Hank Van Sickle
Encyclopedia
Hank Van Sickle is an electric
and upright
bassist
currently living and working in Los Angeles, California
. He is a session musician
who has worked in a variety of genre
s, but primarily draws from Americana
, blues rock, jazz
, and rock music
.
and played in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
, the Cleveland Orchestra
, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
. His sister Lucy Van Sickle is a singer and blues harmonica player living in Pittsburgh
.
Van Sickle recorded and toured as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
from mid 2000 through the end of 2008. According to John Mayall
, he has the longest tenure of any other bass players to perform with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
' long and storied past.
Other artists Van Sickle performed with include Jimmy Smith
, Mick Taylor
, Robben Ford
, Rod Piazza
and the Mighty Flyers, Taj Mahal
, Candye Kane
, Guitar Shorty
, Smokey Wilson
, American Idol
stars tour, Denny Freeman
, Don and Dewey
, Kirk Fletcher, The Drifters
, Rosie Flores
, Wanda Jackson
, James Intveld
, Billy Swan
, Yma Sumac
, Judy Tenuta
, Ray Campi
, Floyd Sneed
, Beach Cities Symphony, and Friends of Dean Martinez
.
With Skip Heller
:
With Steamin' Stan Ruffo and the Instigators:
With others:
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and upright
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
currently living and working in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. He is a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
who has worked in a variety of genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s, but primarily draws from Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
, blues rock, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
.
Biography
Van Sickle was raised in a family of musicians. His father, Rodney Van Sickle is a classically trained double bassist who graduated from the Curtis Institute of MusicCurtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
and played in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
, the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
. His sister Lucy Van Sickle is a singer and blues harmonica player living in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
Van Sickle recorded and toured as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1967, but then dropped it for some fifteen years. However, in 1982 a 'Return of the Bluesbreakers' was announced and...
from mid 2000 through the end of 2008. According to John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...
, he has the longest tenure of any other bass players to perform with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1967, but then dropped it for some fifteen years. However, in 1982 a 'Return of the Bluesbreakers' was announced and...
' long and storied past.
Other artists Van Sickle performed with include Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
, Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
, Robben Ford
Robben Ford
Robben Ford is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist.-Biography:Ford was born in Woodlake, California, United States, but raised in Ukiah, California, and began playing the saxophone at age 10, picking up the guitar at age 13...
, Rod Piazza
Rod Piazza
Rod Piazza is an American blues harmonica player and singer. He has been playing with his band The Mighty Flyers since 1980 which he formed with his pianist wife Honey Piazza...
and the Mighty Flyers, Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
, Candye Kane
Candye Kane
Candye Kane is an American singer, songwriter and performer best known in the blues and jazz genre. She has been included in the Rolling Stone Guide to Jazz and Blues, Elwoods Blues by Dan Aykroyd, The Blueshound Guide to Blues, Allmusic and other blues books and periodicals...
, Guitar Shorty
Guitar Shorty
Guitar Shorty is an American blues guitarist. He is well known for his explosive guitar style and wild stage antics. Billboard magazine said, “his galvanizing guitar work defines modern, top-of-the-line blues-rock. His vocals remain as forceful as ever...
, Smokey Wilson
Smokey Wilson
Smokey Wilson ) is an American West Coast blues guitarist. He has spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and Juke Joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He has recorded at least eleven albums for record labels such as P-Vine Records, Bullseye Blues and Texmuse Records...
, American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
stars tour, Denny Freeman
Denny Freeman
Denny Freeman is an American Texas and electric blues guitarist. Although he is primarily known as a guitar player, Freeman has also played piano and electric organ, both in concert and on various recordings...
, Don and Dewey
Don and Dewey
Don and Dewey were an American rock and roll duo, comprising Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Dewey Terry . Both were born and grew up in Pasadena, California....
, Kirk Fletcher, The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
, Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores is a rockabilly and country music artist of Mexican American heritage. Her music blends rockabilly, honky tonk, jazz, and Western swing along with traditional influences from her Tex-Mex heritage...
, Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...
, James Intveld
James Intveld
James Intveld is a Los Angeles rockabilly musician, actor, composer, director. Intveld provided the vocals for the eponymous title character in John Waters' Cry-Baby, and sung "Let's Go Sexin'" in Waters' 2004 movie, A Dirty Shame.-Early work:...
, Billy Swan
Billy Swan
Billy Lance Swan is an American songwriter and singer, best known for his 1974 single, "I Can Help".-Life:Swan was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. As a child, he learned drums, piano and guitar, and began writing songs...
, Yma Sumac
Yma Súmac
Yma Sumac was a noted Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music. She became an international success based on her extreme vocal range, which was said to be "well over four octaves" and was sometimes claimed to span even five octaves at her peak.Yma...
, Judy Tenuta
Judy Tenuta
Judy Tenuta is an American entertainer, actress, comedienne, author, producer and accordionist.-Early life:...
, Ray Campi
Ray Campi
Ray Campi is a distinguished musician often called The King of Rockabilly. Campi's trademark is his white double bass, which he often jumps on top of and "rides" while playing....
, Floyd Sneed
Floyd Sneed
Floyd Sneed is a black Canadian drummer, best known for his work with the band Three Dog Night....
, Beach Cities Symphony, and Friends of Dean Martinez
Friends of Dean Martinez
Friends of Dean Martinez is an instrumental rock/post-rock band featuring members of Giant Sand, Calexico, and Naked Prey. FoDM music may be described as a combination of americana tunes with bits of electronica, ambient, lounge, psychedelia and dub intertwined with surf rock inspired lead...
.
With John Mayall
- "In the Palace of the King" (Eagle RecordsEagle RecordsEagle Records is a leading independent record label, a division of Edel Records. Also exists as Eagle Rock Entertainment.In the United Kingdom the label's managing director is Lindsay Brown, former manager of Van Halen, while in the United States the head is Mike Carden, formerly of CMC...
) - "Essentially John Mayall" (Eagle Records)
- "Road Dogs" (Eagle Records)
- "70th Birthday Concert featuring Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Chris BarberChris BarberDonald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...
and Mick TaylorMick TaylorMichael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
" (Eagle Records) (DVD and CD) - "Stories" (Eagle Records)
- "Cookin' Down Under" (Private Stash Records) (DVD)
- "No Days Off" (Private Stash Records)
With other artists
With Friends of Dean Martinez:- "Retrograde" (Sub PopSub PopSub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
). - "Keep Left, Vol. 1: A Benefit for David Barsamain and Alternative Radio" (Go Big)
With Skip Heller
Skip Heller
Fred "Skip" Heller , although active in many different types of music as a performer, producer, and historian coming out of the Philadelphia jazz scene, he never made much of a mark in his hometown despite local critical recognition....
:
- "Couch, Los Angeles (Couch 2.0)" (JewbileeJewbilee"Jewbilee" is the ninth episode of the third season and 40th overall episode of the animated television series South Park. The final part of The Meteor Shower Trilogy, the episode described what happened to Kyle and Kenny, who both went to a Jewish Scouting camp, on the night of the meteor shower...
) - "Career Suicide: The Essential Skip Heller" (Dionysus)
- "Couch, Los Angeles" (Mouthpiece/RounderRounder RecordsRounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
) - "St. Christopher's Arms" (Mouthpiece/Rounder)
With Steamin' Stan Ruffo and the Instigators:
- "Jump On This!" (Sho' Nuff)
- "Blues On Tap, Volume One" (Sho' Nuff)
- "Santa Cruz Blues" (Bluestraxx)
- "More Desaster City Blues" (Taxim)
With others:
- Rod PiazzaRod PiazzaRod Piazza is an American blues harmonica player and singer. He has been playing with his band The Mighty Flyers since 1980 which he formed with his pianist wife Honey Piazza...
and The All Mighty Flyers: "Almighty Dollar" (Delta Groove) - Todd RundgrenTodd RundgrenTodd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
: "Todd Rundgren Reconstructed" (Cleopatra) - Wyland Blues Planet Band: "Blues Planet" (Wyland Records)
- Ian Whitcomb and Skip Heller: "Barenstark Bear Essentials" (Bear Family)
- Barry Levenson: "The Late Show" (Rip Cat Records)
- Barry Levenson featuring Johnny DyerJohnny DyerJohnny Dyer is an American electric blues harmonicist and singer. He has received a nomination for a Blues Music Award, and been involved in a number of recordings in the last three decades, both as a solo performer and with other musicians.-Biography:Dyer grew up on the Stovall Plantation in...
: "Hard Times Won" (StoryvilleStoryville RecordsStoryville Records is a large international record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark, specializing in jazz and blues music. Besides its original material, Storyville Records has licensed and reissued many vintage jazz recordings that previously appeared on such labels as Paramount Records,...
) - The Blue Dahlia: "A Tribute to Frank Sinatra" (CleopatraCleopatra RecordsCleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label.- History :Founded in 1992 by Brian Perera, it specializes in gothic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and reissues of out-of-print music...
) - Sugaray: "Blind Alley" (www.sugarayblues.com)
- Lisa Finnie: "Lisa Finnie" (Chirp)
- Dennis Herrera Blues Band: "Blues Well Done!" (JulDen)
- Rocky Jackson: "Testify!" (High Life Records)
- Bob Pacemaker Newham and the Blue Vanguards: "So Cal Barbeque" (Self Produced)
- Gedina Jean Bergstrom: "Introducing Gedina Jean" (Self Produced)
- Indigo Triangle: "Code of the Heart" (Mountain Castle Music)
- Claudia Russell: "Ready to Receive" (Radio Rhythm Records)
- Anny Celsi: "Little Black Dress & Other Stories" (Ragazza Music)
- Rip Masters: "Big Red '57" (Rattler)
- Rudy Rotta: "Some of my favorite songs for..." (Sling SlangSling Slang RecordsSling Slang Records is an indie record label based out of Southington, Connecticut. It produces CDs and New England-based concerts, and its most prominent artists include Thomas Edward Seymour and David James, Poor Pluto, Port Wine Authority, and Adrenaline. They also have 2 division labels: 10...
) - Billy Sheets: "Please Tell Me Why" (Big Clock)
- Dennis Spencer: "They Call Me The Tall Guy" (Tall Guy Music)
- Farina: "Shots in the Dark" (Del-FiDel-Fi RecordsDel-Fi Records was a record label based in Hollywood, California and owned by Bob Keane. The label's first single released was no 4101 "Caravan" by Henri Rose released in 1958; however, the label was most famous for signing Ritchie Valens. Valens' first single for the label was "Come On Let's Go"...
) - Edwing Sankey: "Trapdoor" (Positone)