Stu Hamm
Bass virtuoso Stuart Hamm offers listeners a musical photograph of his life at the beginning of the new century
on his fourth solo album, “Outbound.” The recording marks Hamm's first solo album in nine years and his debut
for the Favored Nations label, founded by his longtime friend and colleague, world-renowned guitarist Steve Vai.
Although Hamm's trademark fusion is apparent on such compositions as the title track and the rocking opus "Tenacity,”
Hamm has expanded his sound on “Outbound,” incorporating beats provided by the production team Youth Engine
and touches or urban, techno and trance. “Outbound” also blithely illustrates the different sides of Hamm as
he shifts effortlessly from the chase scene-style soundtrack of "Castro Hustle" to the delicate intro of the
acoustic "Charlotte's Song." Each of the 10 songs on “Outbound” showcases Hamm's precision playing and his gift
for crafting enduring melodies.
"I did a lot more of the melodies and solos myself this time on the fretless bass," explains Hamm. "I think I
trusted myself more on this record. I just had a real vision." With his signature finger taps, hammering and slap
techniques, Stuart Hamm has revolutionized contemporary bass playing. Hamm played the flute in a marching band
growing up in Champaign, Illinois before switching to bass after seeing a band perform at a local park. He'd never
heard of Weather Report when someone gave him the concert ticket, but that day in November 1978 is emblazoned in
his mind forever as the night he first witnessed Jaco Pastorius. "It changed my life."
Now perhaps best known as the bassist in Joe Satriani's band, Hamm actually began his career on Steve Vai's 1984
album, “Flex-Able.” The two met in their second week at the Berklee College of Music and Hamm played on the audition
tapes that landed Vai in Frank Zappa's band. Since then, Hamm's playing has graced more than a dozen albums including
Vai's “Passion and Warfare” and Satriani's “Crystal Planet,” “Time Machine,” “Flying In A Blue Dream” and “Dreaming #11.”
Hamm's solo recordings, “Radio Free Albemuth,” “Kings of Sleep,” and “The Urge” won him numerous awards as Best Jazz
Bassists (three years in a row) and Best Rock Bassist (two years in a row) in “Guitar Player” magazine. In 1993,
Fender® introduced its first signature model bass, the Stu Hamm Urge bass, and has since released the Urge II bass.
Hamm is also one of Fender's premier artists/clinicians, and his Hot Licks instruction video “Slap Pop & Tap” continues
to be one of the best selling bass videos on the market. Hamm's playing was also featured on the G3 tour and live album
starring Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.
The turn of a new century wasn't the only change in Hamm's life that inspired the creative process and the broader range
of music on “Outbound.” He moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco and became a father for the first time. They settled in
the city's Castro neighborhood, known for its clubs, cafe society and street life, and began to soak up the sounds of the city.
On one track on “Outbound,” "Lydian", Hamm and Youth Engine actually put microphones in the street outside the production
team's studio and mixed the sounds into the music. The 'surround sound' continued back home, where beats from the clubs
drifted up the hill to the Hamm residence, giving him ideas for "Castro Hustle." He wanted to write something with that
beat and came up with the funky bassline, which he recorded in one take. Hamm jokes that he included his customized version
of "The Star Spangled Banner" as "a shameless way for me to get into the Giants' new Pac Bell Park" in downtown San Francisco.
And, of course, there was little Charlotte Lydia Hamm. According to Hamm:
"You can't help but be influenced by your environment. 'Charlotte's Song' was played on a bass from my Fender line called
Larry, that's a bit of a shorter scale bass, the new ones I play. So I have it strung up as a piccolo bass. That was just a
song that I wrote and actually played for her a lot when we were pregnant. I played it for her when she was still in my
wife's womb and had a tape and played it in the delivery room for her when she was born. I can definitely say there's a little
bit of Ry Cooder influence in it. It's a little melancholy," he adds with a laugh, "but it's a song I wrote for my daughter
because I'm a sappy new dad."
Along with production work by Youth Engine -- Chris Collins and Greg Forsberg – “Outbound” also features contributions from
guitarists Judah Gold, Mark McGee and Tal Morris. Gold is a former member of the Jerry Garcia Band and McGee plays in
Gregg Allman's band. Frank Martin is the keyboardist on "The Memo" and "A Better World." Hamm reunited with former Journey
drummer Steve Smith on the title track and "Tenacity." Previously, Hamm and Smith recorded two trio albums with guitarist
Frank Gambale, “Show Me What You Can Do” and “The Light Beyond.”
"There are times when I want to hear someone else's take," says Hamm. "I know enough musicians that when I'm writing the
songs, I know who to bring in for what song to add the flavor it needs. I think I'm getting better as a producer trying to
get a good performance out of people and trying to get them to react and not think about it."
Interest in hearing someone else's take also brought Hamm to Youth Engine. He says, "I knew how I wanted the whole record
to sound and I needed someone that has the beats. In my demos, I can certainly try to approximate hip-hop beats or a party
kind of beat but these guys do that for a living. It's not a techno record, the rhythmic side of it is just a more modern approach."
"When I do a record, I try to make it a whole listening experience, a record you can put on from start to finish, that keeps
your interest. In the instrumental genre, a lot of people put out records where it's the same instrumentation. The song starts,
someone plays the melody, someone plays a solo. After a couple of songs of that, it seems limited dimensionally. I try to balance
it with things like 'The Star Spangled Banner' and 'Charlotte's Song'; different grooves so that you can enjoy the 60 minutes while
the record is on without it being too taxing on the ear, too pretentious, and with a sense of humor."
"I try to get something more emotional, musical and storytelling-wise than just a collection of scales and a technical display of
abilities. That's really what this record is about. It's about songs, and emotions, and feelings."
