News - Page 369

The Detroit International Jazz Festival turns 30 this year, and to celebrate, has named renowned bassist, composer and arranger John Clayton as Artist-in-Residence. As a central part of his residency, Clayton has been commissioned to create a piece honoring the contributions of the Jones brothers (Hank, Thad and Elvin) to the world of jazz. The festival has been subtitled “Keepin’...

Les Claypool‘s album Of Fungi and Foe is a collection of songs inspired by the projects the bassist has been involved in over the past few years. Since Claypool’s last album, the 2006 Of Whales and Woes, he’s been scoring films and video games, and touring. Claypool shares how the project came to be: “Sometime back I was commissioned to...

Return to Forever, the jazz fusion super group featuring Stanley Clarke on bass, Chick Corea on keyboards, Al Di Meola on guitar and Lenny White on drums, has released a live album, Returns. The 2-disc CD release was recorded during their first tour in 25 years reunion tour, at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival. Disc 1: Opening Prayer Hymn Of...

Michael Dimin is releasing his second volume of his Chordal Approach series of bass instruction books. The Art of Solo Bass goes on sale this month, by Mel Bay Publications. Mike told us via email, “The Art of Solo Bass covers using chords to enhance your already ‘happenin’ bass line, using chords in a comping style and developing a chord...

We’re finally getting around to being more social. So if you’re inclined, we’d love to meet you on Facebook. If Myspace is your thing, we’re there too. And if you do Twitter, you know what to do. More importantly, we want to hear from you. Shoot us a note on any of the above sites, or through our contact form....

Fourplay, a jazz supergroup formed by Nathan East on bass, Bob James on keyboards, Larry Carlton on guitar, and Harvey Mason on drums have released a new DVD, Live in Capetown. The DVD showcases a live performance in Cape Town during the band’s 2005 tour. Songs include: Galaxia, Chant, Blues Force, 101 Eastbound, Journey, Tally Ho, Amazing Grace, Max-O-Man, Bali...

One of our favorite bassists for lessons and awesome videos, MarloweDK (Thomas Risell), has been shut down by YouTube. We’re really bummed. Almost as bummed as the man himself: ARGGGRRRR!! MY YOUTUBE ACCOUNT IS CLOSED!! ON COPYRIGHT ISSUES (my play-alongs), most of my videos were hosted there and are not available right now BUT DON’T DISPAIR! I still have the...

As we reported earlier, the new Jaco Pastorius Community Center opened on March 5, 2009. Here’s a video of the event, with some photo slideshow at the end: Kudos to the people of Oakland Park.

During the Grammy Awards, Blink-182 announced they are reuniting. In a recent interview, bassist Mark Hoppus added “all of our energy is going into Blink-182. This isn’t a temporary thing. When I hear a band is doing a reunion, it just sounds fake to me, and that’s not how we are with this. Everybody’s putting 100 percent of their effort...

Here’s the latest tour info for indie bassist Matthew Garrison, through June, 2009, when he’ll be in the U.S. Mar 28 2009 at 8:00PM in Milano, Italy Blue Note – Milano, Italy with Pino Daniele Mar 29 2009 at 8:00PM in Milano, Italy Blue Note – Milano, Italy with Pino Daniele Apr 1 2009 at 8:00PM Blue Note – Milano,...

Hartke is promoting a contest to win one of one of six Hartke HyDrive rigs, now endorsed by Victor Wooten. Each prize winner will receive Victor’s set up: the LH1000 Bass Amplifier with HyDrive 410 and 115 cabinets (retail value of $2,000). Enter here. And good luck.

What’s a new album without t-shirts? Duff McKagan (Guns ‘N Roses, Velvet Revolver) is promoting his latest project, Duff McKagan’s Loaded, and their upcoming album release with a t-shirt design contest. As recently announced via the band’s Myspace page, submissions can be sent to [email protected] and they’ll choose a winner “as soon as [they] find the ‘one’“. The blurb promises...