The Bass Guitar Blog » music

Interview: John Patitucci Trio – Remembrance

Benjamin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:53:53 +0000

This week I had the immense pleasure of talking with John Patitucci, from his New York home. The main topic of conversation was the new Album from the John Patitucci Trio album - “Remembrance” – on Concord Jazz, his sixth album for the label. This is a series of posts, covering the album itself, and discussions with John around the art of playing bass.

The album, released on the 4th August, is a stunning piece of work, featuring John on upright and electric bass, with Joe Lovano on tenor and alto clarinet and Brian Blade on drums. There are eleven tracks that pay tribute to jazz icons including Ray Brown, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Sony Rollins, and a host of others.

In some ways, the album was an ‘accident’ – it was the result of a rehersal at Joe Lovano’s house, during the recording of “Communion”, where the three ended up playing as a trio. John was taken with the openness of the set up, and the rapport between the players. The rest, as they say, is history.

John Patitucci first came to my attention in an interview written after he moved over to New York, after many years on the West Coast. That was significantly more than a decade ago, but by then he had already been voted Best Jazz Bassist in Guitar Player Magazine and Best Jazz Bassist in Bass Player Magazine, and had album credits that included B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, George Benson, Dizzy Gillespie, Was Not Was, Dave Grusin, Natalie Cole, Bon Jovi, Queen Latifah, Sting, and Carly Simon. It doesn’t need me to tell you that he is a seriously accomplished bassist.

Photo by Lisa Stein

In this, his 13th album as a band leader, John Patitucci uses the stripped-down, piano-less jazz trio format to great effect. This is may be on the outer end of the jazz spectrum for some readers here, so a word to you non-jazz folks: on first listen, this album might not be to your taste, but let me say, it will definitely grow on you, and you’ll want to consider it for your album collection to stretch your perspective on playing!

Have a listen to Messaien’s Gumbo (Mac users can listen to the track on John’s MySpace page). It is one of my personal favourites from the album – although there is another track that really caught me, which I’ll talk about in the next post. Back to Messaien’s Gumbo. Listen to that playing. That’s all I’m going to say, for now!…

To Be Continued in Part II…

Seth Horan Clang and Chime – Produced By You

Benjamin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:59:53 +0000

Last summer singer/bassist Seth Horan gave the opportunity to produce this new album to everyone on his mailing list. A group of people took him up on the offer and became co-producers. A year later and the album is pretty much mixed and mastered. Seth recorded and sent out a song-a-week for twenty weeks over that year. The songs evolved based on feedback from the group of Producers, who voted on the final track list at the start of this year, cutting the list down in half. Adding even more of an international vibe, the final mastering is by Jyri Sariola, in Finland.

It is an interesting way to make and album, giving a number of Seth’s fans the opportunity to be much more closely involved in the process than normal. From this video teaser it sounds like it is going to be a corker:

You can go order it from Seth’s Blog right here.

Solo Bass in a Band! Lawson Dodds Wood Album

Benjamin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:47:29 +0000

If you are on the UK bass scene, you will undoubtedly have heard of (or encountered!) Steve Lawson (aka solobasssteve in the social media world). If you haven’t, then check out his blog and his music. Steve is an extra-ordinary solo bass player, as anyone who has heard him with his modulus 6 string and his looperlative looper with testify.

If you like to hear your bass in a band, then check out Steve’s latest album “numbers”, which features him as part of the Lawson Dodds Wood collective. Three amazing musicians producing music in a very different way. Nothing is pre-arranged, it is all improv.

I saw the trio live earlier this year (post here) and it is fair to say that everyone who watched was blown away. There is a six part series on the making of the Numbers album on Steve’s blog, which will give you an idea of how the production of the album worked:

Lawson/Dodds/Wood – the making of ‘Numbers’ Pt 1

Lawson/Dodds/Wood – the making of Numbers Pt 2

Lawson/Dodds/Wood – the Making Of Numbers Pt 3

Lawson/Dodds/Wood, the making of Numbers video Pt 4

Lawson/Dodds/Wood Pt 5 – What Patrick did with the improvs…

Lawson/Dodds/Wood Pt 6 – an interview with Roy Dodds

The seven track Album is available to order here . It is shipping November 24th 2008, more details here.

Finding Bass-Friendly Music – Last.Fm

Benjamin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:03:00 +0000

Finding music you like can be a bit of a hit and miss thing. Us low-end bassist types generally have an unusual and eclectic taste in music – and I mean that in a good way, honest!

Check out Last.fm. There are a few different elements to the system. First, the website itself – lots of interesting music, videos, pointers for events and the like… But before you knock yourself out, two other bits: The scrobbler, which runs on your music machine of choice (Mac or PC) and keeps track of what you listen to. Then the social network part of Last.Fm:

You can connect with friends, share what you are listening too and find out what they are listening too. And now the best part. Last.fm mashes all of this up to find tracks that it thinks you will like and people who share your musical tastes. How cool it that?

So, you want to get started? Here you go:

Go to the site and sign up (it’s free): Last.fm.
I’d say connect to me, but given my taste in music, that might spin you…
Much better idea, find some of your friends on there, or follow through to listeners of things you like (I started UK solo bassist Steve Lawson).
And, don’t say we don’t ever give you anything! Steve is giving away (as in for free) his album “Lessons Learnt From An Aged Feline Pt I” – get it here. Give it a listen through and add a comment. It is on the very ambient end of Steve’s stuff – it has been calming us down here, bringing a bit of peace and tranquility!

Enjoy!