News - Page 245

Welsh singer/songwriter Judith Owen is teaming up again with bass legend Leland Sklar for a handful of U.S. tour dates. Dubbed the “After Party” Tour, the trek will see the duo performing at theaters in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York during mid-September. Sklar has been playing with Owen since recording her album Ebb & Flow last...

Newly unearthed modern jazz recordings from a Nov. 14, 1958 Hamburg, Germany performance by Oscar Pettiford Quartet have been released on the collection, We Get the Message. Pettiford, a highly influential double bassist/cellist, was known for saying that the center of his work was “to pass on the message.” Sadly, he was able to do so for only so long...

Joe Satriani’s 15th album, Shockwave Supernova, sees the guitar great not only try on an outlandish alter ego, but also features a world-class band — bassist Bryan Beller (Dethklok, Steve Vai, Dweezil Zappa, The Aristocrats), keyboardist/guitarist Mike Keneally, and drummer Marco Minnemann. “I couldn’t have asked for a better band to help bring these songs to life,” Satriani said. According...

Progressive metal band Symphony X has released its ninth studio album, Underworld. With bassist Michael LePond (Affector, Rattlebone, Mike Bino Project) holding down the low end, the album takes its inspiration from the classic Dante poem the “Divine Comedy,” particularly its “Inferno,” as well as the ancient Orpheus myth, said Symphony X guitarist and songwriter Michael Romeo. “So there’s the...

Although Roger Waters released Amused to Death in 1992, its look at an entertainment-obsessed society still rings true, which helps make the remastered version of the album even more powerful. The record, featuring a slew of bassists (Waters, John Patitucci, Guo Yi, Tim Pierce, John Pierce, Randy Jackson, and Jimmy Johnson) has been given a new 5.1 surround sound remix...

Latin jazz bassist John Benítez has launched a new set of instructional books focused on his own bass method. The John Benítez Bass Method Volume 1:- Freedom In The Clave: A Rhythmic Approach To Bass Playing focuses on strengthening your rhythmic confidence with a set of rhythmic independence exercises over a clave. Written with Ian Stewart, the book aims bolster...

Darren Michaels has released Seasons, a 10-song collection that delves into the bassist’s singer/songwriter style. The album, which is his first full-length solo project in seven years, showcases his lyrics and creative bass playing with thought-provoking lyrics, altered tunings, and a chordal approach to the the bass. Michaels utilized an arsenal of three basses to record the whole album, one...

Legendary funk/soul/R&B/rock band Sly & the Family Stone was energetic and on the rise in 1968, with two albums — Dance to the Music and Life — already behind them. Live At The Fillmore East October 4th & 5th, 1968, captures the sound of a great band with an incomparable electric bassist — Larry Graham, who went on to create...

The sound of reggae/rock band Sublime remains alive via its bassist, Eric Wilson, through the band Sublime With Rome. Wilson is the only Sublime member currently in the group, which has released its second album, Sirens. The album is being billed as a return to the band’s roots, with a rawer sound like that of the original band. See if...

Almost four hours of previously unreleased live music by legendary jazz trumpeter/composer Miles Davis and the musicians he chose to play with over the course of 20 years are featured on Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4. The four-CD collection includes performances by Davis and his bands from 1955, 1958, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, and...

A new documentary film offers an inside perspective on The Police, from the stellar rock band’s formation, through its rise to fame, breakup and reunion. No — the up-close perspective doesn’t come from Sting, the band’s famed bassist and primary songwriter who went on to forge a highly successful solo career – but from guitarist Andy Summers. The movie, Can’t...

Between the Buried and Me’s seventh album, Coma Ecliptic, is a full-on rock opera, according to Dan Briggs, bassist and songwriter for the progressive metal group. As he told Metal Insider, “Roughly, it’s a story about a guy who’s in a self-induced coma and ends up traversing these different worlds that manifests themselves over the course of three different songs...