Quintessential bassist Uriah Duffy
@ Yoshi's San Francisco Mon, May 11 (8 & 10 PM)

San Francisco, CA (May 2009) - Quintessential bassist Uriah Duffy knows how to go out with a bang. Prior to embarking on another European tour with Rock legends Whitesnake, Uriah Duffy will debut his solo project "Uriah Duffy Band" at Yoshi's San Francisco on Monday, May 11, 2009 (8 & 10 PM). Uriah will pay homage to such bassists as Larry Graham, Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller as well as lay down the pocket with his own brand of funk. When asked to elaborate on his favorite style of music, Uriah says, "R&B and Funk. The kind with the stank on it." The Uriah Duffy Band is: Uriah Duffy (bass), Mike Blankenship (keys), Sundra Manning (keys/organ), B'Nai Rebelfront (guitar), Thomas McCree (drums), Joe Bagale (vocals), Karen Paige (vocals), Adam Theis (trombone) and Marcus Stephens (saxophone). Tickets available at Yoshi's Box Office 415.655.5600 or www.yoshis.com $10 adv / $12 door. www.uriahduffy.com

Photo credit: Barry Foy

Not many musicians boast a range which encompasses everything from hard rock to hard funk and everything in-between: hip-hop, pop/R&B, gospel, soul/disco, neo-soul, indie rock, jazz-rock, blues/folk, reggae, house -- even a flamenco/metal hybrid. But stylistic restrictions and genre barriers go out the window when you're talking about Uriah Duffy, who has recorded with and/or toured with artists and groups as diverse as Whitesnake, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Sly & the Family Stone, GQ, Goapele, Too $hort, Taj Mahal, Messenjah, Lyrics Born, Ledisi, Talib Kweli, Pat Travers & Carmine Appice, the Coup, Chris Clouse, Martin Luther, Andy Caldwell, Flamental, and the First A.M.E. Church.

But then, Uriah was born to rock. Literally. Born in Rhode Island to a Thai mother and an Irish-American father, he was named after '70s rockers Uriah Heep. His brother is named Yes, so it's fair to assume the bothers were familiar with bongwater, down 'n' dirty blues-based riffs, and elaborate prog-rock chord progressions from an early age. Where Uriah got his funk from is another story.

Uriah began playing the bass at the age of 8 after seeing Rush's Geddy Lee live in concert. Well-schooled in classic rock, he cut his teeth in high school jazz bands (where he acquired more influences, from Bela Fleck to Chick Corea), various East Coast garage-rock, metal, and hard rock outfits, all the while pushing himself to become a well-rounded bassist and master the intricacies of jazz-fusion, funk, and classical music.

Choosing to relocate to Berkeley, California instead of the Berklee School of Music (who offered him a scholarship), he headed West in 1994, with his young son Shilo in tow. Immediately, he began carving out a reputation as a bass player who could not only play any style of music, but learn other artists' songs virtually instantaneously.

As he told Whitesnake.com in 2005, 'Moving permanently to California is where I learned to groove and play professionally, playing all sorts of gigs from top 40 and disco to Bluegrassand Country. I finally found my niche as a deep grooving funk, gospel and R&B cat, where the bass really holds everything together.'

Since then, Uriah has established himself as the go-to 4- (and sometimes 5-) string guy for session and live work in the Bay Area and L.A., working with dozens of artists whether pop, alternative or underground, indie or major, in just about any genre worth naming. As a general rule, bass players tend to get less press than the artists they back, yet Uriah's skills haven't escaped notice. He was recently featured in Bass Quarterly (Germany), and has also had write-ups in Rockinform (Hungary), Burn! (Japan) and Alma (Spain).

Duffy's seemingly effortless versatility, which allows him to shift from Larry Graham-esque slap bass to hightly-technical Jaco Pastorius-like jazz licks to headbangin' Steve Harris finger-blisterers, has made Duffy a hot commodity in the musician community. His influence has been particularly felt in the Bay Area, where he's been a mainstay of its heavily-independent music scene, and a connecting link between the region's many different stylistic niches.

Duffy's bass playing has contributed much to the 'live funk' flavor coveted by alt.hip-hop icons the Coup and Lyrics Born-enabling them to make highly original music outside of hip-hop's typical sample-and-loop box. Furthermore, Uriah has solidified his urban street credentials working with the legendary Too $hort and achieved every slap-bass player's dream by filling in for another legend-Larry Graham-with the reconstituted version of the Family Stone.

Since 2005, Uriah has been a member of Whitesnake-as the story goes, David Coverdale reportedly tracked him down via his Website and offered him the bass-playing slot, sight unseen. Being a member of one of the world's most enduring and popular hard rock acts has offered him many insights into the affinity fans worldwide maintain for smokin' hot riffs, feathered hair, male cleavage, and power ballads, not to mention a working knowledge of Internet cafes and dive bars in Lithuania, Norway, Belgium, and Luxembourg. In 2008 alone, Duffy estimates, Whitesnake played for over a million people, and several hundreds of thousands more saw him play with Lyrics Born, his other main gig.

While Uriah loves the 'prominent role' bass plays in urban music, he notes that 'the energy that comes out of playing music in Whitesnake is something I just can't get out of R&B gigs,' adding,'I really do enjoy it all. Slayer is next to Sinatra in my music library!'

It was inevitable, after gigging with so many dynamic emerging musicians and backing up so many classic artists, that Uriah would foray into uncharted waters as an artist himself. His first official solo endeavor, The Uriah Duffy Band, trades power chords for a smooth, soulful, jazz/funk/R&B sound which recalls both the Headhunters and Graham Central Station - with a pinch of arena rock swagger added, for good measure.

For this project, which he somehow found time to do in-between rocking major stages from the New Orleans Jazz Festival to Jimmy Kimmel Live to the UK's Download Fest, Uriah assembled a veteran band including guitarist B'Nai Rebelfront (The Coup/Lyrics Born), keyboardists Sundra Manning (Ledisi) and Mike Blankenship, trombonist Adam Theis (Jazz Mafia/Brass Mafia/Realistic Orchestra), vocalists Joe Bagale (Jazz Mafia) and Karen Paige, drummer Thomas 'Tomcat' McCree, and special guests Greg Errico and Jerry Martini (both from Sly and the Family Stone). Noting that he has history with every single band member, he calls UDB 'the natural result of all of my combined experiences, not just musically, but in life.'

Even at this early stage-an album is expected sometime in 2010-UDB is clearly a monster in the making. Becoming a bandleader after being a sideman for so long marks a new experience for Uriah, but one the veteran bassist has embraced with the same kind of affection he'd show to a new amp or wah-wah pedal-that is, unconditional love." ~Erik Arnold

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