Kaveh Rastegar: Blog/News

It has been a pleasure and an honor to have been nominated in the 2010 Downbeat Magazine Readers Poll for Electric Bass. I remember reading Downbeat as a young musician in high school and would have never thought that someday I would be on the list along with some of my all time favorite bassists and musicians! www.downbeat.com

It's a beautiful day in Rome. Warm, hot. I'm going to be drying off quite a bit during the show tonight. So excited to be playing Stadio Olimpico in Rome tonight. It is truly a dream come true and one of my favorite places to play ever. Last night we ran the songs and the place was beautiful. The grass smelled good and the music killed! This band sounds so good. I can't wait to play.

There is now an "official" Kaveh Rastegar music page on facebook. Here is a link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaveh-Rastegar-Official-Page/124081830967947

I just saw this promotional clip for an album that I recorded bass on by a new artist named Romeus. He's a really talented songwriter. This is his debut album that was produced by Corrado Rustici. Michael Urbano played drums on it as well.

A track that I co-wrote and played bass on has been released. It's called "The Other Side" by Bruno Mars. It also features Cee lo Green and B.o.B. I'm very excited about this song.



Here it is:

Ligabue's latest album "Arrividerci Mostro" has been number 1 on the Italian Pop Charts for the last couple of weeks. I'm very proud to have played bass on this great album.

Last week I flew to Sardinia to shoot the video for Luciano Ligabue's new single "Un Colpo All'Anima" for his latest album "Arrividerci Mostro". The single came out last night as did the "making of the video" video. We are still waiting to see the actual video but... here's what there is so far. It was a lot of fun doing this. It was cold. Right off of the ocean sometimes it would heat up, then it would rain. Super fun though. Also, the song was a blast to record. It was really fun getting to that funky one drop feel that we did. I think it turned out really well.

The past few days, I've been playing in a string section for a new album by gospel artist Kelly Price. The string arrangements and conducting has been by trupmet player/arranger Dontae Winslow. His arrangements are great and he is really fun to work with. I can't wait to hear how it all turns out. It's so much fun playing orchestral music with a great section for a change!

I just got back from Sardinia where I had a video shoot with Luciano and the rest of the band for the new single Un Colpo All Anima from the new record. It was a lot of fun. I'm really excited about that song. It features some killing grooves from Urbano and I.

The way out there was insane though. I had just finished a super fun tour with Colin Hay and band in Brisbane, Australia and I had to fly straight to Sardinia from there. It ended up being 5 flights! Brisbane to Singapore to Abu Dhabi to Frankfurt to Milan to Sardinia. 36 hours. Super fun though. Can't wait to see the finished product. Also looking forward to the new album coming out and the tour in Italy this summer.

This is so cool. They're releasing the film of the concert we played with Ligabue at Stadio Olimpico in Rome in 2008. It's going to be in the theatres in Italy in April. Here's the trailer:

I'm in Sydney. The shows have been a lot of fun. We flew here from Perth a couple nights ago. We went straight from the hotel in Coogee Beach to The Metro downtown to hear my friend Chris Vatalaro play a show with Imogen Heap. The concert was so great I had to post this footage of the two of them playing one of the coolest songs of the night, "Little Bird":

I'm writing from Perth, Australia. I've been on tour with Colin Hay and band for a little while through Australia. The shows have been great. The band is a great group with Sean Woolstenhume on guitar, Charlie Paxson on drums, Alan Okuye on Keyboards, Cecilia Noel on vocals and Colin singing and playing guitar. The tour is pretty extensive. We've been through Melbourne where we would travel out to the extended suburbs and play as well as in the city. We had a gig in Adelaide and one in Perth last night.

Thanks so much to Aguilar for supplying great amps for this tour!!!

a list in progress... why am i writing this? not sure. maybe because i think of them somehow every day and am thankful for them! free write folks! here are some (ha!) of my favorite bass players: james jamerson, pino palladino, stevie wonder, paul mccartney, jaco pastorius, aston barrett, willie dixon, willie weeks, paul simonon, darryl jennifer, john paul jones, robbie shakespeare, charles mingus, ron carter, louis johnson, paul chambers, jamaladeen tacuma, doug watkins, chuck rainey, trevor dunn, scott lafaro, prince rogers nelson, jimmy garrison, timothy young, tommy shannon, byron house, paul warburton, kim deal, mick karn, john entwistle, tina weymouth, ira coleman, davey faragher, billy mohler, lonnie marshall, mike elizondo, rick danko, sebastien steinberg, kevin martinez, miles brown, edgar meyer, anthony jackson, dan lutz, billy bass, mark schatz, thomas morgan, steve dress, kirok jameson, louichie mayorga, jimmy blanton, fontaine burnette, dave wiley, reggie workman, dante pascuzzo, stanley clarke, chris thomas, jimmy earl, mike watt, bob glaub, chuck dukowski, larry graham, ric grech, glen matlock, dave wilder, steve jenkins, paul socalow, doug lunn, mark diamond, nate wood, bob drake, scott colley, bob babbitt, stomu takeishi, ian walker, joe lopez, cliff williams, josh lopez, will lee, miles tackett, jimmy johnson, kim gordon, joe ayoub, skulli sverrisson, adam clayton, donald duck dunn, kermit driscoll, eberhard weber, brett shurtliff, ken harper, james vandemark, harish raghavan, shane endsley, adam benjamin, eric kertes, tim kiah, jeff campbell, carlitos del puertos, mick dempsey, bill wyman, israel crosby, les claypool, bruce thomas, marc johnson, devin hoff, bill laswell, todd sickafoose, jim macnamara, fred frith, tony levin, colin moulding, dave holland, chris squire, kent mclagan, dwight killian, foley, norwood fisher, keefus ciancia, mike valerio, meshell ndegeocello, gabe noel, klaus flouride, bootsy collins, george porter, joe karnes, flea, carol kaye, joe lally, kenny walker, tim lefebvre, matt cory, sean hurley, victor krauss, leland sklar, drew gress, melvin gibbs, charlie haden, artie moore, kirwan brown, eric thorin, rob jost, mike chiavaro, ike sturm, tim luntzel....


either well known, or lesser known they're all known to people who have heard them or played with them as some of the best ever! you guys and gals have and continue to inspire, teach and help me. thanks so much.

I'm excited to tell you that the album "Hunting My Dress" by the artist Jesca Hoop is out. The album was produced by Tony Berg and featured some great musicians like the great guitarist Blake Mills, keyboardist Patrick Warren and bass player Joe Karnes. I played upright and electric bass on the album as well! It's available through itunes, amazon, some stores and through her website www.jescahoop.com


Here's a clip of Blake and I playing with her at the Roxy Theatre last year in Hollywood:

I've been in Italy for the last couple of weeks recording the new Ligabue with Producer Corrado Rustici. Along with me of course is the great drummer Michael Urbano. We're joined by wonderful engineer.musician Chris Manning and are making a great record. We're also eating a good deal of Parmesan and drinking quite a bit of Lambrusco (at least I am). I can't wait to hear the album when it's all finished. It should be out sometime later in the spring or early summer. Non vedo l'oro di sentirlo! Allora, va bene. Ci vediamo a presto!!!

Kneebody has just been nominated for a Grammy for our album with Theo Bleckmann "12 Songs of Charles Ives"!!!

Come out to celebrate with us at 7 Grand in downtown LA as we perform our last show of 2009. 7 Grand is a great venue in downtown LA. This show will be free. 21 and over. We will play at least 2 sets.

I'm really excited to announce that the album "12 Songs of Charles Ives" by Kneebody and Theo Bleckmann was just nominated for best Classical Crossover album for the 2010 Grammy Awards!

Here is a link to the announcement: http://www.grammy.com/grammy_awards/52nd_show/list.aspx

We share the list with some other amazing artists. We're humbled and honored to be recognized.

I've been home lately writing music with friends. It's been a lot of fun. There are projects happening with great drummers Matt Chamberlain, Michael Urbano and John Wicks. We've all been working on different grooves and have been turning them into songs. I've also been writing quite a bit with my friends Josh Lopez and Jeremy Ruzumna. We've been putting together tracks for different artists and producers. We've gotten some great stuff together so far. I'm also writing my own songs for my own album that I hope to have finished in the next month. I can't wait to hear how it sounds!

Kneebody has been gearing up for our new album to come out early next year. It is being called "You Can Have Your Moment" and will be out on Winter and Winter records (www.winterandwinter.com). We recently had a tour to Denver and to Detroit. We're looking forward to shows in December and then tours through the states and Europe next year.

Looks like I'll be heading to Italy in January to work with Ligabue. There is a fan appreciation show on the 6th in Modena and then I will be staying there for a couple more weeks to finish his album.

Colin Hay's album I played on, "American Sunshine" is doing well. He's been touring and supporting it and there are rumors of more band tours coming up next year.

Finally, engineer extraordinaire S. Husky Hoskulds has started a wonderful online label/collective called Groundlift (www.groundlift.org). He is releasing the Chewy Puma and the Thruster album as well as many other great releases from some wonderful artists and friends (John Gold, Danny Frankel, Keefus and Mr. Green, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Palmer, Todd Sickafoose and others). Please check out the site now!

Ok, I'm going to ramble a little bit about an album that I've been listening to non stop this week. This is an album by John Gold called "A Flower In Your Head" (http://www.johngoldmusic.com/). John is a friend of mine and so is the co producer, Scott Seiver. I played on the last song called "The Vampire's Kiss". I remember going to Scott's to record that song and the mood over at his house between he and John was really excited and fun. The house was dark with a couple of lamps lit and open bottles of wine around. They had been working on the album together for the previous few days and already had a chunk of basic tracks to show me. They all sounded so good that early on. I remember hearing the opening track "Skyscraper" which opens with the coolest Phil Collins/panned drum fill that brings you into the song instantly. And John's gravely voice. Just by looking into those guys' eyes at the time it was pretty clear that they had figured out a great direction for John's new album. I played upright bass on Vampire's Kiss and the way Scott miked the bass was really cool sounding. It was really growly and big. Two mics and a nice room sound. Anyway after that night, I couldn't wait to hear how the album was turning out. I kept asking Scott about it. The way that self produced albums go, sometime for one reason or another, they start taking a little time to finish. This one wasn't so bad though. Scott's been working hard on the road playing drums with Pete Yorn. But it looked like they managed to finish it last week. It's become an album to me that is as exciting as when I first heard albums like the Shins "Oh Inverted World", Elliot Smith's "Figure 8" or the Good the Bad and the Queen. These songs are all so good and the tracks are produced so well with amazing performances. I'm proud to be a part of it and proud of my friends for making it.