News - Page 406

The lineup for the 2011 Montreux Jazz Festival has been announced, and it will be a solid year for bass lovers. A few of the bassists set to perform include Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding, Larry Graham, Bootsy Collins, Christian McBride, Richard Bona and Marcus Miller, who will be performing as part of a tribute to Miles Davis. The fest is...

Hal Leonard’s latest book in their Music Pro Guides series is Rockin’ Your Stage Sound: A Musician’s Guide to Professional Live Audio, a step-by-step guide to improving your stage sound. The book, penned by professional live-sound engineer Rob Gainey, features over 170 stage tips, including 100 tops from players in nationally recognized acts. Topics including microphones and miking technique, monitor...

Harriet Tubman, the group formed in 1998 by bassist Melvin Gibbs, guitarist Brandon Ross and drummer J.T. Lewis has released their latest effort, entitled . The album, recorded live in 2000, is an interpretation of John Coltrane’s 1966 release of the same name. True to form, the group pushes the musical boundaries with this release, expanding to a “Double Trio”...

Bassist Bakithi Kumalo will be joining Paul Simon once again for a global tour in support of the new album So Beautiful or So What. The trek will take them from coast to coast in the U.S. before heading to Europe in June. Kumalo and Simon first worked together when the singer recruited a band for his classic album, Graceland....

Bassist Trip Wamsley shared on his Facebook page that Legoland Empire has released Guard the Point, a new 4-track EP on Bandcamp. Wamsley, whose playing on the album ranges from funky grooves to gnarly distorted riffs, describes the album as masterminded by former Wild Cherry bassist Allen Wentz. The group also includes Neil Alexander on keys and guitarist Rob Michael....

Duff McKagan‘s side project, Loaded, has just released their latest album, The Taking, the group’s third studio effort and the follow up to the 2009 release, Sick. The album was recorded in August, 2010 with veteran producer Terry Date (Pantera, Slipknot and others), and features newcomer Isaac Carpenter on drums. The former Guns ‘N Roses bassist/cofounder had a busy 2010,...

Bassist/composer Ben Allison has released his tenth album as a bandleader, entitled Action-Refraction. The disc features Allison’s takes on songs by his favorite artists, including PJ Harvey, Donny Hathaway, Thelonious Monk, Neil Young, Samuel Barber and Roger Nichols. This is a new approach for the composer as only one of the tracks, Broken, is an original. The idea for the...

Jazz bassist Rufus Reid has teamed up once again with pianist Steve Allee and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca for Hues of a Different Blue, a 14-track album that also features the talents of saxophonists JD Allen and Bobby Watson, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, and Brazilian guitarist Toninho Horta. The songs are a nice combination of Reid’s originals with standards mixed in,...

Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band has released their fifth album, That’s How We Roll, on Telarc International. The collection has the 18-piece band showcasing 9 new original tracks from band leader Goodwin, as well as his arrangement of the classic Gershwin tune, “Rhapsody in Blue.” Bassist Rick Shaw holds down the low end throughout the album with the exception of...

Cherry Lane Music has published a new series by Danny Gill, focusing on the music of Metallica. Metallica: Classic Songs for Bass is a book/DVD package, featuring note-for-note transcriptions of eight Metallica tunes. The book includes both standard notation and tab. The DVD includes instruction by Gill, demonstrating many bass lines from the song (run time: 1 hour, 24 minutes)....

A new album, entitled Jazz for Japan, has been released on iTunes, with proceeds going to the International Red Cross in Japan in an effort to benefit Japan’s earthquake and tsunami victims. The project, which was recorded in merely two days last week, features a who’s who of the jazz community, especially jazz bassists. Low-end contributors include Marcus Miller, Christian...

Earth, Wind and Fire is celebrating their 40th anniversary with an extensive world tour. Originally formed in 1971, the group has released 23 albums, selling over 90 million copies worldwide. The band’s current lineup features three of the founding members including bassist Verdine White, whose on-stage persona and bass lines inspired an entire generation of bassists. With a few international...