Pino Palladino
Encyclopedia
Pino Palladino is a Welsh
bass guitarist who gained fame playing primarily rock and roll
, blues rock, and rhythm and blues
music, although he has been lauded for his ability to play most genres of popular music, including jazz
, neo soul
, and funk. His career has spanned several ensembles, including the John Mayer Trio
and The RH Factor, a band mixing elements of soul, jazz and R&B, which he formed with jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove
. He was also Pete Townshend
's and Roger Daltrey
's first choice to fill the position left by John Entwistle
as the bassist for The Who
. Adding to an eclectic grasp and melodic approach on his instrument, he has become one of the most sought-after session players on the bass and has played on a large number of recordings by some of the world's most successful entertainers, in part, by mastering a variety of techniques on both his late 1970s fretless Music Man StingRay
bass guitar and, later in his career, adding fretted Fender Precision
and Jaguar bass
es. His playing has earned him custom instruments bearing his name.
to a family with Italian
ancestry, Pino Palladino began playing the electric guitar at age 14. By 17 he decided to play the bass guitar, and bought his first fretless bass one year later, playing mostly R&B, funk, and reggae
within a rock and roll backbeat. His first professional gig, at age 20, was at a local television station in Cardiff, where he began playing in 1978. That same year he joined Jools Holland
's band and is credited on Holland's album, Jools Holland and His Millionaires. Touring with Holland to support the album gave him the opportunity to purchase his own Music Man StingRay Fretless Bass
. While Holland was touring with another new band, the Q-Tips
, its frontman, Paul Young
became acquainted with Palladino and a year later offered him a place in Young's own backing band.
Palladino was featured on Gary Numan
's 1982 album I, Assassin
, in which his fretless bass playing made a prominent contribution to the overall sound of the album. He went on to play fretless bass with a healthy number of high-profile artists that include David Gilmour
, Tears for Fears
, Pete Townshend
, Peter Gabriel
, Joan Armatrading
, Phil Collins
, Chaka Khan
and Don Henley
.
After Paul Young landed his own solo contract in 1982, Palladino was brought in as part of his backing band "The Royal Family" resulting in noticeable chart success with the No Parlez
album, and major hit singles both in the UK and Europe. Examples of Young's newfound success were the band's cover of the Marvin Gaye
classic Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
, which reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart
for three weeks in summer of 1983, and Love of the Common People
. Palladino toured extensively at this time with Paul Young, remaining in the band for five years. 1983 additionally proved to be the year of another ensemble featuring Palladino, Paul Rodgers
(formerly of Bad Company
), drummer Kenney Jones
, along with a rotating cast of other celebrity performers. The band only released one album through Atlantic
, The Law
, although there were enough out-takes that another bootleg-styled album followed in 1991. Sales were unremarkable, despite the names of those who recorded on the album.
Throughout the 1980s Palladino was noted for his R&B roots on the fretless bass, even when supporting pop and rock heavy performers. One reviewer from Bass Player
magazine points to Paul Young’s cover of the Bobby Womack
/ Rufus
tune Stop On By (on 1990’s Other Voices
), with its "pre-hip-hop, swung funk groove" as the precursor to Palladino's later neo-soul focus.
, Richard Wright
, Sir Elton John and Eric Clapton
. Also in 1991 he joined Paul Rodgers
(of Free
, Queen
+ Paul Rodgers
, and Bad Company
fame) to form the band The Law
. In the mid-1990s, Palladino played bass for The London Metropolitan orchestra during their recording of An American Symphony, soundtrack for the movie Mr Holland's Opus.
From 1991 to 1996, he joined Manu Katché
to form Stephan Eicher
's rhythm section on three albums : Engelberg (1991), Carcassonne (1993) and 1000 vies (1996).
Palladino supported Phil Collins
, as a member of the house band
for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
, which played with Sir Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton
, Cliff Richard
, and Tony Bennett
, among other notable performers. He later wrote that he felt privileged to have been amongst the others on stage in such an event.
In 1999, he began working with Richard Ashcroft
, of The Verve
, during the recording sessions of Ashcroft's debut solo album, Alone With Everybody. Richard proved to be mightily impressed by Pino's natural bass playing ability;
Pino also joined Ashcroft's touring band for the singer's first major solo outing throughout 2000.
toward neo soul
projects. Palladino and Steve Jordan
found themselves performing on the same session for B.B. King’s 1997 duets CD Deuces Wild
. It was the first time soul singer D'Angelo
first heard Palladino, who had just switched from a signature sound fretless bass sound to that of performing with fretted basses. The result was an invitation to «use Pino’s big, behind-the-beat bass to help cast a neo-soul spell on his Grammy Award
-winning Voodoo album». It would not be his first uncredited Grammy performance.
As the word spread throughout the genre, Palladino found an increasing demand within the neo-soul genre. Examples of his bass work in this genre (in addition to D'Angelo) includes Mama's Gun
, and Penitentiary Philosophy found on Erykah Badu
’s 2000 CD. Other albums using Pino's sound include 1st Born Second
for Bilal
, Like Water for Chocolate
and Electric Circus
for Common. Palladino has been described by Steve Jordan, who got his own professional start playing the drums for Stevie Wonder
, as having a "deep funk" side and a "melodic" side. Palladino admits that «Of all my influences, I would say what’s always in the back of my mind is early Stevie Wonder, like Talking Book
and Innervisions
; that music is really in my blood.»
's bassist John Entwistle
the night before the band were to kick off their first tour in two years
, Palladino was their first choice to become the band's full-time touring bass guitarist, and by 2006, he was invited to join the remaining original band members in recording their first album in twenty-four years. Pete Townshend
, the band's composer, recorded the bassline on the majority of the songs to get the effect he himself wanted, with Palladino doing so on the other six of them. Released in October 2006, the album was named Endless Wire
.
Palladino also played with The Who
at the Super Bowl XLIV half-time show, in February 2010, alongside other backing artists: Simon Townshend
on guitar, Zak Starkey
, drums and percussion, and John "Rabbit" Bundrick, on keyboard instruments.
and meet Brian Eno
for the first time. He was asked to record with them, and had to borrow a bass guitar to play. The result was that he played with Simon and Garfunkel
on their Old Friends reunion tour and in an interview with Bass Player Magazine he mentions drummer Steve Gadd
and percussionist Jamey Haddad
"had laid down some great grooves for me to add bass". He had kept the recordings, and by the time that he appeared on the Old Friends: Live on Stage
CD and DVD from the tour, he was able to use some of the material.
He played on Paul Simon
's 2006 release, Surprise
.
.
In 2004 he appeared to be playing with Gary Moore at the Wembley Arena.
in the mid-1980s while both were working as session players on many occasions, which blossomed into a friendship. When their work brought them to the same place, they would meet, usually jam together, and introduce other musicians to one another, forming friendships which sometimes blossomed into good working relationships. Jordan has remained keen about Pino since he met him, and only grows more enthusiastic about his talents, which he describes partly as his love for, and ability to "feel" changes in music, through melodies, basslines, and an amazing connection with genres of nearly every kind. According to Jordan, he'd planned to meet up with John Mayer
and Willie Weeks
in January 2005 to perform a benefit concert on a NBC
sponsored telethon Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope
to raise funds and public awareness benefiting victims in the aftermath of the tsunami
that struck southeast Asia. Weeks was unable to make the performance, and Jordan suggested Palladino, who had heard some of Mayer's work, and was willing to come. Beginning a set that included the Jimi Hendrix
classic, Bold as Love
, the three all agreed that they experienced such chemistry that they began talking right away about arranging their schedules to record a CD and a tour. The trio released the album Try!, on 22 November 2005. The eleven-track live album includes cover songs, such as Jimi Hendrix
's Wait Until Tomorrow
and I Got A Woman
by Ray Charles
, two songs from Mayer's release Heavier Things
, as well as new songs written by Mayer. In addition, Mayer, Palladino, and Jordan wrote three songs on the album: Good Love Is On The Way, Vultures, and Try!. Along with John Mayer on guitar and vocals, and Steve Jordan on drums, Palladino has toured and recorded as a member of the John Mayer Trio
, and on Mayer's third album Continuum.
; Motown bassist James Jamerson
; Stevie Wonder’s keyboard-bass, jazz innovator Jaco Pastorius
; British folk/rock upright bassist Danny Thompson
; Norman Watt-Roy
(of Ian Dury & the Blockheads); Larry Graham
; Michael Henderson
; Bootsy Collins
; Paul Jackson
; Anthony Jackson; Doug Rauch
(of Carly Simon
and Santana
), and Billy Cobham
.
) and basslines that frequently added chords, lead lines and counter melodies in the higher range of the instrument as opposed to simply the afformentioned "low notes". Typical of this style was his playing on Paul Young's biggest chart hits, in particular his bass solo on Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
. His equipment at that time included a fretless Music Man StingRay
Bass 1979 and Boss
Octave pedal (OC-2).
es. The body featuring faded fiesta red paint over desert sand paint is based on Pino's 1961 Precision Bass while the neck shape and round-lam rosewood fret board are based on Pino's 1963 sunburst Precision Bass. Pino has also been known to prefer the La Bella 760FL flat wound bass string.
. He also played with J. J. Cale, and Eric Clapton
on their 2006 album The Road to Escondido
, alongside other notable musicians, including Derek Trucks
, and Billy Preston
. It was to be Preston's last work before he died only days afterward. Palladino joined Eric Clapton
's touring band for 11 dates in the Eastern U.S. and Canada in May 2008.
In 2009, Palladino joined with keyboardist Philippe Saisse
and Simon Phillips
to form an instrumental trio: Phillips Saisse Palladino, an instrumental progressive jazz
/funk rock
ensemble, which have toured Europe through 2009 into 2010, playing songs that spotlight the talents of each performer, in the manner of many jazz outfits.
Current work has included work on an with Clapton and Robbie Robertson
, and Palladino guested on bass for Amos Lee
on his third album, Last Days at the Lodge
. He appears on Jeff Beck
's 2010 album, Emotion & Commotion
. As of August 2010 Palladino is touring with Herbie Hancock.
Palladino also appears on Manu Katché
's third jazz album, Third Round. Both had already played together several times, particularly on Paul Young's Other Voices
, as Stephan Eicher
's rhythm section in the first half of the 1990s, and on stage with Manu Katché
's jazz band The Tweeters.
Currently in the studio recording with Steve Gadd
; Edie Brickell
; Andy Fairweather Low; who have formed a group the Gaddabouts.
In January 2011 he entered the studio with D'Angelo to finish recording the long overdue follow up to Voodoo.
In 2011 Palladino plays on the second album of Adele
: 21
.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
bass guitarist who gained fame playing primarily rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, blues rock, and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
music, although he has been lauded for his ability to play most genres of popular music, including 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...
, neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
, and funk. His career has spanned several ensembles, including the John Mayer Trio
John Mayer Trio
In February 2005, the trio played Mayer's single "Daughters" at the 47th Grammy Awards, for which Mayer went on to win the award for Best Male Vocal Performance later that night . The Trio released "Come When I Call" exclusively to iTunes...
and The RH Factor, a band mixing elements of soul, jazz and R&B, which he formed with jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
. He was also Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
's and Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
's first choice to fill the position left by John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
as the bassist for The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
. Adding to an eclectic grasp and melodic approach on his instrument, he has become one of the most sought-after session players on the bass and has played on a large number of recordings by some of the world's most successful entertainers, in part, by mastering a variety of techniques on both his late 1970s fretless Music Man StingRay
Music Man StingRay
Music Man StingRay is an electric bass guitar by Music Man, introduced in 1976.- History :In 1971, Fender employees Forrest White and Tom Walker, unhappy with the way CBS was managing the company, left their positions with Fender to start their own venture. First known as Tri-Sonic and then later...
bass guitar and, later in his career, adding fretted Fender Precision
Fender Precision Bass
The Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...
and Jaguar bass
Fender Jaguar
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar introduced in 1962. A descendant of the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar quickly caught on in the emerging Surf music scene...
es. His playing has earned him custom instruments bearing his name.
Career
Born in CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
to a family with Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
ancestry, Pino Palladino began playing the electric guitar at age 14. By 17 he decided to play the bass guitar, and bought his first fretless bass one year later, playing mostly R&B, funk, and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
within a rock and roll backbeat. His first professional gig, at age 20, was at a local television station in Cardiff, where he began playing in 1978. That same year he joined Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Who, David Gilmour and Bono.Holland is a...
's band and is credited on Holland's album, Jools Holland and His Millionaires. Touring with Holland to support the album gave him the opportunity to purchase his own Music Man StingRay Fretless Bass
Music Man StingRay
Music Man StingRay is an electric bass guitar by Music Man, introduced in 1976.- History :In 1971, Fender employees Forrest White and Tom Walker, unhappy with the way CBS was managing the company, left their positions with Fender to start their own venture. First known as Tri-Sonic and then later...
. While Holland was touring with another new band, the Q-Tips
Q-Tips (band)
Q-Tips were an English blue-eyed soul and rock band, first formed in 1979 from the remnants of the 1970s rock outfit Streetband. Saddled with the novelty song "Toast", a B-side made successful from incessant airplay by Capital Radio's’s Kenny Everett, and despite two albums, Streetband had failed...
, its frontman, Paul Young
Paul Young (singer and guitarist)
Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
became acquainted with Palladino and a year later offered him a place in Young's own backing band.
Palladino was featured on Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
's 1982 album I, Assassin
I, Assassin
I, Assassin is the sixth studio album by Gary Numan. Released in 1982, it reached no.8 on the UK charts.Three songs; "Music for Chameleons", "We Take Mystery " and "White Boys and Heroes" were released as singles from the album and all reached the UK Top 20 I, Assassin is the sixth studio album...
, in which his fretless bass playing made a prominent contribution to the overall sound of the album. He went on to play fretless bass with a healthy number of high-profile artists that include David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
, Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
and Don Henley
Don Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
.
After Paul Young landed his own solo contract in 1982, Palladino was brought in as part of his backing band "The Royal Family" resulting in noticeable chart success with the No Parlez
No Parlez
No Parlez is the debut solo album by the British singer Paul Young. Released in 1983, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the UK Top 100 for 119 weeks...
album, and major hit singles both in the UK and Europe. Examples of Young's newfound success were the band's cover of the Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
classic Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
"Wherever I Lay My Hat " is a song written by Marvin Gaye, Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, and first recorded by Gaye in 1962. Years later, Paul Young's version of the song was a UK No. 1 single for three weeks in July 1983...
, which reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
for three weeks in summer of 1983, and Love of the Common People
Love of the Common People (song)
"Love of the Common People" is a folk ballad written and composed by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins and first released in January 1967 by The Four Preps...
. Palladino toured extensively at this time with Paul Young, remaining in the band for five years. 1983 additionally proved to be the year of another ensemble featuring Palladino, Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers
Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English rock singer-songwriter, best known for his success in the 1970s as a member of Free and Bad Company. After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and The Law, he became a solo artist. He has recently toured and recorded with...
(formerly of Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
), drummer Kenney Jones
Kenney Jones
Kenneth Thomas "Kenney" Jones is a veteran English rock drummer best known for his work in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who.-Small Faces to the Faces:...
, along with a rotating cast of other celebrity performers. The band only released one album through Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, The Law
The Law (The Law album)
The Law is the first and only album from the rock supergroup The Law.-History:The Law was formed when Paul Rodgers met Kenny Jones in a nightclub in London and decided to put a band together....
, although there were enough out-takes that another bootleg-styled album followed in 1991. Sales were unremarkable, despite the names of those who recorded on the album.
Throughout the 1980s Palladino was noted for his R&B roots on the fretless bass, even when supporting pop and rock heavy performers. One reviewer from Bass Player
Bass Player (magazine)
Bass Player is a popular magazine for bassists. Each issue offers a variety of artist interviews, lessons, equipment reviews, and a complete transcribed bass line from a popular song...
magazine points to Paul Young’s cover of the Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
/ Rufus
Rufus (band)
Rufus was an American funk band from Chicago, Illinois best known for launching the career of lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits throughout their career, including "Tell Me Something Good," "Sweet Thing," and "Ain't Nobody."-Origins:...
tune Stop On By (on 1990’s Other Voices
Other Voices (Paul Young album)
Other Voices is the fourth album by the British singer Paul Young. Released in June 1990, the album peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for UK sales in excess of 100,000 copies....
), with its "pre-hip-hop, swung funk groove" as the precursor to Palladino's later neo-soul focus.
Changes in instrument
In the 1990s, Palladino began to alternate between the sounds achieved in playing the fretless bass to one with frets, as well as the 4-string and 6-string bass. At the time, he was well known within the industry for his fretless bass sound. However, now, depending on which artist he was supporting, and the song to be played, he began gravitating towards fretted bass. He was maturing as a musician, and played with artists as diverse as Melissa EtheridgeMelissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
, Richard Wright
Richard Wright (musician)
Richard William Wright was an English pianist, keyboardist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound...
, Sir Elton John and Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
. Also in 1991 he joined Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers
Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English rock singer-songwriter, best known for his success in the 1970s as a member of Free and Bad Company. After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and The Law, he became a solo artist. He has recently toured and recorded with...
(of Free
Free (band)
Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968, best known for their 1970 signature song "All Right Now". They disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become a frontman of the band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums; lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died from a...
, Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
+ Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers
Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English rock singer-songwriter, best known for his success in the 1970s as a member of Free and Bad Company. After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and The Law, he became a solo artist. He has recently toured and recorded with...
, and Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
fame) to form the band The Law
The Law (band)
For other bands named Law, see Law The Law were an English rock group formed in 1991 comprising drummer Kenney Jones and singer Paul Rodgers . The two teamed up with the idea of using different supporting musicians, in order to allow Paul Rodgers to pursue whatever musical style he felt like...
. In the mid-1990s, Palladino played bass for The London Metropolitan orchestra during their recording of An American Symphony, soundtrack for the movie Mr Holland's Opus.
From 1991 to 1996, he joined Manu Katché
Manu Katché
Manu Katché is a French musician of Ivorian origin, born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés on 27 October 1958. He is a drummer and songwriter.-Career:Session musician...
to form Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher is a Swiss singer.His songs are sung in a variety of languages, including French, German, English, Italian, Swiss-German, and Romanche and sometimes he even uses different languages in the same piece.His success started in German-speaking countries in the 1980s when as part of the...
's rhythm section on three albums : Engelberg (1991), Carcassonne (1993) and 1000 vies (1996).
Palladino supported Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, as a member of the house band
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50...
, which played with Sir Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, and Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, among other notable performers. He later wrote that he felt privileged to have been amongst the others on stage in such an event.
In 1999, he began working with Richard Ashcroft
Richard Ashcroft
Richard Paul Ashcroft is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer and occasional guitarist of alternative rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their split in 1999, and continues as a lead vocalist working with guitars and keyboards...
, of The Verve
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
, during the recording sessions of Ashcroft's debut solo album, Alone With Everybody. Richard proved to be mightily impressed by Pino's natural bass playing ability;
Pino also joined Ashcroft's touring band for the singer's first major solo outing throughout 2000.
Neo soul
By the mid- 1990s, Palladino had established himself as a busy, highly desirable bassist and a studio worker in many genres, but finally became visible to those artists who played largely left of center, and demand for his session playing grew within a different quarter. Palladino began moving from blues-rockBlues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
toward neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
projects. Palladino and Steve Jordan
Steve Jordan (musician)
Steve Jordan is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director and Grammy Award-winning artist, who has made a name for himself as a producer from the Bronx in New York City. A graduate of the Fiorello H...
found themselves performing on the same session for B.B. King’s 1997 duets CD Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild is a 2002 American action-crime film directed by Scott Kalvert and written by Paul Kimatian and Christopher Gambale, who also created the story. It stars Stephen Dorff, Brad Renfro, James Franco, Matt Dillon, and Fairuza Balk amongst others. The film is set in 1958 Brooklyn, New York City...
. It was the first time soul singer D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
first heard Palladino, who had just switched from a signature sound fretless bass sound to that of performing with fretted basses. The result was an invitation to «use Pino’s big, behind-the-beat bass to help cast a neo-soul spell on his Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning Voodoo album». It would not be his first uncredited Grammy performance.
As the word spread throughout the genre, Palladino found an increasing demand within the neo-soul genre. Examples of his bass work in this genre (in addition to D'Angelo) includes Mama's Gun
Mama's Gun
Mama's Gun is the second studio album by American recording artist Erykah Badu, released November 21, 2000, on Motown Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1999 to 2000 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City...
, and Penitentiary Philosophy found on Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
’s 2000 CD. Other albums using Pino's sound include 1st Born Second
1st Born Second
1st Born Second is the debut album of American neo soul musician Bilal, released July 17, 2001 on Interscope Records. Production for the album was handled primarily by Bilal and Aaron Comess. Bilal's mononymous stage name also serves as an acronym for "Beloved, Intelligent, Lustful and Livin' It"...
for Bilal
Bilal (musician)
Bilal Sayeed Oliver , better known by his stage name Bilal, is an American neo soul/jazz singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He is also a core member of the loose collective, the Soulquarians. Bilal started out by singing in small clubs until he began classical training in jazz and big-band...
, Like Water for Chocolate
Like Water for Chocolate (album)
Like Water for Chocolate is the fourth studio album by American hip hop rapper Common, released March 28, 2000 on MCA Records. It was a considerable critical and commercial breakthrough for Common, receiving generally favorable reviews from major magazine publications and selling 70,000 copies in...
and Electric Circus
Electric Circus (album)
Electric Circus is the fifth studio album by rapper Common, released December 10, 2002 on the now-defunct MCA Records. The album was highly anticipated and praised by many critics for its ambitious vision. However, it was not as commercially successful as his previous album, Like Water for...
for Common. Palladino has been described by Steve Jordan, who got his own professional start playing the drums for Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, as having a "deep funk" side and a "melodic" side. Palladino admits that «Of all my influences, I would say what’s always in the back of my mind is early Stevie Wonder, like Talking Book
Talking Book
Talking Book is the fifteenth album by Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972. A signal recording of his "classic period", in this one he "hit his stride"...
and Innervisions
Innervisions
Innervisions is the sixteenth album by American musician Stevie Wonder, released August 3, 1973 on Motown Records; a landmark recording of his "classic period"...
; that music is really in my blood.»
The Who
Following the death of The WhoThe Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's bassist John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
the night before the band were to kick off their first tour in two years
The Who Tour 2002
The Who Tour 2002 was a tour by The Who, partially in support of the DVD The Who & Special Guests: Live at the Royal Albert Hall. It is perhaps known best as the first tour the band did without original bassist John Entwistle, who died the night before the North American tour was to begin; the...
, Palladino was their first choice to become the band's full-time touring bass guitarist, and by 2006, he was invited to join the remaining original band members in recording their first album in twenty-four years. Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
, the band's composer, recorded the bassline on the majority of the songs to get the effect he himself wanted, with Palladino doing so on the other six of them. Released in October 2006, the album was named Endless Wire
Endless Wire (The Who album)
Endless Wire is the eleventh album by the English rock band The Who released on 30 October 2006, through Polydor Records and the following day in the United States by Universal Republic. It was their first new album of original material in twenty-four years following the release of It's Hard in 1982...
.
Palladino also played with The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
at the Super Bowl XLIV half-time show, in February 2010, alongside other backing artists: Simon Townshend
Simon Townshend
Simon Townshend is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of The Who's Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members, despite many other musical ventures in his career....
on guitar, Zak Starkey
Zak Starkey
Zak Starkey is an English rock drummer. He is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Starr's first wife Maureen Starkey Tigrett. He is also well known for his unofficial membership in the English rock band The Who, with whom he has performed and recorded since 1996. He is also the third...
, drums and percussion, and John "Rabbit" Bundrick, on keyboard instruments.
Paul Simon
In 2003, Palladino intended to go down to see his old friend Paul SimonPaul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
and meet Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
for the first time. He was asked to record with them, and had to borrow a bass guitar to play. The result was that he played with Simon and Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...
on their Old Friends reunion tour and in an interview with Bass Player Magazine he mentions drummer Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
and percussionist Jamey Haddad
Jamey Haddad
Jamey George Haddad is an American percussionist working primarily in the fields of jazz and world music, and specializing in hand drums.-Biography:...
"had laid down some great grooves for me to add bass". He had kept the recordings, and by the time that he appeared on the Old Friends: Live on Stage
Old Friends: Live on Stage
Simon & Garfunkel's Old Friends Live On Stage is a live documentary from their highly successful "Old Friends" reunion concert tour of 2003, with The Everly Brothers as special guests...
CD and DVD from the tour, he was able to use some of the material.
He played on Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
's 2006 release, Surprise
Surprise (Paul Simon album)
Surprise is the eleventh studio album by American musician Paul Simon, released in May 2006.-History:After the relative success of You're the One, which was released in late 2000 finding Simon back to the Top 20 of the American charts after ten years of absence and also receiving a Grammy...
.
Other appearances
Palladino has toured in the backing band for Joe WalshJoe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
.
In 2004 he appeared to be playing with Gary Moore at the Wembley Arena.
Emergence of the John Mayer Trio
Palladino met Steve JordanSteve Jordan (musician)
Steve Jordan is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director and Grammy Award-winning artist, who has made a name for himself as a producer from the Bronx in New York City. A graduate of the Fiorello H...
in the mid-1980s while both were working as session players on many occasions, which blossomed into a friendship. When their work brought them to the same place, they would meet, usually jam together, and introduce other musicians to one another, forming friendships which sometimes blossomed into good working relationships. Jordan has remained keen about Pino since he met him, and only grows more enthusiastic about his talents, which he describes partly as his love for, and ability to "feel" changes in music, through melodies, basslines, and an amazing connection with genres of nearly every kind. According to Jordan, he'd planned to meet up with John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
and Willie Weeks
Willie Weeks
Willie Weeks is an American bass guitarist. He has gained fame performing with famous musicians in a wide variety of genres. He has been one of the most in-demand session musicians throughout his career. Weeks has also gained notoriety touring with many of rock's heavyweights throughout his career...
in January 2005 to perform a benefit concert on a NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sponsored telethon Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope
Tsunami Aid
Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope was a worldwide benefit held for the tsunami victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake. It was broadcast on NBC and its affiliated networks of USA Network, Bravo, PAX, MSNBC, CNBC, Sci-Fi, Trio, Telemundo and other NBC Universal stations and was heard on any Clear...
to raise funds and public awareness benefiting victims in the aftermath of the tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
that struck southeast Asia. Weeks was unable to make the performance, and Jordan suggested Palladino, who had heard some of Mayer's work, and was willing to come. Beginning a set that included the Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
classic, Bold as Love
Bold as Love (song)
"Bold as Love" is a song by Jimi Hendrix, the final song and title track of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 album Axis: Bold as Love.-Recording:...
, the three all agreed that they experienced such chemistry that they began talking right away about arranging their schedules to record a CD and a tour. The trio released the album Try!, on 22 November 2005. The eleven-track live album includes cover songs, such as Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's Wait Until Tomorrow
Wait Until Tomorrow
"Wait Until Tomorrow" is a song by English/American psychedelic rock band The Jimi Hendrix Experience, featured on their 1967 second album Axis: Bold as Love. Written by lead vocalist and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, the song details the scenario of a male protagonist addressing his female love with...
and I Got A Woman
I Got a Woman
"I Got a Woman" is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B/soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles .-Origin:The song builds on...
by Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, two songs from Mayer's release Heavier Things
Heavier Things
Heavier Things is the second studio album by American musician John Mayer, released September 9, 2003 on Columbia Records in the United States. The title of the album itself is a subtle response to certain criticism of Mayer's music. The album debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart,...
, as well as new songs written by Mayer. In addition, Mayer, Palladino, and Jordan wrote three songs on the album: Good Love Is On The Way, Vultures, and Try!. Along with John Mayer on guitar and vocals, and Steve Jordan on drums, Palladino has toured and recorded as a member of the John Mayer Trio
John Mayer Trio
In February 2005, the trio played Mayer's single "Daughters" at the 47th Grammy Awards, for which Mayer went on to win the award for Best Male Vocal Performance later that night . The Trio released "Come When I Call" exclusively to iTunes...
, and on Mayer's third album Continuum.
Influences on bass guitar
Influences for Palladino for bass guitar include The Shadows Jet HarrisJet Harris
Jet Harris, MBE was an English musician. He was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer Tony Meehan....
; Motown bassist James Jamerson
James Jamerson
James Lee Jamerson was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s , and he is now regarded as one of the most influential bass players in modern music history...
; Stevie Wonder’s keyboard-bass, jazz innovator Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
; British folk/rock upright bassist Danny Thompson
Danny Thompson
Daniel Henry Edward 'Danny' Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist and businessman...
; Norman Watt-Roy
Norman Watt-Roy
Norman Watt-Roy is the bassist for The Blockheads, previously known as Ian Dury & the Blockheads.In November 1954 the Watt-Roy family, including Norman, his older brother Garth and his sister, moved to England...
(of Ian Dury & the Blockheads); Larry Graham
Larry Graham
Larry Graham, Jr. is an African American bass guitar player, both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station...
; Michael Henderson
Michael Henderson
Michael Henderson is an American bass guitarist and vocalist best known for his bass playing with Miles Davis in the early 1970s, on early fusion albums such as A Tribute to Jack Johnson, Pangaea, and Live-Evil.- Biography :He was one of the first notable bass guitarists of the fusion era as well...
; Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
; Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson (bassist)
Paul Jackson is an American jazz bass guitarist and composer. He has played with many of the great jazz artists, most notably playing bass on several of Herbie Hancock's seminal albums, Head Hunters, Thrust, and others. He was born in Oakland, California and began playing bass at the age of nine...
; Anthony Jackson; Doug Rauch
Doug Rauch
Douglas Haywood Rauch was an American bassist most famous for his work with Carlos Santana during his jazz fusion period in the early 1970s.-Early years:...
(of Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
and Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
), and Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham
William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
.
Technique
Pino Palladino is noted for his use of the fretless bass in many 1980s chart records. While it was typical for a bass guitar in a commercial track to have a rather generic sound and stay "playing the low notes" Palladino preferred a different sound (combining fretless tone with an octave effectOctave effect
Octave-effect boxes are a type of special effects unit which mix the input signal with a synthesised signal whose musical tone is an octave lower or higher than the original. The synthesised octave signal is derived from the original input signal by halving or doubling the frequency...
) and basslines that frequently added chords, lead lines and counter melodies in the higher range of the instrument as opposed to simply the afformentioned "low notes". Typical of this style was his playing on Paul Young's biggest chart hits, in particular his bass solo on Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
"Wherever I Lay My Hat " is a song written by Marvin Gaye, Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, and first recorded by Gaye in 1962. Years later, Paul Young's version of the song was a UK No. 1 single for three weeks in July 1983...
. His equipment at that time included a fretless Music Man StingRay
Music Man StingRay
Music Man StingRay is an electric bass guitar by Music Man, introduced in 1976.- History :In 1971, Fender employees Forrest White and Tom Walker, unhappy with the way CBS was managing the company, left their positions with Fender to start their own venture. First known as Tri-Sonic and then later...
Bass 1979 and Boss
Boss Corporation
Boss is a manufacturer of effects pedals for electric guitar and bass guitar. It is a division of the Roland Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer that specializes in musical equipment and accessories...
Octave pedal (OC-2).
Pino Palladino signature model
The Fender Pino Palladino Signature Precision Bass is modelled after two of Pino's Fender Precision BassFender Precision Bass
The Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...
es. The body featuring faded fiesta red paint over desert sand paint is based on Pino's 1961 Precision Bass while the neck shape and round-lam rosewood fret board are based on Pino's 1963 sunburst Precision Bass. Pino has also been known to prefer the La Bella 760FL flat wound bass string.
After 2005
In spring of 2006, Palladino toured with Jeff BeckJeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
. He also played with J. J. Cale, and Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
on their 2006 album The Road to Escondido
The Road to Escondido
The Road to Escondido is an album by J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton. It was released on November 7, 2006. Contained on this album are the final recordings of Billy Preston, to whom the album is dedicated....
, alongside other notable musicians, including Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks is a Grammy Award-winning, American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He founded The Derek Trucks Band and worked as a session musician when he was still in his early teens. Throughout those teenage years, he toured with The Allman Brothers Band primarily as a slide...
, and Billy Preston
Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...
. It was to be Preston's last work before he died only days afterward. Palladino joined Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
's touring band for 11 dates in the Eastern U.S. and Canada in May 2008.
In 2009, Palladino joined with keyboardist Philippe Saisse
Philippe Saisse
Philippe Saisse is a French Grammy Award-nominated Smooth Jazz and New Age music keyboardist, producer and arranger.He was born in Marseille and raised in Paris. After studying at the Conservatoire de Paris he won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. He became the protege of Gary Burton...
and Simon Phillips
Simon Phillips
Simon Phillips is an English jazz, pop and rock drummer.-Career:Phillips began to play professionally at the age of twelve in his father's Dixieland band for four years. He was then offered the chance to play in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar...
to form an instrumental trio: Phillips Saisse Palladino, an instrumental progressive jazz
Progressive Jazz
Progressive Jazz may refer to:*Progressive Records, an American jazz record label*Cool jazz, a style of American music developed during the 1940s*Jazz fusion, a style of music developed on the west coast of the United States in the early 1950s...
/funk rock
Funk rock
Funk rock is a music genre that fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience , Eric Burdon and War, Trapeze, Parliament-Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest. The 1990s were known for acts...
ensemble, which have toured Europe through 2009 into 2010, playing songs that spotlight the talents of each performer, in the manner of many jazz outfits.
Current work has included work on an with Clapton and Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, and Palladino guested on bass for Amos Lee
Amos Lee
Amos Lee is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. Lee has four albums on Blue Note Records and has toured as an opening act for Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Van Morrison, John Prine, Dave Matthews Band and Adele. In...
on his third album, Last Days at the Lodge
Last Days at the Lodge
Last Days at the Lodge is the third studio album by singer-songwriter Amos Lee, released on June 24, 2008 through Blue Note. The first single from the album, "Listen", was made available as a digital download on the iTunes Store on April 29, 2008....
. He appears on Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
's 2010 album, Emotion & Commotion
Emotion & Commotion
Emotion & Commotion is the tenth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in April 2010 on ATCO Records. In addition to featuring vocal performances by Joss Stone, Imelda May and Olivia Safe, the album showcases a 64-piece orchestra on several tracks, and includes covers of well-known songs...
. As of August 2010 Palladino is touring with Herbie Hancock.
Palladino also appears on Manu Katché
Manu Katché
Manu Katché is a French musician of Ivorian origin, born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés on 27 October 1958. He is a drummer and songwriter.-Career:Session musician...
's third jazz album, Third Round. Both had already played together several times, particularly on Paul Young's Other Voices
Other Voices (Paul Young album)
Other Voices is the fourth album by the British singer Paul Young. Released in June 1990, the album peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for UK sales in excess of 100,000 copies....
, as Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher is a Swiss singer.His songs are sung in a variety of languages, including French, German, English, Italian, Swiss-German, and Romanche and sometimes he even uses different languages in the same piece.His success started in German-speaking countries in the 1980s when as part of the...
's rhythm section in the first half of the 1990s, and on stage with Manu Katché
Manu Katché
Manu Katché is a French musician of Ivorian origin, born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés on 27 October 1958. He is a drummer and songwriter.-Career:Session musician...
's jazz band The Tweeters.
Currently in the studio recording with Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
; Edie Brickell
Edie Brickell
Edie Arlisa Brickell is an American singer-songwriter best known for 1988's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went #4 on the US Albums Chart.-Life and career:...
; Andy Fairweather Low; who have formed a group the Gaddabouts.
In January 2011 he entered the studio with D'Angelo to finish recording the long overdue follow up to Voodoo.
In 2011 Palladino plays on the second album of Adele
Adele (singer)
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
: 21
21 (Adele album)
21 is the second studio album by English recording artist Adele. Released on 24 January 2011 in the United Kingdom and most of Europe, and on 22 February 2011 in North America, the album was named after the age of the singer at the time of its production...
.
Discography (selected)
- 1982 with Gary NumanGary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, Release (Beggars Banquet Records) - 1983 with David KnopflerDavid KnopflerDavid Knopfler is a British singer-songwriter, rhythm guitarist, pianist and cofounder of the critically acclaimed rock band Dire Straits....
, ReleaseRelease (David Knopfler album)Release is David Knopfler's first solo album after leaving Dire Straits. It was released in 1983 on the Peach River and Passport labels, and in 1997 on the Paris label.- Track listing :#"Soul Kissing" #"Come to Me" #"Madonna's Daughter"...
(Peach Tree Records) - 1983 with Paul YoungPaul Young (singer and guitarist)Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
, No ParlezNo ParlezNo Parlez is the debut solo album by the British singer Paul Young. Released in 1983, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the UK Top 100 for 119 weeks...
(ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
) - 1997 with Steve LukatherSteve LukatherSteve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...
, LukeLuke (album)Luke is the third solo album by Steve Lukather released in 1997. It was a much different and more introspective album than Lukather's previous two solo efforts. The album is a concentrated collection of many of Lukather's musical influences, and he deliberately let those influences come out on the...
(ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, 487360) 2) http://www.stevelukather.net/Album.aspx?id=4 - 1985 with Go WestGo West (band)Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist and drummer Peter Cox ; and guitarist and vocalist Richard Drummie...
, Go WestGo West (Go West album)Go West is the debut album by the English pop duo Go West, released in 1985. The album brought Go West into the limelight, scoring them a string of top 20 hits in the UK and New Zealand...
, (ChrysalisChrysalis RecordsChrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
) - 1985 with Paul YoungPaul Young (singer and guitarist)Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
, The Secret of AssociationThe Secret of AssociationThe Secret of Association is the second album by the British singer Paul Young. Released in 1985, it reached number one on the UK album charts and the Top 20 in the US...
(ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
) - 1985 with Pete TownshendPete TownshendPeter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
, White City: A NovelWhite City: A NovelWhite City: A Novel is a solo concept album by Pete Townshend of The Who, released in 1985 on Atco.The title refers to a story that accompanies the album, and which takes place in a low-income housing estate in the West London area of White City, near where Townshend grew up...
(AtcoAtco RecordsATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
) - 1987 with Go WestGo West (band)Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist and drummer Peter Cox ; and guitarist and vocalist Richard Drummie...
, Dancing on the CouchDancing on the CouchDancing on the Couch is the third album by the band Go West, released in 1987. It reached 19 on the UK charts.The American version of the album featured a slightly different cover and included the track "Don't Look Down- The Sequel" in place of "Let's...
, (ChrysalisChrysalis RecordsChrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
) - 1989 with Tears for FearsTears for FearsTears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
, Seeds of Love (FontanaFontana RecordsFontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
) - 1990 with Paul YoungPaul Young (singer and guitarist)Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
, Other VoicesOther Voices (Paul Young album)Other Voices is the fourth album by the British singer Paul Young. Released in June 1990, the album peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for UK sales in excess of 100,000 copies....
(ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
) - 1990 with Oleta AdamsOleta AdamsOleta Adams is an American soul, jazz, and gospel singer and pianist.-Biography:Adams was born the daughter of a preacher and was raised with gospel music. In her youth her family moved to Yakima, Washington, which is sometimes shown as her place of birth.Before gaining her opportunity to perform,...
, Circle of OneCircle of OneCircle of One is the third album by the American vocalist, pianist and songwriter Oleta Adams and was released in 1990. Circle of One is often considered as Adams' first album, since her two earlier albums were self-financed and only received local distribution.- History :After a successful...
(FontanaFontana RecordsFontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
) - 1999 with Jeff BeckJeff BeckGeoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
, Who Else! (EpicEpic RecordsEpic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
) - 2006 with J. J. Cale and 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...
, The Road to EscondidoThe Road to EscondidoThe Road to Escondido is an album by J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton. It was released on November 7, 2006. Contained on this album are the final recordings of Billy Preston, to whom the album is dedicated....
(Reprise RecordsReprise RecordsReprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
) - 2010 with Alain ClarkAlain ClarkAlain Clark is a Dutch musician and producer. He is a recipient of the Dutch music awards Zilveren Harp, 3FM Mega Award and the Edison Award ....
, Colorblind (Warner Music) - 2011 with Robbie RobertsonRobbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, How to Become ClairvoyantHow to Become ClairvoyantHow to Become Clairvoyant is the fifth solo release from Robbie Robertson. It features Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Trent Reznor, Tom Morello, Robert Randolph, Rocco Deluca, Angela McCluskey, and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes...
(429 Records429 Records429 Records is an American record label. It is a subsidiary label of Savoy Label Group/Nippon Columbia focusing on indie rock and adult album alternative performers. In addition to releasing new material from musicians such as Dr...
) - 2011 with AdeleAdele (singer)Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
, 2121 (Adele album)21 is the second studio album by English recording artist Adele. Released on 24 January 2011 in the United Kingdom and most of Europe, and on 22 February 2011 in North America, the album was named after the age of the singer at the time of its production...
(XL recordingsXL RecordingsXL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...
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