My new fave bassist - Travis Carlton (saw him last night with Scott Henderson at Ronnie's)

[urb]

Had a supremely enjoyable night at Ronnie Scott's last night - mainly thanks to the incredible playing of one of my all time fave guitarists Scott Henderson - but also thanks to a killer rhythm section of drummer Alan Hertz, and Larry Carlton's son Travis on bass... and what a player he is. Probably the funkiest young bassist I've heard in years, wonderful timing, feel, note choices and incredible tone from his Xotic Bass XJ-1T 5-string. He rarely played 16th notes, instead stuck to 8th notes on his solos with the skankiest phrasing and some killer octave/envelope filter sounds - he's a real breath of fresh air,

Anyway the gigs have been and gone now so this isn't a plug, I just wanted to give the guy some props as he's a really hip and incredibly groovy player you should all check out - here are a couple of clips - the Henderson trio is the exact same as the one that played last night but this is the most 'fusion' it got - most of the set was a mix of funk, jazz rock and blues - but the other one is a good example of how funky Travis is;





Hope you enjoy

Mike

[Doddy]

I was going to go see that band in Manchester,but it was sold out.
I'm still a little unsure about Travis Carlton.I've heard some stuff with him that I thought
was great and other stuff where I wasn't impressed at all.

[urb]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1227526' date='May 11 2011, 01:49 PM']I was going to go see that band in Manchester,but it was sold out.
I'm still a little unsure about Travis Carlton.I've heard some stuff with him that I thought
was great and other stuff where I wasn't impressed at all.[/quote]

Well live he was superb - really effortless, unfussy playing that just sat perfectly in the groove but remained interesting - I can't vouch for his recordings, I've listened to a couple of things on his Myspace and thought he sounded really tasteful and musical, not necessarily outstanding just good - but live he was just great, really cool and interesting solos too, no showboating just good ideas.

The band will hopefully be back in the UK if Scott's as good as his word, he was moaning about his Italian booking agent's lack of enthusiasm for booking them gigs in the UK - but after they had so much fun I'm sure they'll be over again -