A recording artist, producer, composer, collaborator (Brian Eno, Jah Wobble, David Sylvian, The Edge, and the Eurythmics, among many others), video artist, humorist, and most notably co-founder of the experimental rock ensemble Can, bassist / multi-instrumentalist Holger Czukay‘s canon embraced ambient, pop, jazz, rock, avant-garde, classical, folk, and permutations thereof.

A student of Stockhausen, Holger became a music teacher in the late 1960s. He became interested in rock music when one of his students turned him on to The Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, and John Lennon’s signature psychedelic anthem “I Am the Walrus.”  

A cat who could work the pocket or take it outside (“Two Bass Shuffle” – from On the Way to the Peak of Normal -1981), Czukay also pioneered sampling in the pre-digital era.

Holger Cuzkay Sound & Vision

“Two Bass Shuffle” https://youtu.be/Q0UZD508bzU

“Persian Love” https://youtu.be/mjZHN1CX77Q

Bassist Rosko Gee with Holger on keyboards “Dizzy Dizzy / Don’t Say No” https://youtu.be/Dm4JQvNMeU4

“Dizzy Dizzy” with Holger on bass https://youtu.be/MgsUongrSkM

By Thomas Semioli

Self-taught and greatly inspired by Charles Mingus and British and American rhythm and blues, Jones plies his craft with a repertoire of glissandos, harmonics, and three-finger riffage, among other techniques, in his work as a jazz-fusion prog-rock master.

A composer, arranger, sideman, collaborator, multi-instrumentalist, and solo recording artist, Percy has anchored several watershed sides, most notably as a member of Brand X, and with Brian Eno, Roy Harper, Steve Hackett, David Sylvian, and Tunnels to cite a very select few.

A University of Liverpool Engineering student, Jones put his education towards designing assorted bass guitar pedals and gadgetry such as a Voltage Controlled Filter and various flange devices.

Among Percy’s weapons of choice include a Fretless Fender Precision, Wal basses produced by Electric Wood Limited, and customized Ibanez instruments.

Percy Jones Sound & Vision

Percy with KYBP Adjunct Professor Tony Senatore, Van Romaine, and Manolo Badrena on “Shapla” https://youtu.be/x4d6_qnRPrk

Brand X:

“Noddy Goes To Sweden” https://youtu.be/2K6OvrKyoGU

“Nuclear Burn” Live https://youtu.be/aPouOx7nAnI

Brian Eno:

“No One Receiving” https://youtu.be/eYDBTYfn9D8

Tunnels

“Tunnels No. 1” https://youtu.be/ghXyKhA-3nw

Solo artist:

“Thin Line” https://youtu.be/WH9samKzsaA

By Tom Semioli

Visionary, sound conceptualist, innovator…

Producer, recording artist, label head, composer – and a bass player, Bill Laswell is a giant of American music. Spanning pop, new wave, no wave, punk, dub, avant-garde, jazz, rock, reggae, electronica, techno – and permutations thereof, there is nary a genre Laswell has not excelled in.

Laswell’s innovative production and collaborative efforts are the stuff of legend. His short list (pun intended) of credits include: Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Bootsy Collins, Nine Inch Nails, Motorhead, Peter Gabriel, Blur, The Ramones, George Clinton, Pharaoh Sanders, The Dalai Lama, Matisyahu, Angelique Kidjo, DJ Krush, Sting, The Last Poets, Afrika Bambaataa, Julian Schnabel, Whitney Houston, Manu Dibango, Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock,  PiL, Ginger Baker, Tony Williams, Steve Vai, William S. Burroughs, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, and Bob Marley, to cite a select few.

Akin to his peer bassists Jah Wobble, Jonas Helborg, and such luminaries as Bootsy, Jaco, Jamerson, Marcus Miller…. Laswell’s rhythmic and tonal vocabulary has expanded the language of the instrument.

As a bassist his seminal works include his “avant-funk” ensemble Material, progressive dub collective Method of Defiance, Massacre with Fred Firth and Charles Hayward, and Last Exit with Sonny Sharrock among others.

Bill Laswell Sound and Vision

“Beyond the Zero” https://youtu.be/ddjMHMuOE7Y

“Golden Spiral” https://youtu.be/XYixWnmv0YE

“Dread Iternal” https://youtu.be/aIzFfMslCQo

“Lightening Teleportation” https://youtu.be/ZlvrMBxM-jE

By Tom Semioli 

Back in the late 1970s – early 80s, the late Busta “Cherry” Jones was a first call session cat / side-man, plying funk fueled lines with a mastery of rhythm, space, harmony – rendered with fat P bass tone. A showman, composer, solo recording artist, and collaborator; Mr. Jones distinguished himself on several seminal sides of his era including My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) and The Name of this Band is Talking Heads (1982), among others. He followed Andy Fraser in Sharks, anchored a killer live trio platter with Chris Spedding (Friday the 13th); and worked with Gang of Four, Eno, Robert Fripp, and The Ramones, to cite a select few.

Dig Busta on “You Keep Making Me Hot” https://youtu.be/KwvpyQ8wUR0

Dig Busta with The Talking Heads https://youtu.be/GQo1YK3I0BY

Dig Busta with Eno & Byrne “Regiment” https://youtu.be/wtWFyiZITew