Sexmob

Non-Rickenbacker Basses, Fretless Basses & Effects

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Kiddwad57
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Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:59 pm

Sexmob

Post by Kiddwad57 »

A friend of mine asked me if I could provide a back line for a New York jazz group that was playing in town. Turns out it was Steven Bernstein's group, Sex Mob. The musicians are fabulous: Bernstein on slide trumpet, Briggan Kraus, saxophone, Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen, drums. Their music was very free, reminding me of a modern version of Ornette Coleman. No shortage of deep jazz feel with beautiful and unusual time signatures. The musicians' love of Rock and R&B is evident as well.

Scherr is a phenomenal bassist and plays an old Hofner Club bass. He combined the use of traditional two finger, guitar style finger picking and plectrum techniques. Lots of double stops and contrapuntal lines. Together with Wollensen's drumming they made quite a rhythm section. Scherr's Hofner sounded great through the Euphonic Audio head and Bag End 2x10, which was miked through the p.a., and Wollensen pushed my early sixties 4-piece mother-of-toilet-seat Japanese kit to the limit. Especially the hardware! Fortunately I had recently changed out the heads and they are well tuned, so the tubs sounded fine. Wlollensen arrived to the gig a bit later than the rest of the guys and jumped in with all fours.

Bernstein used a Shure bullet mic through the Fender Princeton to amplify his trumpet for special effects, mostly a screaming, almost guitar like sound.

Getting out to hear music is always a good thing, but to hear these fantastic musicians playing was really a treat. My apologies for not providing photos, etc.
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