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Aaron Germain

Spending 30 years as a busy hired-gun bass player, Aaron has been through all sorts of adventures; traveling the world and learning from the masters. This album displays his wide range of music experiences.

Growing up in Massachusetts, he cut his teeth playing upright and electric bass in bands ranging from jazz, blues, funk, reggae, to senegalese mbalax; and he found himself regularly driving to New York, Boston, Burlingame, Providence and just about anywhere else in New England where there was a gig. From the beginning he learned to be picky about quality, but not genre. When there is so much amazing music to be played, there should be no reason to have to specialize.

Moving to the San Francisco bay area in 2000, his adventures continued, and he quickly found himself working over time, sometimes playing two or three gigs a day. He entered the world of salsa and Afro-Cuban, Brazilian forro, and Caribbean steel pan music; he found himself accompanying Indian kathak dancers, veteran calypso singers from Trinidad, and navigating through dense, odd-meter jazz compositions.

Over the years Aaron has performed with artist such as Yusef Lateef, Stanley Jordon, Andy Narell, Bonnie Raitt, Francisco Aquabella, John Handy, Melba Moore, Mary Wilson, Paula West, Jacqui Naylor, Dwight Trible, Eddie Marshal, Dave Ellis, Babatunde Lea, Gordon Stone, Kenny Washington, Josh Jones, Akira Tana, Jamie Davis, Royal Hartigan, among many others.

He has performed at venues such as, the Blue Note (NY), Scullers (Boston), The House of Blues (Boston), The Blues Alley (Washington DC), Zanzibar Blue (Philadelphia), Yoshis (SF), Yoshis (Oakland), The Jazz School (Berkeley), Humphrey's by the Bay (San Diego), The Fillmore (SF), Dakotas (Minneapolis), The Iron Horse (Northampton), Herbst Theatre (SF), Kuumbwa (Santa Cruz), The San Francisco Jazz Festival, The North Beach Jazz Festival, The Fillmore Jazz Festival, The San Jose Jazz Festival, and the Drumming in the New Millenium Festival in front of the Great Pyramids of Egypt (December of 1999) ect.

Gear

3/4 Otto Rubner Round Back Upright Bass Japanese Fender Jazz Bass 1973 Fender P Bass Roscoe 6 string Bass Roscoe 5 string Fretless Bass Sadowsky 5 String Bass Suhr Telecaster Guitar Michael Thames Classical Guitar Deiter Hopf 6 string classical bass guitar Deiter Hopf Soprano Guitar Walter Woods 650 watt bass amp


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8
Album Review

Charged Particles: Live at the Baked Potato!

Read "Live at the Baked Potato!" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


The late tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker was held in the highest regard by fellow saxophonists, while at the same time being seen as far too eclectic to be part of the jazz pantheon (due in no small part to his sideman work in rock and pop). This album focuses on Brecker as composer, spanning three decades of his work, and honoring his performance practice as well. There was no attempt to recreate his legendary chops, but the group was careful ...

9
Album Review

Brian Andres: Mayan Suite

Read "Mayan Suite" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Drummer and percussionist Brian Andres may have been born in Cincinnati but his musical homeland is Latin America. A drummer by age ten, Anders studied at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and eventually followed his Latin musical muse from local gigs with Cincinnati Slim & The Headhunters to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he founded and fronted the Afro-Latin Jazz Cartel. Mayan Suite extends Andres' lifelong love affair with the music of Latin America while presenting ...

5
Album Review

Aaron Germain: Chance

Read "Chance" reviewed by Ian Patterson


San Francisco based bassist/composer Aaron Germain's follow-up to his debut Before You Go (Self Produced, 2010) harnesses some of the Bay Area's finest musicians on another set of the leader's original compositions. The personnel, who includes French/Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le, is completely different to Germain's eclectic debut and it sounds like it too. Whereas Before You Go reflected Germain's command of bop, funk, blues and Latin, Chance is more stylistically homogenous. To be sure, Germain's diverse musical threads are present, ...

251
Album Review

Aaron Germain: Before You Go

Read "Before You Go" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


The key to the eclecticism of Before You Go, bassist Aaron Germain's first album as leader, can be found in his stated aim as a musician: to be “picky about quality, not genre." Germain's ten original tunes take in straightforward hard bop, blues, Latin and funk styles--and the quality is always high.

Throughout the album, Germain's compositions take center stage. While the quality of his playing is obvious, Germain never uses the tunes simply to demonstrate his talent--neither does he ...

340
Album Review

Aaron Germain: Before You Go

Read "Before You Go" reviewed by John Barron


Bassist Aaron Germain has made a point throughout his fifteen-year career as a professional musician to perform in a wide variety of genres. Growing up in Massachusetts and currently residing in San Francisco, Germain infuses the influence of funk, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music to inform a fresh approach to modern jazz. Before You Go features Germain's technical prowess on both upright and electric bass with a stellar crew of sidemen. The disc's ten tracks--all composed by Germain--are high energy romps ...

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3

Recording

Guitarist/Bassist Aaron Germain Displays Monumental Compositional, Instrumental Achievement With 'Bell Projections,' Arriving May 14 On Aaron Germain Music

Guitarist/Bassist Aaron Germain Displays Monumental Compositional, Instrumental Achievement With 'Bell Projections,' Arriving May 14 On Aaron Germain Music

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Aaron Germain’s aptitude for both string instruments and haunting compositions reaches stunning new heights with Bell Projections, set for a May 14 release on his own Aaron Germain Music imprint. The album’s 17 pieces were written and arranged for guitar quartet—but on the recording, it’s Germain who plays all four guitar parts. It was never intended as a solo showcase. Best known as a bassist, Germain’s ambition was to challenge himself as a composer. “I was downloading tons of classical ...

128

Recording

Bay Area Bassist Aaron Germain to Release Debut CD "Before You Go" 4/27 & Perform at Coda SF 5/13

Bay Area Bassist Aaron Germain to Release Debut CD "Before You Go" 4/27 & Perform at Coda SF 5/13

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

After ten years of working as a first-call sideman with some of the Bay Area's finest practitioners of styles ranging from jazz to salsa to Brazilian forro, bassist Aaron Germain has finally carved out some time for his own music. He's preparing to release his debut CD, Before You Go, on April 27, and plans to showcase the new music at a special CD release event at Coda in San Francisco on Thursday, May 13. The strikingly varied new CD, ...

”Before You Go features Germain's technical prowess on both upright and electric bass with a stellar crew of sidemen. The disc's ten tracks-all composed by Germain-are high energy romps with exceptional soloing”

”Germain's compositions are lyrical, harmonically interesting and groove heavy.”

”Bolstered by Germain's jaw-dropping electric solo, the tune leaves one wanting more from such a dynamic configuration.”

”Before You Go is an exciting session deserving of wide recognition. The level of musicianship is first-rate and Germain's rousing compositional skills are a delight.”

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Photos

Concerts

Jun 15 Sat
Oct 26 Sat

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Bell Projections

Aaron Germain Music
2021

buy

Live at the Baked...

Summit Records
2021

buy

Mayan Suite

Bacalao Records
2020

buy

Chance

Origin Records
2013

buy

Before You Go

Self Produced
2010

buy

Nhung Bac Thang

From: Chance
By Aaron Germain

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