News - Page 289

Rage Against the Machine’s Tim Commerford has introduced a new power trio called Wakrat. Filled out by drummer Mathias Wakrat and guitarist Laurent Grangeon, the punk and hardcore-influenced band is working on a debut album that is described as rooted in the Minutemen, Bad Brains, and Fugazi. The music is dark and very personal to Commerford, who wrote all the...

Music Complete is New Order’s first album that doesn’t feature the work of founding bassist Peter Hook. Tom Chapman, who played with New Order guitarist/vocalist Bernard Sumner in Bad Lieutenant and performed live with New Order since 2011, handles bass on the album. (Hook left in 2007). Keyboardist/guitarist Gillian Gilbert also plays on the album, her first with New Order...

David Hungate’s time in Toto has once again come to an end. The co-founding bassist returned to the fold in 2014 to help record and tour behind Toto XIV after 30 years away from the band, but a new statement explains road life took its toll. “There’s no place like home, particularly after four months on the road,” Hungate wrote....

Former Yellowjackets bassist Jimmy Haslip holds down the low end on Jeff Lorber Fusion’s latest album, Step It Up. It’s the fourth Jeff Lorber Fusion album since the group’s 2010 reboot to feature Haslip. Haslip co-produced the album with keyboardist Lorber, a longtime collaborator, and co-wrote some songs on the album as well. “We were motivated to find a new...

Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo’s documentary about legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, “JACO,” has a release date — Nov. 27. The film will be available as video on demand, streaming, as a digital download, and on DVD/Blu-ray. The film’s soundtrack, Jaco: Original Soundtrack will be released on the same day, which is Record Store Day and Black Friday. Trujillo, a longtime Pastorius...

Fourplay bandmates, keyboardist Bob James and bassist Nathan East, have released an album as a duo: The New Cool. The Nashville-recorded album featuring original tunes and some standards (even a take on “Crazy” featuring Vince Gill) is a whirlwind of delights from the bandmates of more than 20 years. East and James are particularly fond of the album closer, “Turbulence,”...

Even though bandleader Jerry Garcia passed away 20 years ago, The Grateful Dead, in the midst of celebrating its 50th anniversary, still has something special to give — part of its past. The four CD set, 30 Trips Around the Sun: The Definitive Live Story, serves as an introduction to the legendary live performances from the band, featuring stalwart founding...

Virtuoso bassist Christian McBride is well known for his residencies at New York City’s The Village Vanguard jazz club, where he has played as a bandleader since 1995. The club is a legendary one, and McBride acknowledges its history. “You feel Coltrane hovering in the vortex. You feel Monk hovering in the vortex. Miles Davis, Mingus… you feel all of...

Metal Allegiance’s self-titled debut album, featuring some prominent metal bassists, has arrived. The core group includes Megadeth bassist David Ellefson and songwriter/bassist Mark Menghi, drummer Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, The Winery Dogs) and guitarist Alex Skolnick (Testament). The metal supergroup pulled in some bass heavyweights for a little extra thunder. Rex Brown (Pantera/Kill Devil Hill) appears on the bass-heavy track...

The year of Rush vinyl reissues from the trio’s Mercury Records era continues with the two-LP live album from 1981, Exit… Stage Left. The album, recorded during the Moving Pictures tour, is an impressive live package from bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, drummer/lyricist Neil Peart, and guitarist Alex Lifeson, featuring “The Spirit of Radio,” “Closer to the Heart,” “The Trees,” “Freewill,” “Tom...

Guitarist John McLaughlin and his band the 4th Dimension, featuring Etienne Mbappe (solo, Ultramarine, Zawinul Syndicate) on bass. has released Black Light, an album of eight original tunes. According to McLaughlin, the album “has opened a portal that is neither jazz nor rock, nor Indian nor blues, and yet all of these: it’s an open door. ” Here’s a little...

David Gilmour, best known as guitarist/vocalist for legendary rock band Pink Floyd, has released his fourth solo album, Rattle That Lock, which he co-produced with Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera. Gilmour handles bass on four tracks, while Guy Pratt (session bassist and son-in-law of late Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright) plays on two and double bassist Chris Laurence on one....