Philadelphia likes the bass: Gerald Veasley, David Jamison, Jack Zaferes and John Morales.
If anything defines the Sound of Philadelphia, Gamble-Huff-Bell and beyond, it is groove, it is pulsing rhythm, it is deep deep bass. This week, in particular, we the city of Philadelphia, are inundated with the bass.
First comes the announcement that local bassist, composer, producer and biomedical engineering Ph.D. David Jamison is getting ready to drop his second album, Late Bloomer on May 5. The album promises to be lyrical and lovely with the introduction of guest vocalists on cuts such as “Ain’t it Good To Ya” and the bluesy “She Don’t Love Me.” But fans of Jamison’s blend of jazz, R&B and improvisation – recorded live at MYNK Studios and mastered at Rittenhouse Soundworks up in Kensington – will go wild for “Tuesdays at TIME” a thumb-plucking fifteen-minute ode to the Sansom Street hot spot where the good doctor used to jam.
If your spine is the bassline, post-rock Philly bassist Jack Zaferes (think Tortoise meets My Bloody Valentine) is just your guy. The four-string hand man for Stolen Rhodes and Underwater Country Club is dropping a solo single on May 6 in the freshly funky “Amygdala.” However, in anticipation of this track (and hopefully a full album to follow), bassist Zaferes and film director Michelle Goodwin rented Plays & Players and lensed a noir-ish new video you can see HERE.
Gerald Veasley, one of this city’s most prominent timekeepers and bass masters, also happens to be its keenest jazz curator. For his Unscripted series at South Jazz Parlor on North Broad, he is continuing his Women’s Month jam sessions, tonight, March 24, with vocalist Nina Dilet Rodríguez and The Mysphitz Band for some hardcore Latin jazz.
Lastly, this week sees the arrival of John Morales Presents Teddy Pendergrass on the BBE label. The late Pendergrass, a one-time PIR stalwart from his time leading Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes through to an emotive solo career filled with sweat, sex and tears, has never before been celebrated in such a manner, one lifting the spirit of Pendergrass song while heightening his catalog’s most (and least) vivid highlights. And if you know anything about Morales, the mixmaster behind remix albums such as Teena Marie (Love Songs & Funky Beats: Remixed with Loving Devotion) and Philadelphia International Records: The John Morales M+M Remixes), the DJ-producer-remixer-curator likes to turn the bass UP. Loud.
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