News - Page 219

George Speed has been performing Vivaldi sonatas for several years, and now he’s released an album of them. The Oklahoma City Philharmonic principal bassist performs all six of the Italian baroque composer’s works for cello in arrangements for double bass and piano. Speed has a clear, beautiful tone on the recordings, which also feature lush accompaniment by pianist Se-Hee Jin....

Parquet Courts has announced a new batch of tour dates for the winter in support of their new album, Wide Awake. After wrapping up the festival circuit, the band will head to Europe in November. The new dates range begin November 30th at Spirit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and wrap up December 8th at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City....

Grateful Dead fans will want to check out the new tour from Bob Weir and Wolf Bros, a new trio featuring the Dead guitarist alongside former Primus drummer Jay Lane and bassist Don Was of Was (Not Was). Was, who is also a prolific music producer and the current president of Blue Note Records, helped to kick-start the project. “Wolf...

In what promises to be one of the best books of the year, Harper Collins has announced they will be publishing Geddy Lee’s Big Book of Beautiful Bass this December. The Rush bassist will chronicle his personal collection of basses that range from the 1950s to the 1980s with commentary on each piece. “It’s not surprising that sooner or later...

All-star prog rock group Sons of Apollo has canceled the remainder of its summer festival appearances. The band, anchored by Billy Sheehan on a doubleneck bass, made the announcement on Facebook. “Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, Sons Of Apollo regretfully has had to cancel all remaining Summer Festival appearances at Wacken Open Air and Prog In Park II,”...

The genre-bending bluegrass band Punch Brothers is back with All Ashore, an album that mandolinist describes as “a meditation on committed relationships in the present day, particularly in the present climate.” “We were hoping to create something that would be convincing as a complete thought, in this case as a nine-movement, or nine-piece, thought,” he adds. “Though it’s rangy in...

The Wood Brothers have been on tour for most of 2018, and they’re not showing any signs of slowing down. They’ve just tacked on more dates to their fall tour that will take them into January 2019. The newly announced dates kick off November 9th in Ithaca, New York before jumping down to Texas and working up into Colorado. They...

Rise Against has reimagined parts of their catalog with a new release called The Ghost Note Symphonies, Vol. 1. The compilation album features songs from their albums Wolves, Appeal to Reason, The Unraveling, Revolutions per Minute, and Endgame with acoustic or alternative instrumentation. It is, of course, anchored by bassist Joe Principe, who takes up the acoustic-electric bass guitar for...

Wayne Kramer’s MC5 tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of Kick Out the Jams has gotten a bit of a shakeup. Fronted by Kramer, the band was scheduled to be filled out with King’s X bassist Dug Pinnick, but he’s left the tour. Faith No More’s Billy Gould will now fill in on the entire outing. Pinnick commented on the switch...

Trip Wamsley has released Shibboleth, a new solo album featuring three drummers alongside the bassist performing everything else. “Shibboleth” is defined as “a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning.” “Does it meaning anything?” Wamsley asks. “Is it realistic or unrealistic that it will be...

Bassist Darryl Anders and AgapéSoul have released their long-awaited sophomore album, Conversations. Similar to their first album, the modern soul band dishes out beautiful melodies and lush harmonies held together by Anders’ rich bass tone. This time around they called upon some fantastic guest artists including Tommy Sims, Geoffrey Williams, Eric Gales, Paul Jackson Jr., and members of Snarky Puppy....

The Violent Femmes have announced a new set of fall tour dates. Starting October 26th at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the trio will visit New York, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, and Michigan during the trek. The band is, of course, driven in part by the unmistakable acoustic bass guitar of Brian Ritchie. Check out this performance of their...