Here’s an interesting live video from Nashville bassist, Jeff Picker, recorded with two of his picking buddies, Dominick Leslie on mandolin, and Jake Stargel on guitar.
In normal times, Jeff plays bass with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, and works sessions in and around Music City. During this down year with most live shows cancelled, he recorded an album of his own music, With The Bass In Mind, which also features contributions from Jake and Dom, along with Mike Barnett on fiddle and Cory Walker on banjo.
The tunes on the record combine Picker’s love for two unrelated musical forms, jazz and bluegrass. Awarded a full scholarship to the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, Jeff received a detailed education in modern jazz, but has been performing since primarily with folk and bluegrass artists.
But you can hear and see his jazz chops in this video for his tune, Disturbance In The Kitchen, recorded in the proverbial back yard. String bop for the 21st century.
Well done, all! When you see how comfortably these young grassers play jazz on acoustic instruments, you realize that maybe these two formats aren’t such strangers after all.
You can find With The Bass In Mind wherever you stream or download music online, or on CD from Jeff via bandcamp.
