Derrick Lee Murdock (aka Dock) was born in Philadelphia and began playing the bass at 17. While this might be considered late in some playing quarters, Dock's passion for the instrument - driven by a love of the music of Bootsy Collins, Kool, Larry Graham, Geedy Lee, James Jamerson, Stanley Clark and many others - meant that he soon honed his craft to perfection.
In 1994 Derrick left Philadelphia and moved to LA where his skills on the bass were quickly noted and he landed his first high profile role, playing bass with Sheena Easton. He went on to perform and tour with a host of other high profile and talented performers including Tom Scott, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Will Smith, Jim Carey, Bill Cosby, Michael Bolton, Aaron Nevill, Denise Williams, Solomon Burke, Patty Austin, Dr Dre, Rose Royce, BB King, Chuck Berry, Peter Framton, and Huey Lewis. Recently Dock has played with The Jazz Crusaders, The Kevin Eubanks Band and Jeff Lorber
Dock even landed some work in the movies as he performed on one of the soundtracks for the Power Rangers, but his biggest role is arguably as the bass player with The Tonight Show band. Being part of this huge US TV show means that he is seen and heard by millions of people on a daily basis. Dock continues to perform and tour and is a huge fan of RS210, RS212 and RS410 as well as the RH450 of course.
During the last 30 years, Jannick Top has been among the most influential bass players in France. Due to an amazing and rather diverse musical background, he has developed a very unique way of playing the bass.
Philippe ‘Fifi’ Chayeb was born in Nice in 1965 and showed an interest in music at just five years old when he started to play piano. He then went on to learn double bass at six years old and carried on studying that at Nice conservatory until he was 17.
For Stern, bass is more than just low frequency vibe, defining the role of the bass as “the mediator between the pocket and the harmony. The bass should bring out the best in the groove and the melody.”
Think of legendary bass players and Rocco Prestia features on every list. For over 40 years now Rocco's bass has been underpinning the groove for Californian funk legends Tower Of Power. In that time Rocco has defined his own style and become synonymous with the much-imitated ‘Finger Style Funk' that he pioneered back in the '60s and '70s.
Esperanza is clearly only embarking on a career as a world class interpreter of Jazz, but what she's achieved already outlines a career path that's sure to be heavily punctuated with genre-defining moments.
Debra Killings may have propelled herself into a Gospel-tinted spotlight with her critically acclaimed debut long-player 'Surrender' back in 2005, but after contributing to some of the biggest albums of the '90s and beyond it's really no wonder she hit the ground running.
Randy Jackson, a Grammy Award-winning producer, is a 25-year music industry veteran. Randy has recorded, toured and performed with the likes of: Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, *NSYNC, Madonna, Elton John and Destiny's Child, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Cobham, Joe Satriani among others.
Mick's used a lot of amps over the years, but it didn't take long for him to become a convert of the RH450 sound: "These amps are the bomb. On stage they just sound great - warm tone and I love the distortion capabilities. And I've not had one complaint from monitor world or front of house."
Over the years Paganotti has worked a lot as a session musician/arranger/producer whilst continuing to work on his own compositions. For the last 23 years, he has been Francis Cabrel's regular bassist and also plays with Bertrand Lajudie. He continues to tour widely around the world.
