I realised that I never uploaded this video on my youtube channel which I should have.Gary did :) so,I didn't feel the need to.But now I look at this video after such a long time and I am very proud of it because its one of my best works so far :) Thanks Gary! You are one of my biggest idols.
Gary Willis X Gergo Borlai X Mohini Dey "Groove A Day 128
"
The evening ended with a great spontaneous jam session over a classic blues song.
Playing are Andy Timmons (guitar), Gary Willis (bass), Martin Miller (guitar) and Per Burström (drums). A spontaneous
Magnus had other things to do and could not be part of the jam.
Ibanez Guitar Festival 2015 : The Jam (Andy Timmons, Gary Willis, Martin Miller, Per Burström)
Frank Pilato - electric guitars
Mitchel Forman - acoustic piano
Gary Willis - bass on 1, 2, 3 and 6
Jeff Berlin - bass on 4, 5, and 8
Andrea Marcelli - drums, synthesizer, woodwinds and percussion
Music Composed, Arranged and Produced by Andrea Marcelli
The Rainbow thief composed by Frank Pilato
Co-Producer: Frank Pilato
Recording engineers:
Allan Holdsworth at the Brewery Studio in Vista, CA
Matteo Guasti at Labella Studio, Montelupo Fiorentino
Debut solo album by Italian guitarist Frank Pilato,
playing the music of drummer/composer Andrea Marcelli,
for a very special project, with a story long over 20 years...
After recording two critic acclaimed albums for Verve/Polygram "Silent Will"
in 1989 and for Verve and Lipstick Rec. "Oneness" in 1991, both featuring guitarist
Allan Holdsworth, Andrea Marcelli composed the music for "Stories".
This new project was partially recorded in June 1993 engineered by Allan Holdsworth
in his newly built Brewery studio in Vista, California. The music was envisioned by
Marcelli for an electric guitar as main soloist. Holdsworth could not play for contractual problems so the album was not finished.
During the following years Marcelli kept playing Jazz world wide and moved from
Los Angeles to New York in 1997 and then to Berlin in 2001, bringing with him the
project "Stories".
Some years later he finally came into contact with Italian young and talented electric
guitarist Frank Pilato, who also lived and played for a while in Los Angeles.
Frank took the challenge and responsibility to successfully record and finally finish
the album, in 2014, together with engineer Matteo Guasti at the Labella Studio.
Pilato wanted also to contribute with a new composition and recorded with Andrea
an inedit guitar/drums duo!
The band includes an exceptional rhythm section with Marcelli's long time collaborator
pianist Mitchel Forman, bassists Gary Willis and Jeff Berlin!
A very special project which embrace over 20 years of personal "stories"...
Frank Pilato - electric guitars
Mitchel Forman - acoustic piano
Gary Willis - bass on 1, 2, 3 and 6
Jeff Berlin - bass on 4, 5, and 8
Andrea Marcelli - drums, synthesizer, woodwinds and percussion
Music Composed, Arranged and Produced by Andrea Marcelli
The Rainbow thief composed by Frank Pilato
Co-Producer: Frank Pilato
Recording engineers, among others:
Allan Holdsworth at the Brewery Studio in Vista, CA
Matteo Guasti at Labella Studio, Montelupo Fiorentino
Category
Music
Frank Pilato "Stories" Andrea Marcelli, Jeff Berlin, Mitchel Forman, Gary Willis
WORLD LEADING BASSIST – GARY WILLIS – TO RELEASE FIFTH ALBUM OUT AUGUST 17, 2015
(Los Angeles, CA - July 16, 2015) Gary Willis, one of the world’s leading bassists, has delivered his fifth album Larger Than Life—a delicious collection of fusion-funk for the twenty-first century. Joining Willis on this set of twelve tracks are Gergo Borlai on drums, long-time Tribal Tech band mate Scott Kinsey on keyboards, Steve Tavaglione on saxes and EWI, Claudia Bardagí on voice and Llibert Fortuny on tenor sax and voice.
At the core of Larger Than Life is the trio of Willis, Borlai and Kinsey. Willis and Kinsey have had a great rapport going back to Tribal Tech, the fusion juggernaut that Willis co-led with guitarist Scott Henderson, and Willis’ albums No Sweat (1996) and Bent (1998). Willis first met Borlai on a concert in Budapest in 2009. They had so much fun that it planted the seeds for this album, which eventually took root at a recording session at Kinsey’s California studio, followed by more jamming with Borlai in Barcelona. From there, Willis arranged, reassembled, and “reverse engineered” the original tracks into the finished songs heard on this album. The epic title track, for instance, comes from the trio session at Kinsey’s. “It started as an intense 17-minute jam,” says Willis. “then Kinsey edited it down to its current length and I did some more writing to give it substance. Tav added some layering and colors, and Claudia sang the melodies. This all happened while passing the music back and forth from Barcelona to LA, that’s how we make music these days.”
Funkiness is never far away when these guys get together, and after the full ensemble wails on “The Professionals,” the trio gets down on Willis’ slinky tune, “Everything’s Cool,” which he originally recorded on Bent. His solo here is a fretless tour de force with lightning quick runs, chord passages and harmonics. They tear it up on “Hipster,” a neo-swinger that features Willis’ take on the walking upright. The tune’s initial lo-fi, quasi-absurdist drum part is actually Borlai playing “finger drums,” in which he triggers drum samples from a keyboard. “He can play the hell out of the drums that way,” says Willis. “anything he can play on real drums he can do on the keyboard, it’ll blow you away.” And the trio absolutely flies through Kinsey’s aptly named “2Fast,” a flat-out fusion burner. “The thing is, when the three of us play together, it just flows,” says Willis. “It’s effortless. We don’t have to talk about things, we don’t have to discuss direction; it just happens, especially with Gergo. Playing with him, all possibilities are open and they will all be taken to full advantage.”
Kinsey is in top form throughout—a master synth player and programmer with sounds as modern as they get, but grounded in an electric piano approach that harkens back to the best of Weather Report. “There’s nobody out there like him,” Willis says of Kinsey’s mix of old school/new school. “He nailed everything on this project, and his Rhodes playing is just killing.” Steve Tavaglione turns in some tasty soprano sax solos (“Larger Than Life,” “Solaris”), but his command of the EWI—a kind of wind synthesizer—puts him in a category of his own. His contributions loom large, whether it’s expressive soloing or adding layers and color. “Tav is another one of those incredibly unique guys,” explains Willis. “It’s amazing what he came up with. Some of it I wrote for him; in other places he just improvised amazing stuff. He spends most of his time creating music for film so he thinks and plays very cinematically.”
Several tunes on Larger Than Life are enhanced by Claudia Bardagí’s wordless vocals, which accentuate Willis’ lyrical melodies. “I intend for melodies to stand on their own,” explains Willis, “and Claudia’s voice gives them a human quality that adds another element to the music.” Llibert Fortuny rounds out the ensemble, and his tenor sax shines on “Vendetta,” an ominous-sounding Willis tune whose soundscape is heavily shaped by the versatile Borlai’s programming.
Another Willis composition, “Beast Mode,” was written specifically for Borlai, whose stunning chops are on full display. “It was the last thing that we did,” says Willis. “I sent the tune to Kinsey and he and Gergio recorded it in one take. They sent it back to me and I did a couple of takes, and that was it.” “Alien Head Explodes” started life as a Willis-Borlai jam, but “whatever I played didn’t inspire that song,” says Willis. “Gergo rewrote it and came up with a whole new direction and I added my parts later.”
Anchoring it all is Willis’ instantly recognizable bass work. His beautiful tone is put to good effect on “Say It Ain’t So,” a poignant ballad that Borlai wrote upon learning of Joe Zawinul’s death in 2007. Of course, all fretless players owe a debt to the legendary Jaco Pastorius, but Willis moved out of Jaco’s shadow long ago, forging a unique voice on the instrument, both in tone and style. Dig “Source Code,” a classic Willis composition that gradually builds in intensity as his broken bass figures give way to a stunning solo that in turn launches the band into a smoldering climax with Willis percolating underneath. The group-composed “Superhero” closes out the music in anthemic fashion, underpinned by Willis’ hypnotic groove.
The album’s accompanying artwork, by Brazilian artist Rafael Sarmento, binds the tracks together in a kind of fantastic visual and aural universe. “In working with Rafael, what I’d like to do is push people toward listening with their imagination,” Willis explains. “Hopefully, my music inspires some kind of other awareness or consciousness—another world to escape to.” Indeed, for seventy-plus minutes, Larger Than Life does just that.
Pre-order of Larger Than Life. The moment the album is released you'll get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Gary Willis: Larger Than Life
Compact Disc (CD)
2015 New Release from acclaimed Bassist Gary Willis
Includes digital pre-order of Larger Than Life. The moment the album is released you'll get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
shipping out on or around 17 July 2015
Pre-order Now $13 USD or more
Send as Gift
1. The Professionals
2. Everything's Cool
3. Larger Than Life
4. Say It Ain't So
5. Source Code
6. Hipster
7. Solaris
8. Beast Mode
9. Alien Head Explodes
10. Vendetta
11. 2Fast
12. Superhero
credits
releases 17 July 2015
Gary Willis (Bass); Scott Kinsey (Keyboards), Steve Tavaglione (Sax and EWI); Llibert Fortuny (Tenor Sax); Claudia Bardagí (Voice)
Recorded Live@Ibanez Day - Salumeria della Musica - Milan - Feb, 15th - #ibanezday
00:00 - 05:14 Bowlegged
05:44 - 10:03 Have You Met Miss Jones
10:29 - 15:21 Norwegian Wood
16:02 - 18:02 Groove A Day #251
18:25 - 20:25 Groove A Day #73
21:27 - 27:10 Eye Candy
NAMM Bass Bash with Gary Willis and Victor Wooten January 22-23 in Anaheim
Toné Wellington, the manager of bassist/educator Anthony Wellington, has taken over the annual NAMM Bass Bash at JT Schmid’s in Anaheim, California, for two nights of blistering bottom end, on January 22 and 23. The free admission event features Wojtek Pilichowski and Gary Willis, among others, on Thursday, the 22nd, and Victor Wooten on Friday, the 23rd.
Recording the track 'Snippets' for the upcoming cd from Sebastiaan Cornelissen called 'Not This Time'.. With: Richard Hallebeek - guitars, Gary Willis - bass and Sebastiaan Cornelissen - drums. Guitars were recorded at Richie's homestudio 'Richie's Lab' and drums recorded at Sebastiaan's Mankini studios. Look for Sebastiaan's website on how to support this release: http://sebastiaancornelissen.blogspot.nl
Richard Hallebeek/Gary Willis/Sebastiaan Cornelissen - Snippets
One of the most formidable fretless electric bassists in the post-Jaco Pastorius era, Texas native and current Barcelona resident Gary Willis joins forces with Catalan keyboardist Albert Bover and Budapest-born drummer Gergo Borlai on this exhilarating take on the electric piano trio. Co-founder (with guitarist Scott Henderson) of the premiere fusion band Tribal Tech and former member of Wayne Shorter’s band, Willis and his highly interactive crew shift deftly from slamming funk (“Old School”) to percolating fusion (“Disconnectivity”) to aggressive swingers (“Change Agent,” ”Move”) while embracing quiet ballads (Paul McCandless’ “Amaryllis,” Milton Nascimento’s evocative “Tarde” or Willis’ aptly-titled “Dream”) with uncommon sensitivity and a lyrical touch. They also turn in expressive interpretations of the Lennon-McCartney classic “Norwegian Wood” and Bill Evans’ “We Will Meet Again.” And the album closes on a poignant note with Willis’ tasty, subtly reharmonized rendition of the Depression era standard “For All We Know,” a tune famously covered by the likes of Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Nina Simone and Donny Hathaway.
Says the great bassist of his impressive sidemen on Retro: “Gergo is an incredible drummer. I had done some playing with him in Budapest, and since he moved to Barcelona Albert and I have been able to work up some nice chemistry as a trio with him.
This new record is about us playing together. It’s not about big productions or anything, it’s just Rhodes, bass and drums. It’s a totally different direction from what I did last time (on 2007’s Actual Fiction, also on Abstract Logix). It shows what can happen when you just make it about the interpretation of the material and how we play together. And for that reason it’s maybe more personal than anything I’ve done before.”
From the modal opener “Change Agent” to the bubbling “Old School” (which recalls the old school funk-fusion of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters) to the atmospheric “Tarde,” these three kindred spirits demonstrate a remarkable capacity to groove in loose-tight fashion throughout Retro. They collective burn through a labyrinth of chord changes on the uptempo romp “Move,” which is fueled by Willis’ urgent walking bass lines, and settle into on mellow accord on Oregon’s floating “Amaryllis” and a chill 3/4 take on the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood.” Bover proves to be both a consummate accompanist and accomplished soloist from track to track while Borlai’s crisp, polyrhythmic pulse and supple brushwork fuel the proceedings. Willis’ virtuosic solo contributions here, particularly on “Disconnectivity” and “Move,” show why he is regarded as one of the most outstanding bassists on the scene today. http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/product.php?productid=25705
“I just wanted to feature the fun of playing together and the expression that comes out in this stripped-down setting,” says Willis of his fifth album as a leader overall and second for Abstract Logix. “Whatever direction it’s going, we’re going to try to get into it pretty deep.” They’ve succeeded in brilliant fashion on Retro.
SIgn up for a free lesson here: http://videobasslessons.tv/
I sat down with Gary Willis in London in March of 2011 and talked about life, music, geography, and more...... See more interviews in HD at http://videobasslessons.tv
On April 6, 2012 was held at the Bassline in Milan Ibanez Bass Day that was attended by Lorenzo Feliciati and Gary Willis. This video contains an excerpt of their performance.
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