play the Bass

In a promotional video for his latest album, Paul McCartney shows his playing technique in a brief instructional video covering bass, guitar and drums. This video doesn’t cover more advanced “fiddly bits”, but is fun to watch:

Michael Dimin is releasing his second volume of his Chordal Approach series of bass instruction books. The Art of Solo Bass goes on sale this month, by Mel Bay Publications. Mike told us via email, “The Art of Solo Bass covers using chords to enhance your already ‘happenin’ bass line, using chords in a comping style and developing a chord...

We’re finally getting around to being more social. So if you’re inclined, we’d love to meet you on Facebook. If Myspace is your thing, we’re there too. And if you do Twitter, you know what to do. More importantly, we want to hear from you. Shoot us a note on any of the above sites, or through our contact form....

Adam Nitti has signed on to endorse Aguilar Amps, selecting the DB 750, two DB 410 cabinets and a Tone Hammer preamp/D.I. as his rig for live performances, and the AG500 and DB112 cabinets for studio use. “The DB750 is one of the most musical pieces of bass gear I have ever played through. Combined with my DB410 cabinets, this...

Today’s featured vid showcases the only and only Gary Willis doing his thing in a live performance with Tribal Tech.

Fourplay, a jazz supergroup formed by Nathan East on bass, Bob James on keyboards, Larry Carlton on guitar, and Harvey Mason on drums have released a new DVD, Live in Capetown. The DVD showcases a live performance in Cape Town during the band’s 2005 tour. Songs include: Galaxia, Chant, Blues Force, 101 Eastbound, Journey, Tally Ho, Amazing Grace, Max-O-Man, Bali...

In a recent interview with Washington State’s Legacy Project (via Seattle Post-Intelligencer), former Nirvana bassman Krist Novoselic ended any hope for new Nirvana releases. While Novoselic said there are no more unreleased tunes, he did say there’s “a lot of video”, and that he and Courtney Love (the widow of Nirvana’s front man, Kurt Cobain) are on good terms again....