Bass CDs
Bassist Mark Egan and Drummer Danny Gottlieb Team Up on Electric Blue
Longtime musical partners explore entrancing grooves and soundscapes on latest project, Electric Blue.
Available now on CD and vinyl on Wavetone Records
After nearly 50 years of playing music together, going back to their days as students at the University of Miami through their years of touring and recording as members of the original Pat Metheny Group, with the Gil Evans Monday Night Orchestra, exploring new tones and textures with their band Elements and heading up their own individual projects, bassist Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb have forged an indelible chemistry that transcends time and notes on a page. On their first-ever duo recording, Electric Blue, the longtime musical partners showcase their rare empathy in a revealing stripped-down setting of just drums and bass.
Interview with Bassist Mark Egan
As Gottlieb explained, “The duo music contained in this recording reflects our 49-plus years of friendship and our musical adventures together. In your musical life, and especially if you are a rhythm section player, you sometimes get lucky to find a musical partner with whom you connect immediately on the deepest level. It’s even more amazing when that person turns out to be a best friend. That is the relationship I have had with Mark since we met at the University of Miami in 1971.”
From the entrancing “Back and Forth” to the jauntily swinging “Cabareté,” the loping, lazy groover “Down the Road, the rubato soundscape “Blue Sound Bath,” the visceral funk of “Hookey” and the meditative closer “Offering,” Egan and Gottlieb showcase the results of their long musical partnership. With Egan’s distinctive singing fretless bass carrying the melodies and his layers of overdubbed fretted basses providing the harmonic content and Gottlieb shifting gears intuitively from ultra-sensitive (as on the stirring improv piece “Come What May” or the airy “Offering”) to all-out slamming mode (as on “Hookey” and the exhilarating title track), the interactive team can turn on a dime while evoking myriad spirits along the way.
“For this new recording, we wanted to document our rapport as a duo team,” said Egan of Electric Blue. “When you look at the definition of rapport, it’s ‘a harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well.’ That perfectly describes how we interact as a duo.”
Weighing in on his drumming partner Gottlieb, Egan said, “Danny’s technique is incredible, which I think comes from having studied with the great Joe Morello [Dave Brubeck’s longtime drummer who was immortalized by his famous “Take Five” solo on the 1959 classic, Time Out]. He’s just got this masterful facility with his hands. But he also studied with Gary Chester [world renown New York session drummer] working on hand and foot independence. And when he combines both of those aspects of playing, he has the facility to go anywhere on the kit. So if I start to play something, he can triple it up or quadruple it up or perfectly underscore it with his tremendous musical facility. Danny has a rare combination of masterful technique and remarkable musicality.”
Recorded live at Electric Fields Studio in Connecticut over three days in June of 2019, with additional overdubbing and mixing taking place until December of 2019, Electric Blue traverses different moods, key centers, dynamics, and tempos for the two partners to negotiate.
Gottlieb explained the evolution of his duo chemistry with bassist Egan. “While playing in Pat Metheny’s band during the late 1970s, we traveled frequently to Japan, and Mark and I often would stop in Hawaii on the return trip. While there we would stay in Kauai, right on the ocean, with our friend Gina. We would play music in her living room, playing free while listening to the ocean in the background and would also play late into the night out in a valley overlooking the ocean, offering up sound waves and grooves for our friends, and to the gods! By 1982, we started the group Elements and that first album reflected many of the feelings captured during those Hawaii trips. We also started playing duo gigs and found that in the right environment, the combination of bass and drums could be magical.”
Added Egan, “Some of the things that Danny and I are acutely aware of whenever we’ve played together is the importance of the groove, listening and reacting to the entire ensemble and the use of dynamics. During our time together playing with the Pat Metheny Group there was a focus on dynamics as a compositional tool. Musicians at times forget about using dynamics in their own playing whether it be soloing or grooving. Danny and I are aware of dynamics and we instinctually utilize them when we’re playing together.”
Electric Blue documents the same empathetic spirit between the two players.
As Egan said, “I think there’s a special thread that goes through all of our playing on the records and projects that we’ve done. Whenever we get together, just drums and bass, it always seems to have a complete musical sense to it. We know each other’s playing so well that if one of us plays one note or a certain phrase the other one’s right on it and can either complement it or lead it into a new place. It’s a very special rapport and this is the first time we’ve recorded a complete project of it. It was so much fun recording creative music in the studio as a duo.”
Electric Blue is available on CD and vinyl on Wavetone Records.
Danielle Nicole is excited to announce the release of her new album Fireflies, arriving August 28 via 40 Below Records. Pre-order here. Alongside the announcement, Nicole is sharing the album’s powerful new single, “Tug Of War,” a soulful anthem about reclaiming strength in the face of imbalance and emotional exhaustion.
“I wrote ‘Tug Of War’ for anyone finding themself no longer willing to accept the terms of a one way relationship,” says Danielle.
Long celebrated for her commanding voice, masterful bass playing, and emotionally fearless songwriting, Danielle Nicole traces the beginning of her musical journey back to a transformative moment in her teenage years: seeing Etta James perform live in Kansas City.
“We had a great blues festival in Kansas City,” Nicole recalls, “and I was able to see Etta James perform. She was fearless. My parents were musicians who played in cover bands, so music was always part of my family — but I didn’t realize I wanted to sing and perform, too, until I heard Etta.”
That reverence for the great soul singers, storytellers, and trailblazers who came before her has fueled a career spanning nearly 25 years, including 10 Blues Music Awards, a Grammy nomination, and international acclaim as both a songwriter and performer. With Fireflies, Nicole delivers what may be her most personal and musically adventurous statement yet — a raw, deeply felt collection recorded live to analog tape that explores grief, resilience, empowerment, and transformation through a rich blend of blues, soul, R&B, and roots music.
“There’s a lot of soul-driven music here,” she says. “A lot of storytelling. It’s a major step forward in my songwriting.”
Visit online at daniellenicolemusic.com/
Grammy Award-winning bassist, composer and cherished educator John Clayton — one of jazz’s most celebrated voices on the instrument — has released Two-o Duo, his 8th leader album exclusively via ArtistShare. This much-anticipated release features his longtime collaborator, vocalist and contemporary storyteller René Marie, and his son & frequent musical partner, 7-time Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Gerald Clayton. With a strong focus on duo playing, Two-o Duo presents 11 songs, spotlighting a range of material through different cultural eras, plus lyrical and compositional contributions from both Marie and the Claytons, respectively.
The worldwide digital release of Two-o Duo will be on July 3, 2026.
While the duo context and its many iterations shapes the project’s sound, Clayton seized the opportunity to explore further: “Since we were all there [in the studio], hanging out on the same day, why not do a few trio things as well?” Together, the three artists breathe through the repertoire, filling and leaving space and letting resonances linger. They embrace all that’s intimate and vulnerable. “Some really magical things happened,” he says. “If you’re close with somebody and you’re in the room with them, both of you feel the closeness that you share. There’s no word for it. It’s intangible. But it’s very real.”
When he began gathering ideas for the record, Clayton encouraged Marie to share repertoire selections that held meaning for her. His goal was to center her personal & eclectic musical tastes as part of the album’s character and development. “She’s not just singing jazz tunes,” says Clayton. “She’s singing songs that she would hear on AM radio, for instance, and pop hits. She’ll just walk around her house singing these tunes and the next thing you know, she’s asking her group if she can do these songs. She’s always been like that, which is a cool thing that I’ve always loved about her.”
The album opens on an utterly syncopated invention of “Blue Bayou,” the early ’60s ballad made famous by its co-composer Roy Orbison, then later by Linda Ronstadt. “We came up with this other vibe,” says Clayton. “I liken it to a cart that’s missing a wheel. It’s always just a little bit off.” With certain harmonic exceptions that allow the song to breathe through Marie’s treatment of the lyric, the Claytons keep it weird, anchored throughout by Clayton’s characteristically fluid yet propulsive bass lines. — even through Gerald’s piano solo. “It’s as if he didn’t want to destroy the weirdness.”
Two-o Duo’s first instrumental, Gerald’s blues composition “Nail… In Need” expands the album’s familial connection. When he performed it live at Pasadena’s Bacchus Kitchen, his godfather, drummer Jeff “Hammer” Hamilton fell in love with the aptly named tune and recorded it with his trio. Another deeply felt, intuitive gesture, “Beautiful” showcases Marie’s ability to embody a lyric’s poetry, musicality and stark humanness. “There’s a beautiful arc to this song where you feel René preaching with more intensity as the song goes on,” says Clayton. She amplifies that energy through her part-spoken, part-sung performance of “On the Day You Were Born,” taking her lead from Clayton’s melodic and conversational bass intro. After reading through Marie’s original lyrics ,and experiencing their dramatic yet intimate delivery, both John and Gerald contributed pieces of the composition, leaving plenty of room for the unfolding of Marie’s story. “I was frozen by its dramatic impact on me,” says Clayton. Together, they recorded a single take. “When it was over and we listened back, I said, ‘We could do another take, but it won’t be better. It’ll be different but it won’t be better.’ So we left it.”
A song that touches so many listeners through so many generations, Martin Rojas’ “En La Orilla del Mundo” pays homage to Charlie Haden and features John and Gerald at their most tender and resonant. Opening on piano-arco duo, the artists treat the iconic melody with curiosity and care. “It’s one of those songs I’m jealous I didn’t write,” says Clayton. “I don’t know what I’m capable of but I wish I were capable of writing a song like that [laughs].” Back and forth between them, Clayton and Marie pass intimate energy, dream walking through Billy Joel’s timeless love song “For the Longest Time.”
Combining “When You’re Smiling,” “Smile,” “Make Someone Happy” and a sweet shadow of “Put on a Happy Face,” Two-o Duo’s “Smile Medley” shares a moment of joy, with an almost literal translation of something abstract: genuine connection between artists. Marie provided the song selections but the arrangement, according to Clayton, was a team effort. Of their approach to “Some Other Time,” he says, “I feel Rio in the air on this one.” Clayton’s tight arrangement creates the movement of brushes without the brushes. “It’s a samba but we allow the listener to provide the drums.”
The arco tremolo introducing Duke Ellington’s treasured ballad “Come Sunday” sets the tone for a fog lifting moment when Gerald’s piano enters. “There’s a completeness to this song that’s absent in the first A because it’s just René and me,” says Clayton. “And then when that A comes in again, it’s Gerald. And now he’s got the entire orchestra — the piano — to fill in the gaps that you weren’t getting when it was just us.”
Clayton and Marie deliver a contemplative, rubato verse and ending on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Her handling of the verse prompted Clayton, again, to pull out his bow. “René knows how to invite freedom and inspire creativity,” he says. “It’s what every artist wants to bathe in.” Two-o Duo concludes on Gerald’s layering composition “Forth,” performed as a duo with Clayton. The latter creates a bass orchestra in concert with Gerald’s piano and collection of keyboards. “I didn’t know what the song was about. I just had to read the music and watch it unfold. It wasn’t until the mix that I finally went, ‘Ahh…’ and heard how the pieces came together … It’s like unwrapping a gift.”
Dedicated to Clayton’s dear friend, the recently departed engineer Joel Moss, Two-o Duo is a gesture toward connection, in generous tribute to family, friendship and the sacred bond between artist and listener. “There’s always something spiritual about people who are related. It usually isn’t conscious and it doesn’t always have to be in your face. There’s some kind of line unspoken that’s going through there. I may not be related to René but we’re sharing energy. And the audience may not know what’s going on but they’re going to feel something, too.”
Bassist Chuck Bergeron has enjoyed working in a wide variety of settings over the course of his more than four-decade career, from hard-charging small groups to the boisterous big band swing of his South Florida Jazz Orchestra. But he has especially cherished his interactions with singers.
On his new album, Bass and Face, Bergeron realizes his long-held dream to pair up with some of his favorite vocalists for a set of intimate duets. Out June 5, 2026 via Summit Records, Bass and Face features a world-class roster of voices pairing with Bergeron on a diverse repertoire of songs. The line-up includes Janis Siegel of the legendary Manhattan Transfer, Pete McGuinness, Roseanna Vitro, George Rabbai, Lisanne Lyons, Deborah Silver (Grammy-nominated for her 2025 collaboration with the Count Basie Orchestra), Kate Reid and Nicole Yarling, as well as two iconic singers who are no longer with us: Sheila Jordan, who passed away shortly after the recording, and Kevin Mahogany, whose contributions stem from a 2005 session undertaken during Bergeron’s seven-year stint in the singer’s band.
Bassist Tony Saunders Reimagines Two R&B Classics on “Return of the Mack (I Like It)” with GRAMMY® Nominee Gerald Albright
During January’s NAMM Show, two?time EMMY?winning bassist Tony Saunders played a demo mashup of Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack” that weaves in El DeBarge’s “I Like It” for 9?time GRAMMY® nominee Gerald Albright. The saxophonist instantly heard its radio potential and agreed to play on the recording. The newly released single is now climbing the Billboard and Mediabase charts.
Joining Saunders and Albright on the track is GRAMMY®-winning keyboardist Michael Mani (Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Tori Kelly), who produced the single with Saunders along with playing keyboards, synths, key bass, vocal processing, drum programming, and guitar synths. John Mitchell added live drums to anchor the rhythm track.
“I’ve always loved ‘Return of the Mack’ — the groove is off the hook — and I knew I’d record it someday. ‘I Like It’ has also been one of my favorites, and because it’s in the same key, the mashup came together naturally. The reaction from fans when we play it live is incredible,” said Saunders, who records for the Baja/TSR label and received clearance to release the single on his own imprint.
Saunders dedicates the new single to the memory of two of his cousins, Kurt Kaywood and Oliver Rodgers. They passed away two weeks apart as Saunders was finishing up work on the track. “They played an important part of my life, always introducing me to new things.”
“Return of the Mack” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996. El DeBarge’s “I Like It” was the group’s breakthrough hit, peaking at No. 2 on Billboard’s R&B chart in 1982.
Last week, Saunders was on-set in Sacramento shooting a cameo appearance in the Belton Mouras Entertainment film Fingers: The Vegan Zombie Musical, which is expected this Halloween. In addition to scoring several films, Saunders made his big screen debut in 1986 in the Francis Ford Coppola blockbuster Peggy Sue Got Married playing in a scene as a band member of Nicolas Cage.
Saunders’ musical path began with taking piano lessons from Herbie Hancock. He was gifted with an organ by Sly Stone and received his first bass from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Tom Fogerty. His professional career began when he was invited to play in his father’s band. His father was Merl Saunders, and the co-band’s leader was Grateful Dead legend Jerry Garcia. Tony Saunders’ diverse musical journey spans jazz, funk, rock, R&B, and Latin music. He also composed the musical Rock Justice with Jefferson Starship’s Marty Balin.
Saunders debuted as a solo artist with 2011’s Romancing the Bass. His latest collection, 2024’s The Romance Continues, spawned multiple Billboard Top 10 hits. Over the years, Saunders has collaborated with contemporary jazz luminaries Jeff Lorber,Paul Brown, Paul Jackson Jr., Nils, Jeff Ryan, Randy Crawford, Blake Aaron, and Adam Hawley.
In addition to releasing more new music this year, Saunders is eager to perform with his new band: Mitchell on drums, bassist Vernon Hall (Tony! Toni! Tone!), guitarist Tim Landis, and keyboardist Ray Roland.
“I have played with a lot of musicians in my life, but this group really gets the Tony Saunders vibe!”
For more information, please visit www.tonysaunders.com.
VIDEO: “Who Are the People?” – Composed by Brandon Kyle Miller, Performed by Golden Flower
Golden Flower is an improvising quintet from Orlando, Florida… violin, trumpet/flugelhorn, Rhodes/piano, upright and electric bass, and drums, whose debut studio album “Are You Even Awake?” releases June 12, 2026, on Romantic Poker Records.
Brandon Kyle Miller handles both upright and electric bass with effects throughout the record, navigating everything from deep funk grooves to Indian classical-inspired rhythmic structures to post-rock textures, often in the same song. The album was recorded live at Phat Planet Studios and mixed and mastered by Aaron Gandia, and represents five years of development from a band that has clearly found its voice.
Standout bass moments include the deeply grooving “Piecemeal” and “Distant Glow,” the slow-burn intensity of “Intrasomatic” (composed by Brandon) and “The Search Goes On,” and the album’s epic closing triptych “Perihelion I, Interlude, & Perihelion II,” which moves through funk, African 12/8, and metric modulation with purpose and power.
The band also cites Roy Hargrove, The Bad Plus, Kneebody, and Vijay Iyer among their touchstones, a lineage that should resonate with Bass Musician readers.
Pre-order: goldenflower.bandcamp.com/album/are-you-even-awake and visit online at goldenflowermusic.com