Doug Wimbish

Wikipedia:

Doug Wimbish (born September 22, 1956) is a bass player, primarily known for his studio work for the rap/hip hop label Sugarhill Records and his membership of the rock band Living Colour. He has played for a vast range of artists, including Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Madonna, George Clinton, Paula Cole, Bomb the Bass, Depeche Mode, Joe Satriani, Mos Def and Tarja Turunen. Wimbish is considered to be a pioneer in hip hop bass playing and in the use of bass effects, alternate tunings and extended hand techniques.

Life

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Wimbish started playing guitar at the age of 12 and switched to bass guitar at the age of 14. In 1979 he was hired together with guitarist Skip McDonald and drummer Keith LeBlanc to form the house rhythm section for Sugarhill Records. Although they did not play on the Sugar Hill Gang's famous song "Rapper's Delight" (the rhythm tracks for this song were played by the group Positive Force), they did play on many other famous tracks, for example "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, "New York, New York" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and "Apache" by the Sugarhill Gang.

Together with McDonald and LeBlanc, Wimbish headed to London in 1984 and started working with producer Adrian Sherwood and formed the group Tackhead. Together with Tackhead and as a session bassist, Wimbish found himself in demand as a bass player for many artists and was considered as a permanent sideman for the Rolling Stones after the departure of bassist Bill Wyman in 1993; although the job went to Darryl Jones, Wimbish later played on the Stones' 1997 album Bridges to Babylon. Wimbish joined Living Colour in 1992 (he replaced Muzz Skillings, who left the band) to tour and record the album, Stain.

Living Colour disbanded in 1995, and Wimbish joined his old Sugar Hill Gang partners to play in Little Axe, an ambient-dub project initiated by Skip 'Little Axe' MacDonald.

After the disbandment of Living Colour, Wimbish went back to London to continue his career as a studio bassist. In 1999 he formed the drum and bass group Jungle Funk together with drummer Will Calhoun and percussionist/vocalist Vinx. Also in 1999, Wimbish solo album Trippy Notes for Bass was released. In 2000, Living Colour was reformed with Wimbish as the bass player and toured in the United States and in Europe (original bassist Muzz Skillings was not part of the line up). In 2001 and 2002 Wimbish recorded and played with rapper Mos Def in a band called BlackJack Johnson, which also featured members of P-Funk and Bad Brains in the lineup.

Wimbish also formed Head>>Fake, a drum and bass project with drummer Will Calhoun. They released a CD, In The Area. In 2005 they started recording new songs. The recording took place in Brussels, Belgium and was followed by an extensive European tour. The CD has never been released. A Head>>Fake DVD was released in 2008. It features a recording of a Head>>Fake concert in Prague.

In 2008 Doug Wimbish' second solo album was released through Enja Records: CinemaSonics.

Doug has also featured on four Little Axe albums with Alan Glen on Harmonica.

Effects

This list includes Wimbish's on the floor and live rack.