colors …
This is a Voyage into Sound
inst. of change
the players
instruments
Doug Wimbish
Original Sugar Hill Rhythm Section
“Unity” w/Afrika Bambaataa and James Brown
“No Sell Out” (Malcolm X w/ Keith Leblanc)
“Vice” (Miami Vice Soundtrack w/Jan Hammer)
“Sun City” (Artists United Against Apartheid w/…)
LIVING COLOUR
TACK>>HEAD
LITTLE AXE
ON-U SOUND
Adrian Sherwood
Rolling Stones
Paul McCartney
Mick Jagger
Jeff Beck
Annie Lennox
Seal
Depeche Mode
Carly Simon
Madonna
Bruce Springsteen
Billy Idol Cyberpunk (1993)
Michael Hutchence
Joe Satriani The Extremist (1992)
Joe Satriani Time Machine (1993)
David Sancious
Herb Alpert
George Clinton
Bernie Worrell
Mos Def
Black Jack Johnson
Lauryn Hill
Tarja Turunen
Tackhead
Sugarhill Gang
Grandmaster Flash (Melle Mel) and the Furious Five
Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger
Depeche Mode
James Brown
Annie Lennox
Barrington Levy
Sugar Hill Records
On-U Sound
Harold Sargent
Jackie McLean
Trippy Notes for Bass (1999)
CinemaSonics (2008)
w/
Candi Staton Nightlites [1982] Sugar Hill Records
Nona Hendryx The Heat [1985] RCA Records
Carly Simon Spoiled Girl [1985] Epic Records
Mick Jagger Primitive Cool [1987] Columbia Records
Michael Bolton The Hunger [1987] Columbia Records
Steven Van Zandt. Freedom – No Compromise [1987]
Sheena Easton No Sound But a Heart [1987] EMI
Ronnie Wood Slide on This [1992] Continuum Records
Madonna Erotica [1992] Warner Bros. Records
Annie Lennox Diva [1992] Arista Records
Al Green Don’t Look Back [1993] BMG
Mick Jagger Wandering Spirit [1993] Atlantic Records
Carly Simon Letters Never Sent [1994] Arista Records
Annie Lennox. Medusa [1995] Arista Records
Gary Go Gary Go (Decca Records, 2009)
Naomi Campbell Baby Woman [1994] Epic Records
1979 — Original Sugar Hill Rhythm Section
Skip McDonald (guitar)
Keith LeBlanc (drums) Original Sugar Hill Rhythm Section
1956 — Hartford, Connecticut
Johnny Mathis
Mickey & Sylvia (Love Is Strange)
Sly & The Family Stone
Victor (Brother)
Gary (MF) Williams
Pillow Talk (Sylvia Robinson)
Doug Wimbish was wearing a big grin. Nine years old, riding home on his bike, with his first electric bass guitar happily in hand. He saved up enough allowance and lunch money to buy it from a kid who lived a couple blocks over in his neighborhood in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
So anxious to play, he dropped his bike in the front yard, and ran straight upstairs to his bedroom. He had already moved a friend’s small amp over, and he was set to go.
Not long after, his mother was yelling at him to come back downstairs. Waiting for Doug was his mother, standing at the open front door, listening to a Hartford policeman explaining that Doug had just bought a stolen bass guitar.
Of course Doug didn’t know the instrument, his first, was stolen, and he wasn’t in trouble with the law. But it still stung when he had to hand it over, and he was out $75, a lot of allowance money for a fifth grader.
He was fourteen years old, and he played “Machine Gun” (Jimi Hendrix) better than I could ever imagine.”
— Gary (MF) Williams
1969 — Merchant Marine Neighbor in Bloomfield, whose younger sister was an object of Doug’s schoolboy desire. The girl was a bonus. Doug’s first interest was in Gary playing the bass guitar. Doug’s earliest education was listening to pop music with his older brother, Victor, who introduced Doug to Gary, his friend from school.
Sly and The Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin.
Through the partially open door Doug could see a Fender bass guitar leaning quietly against a ready amp. It was Gary’s instrument, the way he usually left it when out at sea.
When home, Gary spent a lot of time with his good friend and schoolmate Victor, Doug’s older brother. It was hanging around with Victor and Gary, listening to their records, that what inspired Doug to play.
Sly and the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin.
With Gary, playing along to the records of the day, as a teacher would with a student.
Soon it became routine for Doug to wait in Gary’s front yard, waiting for him to get home, so he could play him what he had learned.
From the beginning, Doug was always anxious to please. It was one of his best qualities, and there was never a doubt that he would rise as high as he has.”
Jackie McLean (Miles Davis)
Skip McDonald (Ohio Entertainers / Wood Brass & Steel / Sugar Hill Rhythm Section)
Harold Sargent (Ohio Entertainers / Wood Brass & Steel)
w/ Keith Leblanc (sticks in back pocket)
“Well, are you here to play, or are the sticks just for show?” asked Keith, as he invited the skinny white kid the seat behind his (drum) kit.
As Keith sat down at Harold’s drums, and despite being somewhat hidden, his presence was enough to quiet one of the most popular rooms (clubs) in the Hartford ghetto.
1976 — Setting Sail
Not Tito (Bahamian Side Man)
T’s Lounge
Wood Brass & Steel
Hartford, Connecticut
Dance Funk
“Funkanova”
Studio 54 (popular playlist)
1979 — Hip Hop Happens
THE ORIGINAL SUGAR HILL RHYTHM SECTION
West Hartford
T’s Lounge
G. Fox Santa
Penny High
Weaver High
Bloomfield
Blue Hills Avenue — Friday afternoons on the corner, “Welfare checks, malt liquor, and government cheese flying.”
Pratt & Whitney
Ferrigno’s Liquor
East Hartford (Blue Collar)
Welcome to Hartford
Colt .45 (The Dome)
Glass Boat
Travelers
Bushnell Park
Connecticut Capitol Building
Carousel
Pump House
Capital Bldg (Gold Angels at the Door)
Wadsworth Museum
Keeny Park
Little Italy
Franklin Ave. (Cannolis)
Carbone’s
Lavecci’s — The last to hold out against Traveler’s Insurance complete dominance of downtown Hartford, Connecticut. But in the end, there would be no place in Hartford to buy a live chickens, or a blank focaccia loaf to which you offered your personal, Sicilian preparation. Finally replaced with the Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbuck’s alternative, more appropriate (demanded) for the new day.
Mozzicato’s
Modern
Sully’s Pub & Tiki Bar / Lena’s Pizza
WimBash …
2000 — After SugarHill, Tack>>Head, Living Colour, and countless collaborations, come the new Millennium, Doug began speaking (often loudly) for himself.
First, in 2000, he released Trippy Notes for Bass, his first full-length, keenly focused solo record, quickly followed by the event that struck us all.
It was in the second half of 2001 that Living Colour reunited in an almost familial way. Like a band of brothers, happy and comfortable to be back together, and more than ever, motivated to intensify it’s message. A message that was always socially active and musically aggressive.
Although they did not play on the Sugarhill Gang‘s famous song “Rapper’s Delight“ (the rhythm tracks for this song were played by the group Positive Force, they did play on many other popular song tracks, including “The Message“ by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, “White Lines” by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, “New York City” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and “Apache“ by the Sugarhill Gang.
Together with McDonald and LeBlanc, Wimbish headed to London in 1984 and started working with producer Adrian Sherwood and formed the group Tackhead. Together with Tackhead and as a session bassist, Wimbish found himself in demand as a bass player for many artists and was considered as a permanent sideman for the Rolling Stones after the departure of bassist Bill Wyman in 1993, but lost the position to Darryl Jones. In the late 1980s Wimbish began crossing paths with vocalist Bernard Fowler, who collaborated with Tackhead and Little Axe. Both sang on records by the Rolling Stones, and Wimbish later played on the Stones’ 1997 album Bridges to Babylon. Wimbish joined Living Colour in 1992 (he replaced Muzz Skillings, who left the band) to tour and record the album, Stain.
Living Colour disbanded in 1995, and Wimbish joined his old Sugarhill Gang partners to play in Little Axe, an ambient-dub project initiated by Skip ‘Little Axe’ MacDonald.
After Living Colour disbanded, Wimbish went back to London to continue his career as a studio bassist. In 1999 he formed the drum and bass group Jungle Funk together with drummer Will Calhoun and percussionist/vocalist Vinx. Also in 1999, Wimbish solo album Trippy Notes for Bass was released. In 2000, Living Colour was re-formed and toured in the United States, South America and Europe. In 2001 and 2002 Wimbish recorded and played with rapper Mos Def in a band called BlackJack Johnson, which also featured members of P-Funk and Bad Brains in the lineup.
Wimbish also formed Head Fake, a drum and bass project with drummer Will Calhoun. They released a CD, In The Area. In 2005 they started recording new songs. The recording took place in Brussels, Belgium and was followed by an extensive European tour. The CD has never been released. A Head>>Fake DVD was released in 2008. It features a recording of a Head>>Fake concert in Prague.
In 2008 Wimbish, signed with Enja Records, and released his second solo album, CinemaSonics.
In 2009, Living Colour released and toured for the album “The Chair in the Doorway.”
Wimbish was also featured on six Little Axe albums with Alan Glen on harmonica.
Wimbish has endorsed Ibanez and Spector bass guitars.