Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Chuck Rainey was born Charles Walter Rainey III on June 17, 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio. His youthful pursuits included violin, piano and trumpet but switched to baritone horn in order to join the Lane College traveling ensemble while matriculating. But it was while on active military duty that he learned the rhythm guitar, however, his lack of improvisational skills led him to pick up the bass. He soon found steady work as a studio bassist in New York, recording and touring with many of the greats of the time.

Through the 1970s he played with Jerome Richardson, Grady Tate, Mose Allison, Gato Barbieri, Gene Ammons and Eddie Vinson. He was a member of the King Curtis All Stars, toured with the Beatles second U.S. run and had firmly established himself as New York City’s “first call” session bass guitarist.

In 1972, he released his first solo album “The Chuck Rainey Coalition” consisting of notable session musicians Richard Tee, Warren Smith, Specs Powell, Eric Gale, Bernard Purdie, Herb Lovelle, Cornell Dupree and Billy Butler. He moved to Los Angeles that same year working with Quincy Jones and his big band but continued as a studio musician playing for Betty Davis, Steely Dan and Aretha Franklin.

Rainey’s style has always been to provide a rhythmic and melodic bottom that works with the drummer for the benefit of the song. His books on bass study refer to ”sensitivity to music” and a dedication to studying the fundamentals of music theory. While his “sideman” philosophy of bass has not brought him the level of recognition of star players such as Jaco Pastorious, Rainey is by far more recorded than his more famous contemporaries.

More Posts: bass

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Charnett Moffett was born June 10, 1967 in New York City. His first name is a combination of his father’s name, drummer Charles Moffett and that of Ornette Coleman. Taking up the bass in his childhood, he attended Fiorello H. La Guardia High School for Music and Arts in New York City, later studied at Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School of Music.

In 1983, he played on saxophonist Branford Marsalis’ debut as a leader, Scenes in the City, and the following year he joined the Wynton Marsalis quintet, appearing on the1985 acclaimed Black Codes (From the Underground). During the Eighties, he also played on Stanley Jordan’s best-selling 1985 Blue Note debut, Magic Touch, and went on to play with Tony Williams on two Blue Note albums.

In 1987, Moffett signed with Blue Note Records and debuted as a leader that year with his first of three albums for the label, Beauty Within, which featured his father and older brothers Codaryl Moffett on drums and Mondre Moffett on trumpet, Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone, and Stanley Jordan on guitar.

This led to a career as a free-lance bassist, performing and recording with Stanley Jordan, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller, Courtney Pine, Arturo Sandoval, Lew Soloff and Sonny Sharrock.

Charles Moffett, who plays the bass, piccolo bass, double bass, bass guitar has played and recorded as a leader in addition to Blue Note with Manhattan, Evidence and Piadrum record labels. With eleven albums under his belt as a leader and set to release an album for Motema, the former member of the Manhattan Jazz Quintet is currently performing with Melody Gardot.

More Posts: bass

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Matthew Garrison was born June 2, 1970 in New York. The son of double bassist Jimmy Garrison, he spent the first eight years of his life immersed in a community of musicians, dancers, visual artists and poets. After the death of his father (John Coltrane’s bassist), his family relocated to Rome, Italy where he began to study piano and bass guitar.

In 1988 Matthew returned to the United States and lived with his godfather Jack Dejohnette for two years, studying intensively under him and bassist Dave Holland. In 1989 he received a full scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. Along with his studies, he began his professional career with the likes of Gary Burton, Bob Moses, Betty Carter, Mike Gibbs and Lyle Mays to mention a few.

Garrison moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1994 and since then has performed, toured and recorded with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Whitney Houston, Joe Zawinul, Chaka Khan, Meshell Ndege Ocello, Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter, Jack Dejohnette, Steve Coleman, Bill Cosby, Paul Simon, Cassandra Wilson, Wallace Roney, Geri Allen, John Mclaughlin, Tito Puente, John Scofield, Pat Metheny and many others.

In 1998 Matthew founded record label and production company, GarrisonJazz Productions, through which he currently produces, promotes and markets his music.  Since 2000 he has released two compact discs and a live performance DVD. He is noted for playing his signature series Fodera bass, having created and developed a pizzicato technique that uses four fingers. He continues to perform and record.

More Posts: bass

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Christian McBride was born May 31, 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into a family of bassists, his father Lee Smith and great uncle Howard Cooper who served as his early mentors.

Widely considered to be one of the best bassists of his generation in the jazz community, McBride has performed and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Diana Krall, Roy Haynes, Joshua Redman, Chick Corea and Sonny Rollins to name a few as well as in the hip hop, soul, pop and classical genres with The Roots, Kathleen Battle, Carly Simon, Sting, James Brown and others.

Since 2000 Christian has fronted his own band and has become one of the least predictable bands if not intoxicating. Equally adept on the electric bass he was part of The Philadelphia Experiment with Uri Caine and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. He took over the relinquished Creative Chair of Jazz with the L.A. Philharmonic from Dianne Reeves, that he held until Herbie Hancock took over four years later in 2010. He is co-director of the new National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

McBride released his first big band album, titled “The Good Feeling” in 2011 for which he won his third Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance.

He currently leads four groups – “Inside Straight” featuring alto/soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, pianist Peter Martin and drummer Carl Allen; a trio with pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr.; an 18-piece big band, and an experimental group called “A Christian McBride Situation” with pianist/keyboardist Patrice Rushen, turntablists DJ Logic and Jahi Sundance, saxophonist Ron Blake and vocalist Alyson Williams.

More Posts: bass

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bassist Julian Euell was born on May 23, 1929 in New York City. He first began playing bass in 1944, served in the Army from 1945-47 and after his discharge began playing with Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean and Art Taylor that same year. He quit music in ’49 for steady work in the post office eventually studying under Charles Mingus in ’52 and attending Julliard fro 1953 to 1956. He also took classes at NYU, earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and subsequently taught there.

His musical associations during the fifties were with Elmo Hope, Benny Harris, Charlie Rouse, Joe Roland, Freddie Redd, Gigi Gryce and Phineas Newborn. Leaving music again late in the decade he found employment in New Jersey as a social worker. Though less active at this time he continued to perform with Mal Waldron, Randy Weston, Abbey Lincoln, Charles Mingus and Kenny Dorham.

In the 1960s Euell worked in Harlem directing an arts program and then returned to school, receiving a Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1973. He was Assistant Secretary for Public Service at the Smithsonian from 1970-1982, and was partly responsible for the institution’s increasing interest in jazz history. From 1983 to 1988 he directed the Oakland Museum History-Arts-Science and from 1991-95 was director of the Louis Armstrong House. He returned to semi-regular performing in the 1980s and 1990s.

More Posts: bass