News - Page 256

Hoping to fly with your bass in tow? The U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled that traveling musicians can place their instruments in overhead bins, if there’s space available, and if not, a second seat may be purchased for an instrument. Additionally, the DOT offers this advice: “Because the rule does not require that musical instruments be given priority over...

Led Zeppelin marked the 40th anniversary of its double album Physical Graffiti with the release of deluxe and super-deluxe versions of the 16x platinum record, originally released Feb. 24, 1975. The release is also part of the band’s campaign of reissuing its albums in remastered packages featuring previously unreleased companion audio. Certain packages also contain hardback books about their albums...

1975 was quite a year for Rush, which released two albums, both of which have been newly remastered and re-released this year on vinyl. The first, Fly By Night, was reissued in January, and now the second album from 1975, Caress of Steel, has been given the star treatment. The original analog masters of the album from the Canadian trio...

JJ Grey and Mofro’s latest, Ol’ Glory, shows off the Southern band’s mix blues, rock, folk, funk, gospel, and R&B. Featuring Todd Smallie on bass, the band churns out a phenomenal groove. The 12-song set, recorded at Retrophonics Studio in St. Augustine, Florida, also includes work from guests Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) on dobro and electric slide guitar and...

Imagine Dragons’s sophomore effort, Smoke + Mirrors is already generating heat with the single “I Bet My Life.” Britain’s Q Magazine has already given the album high marks — four stars — and compared the Las Vegas band’s vibe to that of “Songs From the Big Chair”-era Tears for Fears. It says the album is a “modern pop-rock gem.” Other...

Double bassist Ben Wolfe has worked alongside some of the jazz world’s biggest names, including Wynton Marsalis and Diana Krall. And as he’s done so, he has also forged his own impressive path as a player, composer and bandleader. His latest recorded effort sees him heading up a quartet on The Whisperer. The record features him, Orrin Evans on piano,...

Foo Fighters’ bassist Nate Mendel is hitting the road alone this spring. He’s touring to promote the release of If We Kill This Thing We’re All Going to Eat for a Week by his solo side project, Lieutenant. The album comes out on March 10 and Mendel’s first Lieutenant date is March 18 at SXSW in Austin. Mendel is the...

Bassist Greg Christian, following his second departure from thrash metal band Testament, has formed the core of a new band. Christian, who was an original member of Testament and left the band in 1996 and returned in 2004 only to step away 10 years later, has joined forces with guitarist Artak Ozan of Kinnefret, and according to Blabbermouth, is looking...

A fan’s handheld video, combined with audio and newly created animations, brings to life two previously unreleased June 1978 Boston Music Hall performances by Bob Marley & The Wailers. The CD/DVD package called Easy Skanking in Boston ’78 is being released in celebration of the late Marley’s 70th birthday year and the 1978 band, of course, features Aston “Family Man”...

A whole slew of Rush albums are being reissued vinyl in commemoration of the band’s more than four decades of music making, and now the Canadian trio featuring bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee will continue the celebrations with the R40 Live Tour. The tour, which begins May 8, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will visit 34 North American cities. The tour came together despite...

Johan Hansén-Larson can be considered a regular here at No Treble, with several of his videos being featured here over the years. Now, the Swedish bassist can be heard at length on the Kristian Persson Elements jazz album, Let It Go. Cormac Larkin of the Irish Times says “Funk and soul are the main references in Persson’s hot, big-hearted sound,...

Ray Brown’s work as a double bassist was incomparable, and a new book of transcriptions from Hal Leonard pays tribute to him. An 80-page paperback, features 18 transcriptions, photos, performance notes and a forward by contemporary jazz virtuoso Christian McBride. While Brown is best known for his work with Oscar Peterson, he also played with Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah...