Jimmy Earl | |
|---|---|
 Jimmy Earl onJimmy Kimmel Live! Photo courtesy of Don Barris | |
| Background information | |
| Born | James Christopher Earl (1957-04-05)April 5, 1957 (age 68) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz,jazz fusion |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, record producer |
| Instrument | Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Labels | Legato,Severn |
James Christopher Earl (born 1957) is an Americanjazz bass guitarist who is a member of theJimmy Kimmel Live! band.[1]
In 1957,[2] James Christopher Earl was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to James and Sylvia Earl. He is the second of their four children. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota, and in 1965 toHyattsville, Maryland, where he attended elementary school andNorthwestern High School.[3]
Earl began classical guitar lessons at age 10. In 1972, he picked up an electric bass guitar for $15 at theRose Bowl flea market in Pasadena, California, where his family was living temporarily. In 1973, with his high school classmates Dan Hovey and Rex Wilson, he formed his first band,Cosmic Rainbow.[4]
In 1975–76, he attendedBerklee College of Music in Boston.[5] In 1981, he studied briefly at theNew England Conservatory of Music where he sits on the board of visitors.[6] He also studied withCharlie Banacos.[7] In 1983, he joinedTiger Okoshi's Baku,[8] which performed in the 1984Newport Jazz Festival.[9] In 1985, he joined a band led by jazz drummerBob Moses,[3] with whom he appeared in Boston andCambridge.[10] Earl began his recording career in Boston in 1986 when he supported David Gilden onAncestral Voices.[11] This album featured thekora, a West African 21-string harp.
In 1986, Earl moved to New York City and on the recommendation of his friendSteve Hunt joined the Jazz Explosion.[12] In this group he worked withGato Barbieri,Angela Bofill,Tom Browne,Stanley Clarke,George Duke,Freddie Hubbard,Phyllis Hyman,Ramsey Lewis,Lonnie Liston Smith, andStanley Turrentine. He met bass guitarist Stanley Clarke, who became his mentor and friend, and joined Clarke's tour of Brazil withLarry Graham.[13] Shortly after, he metJoe Sample at theBlue Note Jazz Club in New York City,[14] and Sample invited him to joinThe Crusaders. During 1986 and 1987, he toured with them in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.[15]
In 1988, Earl moved to Los Angeles and recorded on Clarke's albumIf This Bass Could Only Talk. It was followed in 1993 byEast River Drive, on which Earl is credited as co-writer on "I'm Home Africa".[16] In 1990 he appeared on two albums by the Mark Varney Project. The first,Truth in Shredding,[17] featured jazz guitaristAllan Holdsworth andFrank Gambale. On the second,Centrifugal Funk,[18] he worked as arranger and producer.[19]
In 1993, Earl replacedJohn Patitucci in theChick Corea Elektric Band, which went on tour.[20] On returning, he worked with his Elektric bandmateEric Marienthal on the albumOne Touch and helped write the song "Backtalk".[21] During the same year, he appeared on the albumElektric Band II: Paint the World and co-wrote with Corea "Ished",[22] "Spanish Sketch",[23] and "Reprise".[24] The album was nominated for the 1994 Grammy Award forBest Contemporary Jazz Album.[25] Two years later he joined the band's collaboration withSteve Vai's on the tribute albumThe Songs of West Side Story, which wascertified gold.[26] In 2002, he participated in the Elektric Band's reunion tour of the U.S.,[27] which included two performances at the Blue Note.[28] In another reunion, Earl performed onManhattan Transfer's albumThe Chick Corea Songbook (2009).
While touring with Corea in 1993, Earl performed in Rome, Italy, withPino Daniele,[29] who invited them to record on his albumChe Dio ti benedica. This was the first of five albums herecorded with Daniele from 1993 to 1999. In 1995, while touring with Daniele to promoteNon calpestare i fiori nel deserto, he played in Milan, Italy, withPat Metheny.[30]
In that year, he recordedJimmy Earl, which featuredDavid Batteau,Mitchel Forman, Franke Gambale,Deron Johnson,Gary Novak,Rique Pantoja, Randy Roos,Steve Tavaglione, andDave Weckl.[31] This album presents Earl's solo bass rendition ofMaurice Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess" (1899).[32] It was followed in 1997 by his second album,Stratosphere, which featuresJohn Beasley, Daniele, Johnson, Forman, andSimon Phillips.[33] It is an exploration into combining performances by live musicians with electronic music. On March 20, 2012,Severn Records reissued updated versions of these albums, which have been reviewed inBass Player magazine.[34] Subsequently, on January 21, 2014, Severn released another album by Earl,Renewing Disguises. Cover art for this album is based on a caricature of Earl drawn byDicky Barrett.[35]
In 1996, Tom Brechtlein[36] recommended Earl as a replacement forRoscoe Beck inRobben Ford's band, The Blue Line, which was about to go on a bus tour of Europe. On returning, Ford started a new band, which began with a series of west coast performances. These included appearances atCatalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood,[37] and atYoshi's in Oakland, California,[38] whereVinnie Colaiuta was featured on drums. Ford's albumSupernatural was recorded and released in 1999.[39] In 2001, Ford's band recordedNew Morning: The Paris Concert. This DVD captured a live performance at theNew Morning club inParis.[40] It was followed, in 2002, by Ford's first album withConcord Jazz,Blue Moon,[41] on which Earl is credited with producing "Good to Love".[42] Later, Earl recorded on two more Ford albums:Keep on Running (2003),[43][44] andTruth (2007),[45] which was nominated for the 2008Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.[46] Moreover, in August 2007,Truth became the number one blues album on theBillboard chart.[47]
In 2003, he recorded on the albumMan @ Work withColin Hay. Earl's work withMan @ Work is only one of dozens of collaborations and compilations in which he performed as a guest artist.[48][49] In the discography, there is a listing of some of these appearances, but it is more representative than exhaustive.
In late 2002, Jimmy Earl was invited to join a new band,Cleto and the Cletones, which had just been tapped to be the house band on the ABC late-night television programJimmy Kimmel Live!.[1]
After the show and on weekends Earl performs once or twice per month at theBaked Potato club inStudio City.[50] He has appeared withDean Brown,Deron Johnson,Scott Kinsey, Simon Phillips,Jeff Richman,Steve Tavaglione,Steve Weingart,Zigaboo Modeliste,[51] and withsalsa singerCecilia Noël and the Wild Clams.[52] Earl's association with the Wild Clams goes back to 1995 when he performed with them at theNational Theater of Cuba in Havana. This concert ended a sixteen-year period during which American musical groups were banned from performing in Cuba.[53]
In 1990, Earl began a relationship with the German companyWarwick. In 1993, Warwick issued theJimmy Earl Signature Streamer Stage II five string bass guitar.[54] Other Warwick basses that he has used are aThumb and a fretlessDolphin. During the 2012NAMM Show at theAnaheim Convention Center,[55] Warwick introduced anotherJimmy Earl Signature Bass.[56]
OnJimmy Kimmel Live!, he usesFender basses: a white '66Fender Jazz Bass, a red '66 Fender Jazz, and occasionally a sunburst '73Fender Precision Bass.[1] These instruments are fitted withDean Markley SR2000 medium-light strings. For amplification, he uses aGallien-Krueger 800RB head and 410SBX 4x10 cabinet.[57]
With The Mark Varney Project
WithStanley Clarke
WithChick Corea
WithPino Daniele
WithRobben Ford
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
