A composer, sideman, collaborator, producer, singer, recording artist, educator and bassist… Fernando Saunders a one-man orchestra!
His tenure with Lou Reed is a master class in the symphonic powers of the fretless bass in a rock context. Akin to Sir Paul, Brian Wilson, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, and Jaco Pastorius – to cite a select few – Saunders’ approach to the instrument is composition. His bass passages are songs within the songs – employing chord extensions, harmonics, pedal tones, and sustained notes, among other techniques to serve the singer, songs, and melodies.
Fernando has waxed seminal sides with Lou, Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, and Marianne Faithfull, among others, and his collaborations are numerous. Be sure to check out Fernando’s solo slabs as well which traverse jazz, funk, rock, rhythm & blues, new age, pop, soul and permutations thereof!
Fernando Saunders Sound & Vision….
Fernando with Lou:
“Legendary Hearts” https://youtu.be/Ltk-F6eFfmc
“My House” https://youtu.be/Dtiih7wk4uQ
“Pow Wow” https://youtu.be/VS5mzCDz2vQ
“New Sensations.” https://youtu.be/PrXIoHyfObg
Fernando with Jan Hammer and Jeff Beck:
“Earth (Still Our Only Home)” https://youtu.be/2i9tEXyDqes
Fernando with John McLaughlin and the One Truth Band: “Electric Dreams Electric Sighs” https://youtu.be/18Lnod4TAsY
Fernando with Marianne: “Times Square” https://youtu.be/B8CqnKYfNTQ
“Live in LA” (Part 1) https://youtu.be/In0_XQfbiyw
“Live in LA” (Part 2) https://youtu.be/nDwQrziwW0M
Fernando flying solo “I Will Break Your Fall” https://youtu.be/3Cr_WgCxBJE
Keep up with all things Fernando: http://fernandosaunders.net/
I’ve been hired to play guitar and bass on a friend’s tracks, so I’ve been pulling my bass chops back into shape. Different muscles, different head. I love to play bass. If I could sing lead while doing so I would have saved myself many a runaround and played it in my own bands over the years, as good bass players have always come dear. (I might be a bit picky in that regard, too.
When I first joined Richard Hell & The Voidoids in early 1979 I didn’t own a bass guitar, so I used one of Richard’s during the beginning of my tenure. I had been rehearsing with them for the first two months of that year, but nobody ever bothered to tell me that I was in the band during that time – I figured they were just trying me out, maybe waiting to see if they wanted someone else instead. I was sixteen and having fun just playing with Bob Quine and Ivan Julian and didn’t want to rock the boat; but I also didn’t want to invest in a bass if I wasn’t going to get the gig.
One day in early March I finally asked if I was an official member and they all laughed, assuming that the four-day-a-week rehearsal schedule might have been a tip-off that I already had the job. Before each session, I had been meeting Richard at his apartment on 12th & A so I could carry the bass to the studio near Union Square. The day after I was anointed a Voidoid, Richard said: “OK, Mister Bass Player, it’s time you got your own.”
I went to We Buy Guitars on 48th Street and got this 1976 Fender Precision Bass for $325. Many years later when I was at my lowest ebb of drunkenness and depression, I would run to pay off the pawn ticket at the shop that held it, always just a day ahead of it being sold off. I’ll always remember how happy I was when I pulled my life together enough to get it out of hock. It’s a wonderful slab of wood, and every time I play it I remember how truly fortunate I have been, and how fortunate I am today.
Love to you, wherever you are. Yes, you.
Jahn Xavier 2017