New Albums - Page 184

Dan Briggs and his new group Trioscapes have released their debut album, Separate Realities on Metal Blade Records. Originally started to do a one-off show of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Celestial Terrestrial Commuters, the sax/bass/drums trio brings together elements of prog rock, metal and jazz. Briggs, who lays down the low end for the prog metal outfit Between the Buried and...

Kill Devil Hill’s long awaited self-titled debut is now available from SPV/Steamhammer. The band, comprised of ex-Pantera/Down bassist Rex Brown, drummer Vinny Appice, guitarist Mark Savon and vocalist Jason “Dewey” Bragg finalized its lineup in March of 2011 with the addition of Brown. “Vinny is a brilliant drummer, and of course, I was immediately interested when he asked me whether...

John Mayer has returned with Born and Raised, his first album since 2009 as well as his infamous 2010 Playboy interview that put him in the media doghouse. Taking a page from folk rock from the ’70s, Mayer channels the spirit of singer-songwriters like Neil Young with rich acoustic guitars and harmonica throughout. The album is underpinned by bassist Sean...

Bassist/composer Linda Oh follows up her 2009 debut with her second solo effort, Initial Here, an eclectic blend of music as diverse as the bassist’s background. Oh was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents and was raised in Western Australia. Her cultural heritage is what she draws upon for Initial Here. Her early musical training was in classical bassoon, and...

Following up to their Grammy winning debut album, Revelator, the husband-wife led Tedeschi Trucks Band releases Live – Everybody’s Talkin’ today. Anchored by bassist Oteil Burbridge, the 11-piece group performs tunes from Revelator with some added twists, plus some covers of tunes by Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Bill Withers, Joe Cocker and others. A new tune, “Nobody’s Free”, also makes...

Bassist John Carey has released his newest solo effort, Oh So Funky, an album full of music by The Meters. Summoning the spirit of George Porter’s playing, Carey recruited a top-notch band for the project including drummer Anton Fig, guitarist Oz Noy, and Andy Narell on steelpans, who fills the original role of organ. Late Show bassist Will Lee also...

ALO describes their latest album, Sounds Like This, as a “swing back” to their older sound. Anchored by Steve Adams’ thick yet bubbly bass work, the album presents an upbeat jam vibe while mixing rock and funky beats. Besides going into the studio without set songs, Sounds Like This was recorded in the band’s hometown of San Francisco, which Adams...

After working together for nearly 50 years, pianist Steve Kuhn and bassist Steve Swallow have teamed up once again for Wisteria, an 11-track collection, rounded out by drummer Joey Baron. The album’s title is taken from the name of a song by Art Farmer, whom Kuhn and Swallow both worked for in the ’60s. On Wisteria, Swallow’s rich electric bass...

Jazz bassist Eddie Gomez has released Per Sempre, a new album with his quintet. Recorded in Bologna, Italy during his 2009 tour, the album features original compositions by his band as well as an inventive version of the jazz standard “Stella by Starlight.” Drawing on his varying experiences, Gomez’s refined arco work blends beautifully with the timbres of the horns...

NOFX has released 126 Inches of NOFX, a special box set containing 18 of the band’s classic 7? vinyls. Containing 82 songs, the collection is filled with limited and formerly out of print titles as well as previously unreleased material. The box set is limited to 1,792 copies, and all of the vinyl will be colored gold. The band, fronted...

Solo bassist Simon Little has released his third album, [un]plugged. Taking a step in a new direction, Little recorded the album on an acoustic bass guitar. “The entire album features my new Breedlove acoustic bass with minimal effects from my Line 6 Pod X3 Pro and Lexicon MPX G2,” the bassist explains. “Each track is a live solo improvisation using...

Italian jazz bassist Andrea Veneziani has made his solo debut with Oltreoceano, a 10-track album featuring drummer Ross Pederson and renowned pianist Kenny Werner. The trio performs a version the Bill Evans classic “Time Remembered”, and their musical dialogue throughout the record is influenced by the late pianist’s work. “It’s really about interplay,” Veneziani says. “I had listened to a...