By Phyllis Pollack
http://www.examiner.com/rock-music-in-national/rolling-stones-bassist-darryl-jon...




Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones is currently recording his debut solo album. While others in the band have aready released solo albums, including guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, vocalist Bernard Fowler, Blondie Chaplin, Lisa Fischer, Chuck Leavell, Jones is the only core band member to not have done so.  Former band members Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman have issued their own albums, and the late Nicky Hopkins issued solo works, and Brian Jones are among Stones alumni that also released side projects. While a long discography of Stones solo albums have ensued, including the recent release by Keith Richards of his 'Wingless Angels Volume 1 & 2,' Jones has kept his fans waiting.

"It is coming out this summer. Hopefully by summer," Jones told me in an interview during the NAMM Show 2011, where he came to endorse Ampeg's Heritage B-15 flip top bass amp combo that has been released in a limited edition. Jones introduced the product for Ampeg at Bass Player Live 2010. Other Ampeg products were additionally showcased at NAMM 2011.

Loud Technologies Inc. is one of the world’s largest pro audio companies, and is the corporate parent for brands including Ampeg, Alvarez, Blackheart, Crate, EAW, Mackie and Martin Audio, LOUD engineers, markets and distributes a wide range of professional audio products.

Jones said is not sure yet which label will release the album. "No idea what label, maybe my label," he said.

Jones, who grew up in Chicago, is a trained musician, who grew up surrounded by funk, soul, jazz, R&B and rock, accounting for his musical diversity. Throughout his career, he has played with a long list of recording artists including Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Sting and Madonna.

His broad musical vocabulary will certainly easily translate onto his album. Says Jones, "I mean it’s stylistically the music of my childhood basically. I grew up listening to James Brown, Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Miles Davis, and there are some elements of all of those things. Curtis Mayfield. It’s the music that was a great era of music, the Sixties and the Seventies, so really it is influenced by all of the music of that time."

When it comes to the personnel on the album, Jones stated, "I’m doing a lot of it. There are a lot of musicians on it. Lisa Fischer’s on the record, and hopefully Blondie (Chaplin) and Bernard (Fowler) will be on the record, Jeff Watts, Nino Cinelu will be on the record, just a lot of you know, a very diverse group of musicians. Charley Drayton’s on the record."

As far as the recording of the album, Jones said, "A lot of it has being done at my house, and some of it is out of Pierre’s (de Beauport) studio in Western Massachusetts. Lots of different places. I’m going wherever."

What else does Jones have up his sleeve in the near future? Stated Jones, "Working on maybe a solo bass project, you know, just a project where I’m going to play bass and sing, and trigger a lot of stuff with synth and sequence and stuff like that."

Right now, as far as equipment he really likes, he said, "I’ve got a really special kind of head with an 8 by 8 cabinet, which is a little bit smaller than the regular SVT cabinet. I’ve been using that. I dig the sound of it. It’s got a very, very cool sound. It’s vintage. But it’s also powerful enough that I can rock."

Jones said his next California gig will be near the ocean. "Next gig I think I’m playing at Catlina in April with (Gil Evans’ son) Miles Evans Smallish Big Band. I’ve done some gigs with them before," he noted.

Jones, who joined the the Rolling Stones after bassist Bill Wyman departed in 1993. He has run up many miles touring, and although he enjoys his time off the road, Jones looks forward to touring again. "It is good to have time off,'" he noted. "But I don’t want too much time off."

A slide show can be accessed at the upper left-hand side of this page, with three photos of Darryl Jones.

All photos @Phyllis Pollack. Photos may not be used without permission.

Copyright Notice: @Phyllis Pollack. No portion of  this article may be reprinted without permission



Continue reading on Examiner.com: Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones working on new solo album - National rock music | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/rock-music-in-national/rolling-stones-bassist-darryl-jon...

steel driving hammer wrote on Jan 20^th, 2011 at 10:01am:


Eh?

It says he's playing a 'gig' in April. There's no mention of 'a tour' (and anyway, how much demand is there for a Darryl Jones tour ?Hardly enough to occupy him for a lengthy period)

Darry's on a pretty lucrative retainer with the Stones. If they need him for anything, then whatever else he's doing gets sidelined. Simple.