News - Page 294

Duran Duran, famed for its 80s pop stardom, 90s resurgence, and love of art rock and Chic, has released its 14th studio album, Paper Gods. Bassist John Taylor told San Francisco’s Radio Alice that the album’s title refers to the “temporary obsessions” most people are guilty of indulging. He also said that work on the record began two years ago,...

One of the greatest metal bands of all time will finally come to an end next year. Black Sabbath have announced “The End Tour”, a worldwide farewell tour that they say will be their final performances ever. The band, which reformed with its original members in 2011, is also rumored to release their 20th and final album next year. Black...

Bassist and bass transcriptionist Aidan Hampson has assembled quite a series of bass transcription books, many of which include some of the most notable, but sometimes un-transcribed, bass lines in popular music. The downloadable, PDF titles, released by Guitar Music Publishing, focus on a wide range of artists, including Stevie Wonder, ABBA, Foo Fighters, and Michael Jackson, with the bass...

If you were hoping to see one of the shows Mastodon cancelled earlier this year due to an undisclosed family matter, you’re in luck. The progressive metal band has added some dates to its The Missing Link tour schedule, which sees the band, featuring bassist/singer Troy Sanders, playing dates with Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity. Mastodon will also open dates...

Legendary thrash metal band Slayer has released its eleventh studio album, Repentless. According to bassist and vocalist Tom Araya some material for the album was written prior to the May 2013 death of band co-founder and co-guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Gary Holt (Exodus) started playing with Slayer back in 2011 and handled guitar parts on Repentless. With the loss of Hanneman,...

Punk/rockabilly/blues band The Legendary Shack Shakers has returned with The Southern Surreal, the band’s first album since 2010’s AgriDustrial. Co-produced by the group’s double bassist and co-founder Mark Robertson, the record with a Southern gothic theme features contributions from actor Billy Bob Thornton (who pens a song) and Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison. Check out “Mud” from The Southern Surreal:...

Music from two concerts held in early 2015 in Germany to honor jazz bassist Eberhard Weber (Jan Garbarek, Colours, Kate Bush) – featuring Scott Colley (once a private student of the late Charlie Haden) on double bass and onetime Weber collaborator Pat Metheny on guitar – has been captured on the live recording, Hommage à Eberhard Weber. Each concert revolved...

Jazz pianist/composer Orrin Evans has teamed with Grammy-winning virtuoso bassist Christian McBride on his latest record, The Evolution of Oneself. Evans says the album, recorded live in the studio, directly acknowledges things and people that opened his eyes and made him evolve as a person and artist. It also includes surprising elements, such as three versions of the jazz standard...

Double bass virtuosos Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer are teaming up for a duo tour this October. The tour begins in Edmonds, Washington at the Edmonds Center for the Arts before bouncing around the country over seven dates including several college appearances. The final performance is slated for October 30th at Emerson University’s Schwartz Center for the Arts in Atlanta,...

Acid jazz band Incognito celebrated its 35th anniversary with a 2014 performance in London at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. That show is now available on record as Live In London — 35th Anniversary Show. Featuring the tremendous Francis Hylton (Afro Celt Sound System, Gianna Nannini) on bass, the two-disc set ranges across the band’s long history and includes favorites...

The personnel of Brand X ebbed and flowed over the years for the jazz fusion band. Famed drummer and vocalist Phil Collins was often a member, and one of the more stalwart presences in the both the band’s mid-1970s-to-1980 and 1992-99 incarnations was bassist Percy Jones (Tunnels, ex-Soft Machine) who appears on a new Official Bootleg Series Release, Brand X:...

Prolific bass and guitar transcriptionist Steve Gorenberg (he’s written transcriptions of work by Iron Maiden, Boston, The Rolling Stones, Queen and more) also uses his talents for a different kind of instruction — warm-up exercises. His book, Warm-Up Exercises for Bass Guitar, provides players with a slew of stretches, coordination exercises, pentatonic scales, major and minor scales, and arpeggios. The...