Masterfully “Cool”: An album unlike any other…
by

Bob James and Nathan East

“The New Cool,” an expansive acoustic offering centered on scholarly jazz piano and bass duets, will be released September 18, a first from the GRAMMY®-honored artists and long-time collaborators. 

 Nashville, Tennessee (7 July 2015): Albums just aren’t made like the way “The New Cool” was made. Yamaha Entertainment Group label president Chris Gero put legendary keyboardist Bob James and master bassist Nathan East in the recording studio, equipped them with state-of-the-art Yamaha gear and gave them free reign to create. Recorded entirely in Nashville, the long-time collaborators emerged with an unexpected and audacious collection of original compositions plus a few handpicked classics, an acoustic jazz outing that will make you forget everything you thought you knew about these GRAMMY®-recognized artists best known as contemporary jazz luminaries. The disc produced by Gero, James and East will be released September 18.
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East is a session bass player without equal. He’s performed on more than 2,000 recordings with a list of artists that includes Michael Jackson — on the “Bad” album — Phil Collins, Kenny Loggins, Al Jarreau, Eric Clapton and hundreds more.

He was even one of the composers of “Get Lucky,” a worldwide hit for Daft Punk.

“It’s been one of those careers where I just wake up every day and pinch myself,” he says.

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After more than 1,500 recording credits, bass player Nathan East earned a Grammy nomination for his debut solo album on Franklin-based label Yamaha Entertainment Group.

Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Phil Collins, Wynonna Judd, Eric Clapton and Daft Punk are each linked by another, lesser-known, legend — Grammy-nominated artist Nathan East.

With a genre-spanning career and a track record of supporting music industry legends, the 58-year-old East already had an unrivaled career as a bass player before he partnered with Franklin-based Yamaha Entertainment Group for his first solo album. The album, titled “Nathan East,” is nominated for best contemporary instrumental jazz album.

While it marked East’s first album as a solo artist, he has more than 2,000 record credits to his name, making him one of, if not the most, recorded musicians ever. The Grammy recognition also represents validation for East’s record label home, Yamaha Entertainment Group, which is a division of the leading instrument company Yamaha Corporation of America.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. – You surely know the music of Nathan East, one of the most recorded bass players in history, who has played with everyone from Michael Jackson and Daft Punk to Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder.

East, who was inducted into the National Association of Music Merchants TEC Awards hall of Fame this weekend, for technical excellence, sat down with us over the weekend to discuss how technology has changed the way he cuts bass lines for records and teaches bass.

“I record anywhere now, from backstage, my hotel room, even a few minutes before the gig starts,” East told us.

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If you have listened to a radio, watched a TV or gone out of your house in the last thirty years, you have heard bassist Nathan East. The Tarzana-based musician has 2000 recording credits that range from Kenny Rogers to Wayne Shorter. That’s East shouting “Put your feet on the ground” during Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose.” That same year he co-wrote the Phil Collins/Phillip Bailey hit “Easy Lover.” His funky bassline drives Daft Punk’s recent hit “Get Lucky” while Whitney Houston’s slow burner “Saving All My Love For You” is lifted by his patient support. Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” and Michael Jackson’s “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” also feature East’s electric bass. But it wasn’t until March of last year that he finally saw his own name on the cover of an album.

“Nathan East” dominated the Billboard Smooth Jazz charts when it was released last March. Friends like Eric Clapton and Michael McDonald made guest appearances while drummer Ricky Lawson contributed to numerous tracks before his untimely passing last winter. The album was recently nominated for a Best Contemporary Instrumental Grammy Award and East has plans for a follow-up as well as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of his co-founding the band Fourplay.

East spoke to Artbound about a few of his more memorable live gigs in and out of the spotlight.

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“Get Lucky,” the monster hit single by French duo Daft Punk, turned one year old earlier this month. By coincidence, renowned session bassist Nathan East released a video for his track, “Daft Funk,” which plays on his association with the group, almost a year to the date of the initial release of “Get Lucky” on April 19, 2013.

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In only 2 weeks Nathan East’s long awaited solo album has made a very strong statement in the Billboard Jazz Charts…

#1 Contemporary Jazz Album

#2 Jazz Album

#2 Smooth Jazz Single for “Daft Funk”

Check out more at NathanEast.com!

Earth, Wind, and Fire never won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Neither did Kool and the Gang, or Chic, or the Trammps. Instead, during the height of the disco era, the Academy was busy showering golden gramophones on The Eagles and Captain and Tennille. So for every music that ever laid down a groove in the ’70s, stretched out, and danced under the mirror ball, here’s some extremely belated validation from an industry that has always hesitated to recognize dance music. “Get Lucky,” the funky throwback smash by French electropop act Daft Punk, took the Record prize at tonight’s show.

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During the Grammy Awards ceremony this Sunday, guitarist Nathan East will perform the bass line in a song that was hard to escape in 2013.

Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” is nominated for best performance by a pop duo. Their album “Random Access Memories” is nominated for album of the year. East is a veteran session musician and plays on a lot of the songs on Daft Punk’s album, including “Get Lucky.”

He says the French duo, pioneers in the electronic music scene, were really fun to work with. They were also very particular about the sound on each song.

“Every groove is meticulously looked at and honed,” East said by phone from Los Angeles.

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