Courtesy of Haim The Band Com
Este Haim, bassist by Tom Semioli
Artists/Band: Haim
Seminal Sides: Days Are Gone (2013), Something to Tell You (2017) –
They got the looks… they got the hooks….
The sister trio of Este (bass), Danielle, and Alana Haim were raised in a musical San Fernando family and the rock and roll aesthetic most associated with their So Cali environs shines through their artistry i.e. strong vocals, memorable melodies, prominent guitars, and a solid rhythm section with an occasional flash of brilliance.
Akin to their ancestors Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and Sheryl Crow, Haim rock a lot harder on stage than they do on record, and their impromptu jams are a welcome relief in an era wherein rock bands refuse, or are incapable of walking the improvisatory high-wire.
Bassist Este, the eldest sibling, is primarily a song-player. In the studio Este is mostly restrained, doubling sparse lower register keyboard motifs. However on the bandstand she’ll cut loose (somewhat) rhythmically.
Este’s weapon of choice is a naturel finish Fender Precision with a big 70s headstock logo – does it get more Echoes of the Canyon than that, I ask you!?
Dig Este with Haim…
“Right Now” live at Glastonbury https://youtu.be/hqkyTsY2c9g “Oh
Well” live at T In the Park https://youtu.be/VikyxJoBF2k
Rock in Rio 2018 https://youtu.be/vlMqr9pEl70
Courtesy of Haim The Band Com
John Pazdan, bassist by Joe Gagliardo
Seminal Sides: Pezband United Technique (1972) and Women and Politics (2016)
Artists / Bands: Pezband, Milton and Winston, Off Broadway
John Pazdan has pursued an eclectic array of musical styles during his five-decade career as a bassist – from rhythm and blues, to pop rock, soul, rockabilly and jazz. Though the Chicago area-based musician generally prefers performing an improvisational set at a New York City club or composing electronic tones from his studio in Aurora, Illinois – he also gigs in the Midwest with well-known power-pop bands.
Pazdan broke into the Chicago music scene in 1971, with an electric Wurlitzer piano and a Fender guitar, as one of the founding members of the power-pop legends Pezband. John played with the group until 1973, and occasionally through its several metamorphoses thereafter, switching over to the bass guitar.
From that two-year stint with Pezband, Pazdan appeared on United Technique (1972), which was released forty-one years later, and was followed by the release of a 1982 recording, Women and Politics in 2016. These records afforded Pazdan the opportunity to tour Japan and the East Coast with Dwight Twilley and Shoes.
However, it was the soul music of the 1970s, as well as the rhythmic delights of roots reggae, funk fusion and African music that turned Pazdan to the bass! Post Pezband, Pazdan joined up with the Southside Chicago soul band Milton and Winston, a well-known duo on WVON, which was Chicago’s premier soul, r&b and blues radio station, which released several of their 45s.
This was the experience that made John a bona-fide bass player, Pazdan says – keeping time, playing the pocket, pushing the groove – and opening his own bass playing to influences that shape his improvisational focus.
Pazdan lists bass players such as James Jamerson and Leroy Hodges, funk fusion pioneers Michael Henderson and Paul Jackson, reggae bassists Robbie Shakespeare and Aston “Family Man” Barrett (Bob Marley & The Wailers) among the influencers of his style.
Pazdan rolled with the 70s – playing funk and fusion instrumentals, as well as circling back to the power pop scene. A stint with the TS Henry Webb Band (after Webb moved on from The Flock), morphed into Off Broadway, which featured former Pezband lead singer Cliff Johnson. The band’s debut album On was released by Atlantic in 1980 and included the hit single “Stay in Time.”
By the mid-1980s, Pazdan had been to Los Angeles and back to Chicago playing blues at the storied Kingston Mines with Joe Kelley (Shadows of Knight), and blues greats including Sugar Blue and Hubert Sumlin. These sets, which ran every weekend for a year, often lasted until 4:00 AM!
Also during the 1980s, a new form of rocked-up traditional country music, now known as “Alternative Country” drew Pazdan’s interest. He teamed up with former Off Broadway bandmate and guitarist John Ivan to form Big Guitars from Memphis. The band, which became popular in Scandinavia, toured with The Jordanaires, top session player Charlie McCoy, and Beatles’ mentor Tony Sheridan – a rockabilly guitarist.
Through all these musical transformations, John mostly finds his groove in improvisation, such as a 2016 gathering of bass players at the Manhattan Inn in Brooklyn, New York. That evening, Pazdan, set for the final solo of the evening among fourteen bassists, decided to invite Brooklyn-based baritone sax player Maria Eisen to join him along with upright bass players Scott Ritchie (Lady Gaga) and Louis Levitt (Sybarite 5) at the show for a free-form set. For Pazdan and his impromptu crew, that was exhilarating music!
Since the 1980s, Pazdan has produced and released compositions of bass and electronic instrumentals.
You can catch Pazdan live with Off Broadway, and check out his playing at the links below.
Also, watch for John’s electronic “free noise” ensembles St Fu and The Empty Set, as well as a new free floating “skronk-noise thing” under the monkier Scorched Space Policy.
John Pazdan Sound and Vision:
Off Broadway-“Stay In Time” https://youtu.be/zJOTXWoeIew
Off Broadway-“She Said, She Said” Live https://youtu.be/h43wgg9erWc
Pezband-“Fab Girlfriends” https://youtu.be/hyHUIKENm0A
John Pazdan-“Murder” https://soundcloud.com/johnp352/murder
Notes John: It was written as a protest against the murder of black and brown people in the Middle East. My “Machine Gun”…I like the false endings…
Weapons of Choice: Pazdan has used a diverse array of gear over the years, including a 1959 Danelectro Longhorn, a Mocha Brown Fender Precision bass, Fender Bass VI, MusicMan StingRay, a Piccolo bass, and an Ibanez Mikro bass, as well as Washburn, Jerry Jones and Alembic basses. His go-to basses these days for jazz and improv are a custom Rick Turner Renaissance five string fretless, tuned from E to high C and a heavily modified Mikro bass using a variety of tunings.
With Off Broadway, he prefers a MusicMan Sub from the early 2000s. While he had monster rigs in the past, with MusicMan and Hi-Watt heads, and multiple 4×12 and 4×10 cabinets, his go-to rig these days is a GK1001 and a TC cabinet with 2x12s. He recommends tipping the monitor mixer a $20 bill to hear bass through the sidefills! For pedals / effects, he uses the Malekko Charley Foxtrot, and two extremely bent Roctek pedals from Circuit Benders UK. He also plays a Mbira Huru which is a large kalimba style instrument from Zimbabwe, and various synthesizers.
By Tony Senatore
By Joe Gagliardo
Eddie with Arlen Roth
The John Hall Band
By Joe Gagliardo
By Joe Gagliardo
Photo by Howard Greenblatt
Val Burke, bassist (electric) by Tom Semioli
Seminal Sides: You Broke My Heart So…I Busted Your Jaw (1973), The Mirror (1974) by Spooky Tooth; Willie & The Mighty Magnificents Play That Funky Beat.
Artists / Bands: Spooky Tooth, Willie & The Mighty Magnificents
Cited by Marcus Miller and Jamaaladeen Tacuma as a profound influence on their playing, Val Burke hails from the bass player capital of the world: Queens County, New York City.
Val served as the house bassist for Stang / All Platinum records, waxing sides with The Moments, (Ray, Goodman & Brown) Whatnauts, Linda Jones, Donnie Elbert, Sylvia. As the Concord Resort Orchestra bassist, Burked backed Ben Vereen, Tom Jones, Tony Martin, Robert Goulet to cite a few. Val also worked A&R for Cameo.
He anchored two latter day Spooky Tooth slabs You Broke My Heart So…I Busted Your Jaw (1973), and The Mirror (1974). Tooth were long in the tooth with regard to their commercial and artistic prime, yet these platters do have their enjoyable, groovin’ moments.
Dig this Burke bass passage which must’ve inspired Marcus and Jamaaladeen: “Women and Gold” from The Mirror https://youtu.be/1IVm5kwyoOk
He worked the bass chair for Elephant’s Memory Band sax colossus Stan Bronstein’s Living On the Avenue (1976), and Willie & The Mighty Magnificents Play That Funky Beat.
Dig Val working the pocket with Stan Bronstein on the title track to “Living on the Avenue” https://youtu.be/PHkeywFLw6E
Dig Val with Willie & The Mighty Magnificents “Funky Beat” https://youtu.be/X36hc5wh3Eo
Interview with Val Burke in Ebony Live: Larry Smith Unsung Hero of Hip Hip Gets His Props (2017) https://bit.ly/3h4J6gw
Interview with Jamaaladeen Tacuma which cites Val Burke: For Bass Players Only by Jon Liebman https://forbassplayersonly.com/interview-jamaaladeen-tacuma/
“But there was one bass player who turned my head completely around and became a major influence. His name is Val Burke. Val was the bass player in a self-contained R&B band called Willie & the Mighty Magnificents. They were the backup studio band for a group called the Moments, which had hits like “Love on a Two-Way Street.” At the time, they were headed up by hip-hop pioneer Sylvia Robinson of Sugar Hill Records. This band was cooking all the time when I saw them…..”

From his home in The Windy City, KYBP Chicago Bureau Chief recalls his performance with the “Father of Rock and Roll” – Charles Edward Anderson Berry! With Little Richard as the opening act, Chuck possibly mistakes Joe for Joey Spampinato who anchored Chuck and Keith Richards in the 1987 documentary Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll! upon Berry’s inspection of Gagliardo’s Danelectro – which was a nearly the same instrument used by the NRBQ bassist in the film.
Courtesy of The Sweet Band Com
Steve Priest, bassist by Tom Semioli
Seminal Sides: Just about a any Sweet Greatest Hits compilation will do….
Artists/Bands: The Sweet
Are you ready Steve?
He anchored the “Godfathers of Glam” – however The Sweet were much more than a passing pop trend. Pub rockers with a rhythm and blues background and strong vocal harmonies which set them apart from their loud and proud peers, the classic quartet of Brian Connolly, Andy Scott, Mick Tucker, and bassist Steve Priest initially made their commercial bones with bubble-gum tunes composed by Mike Chapmen and Nicky Chinn.
Yet the lads could also pen hits and album tracks that rocked hard akin to their competition– Thin Lizzy, Mott The Hoople, and T. Rex – hence the contradiction which plagued their career and legacy: were they substance or sizzle?
You be the judge. They certainly inspired the LA metal scene (Quiet Riot) and second wave of British metal (Def Leppard) of the 1980s, and indie-rockers of the 90s who worked in the pop spectrum cited them as a touchstone despite their tinsel trappings.
Akin to many players of his generation, Priest was drawn to the instrument by way of Jet Harris, and the harder edge aesthetic of the Rolling Stones and The Who. He toiled in various beat groups in the 1960s, The Countdown and The Army wherein he worked with legendary producer Joe Meek.
A singer / composer Priest was among rock’s consummate song players – working the pocket with occasional rhythmic and harmonic flourishes as the situation warranted.
Following The Sweet, Priest migrated to Los Angeles and formed The Allies which failed to reach a wide audience. In 2006 he waxed a solo slab Priest’s Private Poems. In 2008, after years away from the biz, Priest led his own version of The Sweet, and penned an autobiography Are You Ready Steve? in 1994 to tell his side of the Sweet story.
Among Priest’s weapons of choice included Fender and Rickenbacker basses.
Steve Priest Sound & Vision
“Fox On The Run” https://youtu.be/qBdFA6sI6-8
“Love Is Like Oxygen” https://youtu.be/zRgWvvkSvfk
“Talk to Me” from Priest’s Private Poems https://youtu.be/sUZxfMUSThE
Steve Priest’s The Sweet live in 2019 https://youtu.be/qCgIW8ZjleE
Courtesy of The Sweet Band Com