News - Page 417

A new album featuring a bassist, producer, composer Marcus Miller is scheduled for release in early 2011. A Night In Monte-Carlo, recorded in 2008, is a unique-sounding record featuring songs composed and/or arranged by Miller, for a concert commissioned in Monaco. On the recording, Miller leads his quartet and is backed by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. Special guests include trumpeter...

A 1960 Fender Precision bass belonging to the late Bill Black is being sold at the Heritage Auctions Beverly Hills Signature Music & Entertainment Auction, to be held November 13th and 14th. Black, who passed away in 1965, is best known as Elvis Presley’s original bassist, playing with the icon through the 1950s. Black was also a pioneer of Rockabilly,...

Sometimes really great bass playing flies under the radar and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Here is a round up of some indie albums that you may have missed. Artist: Dangered Ace Album: GoTenGo Genre: Hard Rock Bassist: Paul Ranieri The Scoop: Describing themselves as playing the “essence of big band through the power of heavy rock,” Dangered Ace...

Backbeat Books has released The Funky Bass Book, compiled and edited by former Bass Player magazine editor Bill Leigh. The 256 page book offers a huge collection of “funked-up wisdom and inspiration”, tracing back to the pioneers of R&B, soul and funk, to the latest hop-hop, neo-soul and Gospel. The book’s forward is by Bootsy Collins. The Funky Bass Book‘s...

A new documentary called The Redding Experience, featuring the late Noel Redding, is set for a December 6 release date, according to antimusic.com. The DVD will include a never before seen interview with the bassist, who was part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, filmed in 1988 in his home in Ireland. During the interview, Redding opens up about his time...

Hal Leonard has released Volume 18 of their Bass Play-Along series. Blues Rock is a 72 page, 8 song book featuring tab and CD tracks for each classic blues tune. The melody and lyrics for each tune are also included. The CD includes audio with and without bass, so you can hear the bassline first, and play along with the...

Toph-E and the Pussycats have released a new album, No Ordinary Day, featuring Will Lee on bass and vocals. The band’s sound has been described as “R n’ B-bop,” as they play a mix of originals and R&B classics while paying homage to jazz greats such as Art Blakey, Thelonius Monk and Herbie Hancock. The rest of the band includes...

Seattle filmmaker Jamie Burton Chamberlain is gearing up to make a movie based on a new album by Duff McKagan’s Loaded, which is soon to be completed. The album is yet to be titled, though a single from it is being played in rotation during the MLB World Series coverage. McKagan, who played bass for 12 years in Guns N’...

Charlie Haden has just released latest album with Quartet West, entitled Sophisticated Ladies. The title is a play on the Duke Ellington tune, as the 12 tracks feature jazz standards sung by the genre’s best female vocalists, including Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall, Melody Gardot, Norah Jones, Renée Fleming, and Haden’s wife, Ruth Cameron. Haden, who had a long standing association...

Legendary prog-rock band Yes has signed to a new worldwide recording deal with Frontiers Records, based out of Italy. The group will be recording their first new studio album in nearly a decade, following 2001’s Magnification. According to the release, fans can expect a release date in 2011, sometime before summer. The current Yes band members include founding bassist Chris...

Twelve years after his last album, jazz bassist Michael Formanek has released his fifth CD as a leader, entitled The Rub and the Spare Change. The project started Formanek recruited a few musicians just to play with, and ended up being a recording of his quartet featuring saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver. “Beforehand, I just...

Nearly a year and a half after the passing of basketball star and jazz bassist Wayman Tisdale comes the release of his final album, The Fonk Record. The 11-song album was 12 years in the making, with three funk legends lending support, including George Clinton, George Duke and the late Ali Woodson. Tisdale collaborated over those 12 years with Derek...