Bass Player: Joe Mondragon Joe Mondragon (February 2, 1920 – July 1987) was self taught on the bass, and began working professionally in Los Angeles. He served in the Army during WWII and then joined Woddy Herman’s First Herd in 1946. Over the next two decades, he became one of the more popular studio bassists for…

Bass Player: Rob Amster Who the hell is Rob Amster? Not a household name, even amongst bass players but Amster played with some real heavyweights in his time including Buddy Rich, Pepper Adams, Maynard Ferguson, Fareed Haque and Kurt Elling. It is with Elling that Amster recorded this most engaging vocal/bass duet, ‘The Waking’, from…

Bass Player: Anthony Jackson A fairly obscure recording, the album ‘French Toast’ by a band of the same name featured a roster of A-list players including pianist Michel Camilo, alto saxoophonist Jerry Dodgion, French Horn player, Peter Gordon, trumpeter Lew Soloff, drummers Steve Gadd and Dave Weckl and the legendary Anthony Jackson on bass. The…

Bass Player: Will Lee The World’s Most Dangerous Bass Player, Will Lee has been the first call guy for everyone forever and has a list of credits as long as the longest thing in the world. The list in includes Donald Fagan, Barry Manilow, Art Farmer, Cat Stevens, Pat Metheny, Chaka Khan, Dusty Springfield, Michael…

Bass Player: John Wetton John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English singer, bassist, guitarist, and songwriter. He was born in Willington, Derbyshire, and grew up in Bournemouth, Dorset. Between 1972- 1982, he rose to fame fronting the bands King Crimson, U.K. and Asia. Notable work as a bass guitarist and backing…

Bass Player: Chris Squire Another request from Basschat, this is the Chris Squire bass part from the tune ‘Tempus Fugit’ from the 1980 Yes album, ‘Drama’. Squire plays this with a pick and it would be hard to get the phrasing right without it. There are quite a few passage where there are nuanced differences…

Bass Player: Zev Katz One of the unsung heroes of the bass guitar, KAtz has a ridiculous career that includes performances and recordings with Patti Austin, Jeff Beck, Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, James Brown, Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Sheryl Crow – and we have only got to the Cs…

Bass Player: Darryl Jones Darryl Jones has a CV to die for and has played with a host of artists such as The Rolling Stones, Steps Ahead, John Scofield and Sting. Heading the list, however, is the Prince of Darkness himself, Miles Dewey Davis III. It was whilst he was with Miles that Jones took…

Bass Player: Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen Ørsted Pedersen was born in Osted Nr. Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of a church organist. As a child, Ørsted Pedersen played piano, but from the age of 13, he started learning to play the double bass and, at the age of 14, while studying, he…

Bass Player: Anthony Jackson Jackson is a massive legend on the bass scene and has played with pretty much everyone from Steely Dan to Paul Simon, Michel Camilo to Hiromi, Steve Kahn to Dave Valentin, Luther Vandross – the discography is incredible. Jackson was also a massive advocate for the six string Contrabass Guitar and…