News - Page 323

Esperanza Spalding will be celebrating her birth month with a string of tour dates. The “Thank You October” tour will be a two-week outing focusing on the East Coast with a single Canadian show in Toronto. Spalding, who turns 30 this year, will get the party started at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, Connecticut before covering New England and heading...

It’s all about the rhythm for Rodney Whitaker, the double bassist and head of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University who has released his eighth album, . The record features five originals and six arrangements of others’ work. But in the latter case, even standards become new when a different kind of rhythm is employed, Whitaker says in a short...

Emmy-award winning composer and guitarist Brian Tarquin has gathered some “Heavy Friends” to create the album, , featuring instrumental music inspired by America’s soldiers. For the record, Tarquin, owner of Jungle Room Studios, called upon a host of metal guitarists, including bass player Billy Sheehan. Sheehan’s work is featured on the album’s opening track, “Black Hawk.” “I had a blast...

In a strange turn of events, rock supergroup Adrenaline Mob has announced that bassist John Moyer has been replaced by former Tantric bassist Erik Leonhardt. Moyer, who is also a member of Disturbed, left the group after confusion about the band’s recent tour announcement. Adrenaline Mob posted the news about their upcoming tour on social media, and Moyer posted on...

Wonderlush’s funk sound is in full display on the , which features five versions (the original and four remixes) of the song “Jam” from their upcoming debut album. Propelled by terrific grooves from one half of the duo, bassist Punk Pappa, “Jam” is quite the… jam. With sounds like these, it’s not surprising the group has opened for George Clinton...

Dirty Loops, the Swedish trio known for its wild cover versions of songs by Justin Bieber, Adele and Justin Timberlake, has released its first album, . The band is still somewhat amazed by its success, which led to the creation of the record, according to bassist Henrik Linder. “We thought the combination of fusion and pop was so unsexy that...

Jazz-fusion bass virtuoso Stanley Clarke’s latest is set to drop September 30. UP, from The Stanley Clarke Band, promises a blend of electric and acoustic bass work from the legendary Clarke. Clarke’s former bandmates, pianist/keyboardist Ruslan Sirota and drummer Ronald Bruner Jr. appear on the album being released by Mack Avenue Records, as do acoustic pianist Beka Gochiashivili and drummer...

After spending the summer on the festival circuit, The Wood Brothers have announced their own tour that will stretch from September through October. The Americana folk group will kick off their trek at the WorkPlay Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama and spend the two-month outing focusing on the Southeast and Midwest United States. The Wood Brothers is based on the duo...

Phish is continuing their tour in support of their latest release, Fuego, which dropped in June. Their fall tour dates will take them to the West Coast starting in Eugene, Oregon at the Matthew Knight Arena. The outing will also include dates in Washington, Nevada, and California with 3-night residencies at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and the MGM Grand...

Mr. Big has kept the reunion of its original lineup going and announced it will release a new album in September. Featuring Billy Sheehan on bass, the new album, …The Stories We Could Tell, debuts on September 23. The rest of the classic Mr. Big lineup — the one that produced the band’s massive early 1990s hit, “To Be With...

Famed drummer Simon Phillips, known for his work as both a session player and in Toto, has released his first solo project in 14 years — the jazz/rock/fusion instrumental , featuring Ernest Tibbs on bass. Tibbs is a renowned session player (David Benoit, David Garfield, Pat Kelley and Kevin Toney) who also teaches at the Musician’s Institute. Phillips says he...

Double bassist George Mraz, known for his work with a slew of jazz greats (Oscar Peterson, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, and Carmen McRae, just to name a few) has lent his talents to pianist Yelena Eckemoff’s latest, . The album, which is attributed to the Yelena Eckemoff Quartet, is the first to feature Eckemoff...