Singer, songwriter, bass player, and producer who has recorded and performed with numerous household names in music. He has worked in over 85 countries and is currently working on a new album. His music has been heard in film, television, radio, and albums, and he has lived in Los Angeles, been a part of numerous bands, and toured internationally, playing every major jazz festival around the world. Based in Nashville, he teaches a masterclass, while also still going out and performing a one-man show, and, his official YouTube channel has amassed a combined total of almost three-quarters-of-a-million combined video views. Among the countless celebrities he has performed with are Kenny G, Stevie Nicks, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Michael Bolton, James Ingram, Steve Perry, Christopher Cross, Peabo Bryson, and more.
“That was really my first major influence, were The Beatles, growing up. That's when I got interested in wanting to play bass, listening to Paul McCartney's bass line. So, The Beatles, are really, they’re up there in my top three influences of all time.”
“After my mom had passed, we found all these pictures of my grandmother's family. And there were a bunch of them that were actually in, like, traveling circuses. They were entertainers or magicians. They were all these circus folks. And I thought that was really, really crazy. But then my great grandmother was also an opera singer. She was in the Metropolitan Opera!”
“I'm the youngest of seven. So, I'm the seventh son, it’s all boys in the family and all of us at one time or another were or are still professional musicians.”
“So, they hired me. So, I'm coming in right after high school. And you could be a minor back then working in a bar, if you belong to the union. So, I joined the union, the musicians’ union. And so there I am playing with the two of them in this bar.”
“I really grew to just despise that kind of playing because it's like, ‘Oh, so let's just kick the bass player to the back of the bus,’ and it's just, oh, come on, there are so many great bass lines in 70s and 80s music. I don’t know why any of them had to do that steady eighth note thing. It just seems ridiculous to me.”
“Even up till I moved (to Nashville), I was actually doing club gigs on drums in L.A.”
“Once you're doing it right, then it's fun. So, I always worked really hard at making sure I was playing everything, and I would have a challenge to myself to never make a mistake. I could go weeks and weeks and weeks without one note out of place, or even just in a different velocity that I did or intensity that I didn't want. I would put that kind of attention into it and that really helped because I always had that goal. It's like, I want to play this perfect.”
“Every other gig I have ever gotten it's always been word of mouth or from somebody seeing me play and approaching me right there. It's funny, I've never gotten a single gig of any kind, I don't believe, from purposefully networking and I've tried that, and I've gotten nothing, zero, nothing, not a thing. I mean, not even a call back.”
“When I moved (to Nashville) I got a call from Kebmo, and I didn't know Kebmo. I’ve heard the name, the popular blues guy, he’s got three best blues album GRAMMYs, and it turns out we both moved here at the same time from L.A., but I never knew him in L.A. But a mutual friend said, ‘Oh you've got to give Vail a call. He just moved there too.’ So, I get a call from him and then I end up doing some sessions with him and then I toured with him for a couple of years.”
“Come Together” (instrumental)
“Bass solo”