Events - Page 19

A lot can be said about someone who has won an award that has only been given out twice, especially when the other winner was Jaco Pastorius. Nathan Watts, who has played in Stevie Wonder’s rhythm section for the last 36 years and has served as Stevie’s musical director for the last twelve, was awarded the International Bassist Award at...

The Manhattan School of Music and Let My Children Hear Music: The Charles Mingus Institute have come together again to announce the 2nd annual Charles Mingus Festival, to be held February 13 and 14 in NYC. Produced by Sue Mingus and Justin Dicioccio, the festival will include films, clinics, the hugely successful Charles Mingus High School Competition, and performances by...

If your dream is to become the next rock star, you might want to consider attending this year’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp in Los Angeles. The camp, now in its 12th year, allows musicians to jam with legendary rock stars and play major concert venues. This year, bassists Michael Anthony (Van Halen, Chickenfoot), Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), and Rudy Sarzo...

We’re still digging up videos from NAMM here and there… Here’s Michael Manring, playing his Signature Bass at the Zon booth during NAMM 2010. Crank up your speakers a little, the audio is a little light.

The new Red Ripper Fuzz for bass from Tech 21 is more than your ordinary distortion box. It actually responds to the dynamics of your touch, so if you play harder you get more fuzz and higher harmonics, and if you play softer you get less fuzz and enhanced lower harmonics. Very nice for dynamic contrast. The Red Ripper’s “R.I.P.”...

The massive line up for the three day Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has been announced, boasting over 120 performing artists. The headlining artists for each night are scheduled to be Jay-Z, Muse, and Gorillaz. Bass players will be happy to hear from the likes of Les Claypool, Them Crooked Vultures, Sly and the Family Stone, and many more....

Peavey has introduced two new basses guitars to their modern metal inspired PXD Series: the Tragic 4 and Void 4. Both the Tragic and Void are 4-string neck-through-body basses that feature an alder body, maple neck, and ebony fretboard. Both models also enjoy the incredible tonal control of Peavey VFL active pickups, which are the same proprietary electronics that Peavey...

Bryan Beller recently updated us on the next WesFest Benefit Concert, now in its fifth year. The concert is in honor of Wes Wehmiller, a Berklee grad and good friend of Beller who passed away in 2005 from thyroid cancer. Each year, the concert raises funds for a scholarship endowed in Wehmiller’s name at Berklee. The scholarship winner from the...

Another short but cool video from NAMM 2010… this time, Marcus Miller and Victor Bailey jam at the Fender booth.

Ampeg announced two new heads in their popular SVT-PRO Series, the SVT-7PRO and SVT-8PRO. Both heads are light-weight rack-mountable units designed to deliver high wattage and tonal flexibility. The SVT-7PRO is a compact head, weighing in at only 15 pounds. The head features a flexible 5-position mid tone control, remote switching FX loop, and an onboard variable compressor. The tube...

The ever busy Victor Wooten will be launching his first ever library tour around Los Angeles, California this week (the tour started yesterday and runs through the 23rd). Wooten will be performing for library goers and talking about his own book, The Music Lesson. Admission to the events is free. RSVP at the Los Angeles Music Network’s web site. Appearance...

Check out Victor Bailey and this impromptu jam with Sekou Bunch and Andrew “The Bullet” Lauer at the TecAmp booth during the NAMM 2010 show. Editor’s note: the original video featured here was removed by the author. Here’s a shorter clip of the same performance: