He’s a player who anchors bands with killer monikers!

 

Fans of LA hard rock and roll know bassist Johnny Griparic from his long association with the former Saul Hudson, more familiar to the masses as Slash, as a member of Snakepit; and the Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist’s most recent (as of 2024) incarnation as a bluesman leading his Blues Ball (get it?) collective.

 

Born in Sweden, Griparic worked his way up, up, up the hard rock / blues food chain anchoring such artists of note including Richie Kotzen, BB Chung King and The Buddaheads (get it?), Jimmy Z and the Z Tribe, Triggerdaddy, Sonofabitch (as I said about band names…), Gilby Clarke, and Nina Hagan among others.

 

A fine pocket player and soloist, Griparic is a spirited on-stage presence who doesn’t quite steal the show from his bandleader, but he could if he wanted to.

 

Who loves playing rock and roll more than Johnny Graparic?

 

Johnny Griparic Sound & Vision…

 

Slash’s Blues Ball: “The Pusher” https://youtu.be/hnUO5rFG4Tg?si=tO-IhulOMbmk4ioJ

 

Slash’s Snakepit: “Grand” https://youtu.be/LPL4JFsTgeI?si=FOwZmtA1LU5pGW2L

 

Richie Kotzen: Live in San Paolo 2007: https://youtu.be/anEYZexJBlg?si=wrhV-JA5CX3Q9kOd

 

Photo by Elliott Cynthia from Johnny’s Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/johnnygriparic

 

Photos courtesy Johnny Griparic Facebook

 

Anchoring an ensemble whose moniker derives from the Thai term for an airplane (hopefully not a Boeing), Laura Lee Ochoa – aka Leezy – takes an old-school doghouse / rhythm & blooze approach to the post-modernist Khruangbin trio.

 

Renown for her on-stage attire – Leezy leisurely works a classic/vintage J style bass (SX replete with ashtrays and the impractical thumb-rest) akin to the Memphis, Motown, and Muscle Shoals masters – flats, finger pluckage, and a muted resonance with lines that work the pocket and dance around the beat as the situation warrants. And she sings too! Everything old is new again…and vice versa. 

 

Leezy Sound & Vision…

 

“Texas Sun” with Leon Bridges: https://youtu.be/zSWNWWREtsI?si=Xzw6tZajWqVeP4YS

 

“Fifteen Fifty-Three” https://youtu.be/ZEPUuOGqjwU?si=Ie8Rm-fGZWitpCJd

 

“Maria Tambien” https://youtu.be/JtMALA6Gkkc?si=CzQye-AZpbCTP9YA  

 

Photos courtesy Laura Lee Facebook

𝕋𝕠𝕞 𝕊𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕚 𝕚ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕟𝕖 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕠-ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕤…

 

MY #NYC 26 March 2025: “I’m a silhouette not a soldier. I’m a dilletante who pulled one over the leaders and Japanese cedars who cede their power to the bottom feeders…” Tomaso John   

 

MY #NYC 22 March 2025: “In New York freedom looks like too many choices. In New York I found a friend to drown out the other voices. Voices on the cell phone. Voices from home. Voices of the hard sell. Voices down the stairwell in New York. Just got a place in New York…” Paul David Hewson  

 

MY #NYC 20 March 2025: “You’ve heard of Radio Ethiopia? Well, I’m Radio Brooklyn!” Lewis Allan Reed  

 

MY #NYC 19 March 2025 ”All the majesty of a city landscape. All the soaring days in our lives. All the concrete dreams in my mind’s eye. All the joy I see thru’ these architect’s eyes…” David Robert Jones     

 

MY #NYC 17 March 2025: “They call you ecstasy. Nothing ever sticks to you. Not velcro, not scotch tape. Not my arms dipped in glue.” Lewis Allan Reed   

 

MY #NYC 16 March 2025: “I’ll be your mirror, reflect what you are, in case you don’t know. I’ll be the wind, the rain and the sunset, the light on your door to show that you’re home…” Lewis Allan Reed   

 

MY #NYC 13 2025: “Time after time those fanatical minds try to rule all the world. Telling us all its them who’s in charge of it all. I’ve got a tricked out magic stick that will make them all fall. We’ve got the power now that’s where it belongs…” Wayne Michael Coyne   

 

MY #NYC 11 March 2025: “Ah, it’s a happy time inside my mind. When a melody does find a rhyme says to me I’m comin’ home to stay, oh Lord, home to stay…” Timothy Charles Buckley   

 

MY #NYC 10 March 2025: “Standing in the shadow of another man. Lonely as the streets pass me by.  Life ain’t under pressure ’cause I got a plan, starin’ at myself in the eye…”  Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta 

 

MY #NYC 8 March 2025: “When that fat old sun in the sky is falling…summer evening birds are calling… and if you see, don’t make a sound, pick your feet up off the ground…” David Jon Gilmour   

 

My #NYC 8 March 2025: “Well, I’m an animal, something like a cannibal. I’m very flammable and partially programmable. Centuries of overuse, now I wear it nice and loose…” Anthony Kiedis     

 

MY #NYC 7 March 2025: “While Mona Lisas and mad hatters… sons of bankers, sons of lawyers…turn around and say good morning to the night…for unless they see the sky…but they can’t and that is why… they know not if it’s dark outside or light…” Bernard John Taupin     

 

MY #NYC 1 March 2025: “When your imagination has too much to say… when the chill of the night meets the sweat of the day….and you have trouble understanding what other people have to say, you’d better hang on to your emotions…” Lewis Allan Reed    

 

MY #NYC 27.2 February 2025: “I don’t know where the sunbeams end, and the star lights begin. It’s all a mystery. And I don’t know how a man decides, what’s right for his own life. It’s all a mystery” Wayne Michael Coyne   

 

MY #NYC 25.3 February 2025 “I know an angel on the east side of Heaven who lives in a first story room. We meet on a rooftop and dream in the dark, when the lights of New York are in bloom. All through the daytime it’s the same old Manhattan, but evening again sets me free…” John Scott Totter / Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby     

 

 

MY #NYC 25.1.2025 “They say that heaven is 10 zillion light years away… and just the pure at heart will walk her righteous streets someday…” Stevland Hardaway Morris   

 

MY #NYC 25.2.2025 “As around the sun the earth knows she’s revolving… As now can’t reveal the mystery of tomorrow… until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky… until the ocean covers every mountain high…until we dream of life and life becomes a dream…” Stevland Hardaway Morris    

 

MY #NYC 21.2.2025 “And it’s just like the ocean under the moon…it’s the same as the emotion that I get from you…you got the kind of lovin’ that can be so smooth… gimme your heart, make it real…or else forget about it…” Robert Kelly Thomas / Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán    

 

MY #NYC 24.1.2025 “There was China in her eyes, in a silk and velvet disguise. She was moving’ like a lady, looking’ like a dragon princess…” Paul Lorin Kantner    

 

MY NYC 18 February 2025: 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐂. 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 & 𝟏𝟒𝟒 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐌 𝐌𝐚𝐜 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐧 / 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭, 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐕𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐬; 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐒𝐲𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 / 𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐬, 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐓𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫 / 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐕𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬; 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐂 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝟔-𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐬 & 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬.

 

MY #NYC 16 February 2025: “Incense and peppermints, meaningless nouns. Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around. Look at yourself, look at yourself, yeah, girl…” Timothy Gilbert, John Carter     

 

MY #NYC 15 February 2025 “They sentenced me to 20 years of boredom, for trying to change the system from within. I’m coming now to reward them. First we take Manhattan… then we take Berlin…” Leonard Norman Cohen

 

MY #NYC 14 February 2025 “Hey now, you got me by the tongue. I feel like, there’s nowhere I belong. And they’re working it pretty hard. And they’re selling it by the yard. But it’s more than I can afford…” David Gray

 

𝗠𝗬 #𝗡𝗬𝗖 𝟰 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 “𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲…” 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗼𝗻

 

MY #NYC 3 February 2025 “And the sign said, “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, in tenement halls… and whispered in the sounds of silence…” Paul Simon

MY #NYC 30 January 2025 “And I can’t look down, from Central Park to Shanty Town. I always heard that crazy sound, from New York to Shanty Town… James Osterberg   

 

MY #NYC 28 January 2025 “New York City is a friendly old town, from Washington Heights to Harlem on down…there’s a-mighty many people millin’ all around…. Robert Allen Zimmerman  

 

MY #NYC 27 January 2025 “In a catacomb or cave of endless drawings… prehistoric or religious… your accomplishments prodigious… seeking out the perfect tone…” Lewis Allen Reed

 

MY #NYC 18 January 2025: “I’m doing fine up here, on cloud nine…listen, one more time…” Norman Whitfield / Barry Strong  

 

 

MY #NYC 16 January 2025 “Sons of the silent age stand on platforms blank looks and notebooks, sit in back rows of city limits… Sons of the silent age don’t walk, they just glide in and out of life…” David Robert Jones

 

MY #NYC 14 January 2025 “The traffic on Canal Street’s so noisy it’s a shock. And someone’s shooting fireworks or a gun on the next block. And I wanna hooky wooky with you…” Lewis Allen Reed

 

MY #NYC 9 January 2025 “Shoulda took a picture. Something I could keep. Buy a little frame. Something cheap. For you. Everyone says hi…” David Robert Jones 

 

MY #NYC 6 January 2025 “There is no political solution to our troubled evolution…we are spirits in the material world, are spirits in the material world…” Gordon Matthew Sumner      

 

MY #NYC 6 January 2025 “Sometimes in winter… forgotten memories remember you behind the trees…” Steve Katz   

 

MY #NYC 2 January 2025: “Did you ever take a look to see whose left around? Everyone I thought was cool is six feet underground! I’m still alive and well, still alive and well… Every now and then I know it’s kinda hard to tell… but I’m still alive and well…” John Dawson Winter lll 

 

 

MY NYC 30 December 2024: “Time, he’s waiting in the wings. He speaks of senseless things. His script is you and me, boy. Time, he flexes like a whore. Falls wanking to the floor. His trick is you and me, boy…” David Robert Jones

 

MY NYC 24 December 2024: “Outside my window is a tree. There only for me. And it stands in the grey of the city…” Gail Collins / Felix Pappalardi    

 

MY NYC 10 December 2024: “Well I got a foggy notion, do it again. Over by the corner, do it again. I got my calamine lotion baby, do it again…” Sterling Morrison, Doug Yule, Maureen Tucker & Hy Weiss

 

 

MY #NYC 8 December 2024: “We understand your paranoia. But we don’t wanna play your game You think you’re cool and know what you are doing… 666 is your name…” John Winston Lennon 

 

’74 @ 50! Rod Stewart / Faces Live! Coast to Coast Overture and Beginners. Bassist Tetsu Yamauchi /Rod Stewart / Smiler. Bassists Spike Heatley, Willie Weeks, Ronnie Wood / Ronnie Wood / I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Bassists Willie Weeks, Pete Sears, with Mick Taylor / Rolling Stones / It’s Only Rock and Roll. Bassists Bill Wyman, Willie Weeks, with Keith Richards, Mick Taylor / Bill Wyman / Monkey Grip. Bassist Wiliam George Perks RAF O.H.M.S. 

 

MY #NYC 21 November 2024: “Imagine how my daddy felt, in your jet black suspender belt. Seventeen years old. He’s touching sixty-four. You got legs right up to your neck. You’re making me a physical wreck. I’m talking to you…hot legs…” Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE  

 

𝑴𝒀 #𝑵𝒀𝑪 20 𝑵𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 2024: 𝑨𝒎 𝑰 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏’ 𝒀𝒐𝒖… 𝑨𝒍𝒊 𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒂 & 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒊 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒂 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝑵𝒀𝑪 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑪. 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 & 𝑴𝒂𝒄 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒏!

 

MY #NYC 18 November 2024 “A race of angels bound with one another. A dish of dollars laid out for all to see. A tower room at Eden Rock… his golf at noon for free… Brooklyn owes the charmer under me..” Walter Carl Becker / Donald Jay Fagan   

 

MY #NYC 17 November 2024: “I used to think maybe you loved me now baby I’m sure. And I just can’t wait till the day when you knock on my door. Now every time I go for the mailbox, gotta hold myself down. ‘Cause I just can’t wait till you write me you’re coming around. I’m walking on sunshine….” Kimberly Rew

 

MY #NYC 11 November 2024 “He was the king of trees, keeper of the leaves. A deep green god of young… love stained memory.” Steven Demetre Georgiou 

 

MY #NYC 10 November 2024 “…I’m just a raindrop in a bucket. A coin dropped in a slot. I am an empty house on Weed Street. Across the road from a vacant lot… You know life is what you make of it… so beautiful or so what…” Paul Simon   

 

MY #NYC 9 November 2024 “…half of the time we’re gone, but we don’t know where and we don’t know why….the only living boy in New York…” Paul Simon

 

 

MY #NYC 6 November 2024: “Tigers don’t growl much unless they’re bored. Or unless attempting to tackle the jungle, Lord… whose face tigers never see… but who still hands out their stripes judiciously…” Sananda Maitreya

 

MY #NYC 4 November 2024: “If I could live to be several hundred, I could take a walk and really wander. All my ghosts on every sea, in every land…” Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV 

 

MY #NYC 3 November 2024: “I’m a road runner, baby. Can’t stay in one place too long. I’m a road runner, baby. You might look at me and I’ll be gone…”  Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Edward Jr. Holland 

 

MY #NYC 1 November 2024: “There’s a downtown fairy singing out “Proud Mary” as she cruises Christopher Street. And some Southern Queen is acting loud and mean where the docks and the badlands meet… this Halloween is something to be sure…” Lewis Allan Reed  

 

 

MY #NYC 30 October 2024 “November and more, as I wait for the score, they’re telling me forgiveness is the key to every door…” Phil Lesh / Bobby Peterson 

 

MY #NYC 24 October 2024 “Smiling faces sometimes… they don’t tell the truth. Smiling faces, tell lies and I got proof…” Norman Whitfield 

 

MY #NYC 22 October 2024 “Now I own the key to the door, the kingdom of heaven lies inside…I love visions of you…” Jah Wobble 

 

MY NYC 10.10.24: 144 Live at Silvana Harlem “It’s about that time…” 

 

MY NYC 4 October 2024 “Life’s a game of give and take. Early in the morning get your concentration
on your meditation to take the right direction…” Carlos Santana / Michael Shrieve   

 

MY #NYC 26 September 2024 “I’ve been talking to myself…because I’m a little bit crazy…” Stu Richards / Magic Forest Live at AH Presents Otto’s Shrunken Head NYC 

 

 

MY #NYC 24 September 2024 “My friends are so alarming, my lover’s never charming… life’s just a cocktail party on the street…” Sir Michale Phillip Jagger / Keith Richards  

 

 

MY NYC 23 September 2024 “In my sensations, I believe that I was born with the things that I know. I want to talk like I read…” David Byrne 

 

MY NYC 22 September 2024 “Something in the night. Something in the day. There’s slaughter in the air protest on the wind… Someone else inside me…someone could get skinned. Someone fetch a priest, you can’t say no to the Beauty and The Beast…” David Robert Jones

 

MY NYC 19 September 2024 “Only renting. Only subletting. Fences mending. Just pretending. Reality bending. Signal sending. Patent pending. Just inventing. Let’s go ‘round the bend. Get in trouble again. Make a commotion. Drink a love potion. Sweet ’til the bitter end…” John Doe / Exene Cervenka 

 

MY N.Y.C. 16 September 2024 “I am a tree, I show my age when I don’t cry. I have the leaf that will fall off when wind blows by…I am a tree fruitless and free…” Robert Pollard  

 

MY #NYC 15 September 2024 “Speedy Marie, ahead of the now. She’s better built that’s how. She’s built for speed, Speedy Marie…” Frank Black 

 

 

 

MY NJ/NYC 15 September 2024 “One day you turn around and it’s summer. Next day you turn around and it’s fall…as a man who has always had the wand’ring ways, now I’m reaching back for yesterdays. ‘Til a long-forgotten love appears and I find that I’m sighing softly as I near September, the warm September of my years…”                                                     Sammy Cahn as sung by Francis Albert Sinatra  

 

MY NYC 13 September 2024 “I wanna be somebody’s Chelsea, somebody’s world. Somebody’s day and night, one and only girl. A part of a love story that never has an end. You know that’s what every woman wants to be somebody’s Chelsea…” Reba McEntire  

 

MY #NYC 13 September 2024 “The streets of New York, a maze made of iron and stone. A labyrinth complete, with edges that cut through the bone.” Willie Nile  

 

MY NYC 13 September 2024 “Autumn in New York, why does it seem so inviting?” Vernon Duke 

 

MY #NYC 8 September 2024: “We’re so young and pretty, we’re so young and clean. So many things that we have never seen. Let’s move from Ohio, sell this dam’ old store. Big Apple dreamin’ on a wooden floor…” Vincent Furnier   

 

MY NYC 8 September 2024: “Safe in my garden, an ancient flower blooms and the scent from its nature slowly squares my room…” John Edmund Andrew Phillips

 

MY #NYC 5 September 2024 “Can we fix our nation’s broken heart? Are we brave enough to try? Can we fix our nation’s broken heart and leave a better world behind?” Stevland Hardaway Morris   

 

MY #NYC 4 September 2024: Groovin’ on the 2 & 4 in 4/4! Diggin’ FAITH NYC Live at Silvana Harlem NYC….

 

MY NYC 3 September 2024 “I wanna run, I want to hide I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside… I wanna reach out and touch the flame where the streets have no name… Paul David Hewson  

 

MY #NYC 2 September 2024 “There is a rose in Spanish Harlem. A red rose up in Spanish Harlem. It is the special one, it’s never seen the sun. It only comes out when the moon is on the run. And all the stars are gleaming. It’s growing in the street right up through the concrete. But soft and sweet and dreaming…” Ben E. King / Jerry Leiber

 

 

MY #NYC 30 August 2024 “Through a fault of our designing we are lost among the windings of these metal ways…” Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno  

 

MY #NYC 29 August 2024 “There ain’t no reason to tell no lie when you’re young and you’ve got a lot of pie… now I slink around like a killer…the things they say are just a lot of filler…” James Newell Osterberg Jr.

 

My NYC 27 August 2024 “Nothing is planned by the sea and the sand…” Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend 

 

MY #NYC 26 August 2024 “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds…” Marcus Garvey / Robert Nesta Marley 

 

MY #NYC 26 August 2024 “Want some whiskey in your water? Sugar in your tea? What’s all these crazy questions they’re askin’ me? This is the craziest party that could ever be… don’t turn on the lights… ’cause I don’t wanna see! Mama told me not to come! She said ‘that ain’t the way to have fun… son.’ Uh-huh!” Randy Newman 

 

MY #NYC 2018 “The return of the Thin White Duke throwing darts in lovers’ eyes…” David Bowie Is Here Bleecker/Lafayette St. Subway Exhibit 

 

MY NYC 25 August 2024 “And when I see the sign that points one way… the lot we used to pass by every day. Just walk away, Renée you won’t see me follow you back home… the empty sidewalks on my block are not the same, you’re not to blame… just walk away…” Brown / Calilli / Sansone

 

 

MY NYC 22 August 2024 lORRAINE lECKIE lIVE @ ilon Art Gallery hARLEM nYC Ilon Art Gallery 

 

MY #NYC 22 August 2024 “No, it ain’t judgement day. No, it ain’t Armageddon… it’s just the apple stretching and yawning, just morning. New York City putting it’s feet on the floor…” Grace Jones 

 

MY #NYC 20 August 2024 “Everyone’s feeling pretty, it’s hotter than July… though the world’s full of problems, they couldn’t touch us even if they tried…from the park, I hear rhythms, Marley’s hot on the box… tonight, there will be a party…on the corner at the end of the block” Stevland Hardaway Morris 

 

MY #NYC 14 August 2024: “In the heart of Harlem, a renaissance blooms. A symphony of voices, in countless rooms. Jazz and blues, a soulful sound where creativity and spirit abound, Langston’s dreams deferred, Hughes’ rivers flow, in every word, a people’s echo…” (author unknown)  

 

MY #NYC 12 August 2024 “The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stony ground. There’s no room no space to rent in this town. It’s a beautiful day. Sky falls, you feel like. It’s a beautiful day. Don’t let it get away…” Paul Hewson 

 

MY NYC 10 August 2024 “I play the street life because there’s no place I can’t go. Street life, it’s the only life I know. Street life, you can run away from time. Street life, for a nickel, for a dime…” Wilber Jennings 

 

MY NYC August 2024 Random images… 

 

MY NYC 8 August 2024 “Flowers never bend with the rainfall…” Paul Simon 

 

MY #NYC 6 August 2024 “I’ve just seen a face, I can’t forget the time or place where we just met…” James Paul McCartney

 

MY NYC 4 August 2024 “If you want me to stay, I’ll be around today, to be available for you to see. But I am about to go and then you’ll know, for me to stay here, I got to be me…” Sylvester Stewart 

 

MY #NYC 20 July 2024 “Gone are the days, of the seek and the find. All in the name of easy come, easy go merry go round the mind. Step right up, catch it while you can, alligator hugger and the candy man…” Cris Jacobs  

 

MY #NYC 19 July 2024 “All the young girls love Alice…tender young Alice they say…if I give you my  number, will you promise to call… wait ‘till my husband’s away…” Bernie Taupin 

 

 

MY #NYC 18 July 2024 “Walk right out to the four-line track, there’s a camera rolling on her back… I sense a rhythm humming in a frenzy….girls on film, two minutes later…” Lebon / Taylor / Taylor / Taylor / Rhodes 

 

 

MY #NYC 14 July 2024 “I got the time. I got my feet. Let’s go hit the street. High in the city. I got my mace. You got your knife. You gotta protect your own life. I wanna stay alive in the city…” Lou Reed  

 

 

12 July 2024 MY #NYC “And undulating always, like the tide, the devil’s bride is calling all toward her skirt. And in the loving folds there we will hide inside from any would-be sneak attack until it’s safe to journey back…” Robert Pollard 

 

 

MY #NYC 3 July 2024 “I have a positive hot gift, want one? A scoffer’s clutch karma issue, a nursery whip for men who skip. Want one?” Robert Pollard 

 

28 June 2024 MY #NYC “With the sinking of the sun I’ve come to greet you. Clean your hands and go to sleep, confess the dreams of good and bad men all around…” Robert Pollard 

 

 

MY #NYC 26 June 2024 “A live wire, barely a beginner, but just watch that lady go. She’s on fire, ’cause dancin’ gets her higher than anything else she knows…”  David Lee Roth 

 

 

17 June 2024 MY NYC “Everywhere I go people want to know, who I am. So, I tell them. I am the Serene King in a half-asleep dream, waltz across the battlefield…” Robert Pollard

 

4 June ’24 MY NYC     “And I’m sitting on a bench in Coney Island…wondering, ‘where did my baby go?’ The fast times, the bright lights, the merry-go…” Taylor Swift / The National 

 

31 May 2024 MY NYC “Up Madison, down Park… each time I turn a corner, I walk a little faster, pretending life is sweet, ‘cause love’s around the corner…. I walk a little faster…” Tony Bennett 

 

30 May 2024 MY NYC “Oh, my nuclear baby. Oh, my idiot trance. All my idiot questions. Let’s face the music and dance…” – David Bowie 

 

 

30 May 2024 MY #NYC “There goes my hero, watch him as he goes. There goes my hero, he’s ordinary…” Dave Grohl 

 

MY N.Y.C. 30 May 2024 “I love women, I think they’re great. They’re a solace to the world in a terrible state. They’re a blessing to the eyes, a balm to the soul. What a nightmare to have no women in the world…” Lou Reed 

 

MY NYC 5/29/24 “I’m in a straightjacket… I’m in a padded cell…a new disease is running through my veins…” Stu Richards

 

“Mama pajama rolled out of bed, and she ran to the police station. When the papa found out he began to shout, and he started the investigation…” – Paul Simon 

 

MY NYC 24 May 2024 “…kids you better look around. How long you think that you can run that body down? How many nights you think that you can do… what you been doing? Who, now who you foolin’ …” Paul Simon 

 

 

24 May 2024 MY N.Y.C. “Life, a transient odyssey, weaves a mysterious tapestry of moments that mold our very essence….”

 

Spaghetti Eastern Electro Dub Live @Silvana with MARK MURO in MY N.Y.C. HARLEM 24 May 2024 “If you’re tired of walkin’ around and getting nowhere, I know, there’s a path that’s leading towards the master. Love, devotion and surrender…” Carlos Santana 

 

MY #NYC 23 May 2024 After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang out. We’re gonna cause talk and suspicion, give an exhibition, find out what it is all about…” JJ Cale 

 

MY #NYC 16 May 2024 Sign Language … 

 

MY #NYC 14 MAY 2024 “The king is gone, but he’s not forgotten. This is the story of a Johnny Rotten… it’s better to burn out than it is to rust…” Neil Young 

 

MY #NYC 12 May 2024 Paul Collins, Sal Maida’s Bottom’s Up Band live at Bowery Electric with Mike Fornatale, Dennis Diken, Dave Amels, Dave Foster… 

 

MY #NYC 8 May 2024:  “We’ve got to judge the judge. We’ve got to find the finds. We’ve got to scheme the schemes. We’ve got to line the lines. Try to place the place where we can face the face…” Pete Townshend 

 

MY #NYC 8 May 2024: “Sign, sign. everywhere a sign. Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind. Do this, don’t do that. Can’t you read the sign?” Five Man Electrical Band

 

MY #NYC 7 May 2024 “See her picture in a thousand places, ‘cause she’s this year’s girl. You think you all own little pieces of this year’s girl…”  Elvis Costello 

 

MY #NYC 6 May 2024: “Now this is a song to celebrate the conscious liberation of the female state…” Annie Lennox 

 

MY #NYC 4 MAY 2024 “Somebody took the papers, and somebody’s got the key. But me, I’m down around the corner, you know, I’m lookin’ for Miss Linda Lee…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 3 May 2024 “I’ll say goodbye to all my sorrow. And by tomorrow I’ll be on my way, I guess the Lord must be in New York City…” Harry Nilsson 

 

MY #NYC 3 May 2024 “I know what I know. I’ll sing what I said. We come and we go. That’s a thing that I keep in the back of my head…”  Paul Simon 

 

MY #NYC 2 May 2024 “I get all the news I need on the weather report… hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile. And here I am, the only living boy in New York…” Paul Simon 

 

 

MY #NYC 1 May 2024 “For there’s Basie, Miller, Satchmo, and the king of all, Sir Duke. And with a voice like Ella’s ringing out, there’s no way the band could lose…” Stevie Wonder 

 

MY #NYC 30 April 2024 “Watch out world, comin’ at you full throttle. Better check that sausage before you put it in the waffle. And while you’re at it, better check that batter, make sure the candy’s in the original wrapper…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 29 April 2024 “Well I’m beginning to see the light. Some people work very hard, but still they never get it right….” Lou Reed  

 

MY #NYC 4.27.24 “I have my books and my poetry to protect me. I am shielded in my armor…” Paul Simon

 

MY #NYC 26 April 2024: “I want the principles of a timeless muse. I want to eradicate my negative views. And get rid of those people who are always on a down…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 4.25.24 “It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Please won’t you be my neighbor?” – Fred McFeely Rogers 

 

MY #NYC 15 April 2024 ‘Twas a sunny day…not a negative word was heard from the people passing by. All the birds in the trees, and the radio’s singing songs, all the favorite melodies…” Paul Simon 

 

MY #NYC 8 April 2024 “Blue, blue, electric blue, that’s the color of my room, where I will live…waiting for the gift of sound and vision…” David Bowie

 

MY #NYC 5 April 2024 “Every day you’ve got to wake up and disappear behind your makeup. Take away your calendar watch and you can’t keep track until your heart attack…” Jimmy Destri 

 

MY #NYC 4 April 2024 “In the big apple, scars embedded like tattoos. Ghetto love, protection from what’s coming at you. Keeping our heads up, maintaining self-esteem, and reminiscing on the Harlem Nights scene…” Luther Vandross  

 

MY #NYC 4 April 2024 In the Heights….  

 

MY #NYC 4 April 2024 “I was staying at the Marriott, with Jesus and John Wayne. I was waiting for a chariot, they were waiting for a train…” Warren Zevon 

 

 

MY #NYC 1 April 2024 “Somebody took the papers. And somebody’s got the key. And somebody’s nailed the door shut that says, ‘hey, what you think that you see?” …” Lou Reed  

 

MY #NYC 30 March 2024 “Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari. Can you dig it? Yes, I can. And I’ve been waiting such a long time. For Saturday…” – Robert Lamm

 

MY #NYC 29 March 2024 “If you want me to stay, I’ll be around today, to be available for you to see. But I am about to go and then you’ll know, for me to stay here, I got to be me…” Sly Stone

 

MY #NYC 28 March 2024 “I’m going uptown to Harlem. If a taxi won’t take me, I’ll catch a train. I’ll go underground, I’ll get there just the same….” Duke Ellington / Nick Kenny

 

MY #NYC 27 March 2024 “Is is. Therefore you are. I am. That I am. Let me be….” Leon Thomas

 

 

MY #NYC 21 March 2024 “Take a risk and listen to the radio, click your heels at the bi-polar disco. Fly down the villa destination sign, everybody feels the days but waits for summer nights…” Scott Weiland

 

MY #NYC 20 March 2024 “Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map that brought Columbus to New York…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC 19 March 2024 Three Views of a Secret… Jaco Pastorius 

 

MY #NYC 18 March 2024 “Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I heard, was a song outside my window, and the traffic wrote the words…” Joni Mitchell

 

MY #NYC 13 March 2024 “Mama’s got a lover, a painter I am told. She’s getting out of real estate, for the art scene down in old Soho…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 13 March 2024: “Ah, but remember that the city is a funny place, something like a circus or a sewer. And just remember, different people have peculiar taste, and the glory of love… might see you through…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC 12 March 2024: “You know the day destroys the night; night divides the day…” Jim Morrison 

 

MY #NYC 7 March 2024: “As the twilight sunburst gleams, as the chromium moon it sets, as I lose all my regrets, and set the twilight reeling…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 3 March 2024 “Oye cómo va. Mi ritmo. Bueno pa’ gozar…” Tito Puente 

 

MY #NYC 28 February 2024 “Old friends, old friends… sat on their park bench like bookends…” Paul Simon

 

MY #NYC  27 February 2024 “Man makes machines, to man the machines, that make the machines, that make the machines. And man and machine, will make a machine, to break the machines, that make the machines…” Pete Townshend 

 

MY #NYC 25 February 2024 “Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten, from the Battery to the top of Manhattan, Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin, Black, White, New York you make it happen…” Beastie Boys 

 

 

MY #NYC 23 February 2024 “I couldn’t escape this feeling with my China girl, I’m just a wreck without my little China girl…” Iggy Pop

 

MY #NYC  23 February 2024 “They fought with their words, their bodies and their deeds, doin’ the things that they want to…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC 18 February 2024 We’re an American brand…. Bleecker & Bowery  

 

MY #NYC 27 January 2024 “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”  Oscar Wilde 

 

MY #NYC 14 January 2024 “I’ve got nothing to say but it’s okay, good morning, good morning, good…” John Lennon 

 

MY #NYC 13 January 2024 “…just a perfect day, drink Sangria in the park, and then later, when it gets dark, we go home…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 7 January 2024 “Rainy day, dream away, let the sun take a holiday…” Jimi Hendrix  

 

2021 – 2023 

MY #NYC (June 2023) A Great Day in Harlem 1958 is a black-and-white photograph of 57 jazz musicians in Harlem, New York, taken by freelance photographer Art Kane for Esquire magazine on August 12, 1958 at 17 East 126th Street 

 

MY #NYC (31 December 2022) “Drop me off in Harlem, any place in Harlem There’s someone waiting there, who makes it seem like Heaven up in Harlem….” 

 

MY #NYC  26 May 2022 “Eyes without a face / les yeux sans visage… I’m on a bus on a psychedelic trip reading murder books tryin’ to stay hip, I’m thinkin’ of you, you’re out there so, say your prayers…” Billy Idol 

 

MY #NYC (17 January 2022) ‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp, when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light, that split the night, and touched the sound of silence….” Paul Simon

 

MY NYC 23 January 2024 

 

MY #NYC  (May 2022) “It’s up to you…New York, New York” A Mansion Diner denizen since I migrated to the Upper East Side in ’85… my sanctuary replete with black coffee, apple pie, and Sinatra on the sound system 24/7. A monument on York & 86th since June 1945…chatty waitresses, culinary anonymity, egalitarian reception no matter what condition I enter… says Ed Levine: “Diners are so important because they are the greatest bastions of civility, service, and dare I say grace available to all economic strata in this country.” 

 

MY #NYC 26 January 2022

  

 

MY #NYC 1 February 2022 “And I’m laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone.. where the New York City winters aren’t bleedin’ me…leadin’ me…goin’ home…” Paul Simon

 

MY #NYC  (May 14, 2022) “You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re put under pressure…across 110th Street is a hell of a tester…” Bobby Womack

 

MY #NYC 11 December 2023 “I think it’s the best, when I’m locked in the middle of New York city on Central Park ‘n’ West, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know it’s a mess, but you’ve got to be crazy to live in the city, and New York City’s the best….” Ian Hunter

 

 

MY #NYC (April 2023) “Ask the angels who they’re calling, go ask the angels if they’re calling to thee, ask the angels while they’re falling, who that person could possibly be…” Dave Grohl

 

MY #NYC 9 December 2023…out on the edges they’re mixin’ the colors, some they don’t like it, but me I don’t mind… Iggy Pop

 

MY #NYC  (July 2023) “Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map, that brought Columbus to New York…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC  19 December 2023 “…everyone’s gazing at some body part. That’s the nature of art..” Iggy Pop 

 

MY #NYC 12 December 2023 “Until you’ve seen this trash can dream come true, you stand at the edge while people run you through, and I thank the Lord there’s people out there like you…” Bernie Taupin

 

MY #NYC 20 December 2023 “Sunday morning brings the dawn in, it’s just a restless feeling by my side…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC (November 16, 2023) Dusk on the Upper East Side NYC…

 

MY #NYC (November 2023) Morning on the Upper East Side… 

 

MY #NYC 8 April 2023 “The traffic’s so noisy it’s a shock, sounds like fireworks or a gun on the next block, ah, hooky wooky with you…” Lou Reed 

 

The Know Your Bass Player Interview by Tony Senatore

 

Recently, one of my Facebook friends, who happens to be a fine bassist, posted that although he started his days with great optimism, after checking out his Facebook feed, he realized that either he was a substandard musician, had made bad decisions, or had any combination thereof. My reaction to his words was quite the opposite. My daily social media habits have reinforced my view that the world is more vapid, vacuous, and morally bereft than I ever imagined. Whether I searched for quality journalism, music, or depictions of humankind at its best, it seemed as if there was none to be found. When creative people are faced with such obstacles, they have choices. They can go with the crowd and follow trends rather than set them or try to uphold all they hold sacred in everything they do, no matter what the cost.

 

Moreover, they could either remain aloof and unsupportive for fear of losing whatever notoriety they have or be nurturing and try to align themselves with like-minded people who toil away in relative obscurity, unwilling to lower their standards.  In my life, when faced with such choices, I have decided on the latter. When I learned of Charles Nagtzaam via my friend Tony Renaud, I was pleased to see that many individuals are still willing to uphold the time-tested tenets of music while resisting the latest fads, and I wanted to be acquainted with him. Charles is the type of bass player that I admire. He doesn’t live in the past. Charles is constantly trying to break new ground on his instrument. What I like most is that, like me, he always tries to move forward while tipping his hat to the great bassists like Anthony Jackson, that inspired him.

 

Things ranging variously from technology to guns are decidedly non-moral. Whether they are used for good or nefarious purposes is ultimately in the hands of the user. While I have come to despise social media, without it, I would never have learned about the brilliant playing of Charles Nagtzaam. Moreover, if it wasn’t for my friend Tony, there is a good chance that I might never cross paths with him. The lesson is clear. We must stop thinking about ourselves and instead put some effort into others. Social media should not be a place to question your worth. On the contrary, it should be a place to confirm what we are doing right and to help people that we are in a position to help. That said, I would like to introduce Charles to the KYBP family. – Tony Senatore 

 

 

When and where were you born?

 

I was born in June 10, 1967 in a small town called Cuijk, near Nijmegen, which is in the Netherlands

 

Did you study music in college? I am curious as to your educational background, and/or specific teachers who guided you, not limited to only music teachers.

 

From where I grew up, there was not much of music in Elementary School. My parents discovered I had affinity with music and made me play the wooden flute (recorder?) at the local music school, thinking that learning how to read notes was the most important base. After two years of this (I was around 9 years old), I wanted to play drums or electric guitar, but my parents decided to put me on classical guitar lessons first, most likely to prevent complaints of our neighbors.

 

In 1979 when I was twelve my dad died, and I was tired of classical etudes and wanted to be able to just play a song. Preferably songs I heard on the radio or on those records which my four-year older brother had. By then I was heavily into all kinds of music. The first time I briefly picked up the bass, it felt like home to me. Due to my classical guitar training, my left hand was already a bit familiar to a wider neck and where the notes were. I didn’t own a bass yet and started playing along with songs on the lower strings of my classical guitar. A year or two later, my mom got me a cheap bass guitar (Kumika P-bass clone) and I started playing with friends from school. That’s when it all started.

 

After high school I wanted to study at the conservatory and wanted to play (preferably) jazz funk. However, in order to get admitted, I had to play upright bass. After some upright bass lessons with Ruud Hendriks I got admitted to the conservatory of Arnhem to study upright bass with Henk Haverhoek (http://www.henkhaverhoek.nl) a great musician and teacher who has played with many famous jazz musicians. 

 

Two years later the school contracted Lené te Voortwis as the main subject electric bass teacher, and I finally got my first real electric bass guitar lessons. Both Lené and Henk had a huge part in my development. After my graduation I got a lot of wisdom from artists which whom I’ve worked with.

 

If you studied music in college, did your family support your decision to study music at the college level? Are there any musicians in your family?

 

My dad used to sing in the church choir. My mom (85) was a housewife and used to sing all the time. When I was in college she was already a widow and did everything she could to make ends meet. She somehow found the strength to carry on, take a part time job and found a way to give us everything we needed. She came from a large single parent family too and, just after WWII, only her brothers could study due to financial reasons. So, she never got the chance to study and was determined to give her children the chance to be able to become anything they wanted. She was very supportive in my decision to make a living from music. I only had to get my high school diploma first, which was kind of a struggle for me after I took up the bass guitar. She had to lock it away in a closet at times in order to make me finish high school first.

 

My brother plays drums but isn’t a professional musician. My older cousin taught me the first barre chords on guitar but is also not a professional musician.

 

 Do you make your entire living playing music, either live or in the studio, or do you have an alternate source of income?

 

I make my entire living with music. I’m still playing a lot live, and get the occasional calls for a studio gig. I’m also teaching bass and band-coaching at the conservatory in Arnhem (https://www.artez.nl/en/courses/bachelor/jazz-pop-arnhem) and at Rockacademie in Tilburg (https://rockacademie.nl). This mixed practice is enough to make the ends meet. I have two daughters of 18 and 17 years old and they’re somewhat at the start of their college education.

 

Who influenced you coming up, regarding bassists that caught your ear?

 

Verdine White, Bernard Edwards and Leon F Sylvers III were a huge influence. I’ve always loved soul music! When I picked up the bass, Mark King was conquering the charts with Level 42. So that was a huge influence at first. My brother pointed out Stanley Clarke and bought his first two albums. And I got more and more into jazz rock and serious about music. Marcus Miler, Anthony Jackson and Jaco Pastorius were the main influences during the time before I got admitted into the conservatory.

 

 But also so many other great bass players like Nathan East, Louis Johnson and Will Lee caught my attention. Marcus, Anthony and Jaco however would really “make my jaw drop” more than a few times whenever I heard something “new” of them. And I never stopped listening to them ever since. There was no Spotify neither CD’s, so discovering new music was really a thing you couldn’t do by surfing on the internet. You were relying on good friends who bought a lot of records. And you had to buy some yourself. And of course, we had Maxwell and TDK, which made it a little cheaper for a music freak like me.

 

During my study James Jamerson, John Patitucci, Pino Palladino and Francis Rocco Prestia were very much of influence, and of course upright bass players Ray Brown, Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Paul Chambers, Scott LaFaro. And I have to mention Gary Willis and Jeff Andrews.

 

When you listen today, do your early bass influences measure up to your perceptions of them when you were young?

 

I think my perception of how to experience those early influences changed. At a young age one is full of questions like “how do they do it,” “how do they get that sound,” “what’s happening harmonically/rhythmically” etc. As you grow older and understand that there are no real secrets in music, and that it’s also hard work and understanding of theory, analyzing, studying and more, a lot of those early questions might have been answered. But each one of those early influences are very authentic players with a signature sound. Something one only gets out of that unique individual person in combination with a certain instrument. And that still holds up to me with each and every one of them, while in the meantime I’m still searching for my own signature sound. That might be a downside of transcribing and analyzing too much of almost everything.

 

Are there any bass players or musicians in general that inspire you today?

 

 For sure! It’s amazing to see how some newer players still grow into “their thing” which appears to be another new way of approaching the instrument. Like Victor Wooten, MonoNeon is a second to none authentic player, as is Thundercat. I also like bassists Michael League and Joe Dart who are influenced by stuff from the era I grew up in (mid 70’s), giving it a fresh new formula. Also Hadrien Feraud and Dario Deidda are very inspiring bassists. And, of course, Pino Palladino.

 

I am sure that like me, you have many basses. I have about forty, but I could exist with only my 1973 P bass if I had to. What bass that you currently own is your main instrument that you would never part?

 

I have enough basses, although not forty. I have to say my STENBACK FIVE will probably be that bass. Amazing response, great tone. A five string that feels like a four string somehow. Well balanced. When I bought it, it probably hadn’t been played that much, and the bass really had to come alive through playing. After two months it definitely did, a day and night difference.

 

If it wasn’t for the need of a five string, I could exist with only my 1972 Fender Jazz Bass, too.

 

Your YouTube channel has a vast array of very accurate transcriptions of some of the greatest bass lines ever recorded. Of all of the transcriptions that you have done, which was the most difficult?

 

Thanks for the compliment. I try to be as accurate as possible. There are a few of those videos which I had to do in more than one take. “Voice” by Hiromi was three takes, “M&M studio” had a cut right before the solo, which I still can’t play as accurate as the original. “You Got It!”, “Some Sharks” and “Island Magic” were all a one straight take eventually, but that doesn’t mean that those were less difficult. It has to do with focus, staying relaxed and, of course preparation.

 

 Also, “difficult” evolves to “getting a little bit more comfortable” every day with a good practice routine. I wasn’t able to feel odd meters in an even flow yet, for instance. After transcribing and practicing it, it just gets more fluid because it starts to feel natural and balanced. You just have to put in the hours of practice, which are harder to find at a later age. But I’ve still managed to put in the work to do it, so far. Difficulties come in all areas. Even a “simple” 4/4 groove has its difficulties if you don’t understand the feel or the pocket. So it’s not only a matter of a lot of notes or odd meters. Switching from pick to fingerstyle playing could easily call for hours of practice. So Leon Sylvers’s bassline of “Here I Am” by Dynasty also took some time to get a little more comfortable with.

 

Can you recommend any specific method books that have helped you to become the bassist that you are today?

 

When I studied, I probably checked out anything I could get my hands on. “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”, “The Funkmasters”, “What Duck Done”, “Sitting in with Tower of Power”, “Modern Electric Bass” & Oscar Stagnaro’s “Latin Bass Bible” of the more style-method books. As for improvisation, David Baker’s “Bebop Era”, Adelhard Roidinger’s “Jazz improvisation & pentatonics”, “Charlie Parker Omnibook”, “John Coltrane Omnibook”, Hein van de Geyn’s “Comprehensive Bass Method” were all great books to discover and get ideas from. And there’s so many more of which I probably took a few excerpts from in my daily study routine.

 

 As a recommendation to upcoming players I would say: explore the stuff that moves you yourself first. Whenever I hear a great melody with a great chord sequence, I want to know what that is. And not by ONLY looking up a YouTube tutorial or (maybe even worse) a quickly written TAB sheet. The same with basslines, drum rudiments or odd time signatures. When I hear something great, I’ll bury myself between the speakers or headphone until I exactly know what it is that moves me. Train your ears and carefully listen to what you really hear, not taken all of those videos and websites as an instant truth. The blessing of having all the acces to all the material with just one click can also set you on a detour when watching an incorrect explanation.

 

When I went back to school from 2008 to 2017, my goal was to teach history or social studies at either a public or a charter school. This changed when I consulted with some of my friends who have been educators for many years. They informed me that changes in the education system, and the advent of Common Core standards pushed them into early retirement, and that if I had any ideas about teaching with my own style in my effort to change the world one student at a time, I should reconsider teaching.

 

In a similar way, I feel the same obligation to be honest which young musicians that often ask for my advice regarding a career in music. It is more difficult to survive playing music today than in past eras. Reality is not negativity, and I feel an obligation to young musicians to make this clear. If you could offer one piece of advice to aspiring bassists, what would you tell them?

 

 At Rockacademie, where I also teach, each student is forced to choose a learning path from the perspective of a mixed professional practice. So, next to a skill (main subject) (vocals, bass, guitar etc) one has to choose for either “session musician”, “artist”, “audio engineer”, “skills- & band coach (education)” and “business manager”.

 

At Artez Jazz & Pop, we stimulate all students to be as artistic and authentic as possible (more like the “artist” direction), which makes it probably harder to get instant work that pays the bills once a student graduates. Some students rather do a different profession alongside their career so they can carry on with their own intrinsic creativity without any concession to commercial succes.

 

Both schools have alumni who are really successful, so I would advise a student to really look around, check out each school’s curriculum to know what appears to be the best thing for your own growth. And by this I most certainly don’t mean “the easiest path to making money”. One should know that, if you’re in it for the money, it will never pay off. I believe Wynton Marsalis said something like: “You really have to be obsessed with making music, otherwise it’s barely impossible to put in the amount of work you need to make it a successful path”. Or Woody Shaw: “So you’ve tried to play the trumpet but didn’t have the talent? Really? Well, start practicing three hours a day for one year, come back, and then we’ll talk about talent again”.

Since you really have to love what you do, it’s probably a good idea to have a wider palette of options, but only if those options are almost equally joyful as playing your instrument. And with some of these options you might just want to try it first.

 

 Keep an open mind and if a different direction doesn’t get in the way of your development as a musician: do it. It’s better to quit after trying than wondering how it could have worked out a few years later when that ship has already sailed and chances have passed. You’ll probably never have the same amount of time to explore other options. If you still want to make a living only through making music, though: be ready to sacrifice and put in the hours. And remember that success should always be measured by the things you have had to give up for it.

 

Charles Nagtzaam Renders Anthony Jackson’s classic Chaka Khan bass passage “Sleep On It” 

 

Charles Nagtzaam Website : https://charlesnagtzaam.wordpress.com/

 

 Charles Nagtzaam YouTube https://youtube.com/channel/UCZ-rbZYrz45_WgbqAaosV7w

 Photos by Frank Boeigen, Kathie Danneels 

 

By KYBP Austin Bureau Chief Robert Jenkins “Austin Underground”

 

Thad Stevens. Thad Stevens. Thad! Stevens!

 

Know that name. Know that bass player. Because Thad Stevens is one of the best bassists on the Austin Underground scene right now. He is a dedicated fretless player with a wide range of abilities that allows him to be somewhat of a chameleon in the jungle of bands in Austin.

 

Thad got his start at a relatively young age when he was in middle school. His brother played guitar and when a family friend offered to sell a bass, Thad took a stab at it. With a little background in music from middle school, the interest for Thad to play the bass was immediate, if only diversionary, at first.

 

Coming up during the post – grunge era, Thad was influenced early on by bands like Alice In Chains but was also drawn deeper into bass playing by listening to Steve Harris of Iron Maiden.

 

The music of Pink Floyd got Thad deeply interested in the sound of fretless bass. Listening to Death (and Steve Di Giorgio) helped Thad understand and love melodic bass playing in a metal context.

 

Thad’s bass career really started when he joined local Austin prog metal heavyweights Ethereal Architect. It was with this band that he was able to really showcase his range on the fretless bass in a setting of complex arrangements with broad melodic structure. The regimented style of Ethereal Architect helped Thad to really refine the style of playing fast and in tune on fretless.

 

Thad went on to play with Immortal Guardian and Descendants of Erdrick, continuing to explore his opportunities to add his fretless sound and style to a metal context.

 

Thad currently plays with local Austin hardcore behemoths Böndbreaker. “I really like playing with Böndbreaker because it allows me complete freedom to play my style while engaging in and promoting a message that I feel is important and worthy. It is very fulfilling” says Thad. He also plays with singer/songwriter Amanda Lepre. This provided him with the opportunity to learn to play in a “less is more” style, playing to the song so as not to be overbearing in a lighter musical setting.

 

Thad Stevens really can play just about anything. He is a musical chameleon with the ability to play a wide range of genres with a unique sound and style. You should definitely know this bass player.

 

Thad is an endorser of Clement Basses by Tom Clement of Florida.

 

He plays two Clement Basses: 5-string Wide Joan and 6-string Wide Joan, both fretless. His  5-string is a swamp ash body with a black limba top; white limba neck; black/white ebony finger board; Bartolini Original Bass Dual pickups; Bartolini preamp.

 

Thad plays through a Genz – Benz Shuttle Max 6.0 through Genz – Benz Shuttle 2/10 and 2/12 cabinets.

 

Who are Thad’s influences? There are too many to mention. But he credits Doug Kaiser of Wrathchild, Lars Norberg of Spiral Architect, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, and Geddy Lee of Rush as being his primary influences.

 

Thad Stevens Sound & Vision…

 

Thad with Ethereal Architect: https://youtu.be/kuVDC9PjU08

 

Thad with Immortal Guardian: https://youtu.be/jRUK6EpLUFI

 

Thad with Amanda Lepre: https://youtu.be/47VK3I4Zo_4

 

Thad with Descendants of Erdrick: https://youtu.be/WSFH2G0nXqM

 

Thad with Böndbreaker (full performance): https://youtu.be/8yWKu0hbjr4

 

Conceived, created, and gestated by Dr. Patricia Arean, this bass playing miniature replica of Know Your Bass Player “honcho” and Notes From An Artist radio / podcast host Tom Semioli traverses landmark locales in New York City….

 

 

 

 Rooftop hang on the #UpperEastSide of #Manhattan…. #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #StayingPutInNYC

 

 

 

“Twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours to go, I wanna be sedated, Nothing to do nowhere to go,  oh I wanna be sedated…” #LowerEastSide #JoeyRamone Place #Bowery & 2^nd Street #NYC #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC #TheRamones #NewYorkCityRock #punkrock

 

 

 

“Happy and I’m smilin’ walk a mile to drink your water….” Standing Up with #IanAnderson #MartinBarre #GlennCornick #CliveBunker #JethroTull #NYC #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC

 

 

 

#GrandCentralStation #NYC #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NYTransit #MTA #NYSubway #NewYorker #StayingPutInNYC

 

 

 

“Once upon a time you dressed so fine, Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?”  Hangin’ at 4 Gramercy Park West in #NewYorkCity – the cover image locale of #BobDylan #Highway61Revisited 1965 #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #StayingPutInNYC

 

 

 

Hangin’ on the 50^th Anniversary of the last concert at Bill Graham’s #FillmoreEast 27 June 1971 #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC #NewYorkCityRock #NewYorkCityLandmark  #SanFranciscoRock #FillmoreWest #AllmanBrothers #JGeilsBand #AlbertCollins

 

“Once I had a love and it was a gas, Soon turned out had a heart of glass …”#DebbieHarry #Blondie Mural at #BleeckerStreet & #Bowery #NYC #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC #NewWaveRock #NewYorkCityRock #punkrock

 

 

#TompkinsSquarePark #LowerEastSide #EastVillage #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC

 

 

 

“The magnificent seven… Ring! Ring! It’s 7 A.M.! Move y’self to go again…” Hangin’ at the #JoeStrummer mural on the #LowerEastSide of #NYC at #NiagraBar adjacent to #TompkinsSquarePark!  #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC #NewYorkCityRock #punkrock #TheClash

 

 

 

“Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence; that request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his friend, Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown HIM out, requesting that HE never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?” Hangin’ at 1049 Park Avenue,  #UpperEastSide #NYC Site of opening credits and “home” to Oscar Madison and Felix Unger 1970-75 #OddCouple #NeilSimon #TonyRandall #JackKlugman #Broadway #NewYorkTheater #trailguardian #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #StayingPutInNYC

 

 

“Tom, get your plane right on time, I know your part’ll go fine. Doh-n-doh-de-doh-n-doh. And here I am, the only living boy in New York… Hangin’ on the east end of The #CentralParkReservoir (since renamed for Jackie O.) at the precise locale of #SimonandGarfunkel album image for their first Greatest Hits collection. #PaulSimon #ArtGarfunkel #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC Feelin’ groovy?

 

 

 

“Let me take you to the movie.. Can I take you to the show? Let me be yours ever truly…Can I make your garden grow?” Hangin’ at 96-98 St. Mark’s Place, #LowerEastSide #NewYorkCity site #LedZeppelin #PhysicalGraffiti album cover #JimmyPage #JohnPaulJones #JohnBonham #RobertPlant #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC #StMarksPlace

 

 

 

Hangin’ at the #VillageVanguard #GreenwichVillage #NewYorkCityJazz #JohnColtrane #BillEvans #ScottLaFaro #PaulMotian #NewYorkCityLandmark  #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC

 

 

 

“I hear voices, I see people I hear voices of many people, everything is everything…” Hangin’ at the legendary #BitterEnd #folkrock #DonnyHathaway #CurtisMayfield #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC “Hush now child and don’t you cry, your folks might understand you by and by, just move on up towards your destination, though you may find from time-to-time complications….”

 

 

 

“I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains, I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways …”  Positively West 4^th and Jones Street in #GreenwichVillage, site of #BobDylan Freewheelin’ (1963) album image  #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #folkrock #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC

 

 

 

“A hustle here and a hustle there, New York City’s the place where they said, ‘hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side…” What was once #CBGB at 315 #Bowery #punkrock #TheRamones #Blondie #LouReed #Television #PattiSmith #JohnVarvatos #RichardHell #IggyPop #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC

 

 

 

“…a smile relieves a heart that grieves, remember what I said, I’m not waiting on a lady, I’m just waiting on a friend…” Hangin’ at 96-98 St. Mark’s Place, #LowerEastSide #NewYorkCity – site of #RollingStones video “Waiting on a Friend” #MickJagger #KeithRichards #BillWyman #CharlieWatts #RonWood #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patjisan #NewYorker #stayingputinNYC #StMarksPlace

 

 

 

“I’m just sittin’ here watching the wheels go ‘round and ‘round, I really love to watch them roll…” Hangin’ at #StrawberryFields and The Dakota, home of #JohnLennon in #NYC #CentralParkWest #TheBeatles #GeorgeHarrison #PaulMcCartney #RingoStarr #YokoOno #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patsjisan #NewYorker #StayingPutInNYC

 

 

 

“I’ll be your mirror reflect what you are, in case you don’t know, I’ll be the wind, the rain and the sunset, the light on your door to show that you’re home…” Hangin’ with #LouReed at the #East86thStreet #NYCSubway station. #ChuckClose #NYCsubwayart #NYCarts #VelvetUnderground #JohnCale #NewYorkRock #RockHall #bass #bassplayer #FenderBass #FenderPrecisionBass #BassGuitar #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityBassPlayer @trail_guardians @patsjisan #NewYorker #StayingPutInNYC

 

Hosts David C. Gross and Tom Semioli converse with bassist, producer, collaborator, entrepreneur, label owner, recording artist, musical director, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and light-bulb changer Michael League from his home in Spain. ML discusses his new solo record “Right Where I Fall” which was released on 6/25, his work with Snarky Puppy, his ongoing musical evolution, and the state of the music industry in the 21st Century.

 

 

 

 

“Ask him about throwing Roy Harper off a ferry!”

In this video preview from an episode of The Bass Guitar Channel Radio Show on Cygnus Radio with host David C. Gross and Know Your Bass Player “honcho” Tom Semioli, Richard Thompson discusses the bassists he’s employed over the years including Jerry Scheff (Elvis Presley, The Doors), David Pegg (Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention), Danny Thompson (Pentangle), Pat Donaldson (Fotheringay, Chris Spedding, Sandy Denny), Bruce Lynch (Kate Bush, Cat Stevens), Willie Weeks (Donny Hathaway, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton), and Taras Prodaniuk (Lucinda Williams).

 

Photo Courtesy of Larry Grenadier Com

 

“Most people of my age and my generation started on electric….” From a Bass Guitar Channel Radio Show broadcast in February 2021 on Cygnus Radio– host David C. Gross and KYBP “honcho” Tom Semioli talk with bassist Larry Grenadier. In this unedited clip, Larry ruminates o’er his early years, influences, the role of the upright and the electric and how both instruments inspire the present generation, working with Paul Motian, a Jaco story or two, thoughts on practice and education, and reflections on the artform! Interviewers: Tom Semioli, David C. Gross.

 

“Once you can play your instrument, the next question is ‘are you listening to what is going on around you…” From The Bass Guitar Channel Radio Show broadcast in February 2021 on Cygnus Radio– host David C. Gross and KYBP “honcho” Tom Semioli talk with bassist Larry Grenadier. In this second unedited clip, Larry talks about the merits of streaming and the traditional album format, digging deep into Art Tatum and classical music, his recordings with Jack DeJohnette, Ethan Iverson, David Sanchez, Joshua Redman, Paul Motion, Brad Meldau, Pat Metheny, D’Angelo, Charles Lloyd, Wolfgang Muthsppiel, and his solo bass album “The Gleaners” among other topics! Interviewers: Tom Semioli, David C. Gross.

 

Courtesy of Kevin Scott Music Com

 

There are bass players who realize their dreams….and there are the cats who anchor the legends.

 

Enter Kevin Scott – who has achieved both goals and more in his remarkable career.

 

Kevin’s musical journey commenced while he was in his teens, as a bassist in his dad’s bluegrass band.  Then this Dothan, Alabama native heard Colonel Bruce Hampton and his life changed. He migrated to Atlanta where Hampton resided, and worked his way into the guitar legend’s band.

 

Touring and recording with Hampton raised Scott’s profile. He found himself on the bandstand with another legend, drummer Bernard Purdie for the ATL Collective’s yearly “James Brown’s Funky Christmas” wherein Scott serves as musical director. And yet more legends – guitarists Jimmy Herring, and Wayne Krantz have enlisted Kevin for recording and touring.

 

Scott established himself as a first call bassist in Atlanta, anchoring such ensembles as; Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics, Russell Gunn and Elektrik Butterfly, Whitney Tai, King Baby, Grant Green Jr., Mindi Abair, Fergie,  FORQ, Wale, Monica, and Big Shanty, among others.

 

A finger / plectrum player, among Kevin’s primary weapons of choice is a weathered vintage Fender Precision. Scott’s funky disposition serves the singer and the song – he’s also a prolific soloist.  Keep up with Kevin Scott at www.KevinScottMusic.com

 

KYBP hat tip to Scott Gordon: Says SG “Kevin Scott is one of the baddest bass dudes out there! He’s my favorite young gun…at 35 he is the most versatile bassist …and a super humble guy to top it off.  Jesse from St Paul and the Broken Bones has taken a few lessons with Kev and even bought most of the gear that Kev uses!” 

 

Check out Kevin Scott’s KnowYourBassPlayer Spotify Playlist….

 

Kevin Scott Sound & Vision… 

 

Bruce Hampton: Live https://youtu.be/_C73ELythTs

 

Wayne Krantz: Under Cover Pop Tour https://youtu.be/ornbl4lqBQ4

 

ATL Collective Live with Nigel Hall https://youtu.be/E_v1R8CciUE

 

Ruby Velle “It’s About That Time” https://youtu.be/oTR_ls5a4MQ

 

Elektrik Butterfly “War Pigs” https://youtu.be/sJI9lgu1sDM

 

Wale “Ambition” (Kevin served as co-writer on this #1 hit) https://youtu.be/O7ZbM7ak8uw

 

 

Photo by Drew Burke – Courtesy of Kevin Scott Music Com!