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In My CD Player: Oteil Burbridge
Posted by
Zambi on Dec 23, 2005 - 02:55 PM (4059 Reads) |
Thursday, December 22, 2005
- Ed Bumgardner
relish staff report
Oteil Burbridge is one of the top electric bass players in the world. He has won kudos for his intricate melodicism and finger-tangling technical ability, for his far-reaching versatility and for his innate down-to-earth funkiness. Such traits made him the perfect bassist for Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit - a delightfully demented band, now defunct, that flitted from get-down gospel to cosmic bluegrass to songs that embraced elements of jazz, classical music and blues.
A musician had to get his swerve on to play in the Rescue Unit, and Burbridge's ability to handle anything tossed his way - and then toss in a little something extra - brought him international attention and a job with the Allman Brothers Band, which he still holds.
Burbridge also leads a solo band, The Peacemakers, but he will be in Winston-Salem at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Ziggy's to play with Solos, one of his fave bands.
Burbridge took time between tours to chat with relish and try to narrow a list of favorite discs down to five. "My tastes are too diverse," he said, laughing. "I love too much music. I didn't even get to list any bluegrass or classical-music albums." There's always next time, Oteil.
Rev. James Cleveland, I Walk With God: "James Cleveland is probably my favorite singer on the planet. He's so soulful and passionate that it's amazing. The man is ... connected."
Howlin' Wolf, The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues: "This is the real deal in blues. It's all you need to know. Just listen to 'I'll Be Around' or 'Three-Hundred Pounds Of Joy.' It just doesn't get more real, or better, than that stuff. I want this whole album played at my funeral. It'll be a long funeral, but it will be worth it."
James Brown, In the Jungle Groove: "What do you say about this album? All killer, no filler. 'Hot Pants,' 'Funky Drummer,' 'Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing,' 'Get Up, Get Into It And Get Involved,' 'Soul Power' - all on this disc. This is funk."
Pat Metheny, Bright Size Life: "This is my favorite Pat Metheny album. It's Metheny, drummer Bob Moses and (bassist) Jaco Pastorius. It's his first album as a leader, it's got some of his best writing - and it may have Jaco's best playing."
Bob Marley, Natty Dread: "I love this disc, but I could easily have picked any of five other Bob Marley albums. Marley's amazing, the songs are great - but I also really love 'Family Man' (Barrett, the Wailers' bassist). What an important bass player. People don't realize how perfect in every respect his bass lines are. His tone, the rhythmic grip. And the way Bob's vocals echo the bass lines is terrific."
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Father of invention
Posted by
Zambi on Oct 16, 2004 - 07:59 AM (4967 Reads) |
Father of invention
Aquarium Rescue Unit reunites with its daddy after a decade apart
by Stuart Gaines
Mountain Xpress
Arts & Entertainment
Oct 13, 2004 / vol 11 iss 11
Col. Bruce Hampton.
Never has one name simultaneously meant so much to some, and absolutely nothing to almost everyone else.
Even the enigmatic singer/guitarist himself – an underrated artistic visionary equal in appallingly beautiful purpose to the likes of Salvador Dali, Frank Zappa or any Black Mountain College alumnus – is reluctant to pinpoint his genius.
"I don't know what I do, exactly – I'm pretty sure I do nothing," he recently told Xpress.
The Colonel went on to concede: "But I'm damn good at it."
Long before Bonnaroo – before that kind of three-day, jam-band-fueled festival madness was even thought of – there was Bruce. The man is both the literal and figurative daddy of the modern jam scene, a greasy guitar Buddha who's fathered groundbreaking groups for the better part of four decades.
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Oteil's Heart is in Music
Posted by
Lana on Jun 28, 2003 - 09:51 AM (1934 Reads) |
By: Michael Zitz
For The Free Lance-Star
6/28/2003
Washington native Oteil Burbridge was in kindergarten when the Allman Brothers Band formed in 1969. Many young musicians would have been intimidated by joining such a legendary band. Burbridge, who plays bass with the group, wasn’t.
“I didn’t have any of the band’s records,” he said. “I grew up playing jazz records. But it was surreal in the sense that I knew they were very legendary. And in playing such big places, you did get the sense you were with rock stars.”
Another reason Burbridge wasn’t star-struck was that as a boy growing up in Southeast Washington, he had spent a lot of time around big names.
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Between Sets With Oteil Burbridge
Posted by
Lana on Feb 04, 2003 - 07:38 PM (1982 Reads) |
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From: Groove Traffic Control
During the band's performance at Hamilton College on Saturday, November 16, I sat down with Oteil after The Peacemakers' first set.
Groove Traffic Control This is the last gig in a five night stretch?
Oteil: I’m not sure man, we’re just bangin’ em out, so I don’t even really [know] – just taking one night at a time.
GTC How’s the tour going?
Oteil: It’s just great, it’s just so much fun playing with these particular musicians.
GTC I noticed that you have Jason Crosby onstage. He’s been working with some other upstate New York bands as well.
Oteil: Yeah, he’s from Long Island. This is his stomping ground. I met him when I lived in New York for about nine months. My brother, Kofi, always played keyboards with me in the Peace Makers and [now] he’s out with the Derek Trucks Band. So for the first time I didn’t have my brother and it was weird – I wasn’t even gonna have a keyboard player, I was just gonna have another guitar player, but I ran into Jason again after many years. I knew him back in the old Aquarian Rescue Unit days - he had a band called Solar Circus, [so] I was like perfect, he’s got perfect pitch just like my brother, and my brother also doubles on flute, and [Jason’s] got violin and also plays trumpet - so it was great. Perfect match.
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Herring Earns Musicians Respect -- and a halo from Oteil!
Posted by
Lana on Sep 08, 2001 - 08:53 AM (2570 Reads) |
Herring Earns Musicians' Respect
By Jim Washington
Published: September 2, 2001
Fayetteville (NC) Observer
Jimmy Herring has worked with a who's who of the music world, and it seems every one of them has something nice to say about him.
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