Bass CDs
New Album: Michael Feinberg, Blues Variant
Bassist Michael Feinberg Releases “Blues Variant,” featuring Noah Preminger, Nasheet Waits, Leo Genovese and Dave Liebman.
An intriguing element of Michael Feinberg’s superb Criss Cross debut is that the leader could easily have titled it “Bassist In The Background” (Fans of Duke Ellington’s wonderful 1960 LP Pianist In The Background will know what I mean.) Throughout the ten selections that comprise Blues Variant (which include six tunefully percolating originals by Feinberg, one by tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger, one by pianist Leo Genovese, and an ingenious Feinberg arrangement of Herbie Hancock’s “Eye Of The Hurricane”), the 35-year-old bass maestro hews to the mantra, “If you want to hear me solo, come to a gig, where I often play a solo on every tune.”
“I’m serving the music,” Feinberg continues. “What I appreciate about a bass player is how they make the other people in the band sound. I love hearing the soloistic abilities of Christian McBride, John Patitucci, Dave Holland and the people I idolize, but they’re amazing because, when they play, it feels incredible and they push their bandmates to be the best versions of themselves or go beyond what they think they can do.” As another example, Feinberg mentions Jimmy Garrison, who triangulated between McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones with the “spiritually transcendent” John Coltrane Quartet between 1961 and 1965. “He rarely plays a solo, but you don’t get the Coltrane quartet with anyone else. So I don’t care about the solos, or being on top of the mix to indicate ‘this is a bass player’s record.’ I play a ton of notes. I’m playing the whole time. Can’t miss it.”
Feinberg’s remarks on the Garrison effect carry a certain gravitas; since the early 2010s, when he did The Elvin Jones Project, he’s delved into Coltrane’s repertoire on its own terms of engagement on numerous gigs, most of them featuring Preminger playing tenor saxophone and Ian Frohman on drums. On the pan-stylistic Blues Variant, he connects with the spirit of the great drum griot via the presence on three intense selections of Elvin alumnus Dave Liebman, Preminger’s teacher during student years who has often employed Frohman. Feinberg’s introduction to Liebman’s singular sound was Earth Jones, a 1982 Elvin-led release with Liebman, trumpeter Terumaso Hino, pianist Kenny Kirkland and bassist George Mraz. “I know every note of it,” Feinberg says. “I’ve been a fan of Dave’s playing for a long time.”
An earlier Liebman-Preminger pairing is on Feinberg’s 2020 Steeplechase date, From Where We Came, which transpired not long after they met. The occasion was a Manhattan restaurant gig, where the septuagenarian saxophonist was dining with his daughter, rising-star publicist Lydia Liebman, who introduced them at set break. “I got his contact info, told him I was playing at Smalls the next month, and said, ‘If you want to play, there’s a gig for you,” Feinberg recounts. “Dave accepted. That began a beautiful relationship.”
In seizing the moment to align with Liebman, Feinberg was following a life-long predisposition to “create opportunities for myself – my hustler’s spirit; I’m always getting the wheels going, busy and active, trying to keep new, exciting things going on.” It’s an attribute he shares with Preminger, himself a two-time Criss Cross leader, a close friend since both moved to New York towards the end of 2000s. “I often have Noah in my mind’s ear because I know he’ll bring the right energy and treat the music with the proper respect,” Feinberg says. “He looks at music differently than most people. He’s one of the most technically virtuosic saxophonists – and that’s the least impressive thing about what he does. What really makes me feel his presence is the way he uses rhythm as a melody instrument in his playing, his long, slow phrases – and how he weaves theme and variation throughout a solo.”
The Feinberg-Genovese relationship is similarly long-standing. “Leo is one my favorite musicians, a real artist, no ego,” Feinberg says. “He’s incredibly well-versed – he travels everywhere, soaks up cultural musical language, and performs with some of the best musicians from all over the world, playing regional ethnic music in their bands. He grew up in the countryside of Argentina and now he plays with Wayne Shorter. He’s like a shaman. He’s free, effortless in expressing himself in all times, in all situations.”
The corollary of Feinberg’s functional, groove-centric approach is a long-standing desire to play and record with such expansive drummers as Frohman, Billy Hart, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and – on Blues Variant – Nasheet Waits. “The drummer makes the band, always and forever, and picking the drummer is what the music is going to sound like,” he says. “With Nasheet, I appreciate the timbre, the sound he gets from the drums. He can bring out heavy and bring out light, and plays all my really hard music in ways that make it sound effortless.
“I’ve always been chasing Elvin – and Jack DeJohnette – sonically,” he adds. “Their ability to keep the foundational groove is always present, but also free, floating, melodic, compositional. You might think of Elvin as more like a bruiser than an artiste, but he brought forth to a magic feeling in the music like no else before or since – brushes, ballad; Afro-Latin, 12/8; swing, medium; down, up. However much he pushes and pulls the time, where it’s not really metric, BAM, he’s going to give you the one, which locks the whole thing. That’s what allows the ambiguity and contrast.”
Asked about his own time feel, Feinberg responds: “The music is alive, so it’s always changing. As long as the drummer and I are locked in, I can play on top of the beat or behind the beat – I know it won’t go to a bad place. But I don’t ever want to sit always in one place. The groove dictates the approach.”
Feinberg wrote most of the music contained herein during the pandemic with this personnel in mind, around the unifying concept of interrogating “the idea of what is the blues and presenting it in diverse, unique ways.” He first assimilated blues expression in his hometown, Atlanta, Georgia, where, by age 16, was playing professionally with such world-class practitioners as Russell Gunn and Bryan Hogans. His compositional endeavors began during freshman year at Frost Conservatory of Music in Miami, Florida, where – inspired by bassist-composer Ben Allison, and other contemporaneous New York “downtown” figures like Jim Black, Chris Speed, Chris Cheek, Andrew D’Angelo, Skuli Sverisson and the members of the Bad Plus – he organized Miami Creative Music Collective, which played original music by its members in monthly concerts.
“The idea of being a composer and having a band was popular amongst my peer group,” Feinberg says. “But I also played a lot of gigs – a blues band called Juke, Frank Sinatra night on South Beach with a crooner, different Latin gigs, endless jam sessions. I take the relationship with the audience seriously, not in a showman-performative way, but connecting with the general audience so they understand what you’re doing. Melodies, the feeling of blues and swing. A lot of great music is simple. What really inspires me artistically is contrast, and that comes across in all my music – contrast in styles, in instruments, in textures. Playing funk versus playing swing. Playing odd meters that feel like common time meters.”
As an instance of that last-stated juxtaposition, Feinberg cites the surging title track, which proceeds to an ostinato bassline in 13 that briefly transitions to swing at the end of the form. “The title ‘Blues Variant’ relates to the mutations of COVID-19, but also references theme-and-variations on the blues,” he says. “There’s a tonic, a subdominant and a dominant, and utilization of the blues scale and blues dominant chords, but it doesn’t sound like that to me – which is also part of the idea.” Genovese’s opening solo postulates fleet right-hand lines in counterpoint to a rollicking left-hand vamp with enviable independence.
On “Saqqara,” named for an ancient, historically important Egyptian village, Feinberg – whose maternal grandparents are Israeli – channels Middle Eastern roots. After a rubato intro, the flow transitions into an “exotic” refrain in 5/4, inspiring another scintillating Genovese solo. Waits seamlessly metric-modulates to brisk swing, propelling Preminger through a few choruses that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the Hollywood epic Exodus, directed by Otto Preminger, his distant relative.
Genovese plugs in on Preminger’s “High or Booze” (rhymes with “minor blues”) which the saxophonist performed on his own 2022 Criss Cross release, Sky Continuous. “I got the idea for the project – non-traditional blues-based music – playing this tune on a gig with Noah and Nasheet,” Feinberg says. “It’s not an easy song.” Perhaps so, but the degree of difficulty isn’t discernible on this kinetic, elegant track, highlighted by the composer’s far-flung solo, Genovese’s texturally acute percussive comping; the leader’s angular bassline; and Waits’s force-of-nature drumming.
Waits’ funky backbeat underpins Feinberg’s “Healing Power of GRITS,” signifying not only the soul food staple grain, but also “Girls Raised In The South,” of whom his wife is one. “I wanted to do something in the spirit of Cannonball Adderley’s Mercy, Mercy, Mercy session or Ramsey Lewis – a groovy, ’60s-’70s soul jazz vibe,” Feinberg says. Again plugged in, Genovese elicits dark, kaleidoscopic Rhodes colors when soloing and when complementing Preminger’s declamation.
“I love playing the music of the tradition, but why play it the same way all the time?” says Feinberg of his metrically modulated treatment of “Eye Of The Hurricane,” provoking Liebman to uncork an effervescent, swinging soprano solo on the first of his three tracks. Genovese and Preminger follow suit.
Feinberg cites such ’70s-’80s Liebman waltz tunes as “Is Seeing Believing?’ as inspiration the ritualistic “The Water Spirit Brought Us, The Water Spirit Will Take Us Home.” After Feinberg’s well-wrought solo prelude, the ceremony continues with Liebman’s soaring soprano, Genovese’s mystically coruscating turn, and Preminger’s ascendant tenor statement, which channels Coltrane’s fire-in-stillness sound circa 1965-1966.
In response to Feinberg’s request for an unconventional blues, Genovese contributes the stately, spiky “Gather Power.” That sentiment seems to guide the solos – first Liebman, channeling Steve Lacy and Coltrane in his own argot; Genovese atonal, like Bley-meets McCoy, with crystalline touch; Preminger resolutely soulful; Waits incantationally Elvinistic.
After Feinberg’s spontaneously generated a cappella blues improvisation, poignant and honest, the recital continues with “vibey palate cleanser” – “Cycle Song,” a lovely melody based on a 4-bar loop. “This one really lets the musicians speak,” Feinberg says. “Again, it’s making something seemingly complex as simple as possible, making it easy to understand what we’re doing and feel the music.” Preminger’s tenor statement is a master class in melodic interpretation; Feinberg showcases his guitaristic electric bass conception; Genovese dances via on the Rhodes.
For dessert, Feinberg presents the set-closing “Year Of The Ox,” “a hyperactive, topsy-turvy explosion” that he wrote on Chinese New Year’s Day in 2020. Waits’s fresh, surging cascaras fuel apropos solos from each protagonist.
It’s a fitting wrap to a well-integrated musical banquet that fulfills Feinberg’s self-descriptive aesthetic mantra: “There’s a place for everything. But a lot of the greatest music – Kind of Blue, Weather Report, Oscar Peterson – is simple while also being incredibly sophisticated. It all comes down to authenticity.
— Blues Variant liner notes by Ted Panken
Visit online at mfbass.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
This 8-song collection by Linc Bloomfield (also known as Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.), longtime bass player for Kelakos, showcases his songwriting, singing and overall musicianship, along with his studio engineering skills. After remixing and re-releasing the 1978 Kelakos album in 2015 as Kelakos Uncorked, Linc produced Kelakos’ second album, the 2023 Deko double LP release Hurtling Towards Extinction, in which the collection of accompanying videos have racked up over one million views.
Echoes of Dreamwold is a true solo project. With the skillful studio work of two great drummers, Carl Canedy and Andy Hamburger, a sweet country pedal steel track by Billy Cooper on ‘No Second Chances’, and a classic lead guitar track by George Haberstroh on ‘(Got to) Save the World’, Linc sang all the vocals, played all the guitar, bass, keyboard and percussion tracks, and mixed every song, before they were mastered by Blaine Misner.
Listen to Echoes of Dreamwold here: https://push.fm/fl/nhz0a3fg
This album is meant to be played over and over, in the tradition of the sixties’ and seventies’ legends who inspired and influenced LB JUNIOR’s own songwriting. No two songs are in the same genre. As he explains the origins of each of the songs
“Walk Away My Girl” is a soft-rock tale of heartbreak, originally written on his dad’s 1917 Steinway baby grand piano, on which he recorded this smooth, melodic track.
“Alive” explores the insecurity that holds many people back. Against a lively track derived from the reggae sounds heard on local radio on the island of Kauai, the lyrics are about coming to terms with self-doubts.
“Shot Down”, the first song Linc wrote after leaving Kelakos, in 1978, is a lively pop song featuring bright acoustic guitar harmonics and chords, and a story about how not to try and meet women.
“Greedy Child”, also written years ago, captures the sadness as the giants from the golden age of rock and pop music pass from the scene and along with it, a generation for whom their music was the soundtrack of their lives.
“(Got to) Save the World” reflects Linc’s life’s work promoting international security. This fast-paced rocker featuring George Haberstroh’s lead guitar and Andy Hamburger’s relentless backbeat, is a wake-up call to do something about armed conflict, mass shootings, and environmental destruction, and realize what is at stake.
“The (2nd) Fiddler’s Song” is a personal message set to a soft acoustic track, in which LB JUNIOR explains why contributing to something worthy and necessary is more satisfying than chasing personal glory.
“No Second Chances” is a country song, pure and simple, featuring Billy Cooper’s pedal steel licks and the distinctive rich tone of Linc’s 1955 Gretsch Country Club guitar.
“Sand in My Hourglass” completes the 8-song set with a blues song, inspired by the recent pandemic, and showing LB JUNIOR’s chops on his 60s Les Paul guitar – inspired long ago, in 1968, when teenage Linc saw a memorable performance by bluesman Mike Bloomfield accompanied by Al Kooper and his whipping Hammond organ sound. This one is a real ‘echo’ of late sixties’ Dreamwold, as Linc’s earlier band Emergency Exit used to perform Kooper’s classic tune with Blood, Sweat, and Tears, ‘I Love You More than You’ll Ever Know.’
Dreamwold was a grand estate built in 1901–1902 by financier Thomas W. Lawson in Scituate, Massachusetts. By the late 1960s, the ballroom had become a popular venue for live music. One of the regular performers was Emergency Exit, from nearby Cohasset, that included Linc, George Haberstroh, and Mark Sisson, who would later join Carl Canedy to form Kelakos. The band had a homemade light show, black lights, and a vintage Kustom P.A. system wrapped in sparkling Naugahyde. The Dreamwold estate was eventually redeveloped into condominium residences.
Order the vinyl of Echoes of Dreamwold: dekoentertainment.com/inthesquare/lb-junior
The double bassist Alon Near presents his first album of compositions, “Names, Places”, a musical travel journal, written over five years of touring, traveling, and hiking. Available
May 22nd, 2026. Each composition reflects a place and a meaningful encounter that left a melody behind. Alon Near’s debut album moves between city and village, complexity and simplicity, tracing a personal journey shaped by movement, memory and human connection.
“Names, Places” starts with Alon’s first composition from years ago, Breathe, which he carried through years and changing landscapes. The music unfolds with openness and release, followed by Missing, written on a small keyboard after hiking Mount St. Catherine in Egypt with his grandfather, which inspired a melody searching for steadiness between distance and memory. The Same Story reflects the awareness of an old pattern repeating itself and the quiet decision to turn away from it. Strength of Repetition is a solo bass reflection on repetition as a quiet virtue: The piece unfolds through gradual development, suggesting that consistency and patience can shape one’s voice more deeply than sudden inspiration. The fifth song, Shiguim, a playful yet intricate composition, moves through shifting phases and rhythmic turns. Lichi centers on clarity and warmth, as Yotam Silberstein’s classical guitar meets a string quartet, creating a lingering and intimate musical landscape. Tokyo carries a light and affectionate spirit while Coral is structured in the spirit of a Bach chorale, leading to the outro, a quiet gesture of closure.
About Alon:
Based between Europe and New York, he began playing at 14. After winning 1st Prize at the Rostov International Jazz Competition in 2013 and earning scholarships to Berklee College of Music and The New School in 2015, he moved to New York City, where he performed with Grammy Award-winning Billy Childs, saxophonist Eli Degibri, piano virtuoso Joey Alexander, and WDR Big Band alongside Chris Potter. Awarded 3rd Prize at the International Society of Bassists competition in 2021, Alon’s ensemble features pianist Tom Oren, winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz competition, alongside trumpeter Itamar Borochov and drummer Ofri Nehemya.
Visit online at alonnear.com/
The healing power of music is more than just a mantra for The Nth Power, it’s an energy that drummer Nikki Glaspie, guitarist Nick Cassarino and bassist Nate Edgar harness with intent in the recording studio. When preparing to bring their fourth studio album ‘Never Alone’ to life, the trio converged on a remote farmhouse studio in Colchester, Vermont at the personal invitation of Phish bassist Mike Gordon. Over the course of two weeklong sessions overlooking a quiet bay of Lake Champlain, they tapped into what Cassarino calls “The Great Spirit” – a creative, driving force behind their genre-defying, soulful music.
“Vermont has an energy, there’s something special in the air,” Cassarino explains. “We were there recording late into the early morning hours one night during a lunar eclipse, and it was like the whole atmosphere changed. The creative force and beauty of where we were was just ridiculous.” Each band member brought raw demos and ideas into the recording space and collectively tracked songs that would become the final eight tracks on ‘Never Alone’.
Glaspie shares, “We created this album with the intention of sharing love back into the world, with the understanding that all people deserve love. You don’t have to know someone to love them. It’s about inspiring others to have more compassion for your fellow man, and mankind as a whole. We’re only here for a speck of time, so be nice. Time is precious.”
Throughout their individual careers, The Nth Power have used their time wisely, creating and performing with some of music’s most recognizable names. Notably, Nikki Glaspie was hand-picked by Beyoncé to join her all-female touring ensemble the Suga Mamas for many years, before expanding her chops with legendary saxophonist Maceo Parker, New Orleans funk torchbearers Dumpstaphunk, and most recently with Grammy-winning jazz ensemble Snarky Puppy. A longtime member of John Brown’s Body, Nate Edgar’s signature reggae-forward bass stylings have been tapped by Sister Nancy, G. Love & Special Sauce and Rubblebucket. And Nick Cassarino has been called upon by Christian McBride, Big Daddy Kane and Babyface along the way. But no matter where individual ventures take them, they always find their way back to each other, and the higher vibrations discovered in the music they create together as The Nth Power.
The album’s lead track “Dream Alive” delivers a transcendent first taste of the new record, with driving rhythms and colorful musicianship that captures The Nth Power’s raw and unapologetic musical approach as a power trio. “It’s a song about rolling with your crew, the chosen family we get to spend our lives with,” shares Cassarino. “The chorus says it all. We’re just happy to be creating, learning and riding together.” The closeness of their bond as friends, musicians and leaders is reinforced in the accompanying video for “Dream Alive”. Recorded in San Francisco during the group’s 2025 fall tour, visuals capture scenes from a spirited performance at the historic Glide Memorial Church, where the band led a musical worship of love one Sunday morning in between tour dates on the West Coast.
Love has always been a central theme of The Nth Power, ever since the group first coalesced during a late night New Orleans Jazz Fest showcase in 2011. The new album dives into a spectrum of sexy songs – “Crave You” speaks to the deliciously addicting nuances of a relationship with its sweet, irreverent country-funk groove; while “Thirsty” calls out more carnal elements of desire with early 80s R&B undertones. “Could It Be ‘74 Remix” – a 70s-esque revamp of a song originally heard on their 2015 album ‘Abundance’ – calls upon the band’s deep roots in soulful R&B and their collective love of Leon Ware. Former bandmate Courtney Smith delivers a powerful vocal performance in the final verse to round out the song’s smooth, soulful presence.
The title track “Never Alone” ushers in a more experimental undertaking for the group. Glaspie brought a raw afro-beat demo to the Vermont farmhouse recording sessions. Inspired by musical stylings from multiple regions across the globe, the song embodies the group’s uncanny ability to transcend genres with depth, meaning and musicality. Edgar explains, “‘Never Alone’ really represents who we are as a band that can’t be defined by one musical genre,” while Glaspie adds of the lyrical inspiration, “We’re all out here doing the best we can, but we’re all in this together. You don’t have to feel alone because you aren’t.”
Embodying that same spirit of community, The Nth Power called upon a handful of special guests to lend their talents to the new album. One of the standout songs “Smile” is enriched with world-class horn arrangements provided by jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton and master saxophonist Skerik. Recorded at Marigny Studios in the band’s spiritual hometown of New Orleans, “Smile” has been kicking around The Nth Power’s catalog ever since their initial recording session for their debut EP ‘Basic Minimum Skills Test’. A song about finding light in the darkness of drug addiction, its lyrics are pleading yet hopeful. “‘Smile’ has one of my favorite choruses we’ve ever created, and feeds my inner strengths with its message,” says Edgar. With building, layered instrumentation and exceptionally powerful horn solos, it’s a track that will give you chills.
‘Never Alone’ comes full circle with its final offering, “Simple Life” – a song about enjoying the simple pleasures and finding peace with what’s in front of you, whether that be solace in the woods or a Michelin-star meal. Edgar explains, “I came up with the groove and idea for the title when I was living in remote California during the pandemic and asking myself what it really was that I wanted from life.” The capstone song showcases duet-style vocals from Cassarino and Glaspie, while horn ensemble The Soul Rebels elevate the recording with a joyous, New Orleans-style celebration throughout.
To The Nth Power, ‘Never Alone’ continues a heartfelt mission now 13 years in the making. Glaspie explains. “We believe in the power of love, and exhibit that belief through our music. This album is a culmination of our calling as musicians and human beings on this planet. We want to take the message as far as it can go.”
Listen on all platforms HERE
Find Nate Edgar on Instagram @n8_bass
Find the Nth Power on Instagram @thenthpower
Bass CDs
New Album: Zev Feldman’s Time Traveler Recordings’ Buster Williams ‘Pinnacle’ Muse Catalog Reissue
A precious, but previously elusive gem by the brilliant bass player Buster Williams will re-enter the jazz firmament with Time Traveler Recordings’ April 18 reissue of Pinnacle, the NEA Jazz Master’s celebrated 1975 debut album as a leader.
The package, an exclusive RSD release on LP, is being reissued for the very first time since its original release. It is the latest installment in TTR’s Muse Master Edition Series, unearthing the long-lost masterworks from the catalog of the historic Muse Records. The series is a collaboration with Virgin Music Group and Craft Recordings, spearheaded by TTR co-founder, producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman.
Remastered AAA directly from the original analog tapes by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab in Salina, Kansas, Pinnacle is pressed on 180-gram vinyl by Optimal. It will be issued in a hand-numbered, high-gloss tip-on sleeve, featuring a new liner essay by journalist Mike Flynn and a rare period photograph of Williams by Raymond Ross. The package also includes the original 1975 notes by Elliot Meadow who produced the original session which was recorded at Blue Rock Studios in NYC.
Thirty-three years old at the time of these August 1975 sessions, Camden, New Jersey native Charles Anthony “Buster” Williams was already an acclaimed and in-demand jazz bassist. He’d spent most of the 1960s touring and recording with Nancy Wilson, also freelancing for the likes of the Jazz Crusaders, Harold Land, and the Miles Davis Quintet—substituting for Ron Carter for several months in 1967—where he met and worked with Herbie Hancock. Williams joined Hancock’s Mwandishi band in 1971, placing him on the cutting edge of the new jazz fusion movement.
Pinnacle, recorded after Mwandishi’s breakup, finds Williams still very much informed by that idiom of funky, experimental jazz. The band includes fellow Mwandishi alum Billy Hart on drums and fellow Miles veteran Sonny Fortune on soprano saxophone and flute, along with legendary trumpeter Woody Shaw and a venturesome crew including saxophonist Earl Turbinton, keyboardist Onaje Allan Gumbs and percussionist Guilherme Franco. (Vocalists Suzanne Klewan and Marcus also join on two tracks.)
Williams blazed new trails in the use of electric bass in jazz: “A pioneer among jazz doublers—musicians equally adept on upright and electric bass,” notes Flynn in his new essay. But, while he features his Fender electric bass on the thumping opener “The Hump,” on most of the album Williams plays the acoustic upright bass that had always been his first love. It anchors the darker, funkier journeys the band takes on “Pinnacle” and “Batuki” and sets the swinging tone for the acoustic numbers, the deep spiritual jazz “Noble Eagle” and the breezy, playful “Tayamisha.”
“What I love about the acoustic bass is what I have to do to get music out of it,” Williams muses. “The sound I get depends all on me, not the help of an amp. The instrument relates to my heart; it’s alive, it has emotion, it’s not just a piece of wood.”
“Bass players are often described—perhaps unfairly—as the anchor of the band,” writes Flynn. “But in the hands of a master like Buster Williams, the bass becomes something much more: the engine, the heartbeat, the mellifluous core driving the music forward.”
Williams composed four of the album’s five tracks, making Pinnacle a brilliant first showcase for his writing as well as his playing and bandleading. “Buster’s writing abilities have not gone unnoticed in the past,” observes Meadows in his original liner notes for the album. “The writing for this date is fresh and varied. ‘The Hump,’ which should make you get up and do something, contrasts with the haunting serenity of the title song. Then ‘Tayamisha’ (named for Buster’s daughter) is light and airy as opposed to the intensity of ‘Noble Ego.’”
A prophetic release, Pinnacle forecasts the subsequent 50 years that Williams has spent balancing forward-looking musical adventures with the bounty and rigor of the tradition. “The title says it all,” writes Flynn. “Pinnacle wasn’t just a debut. It was a statement of arrival—an artist stepping forward from a prolific past into a fearless, unbounded future.” And, under the curation of Time Traveler’s Muse Master Edition Series, it now sounds better than ever.
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