DOUG WIMBISH (NOT A BAND, A SOUND SYSTEM)
Doug with Living Colour at The Orlando, Florida House of Blues (12/28/2001). After a 7-year hiatus, LIVING COLOUR re-united in 2001, and after a successful world tour, decided to stay together, recording "CollideOscope" in 2003, and touring ever since. — video by dave hogerty
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"THE JOURNEYMAN BASSIST"
Looking deeper than DOUG WIMBISH being the innovative bassist in the Grammy Award-winning, hard rock band LIVING COLOUR, one soon realizes Doug's influence and musical contributions are much more widespread than often recognized.
Considering a virtuosity that places him at the top of the list of all-time greatest electric bassists, it is little surprise that one week in 1992, Doug received personal phone calls from Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, and Seal, each asking him to join their bands. A little surprising might be the fact that Doug turned them all down, choosing to stay with Living Colour, and finish the band's third album "Stain," which was near completion.
Despite his decision not to join any other band as a permanent member, Doug did go on to record and tour with dozens of well-known artists, including The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Annie Lennox, Madonna, Carly Simon, B.B. King, Al Green, Billy Idol, George Clinton, James Brown, Afrika Bambaataa, and most recently, hip-hop's reigning king Mos Def, and Metal Opera Diva Tarja Turunen ... continuing an impressive, eclectic, and global musical journey that began as a kid in mid 1970s as a student of jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean.
In 1980, after a short (first professional) stint with a critically acclaimed dance band called Wood, Brass & Steel, Doug, guitarist SKIP McDONALD and drummer KEITH LEBLANC, were hired as the house band for the recently formed Sugar Hill Records. As Hip-Hop's original rhythm section, the trio wrote and recorded many of the genre's original anthems, including "The Message," "White Lines," and "That's the Joint," before picking up rather suddenly, and moving to London. There, they joined producer ADRIAN SHERWOOD's ON-U SOUND label, collaborating with many of Sherwood's vocalists, including Gary Clail, Mark Stewart, Bim Sherman, and Junior Delgado, before Doug named their new band "TACKHEAD."
Significantly, Doug, Skip, and Keith had created a band dynamic that was the opposite of what they had become used to. With the attention in Hip-Hop going almost exclusively to the DJs and MCs, the band's virtuosity was usually overlooked. In the short time between leaving SUGAR HILL and moving to London, Doug, Skip, and Keith went uncredited, despite significant contributions to a song called "VICE" on the MIAMI VICE SOUNDTRACK, and 1984's "SUN CITY," the anti-Apartheid anthem attributed to MILES DAVIS, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, U2, HERBIE HANCOCK, and nearly every other Pop Icon of the day.
Today, after decades helping others make their records, CINEMASONICS represents Doug's most personal musical message. The album, Doug's second, features many of his closest, long-time collaborators, as well as more recent friends in Czech Republic.
Posted above are "Scary Man," a James Bond-style orchestration, with Bernard Fowler singing lead, and "SWIRL," a solo bass performance, an outstanding example of the more melodic, evocative, and ambient sound for which Doug has come to be known.
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"TIME PASSAGES"
For nearly 30 years (including today, as LIVING COLOUR's BASSIST), Doug Wimbish has been an important and influential figure in the world of pop music. In 1980, as a member of the original SUGAR HILL RECORDS RHYTHM SECTION, he helped write the blueprint from which HIP-HOP exploded. Until SUGAR HILL's demise in 1984, Doug had written and played on many of hip-hop's seminal anthems, including "RAPPER'S DELIGHT," "THE MESSAGE," "WHITE LINES," and "THAT'S THE JOINT." Later, and ever since, Doug has been continuously involved in a number of high-profile collaborations, including playing and recording with, among many others, THE ROLLING STONES, JEFF BECK, JAMES BROWN, B.B. KING, ANNIE LENNOX, MADONNA, HERB ALPERT, and MOS DEF.
Also of note, is his continuous collaboration with his SUGAR HILL Rhythm Section partners, in the industrial funk band TACKHEAD, and Skip McDonald's LITTLE AXE, both of which include another long-time friend, vocalist BERNARD FOWLER, of PARADISE GARAGE (1980) and ROLLING STONES (1988-present) fame.
For a perspective on how "large" Doug's musical presence is, consider that one week in 1994, MICK JAGGER, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, and SEAL all asked if he would join their bands ... And then consider that he turned them all down, deciding to stay with LIVING COLOUR, the band he had joined in 1992. LIVING COLOUR had recently released its third studio recording, the critically acclaimed "STAIN," to which Doug contributed equally, as both a writer and player.
It is as the bassist in the Grammy Award-winning LIVING COLOUR for which Doug is probably best known, and he values the band as one of his closest musical bonds, but of course there is so much more of Doug's universal experience to explore ...
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"TRANCE"
... with a little help from his friends
THE DOUGALOW 7 SOUND SYSTEM with Vernon Reid (guitar), Keith Leblanc (drums), and Jeff Smith (sax) ... closing the Second Annual "Wimbash," August 11, 2007 at Sully's Pub in Hartford, Connecticut. After Living Colour had headlined the event on a large stage in the parking lot, Doug took it to the tiny stage inside for a short AFTER SHOW JAM.
— video by dave hogerty
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