This Week's Playlist #94 - The Trevor Dunn edition ft. Vincent L.
5 songs featuring the iconic bass player Trevor Dunn, curated by Vincent
Hello everyone!
This Week's Playlist - Season 2, Episode 42.
Back to a more classical edition this week with Vincent's contribution about the multi-faceted bass player Trevor Dunn.
I mainly knew the more heavy/noisy work of Trevor with Mr Bungle and Tomahawk, so I really enjoyed discovering his more jazzy collaborations.
I hope you will enjoy it, and thank you for the playlist. Vincent. Come back whenever you want :-)
TL;DR: I'm running a musical newsletter with a new guest sharing 5 songs each week.
There is a YouTube link for each of the songs on the cover, and here are the playlists for each streaming platform:
Tidal (coming soon)
Deezer (coming soon)
The Many Faces of Trevor Dunn ft Vincent
Hello everyone, I’m Vincent, a 40-something triathletic translator from Boulogne-Billancourt, France. Thanks for inviting me to contribute to this weekly playlist.
I’ve always listened to music, mainly rock and what became know as nu metal before putting a strong emphasis on jazz when I was 17 and broadening my listening habits again around 10/15 years ago. Now let’s not confuse jazz and elevator music - unless you want to make the vertical commute as painful as possible for most people.
A wizened old man once wrote: “Saying “I listen to all types of music” might earn me a condescending side-eye”, and I think that may apply to me too, although I would add that my years of regular concert attendance left me with a strong love for fringe music.
My playlist will revolve around Trevor Dunn, a bass player whose career is under the dual influence of Mike Patton on one side, and John Zorn on the other.
1. Mr. Bungle – Eracist (2020)
Trevor Dunn started his career in the wake of Mike Patton (who went on to sing for Faith No More while retaining a large number of other projects) in Mr. Bungle and Fantomas.
Mr. Bungle was revived almost 30 years after its first album with a new line up comprising founding members Patton, Dunn and guitarist Trey Spruance along with Dave Lombardo of Slayer fame and Scott Ian from Anthrax.
2. Melvins – A Growing Disgust (2012)
The Melvins, known as the starting point of grunge, the starting point of sludge metal, the starting point of doom metal, etc. etc., are still around and kicking after 40 years of career. In 2012 Trevor Dunn was their temporary bassist.
They recorded Freak Puke under the Melvins Lite moniker and embarked on the 51/51 tour (a US tour in all fifty states and DC in 51 days).
Dunn did all that with a double bass and apparently a pretty cool Angus Young inspired outfit.
3. Electric Masada – Karaim (2005)
Masada is one of the many aspects of John Zorn’s work, it refers to different bands (this electric band, his old acoustic quartet, the masada string trio, etc. and now there is the New Masada Quartet with a younger generation of musicians) and two “books” of compositions.
Should you want to know more about John Zorn, I would urge you to read the Rolling Stones article published in 2020. Let me add that Electric Masada’s guitar player is Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Alain Bashung, etc.)
4. Brian Marsella Trio – Tsirya (2017)
The Book of Angels is John Zorn’s second Masada book of compositions, with around 300 tunes he wrote in a year around 2004. Dunn plays double bass here and is heard in a more conventional jazz piano trio situation.
All of John Zorn’s projects are on his own label, called Tzadik. Tzadik’s whole catalogue was added to streaming services a few days ago and it as big news for a handful of music nerds, me included.
5. Kris Davis – Brainfeel (Diatom Ribbons - Live At The Village Vanguard, 2023)
Kris Davis is brilliant young piano player. Her album Diatom Ribbons was widely praised in 2019 and she performed live versions of her compositions during a 6-night residency at New York’s Village Vanguard.
Dunn is on double bass, Julian Lage, a wonderful young musician, is on guitar, Val Jeanty is on turntables and electronics and Terri Lyne Carrington, who played with Stan Getz and Herbie Hancock, among others, is on drums.
How do you go from playing alongside metal demigods such as Dave Lombardo and Scott Ian to a residency at New York’s Jazz Mecca? To me, Trevor Dunn’s path is currently one of the most interesting in music, and is exemplary of a new movement, where lines are blurred and where a new generation of musicians can move seamlessly from one genre to another.
These adventurous musicians can serve as guide to the listeners willing to follow them in their genre-defying projects.
Until the next time, Godspeed!
Thomas
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