In a Big Country…Let My Love Open the Door…Back on the Chain Gang….My City was Gone…

 

He anchored some of the most enduring British pop hits of the 1980s with bass passages that were instantly recognizable and as memorable as the melodies and lyrics!

 

A bassist, vocalist, writer, solo recording artist, and educator (Livewire Youth Music Project), touted for his tenure in Big Country, Tony Butler was also an in-demand session player and sideman, rendering his dual melodic / in-the-pocket artistry in the service of Pete Townshend, The Pretenders, and Roger Daltrey among others.

 

Tony cites prog-rock icons Chris Squire and Mike Rutherford as his primary bass influences

 

Vintage Guitars issued a Tony Butler Signature Bass in 2011. Among Tony’s weapons of choice also include Fender Precision, Rickenbacker, Aria Pro (a former endorsee), and Washburn.

 

In 2017  Tony waxed his debut solo slab entitled My Time which features his Big Country bandmate Mark Brzecki on drums.

 

Tony Butler Sound & Vision:

 

Big Country:

 

“In A Big Country” https://youtu.be/657TZDHZqj4

 

“Fields of Fire” https://youtu.be/19eti8Lf2Zo

 

“Harvest Home” https://youtu.be/QByihCyvNJI

 

Live at Reading 1986  https://youtu.be/1UlnVnQ06ZM

 

The Pretenders:

 

“My City Was Gone” https://youtu.be/thu8DWsirJo

 

“Back on the Chain Gang” https://youtu.be/CK3uf5V0pDA

 

Tony Butler:

 

“Heaven Saved a Place for You” https://youtu.be/PcjJoCdpJgY

 

“Here Comes the First One” https://youtu.be/J29N6fWEEkg

 

Pete Townshend:

 

“Let My Love Open the Door” https://youtu.be/9dw29xpA0Qg

 

“Slit Skirts” https://youtu.be/nAL7RYHKrlA 

 

“My older brother is the reason why I play bass.  He brought a bass home one day and told me not to touch it.”

 

A genre traversing composer, recording artist, educator, singer, and virtuoso who masters extended range and fretless – Rhonda Smith is among the top session players and side-women on the planet.  Her credits span Prince, Jeff Beck, Chaka Khan, Beyonce, Lee Ritenour, Patrice Rushen, Patti Labelle, Erykah Badu, and George Clinton in addition to numerous television and film soundtracks cite a very, very few.

 

A Jazz Performance graduate from Montreal’s McGill University,  Rhonda nailed a  Juno Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for her work with Jim Hillman and The Merlin Factor.

 

Rhonda’s weapons of choice include Fender Jazz, PRS basses, Mesa Boogie, Aguilar amps and cabinets, and D’Addario strings.

 

 

Rhonda Smith Sound & Vision….

 

Live with Prince “The Everlasting” https://youtu.be/o07Q25LXg4Q

 

Live with Jeff Beck “Solo + People Get Ready” https://youtu.be/A5tvrqJlcg0

 

Watch Rhonda slappin’ and poppin’ on her PRS with D’Adarrio strings: https://youtu.be/O6nGOhtZsUc

 

Rhonda from her slab RS2 “Grind” https://youtu.be/jVLzaYnS1rs

 

 

Bey who?

To my ears, this indie slab suitably titled Jubilant Newborn Alien Haze (2001) should have made Julia Brown a household name – and it still sounds fresh nineteen or so years after the fact. Multi-instrumentalist producer Christian Cassan helms the bass chair -save for “Eternity” by Alfredo Buonanno on fretless.

Cassan grooves mightily in the pocket while rendering motifs that also function as countermelodies for Ms. Brown’s riveting pop-folk-soul song-cycle as evidenced in choice tracks “Just Like That,” “Victims and Villains,” “Afterglow,” and “Miles from Home.”

Dig “Victims and Villians” https://youtu.be/vaS9UlM-Vxw

It is among the most astonishing bass passages in the history of pop music as it sounded like nothing before it; and nothing like it has been heard since. 

UK session ace Herbie Flowers blew minds (and home audio speakers) on David Essex smash hit “Rock On” (1973). Akin to his ingenious plot to earn twice his session wage for Lou’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” Herbie double-tracked his part.

Significantly detuning the E string of his blue Fender Jazz which the engineer further submerged with a wobbly delay effect, Mr. Flowers upped his remuneration for the day’s work from £12 to £24!

Herbie Flowers on “Rock On” https://bit.ly/2RUebt9

By the way, which one’s Pink?  With his former Joker’s Wild bandmate Rick Wills in the bass chair, David Jon Gilmour CBE waxed a classic slab whilst his Floyd co-workers were on hiatus in 1978. 

An in-demand session cat with Roxy Music, Kevin Ayers, Small Faces, and Peter Frampton, among others, Wills colored his warm, classic Fender Precision tone with flange and chorus as he plied fine counterpoint and harmonic extensions to enhance David’s guitar mastery.  

Of all the Pink Floyd solo slabs, this is the best, and would have made a remarkable Floyd album if only…

Dig Rick Wills on “Mihalis” https://bit.ly/2PQJUZl

More than a feeling? It was one of those rare times in life when you hear a record for the first time and your jaw drops! How did they do that?

 

 

Says composer, recording artist, visual artist, bon vivant, and renown Mott the Hoople keyboardist Morgan Fisher …. “George Ford, brother of superstar Emile Ford …he was the smoothest, nicest bassist – and man -I have ever met. [George] played with Al Stewart, and Medicine Head – with whom I played – and later The Shadows! One of nature’s gentlemen and it really showed in his always-delicious bass lines.”

A soulful pocket player, the late George Ford also plied his craft with The Checkmates with Emile, The Ferris Wheel, Cherry Vanilla, Cliff Richard, Linda Lewis, The Shadows and Steve Harley, among others.

George Ford Sound & Vision

Dig George with The Shadows “It Don’t Matter Anymore” https://youtu.be/f8pijUiRHE0

Dig George with Al Stewart “Year of the Cat” https://youtu.be/Ak_MTXQALa0

George with Steve Harley “Psychomodo” https://youtu.be/l–V7zAIfsc

A valued sideman and solo recording artist, the late Rob Wasserman was a dexterous player whose upright prowess excelled in situations where an electric bass would have likely been the first choice!  

 

Rob’s amazing body of work spanned Van Morrison, Lou Reed, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Jerry Garcia, Rickie Lee Jones, Brian Wilson, and Aaron Neville, to cite a select few.

 

He garnered Grammy nominations for his groundbreaking Duets (1988) album, and Downbeaat cited his debut slab Solo as Record of the Year in 1983. 

 

Rob Wasserman Sound & Vision…

 

“Ballad of the Runaway Horse” https://youtu.be/TwXlyl2JxYE

 

With Bob Weir & Ratdog Live 2012 https://youtu.be/iwtlvtw22sI

 

With Lou Reed performing New York in 1989 https://youtu.be/zy7caDxIexo

Courtesy No Doubt Com

 

A versatile player given to grooves which draw from reggae, ska, rock, soul, funk, punk, disco, and permutations thereof, Tony Ashwin Kanal is best known, no doubt, for his tenure in No Doubt.

 

An accomplished bassist, producer, and composer, Tony commenced his musical journey as a saxophonist, then switched to electric bass during his high school years.

 

Outside of ND, Kanal’s most notable busman holidays include Pink’s Funhouse (2008), the soundtrack to 50 First Dates (2004), Elan Atias (Together As One), and solo platters by his bandmate Gwen Stefani, to cite a few. In 2017 Kanal founded a punk / new wave collective which works under the moniker Dreamcar.

 

Kanal’s main weapon of choice are Yamaha basses.

 

Tony Kanal Sound & Vision….

 

“Just A Girl” https://youtu.be/PHzOOQfhPFg

 

“Don’t Speak” https://youtu.be/TR3Vdo5etCQ  

 

“Hella Good” https://youtu.be/QtTj4cramPM

 

“Oi to the World” https://youtu.be/ZFLExwIQKto

 

Dreamcar “Kill for Candy” https://youtu.be/sj_fc6bG8aE