Kim Stone of The Rippingtons!

I thought he was a diehard Roscoe player, and most recently. I saw him playing Fender basses.Monster player!

 

Kim no longer plays for the Rippingtons since late last year. No doubt a very good player though. He's doing local gigs currently in Colorado last I heard.

 

He switched to Fenders a few years ago. I saw them when they came to Norfolk last summer and he was playing something different along with a bass synth of some sort. Sounded horrible. Ruined the show for me as there was so much bass everything else was drowned out. I kept eyeballing the sound-man sorta subliminally asking him WTH, can you do something???

 

Did he play exclusively or did other Bass Players share the chair?

I like the Aretha Cover they do of Till you come back to me!

Nothing super fancy on the track - just grooving and a good sound.

Edit: Peeped his MySpace and he is gigging almost every night in Colorado - his schedule of shows is posted there.

 

No, Kim was the full-time bassist at least since 1991 or so!

 

I've been digging Kim since his stuff on Spyro Gyra's "City Kids" album back in the day. I've got the "Live In L.A." on VHS somewhere when he was playing a TRB 5 through Eden gear and have several of the Rippingtons disks. He's one of those cats who I never get tired of listening to for sure.

 

I saw them with Kim awhile back and they were great. Like Spyro Gyra, I enjoy them way more live than their studio recordings.

 

I like that album a lot. IIRC, Stone also played URB on some cuts...like the live version of "Conversations" (Eddie Gomez played the tune on the album).

 

Will Lee and Marcus are also on City Kids. Quite a collection of bass players.

 

That was a Roscoe he was playing on that video. I've lost count but I've seen the Ripps 10-12 times throughout the years! They were my favorite band for a good many years (Spyro Gyra has now taken over that spot).

 

Yeah, Will Lee was SG's bassist of choice for their early recordings...maybe Jim Kurzdorfer (SG's original bassist) played on the debut...I know he played only a track or two on Morning Dance & Catching The Sun. I recall seeing a picture of him in Downbeat playing a sunburst Sting Ray, FWIW.
Eventually, Marcus Miller started popping up on their records.

 

That's a CLASSIC pop/jazz disc.


Kim Stone is wonderul. The Rippingtons.... I always hated that particular band with a passion. That band, IMO, was the poster child of how the very cool, edgy, post fusion, pop/jazz stuff (Sanborn, Crusaders, Joe Sample's solo work, very early Spyro Gyra, even early Pat Metheny, etc., etc.) became the smarmy, insipid, bubble gum 'smooth' jazz sort of 'safe and dull' thing it became.

IMO, as always, and just another viewpoint. I REALLY hate that band and everything that band stands for (i.e., corporate smooth jazz).

 

I remember when they first hit, I think the first album was self produced, then by the second album group co-founder Jeremy Wall and bassist Kurzdorfer started fazing out. The first time I saw them at the Bottom Line, Kurzdorfer was still the bassist, I dug his playing.

 

There was a time where Russ Freeman's writing was edgy but he has since conformed to the corporate 'snooze' jazz formula! That's why I don't dig them like I used to! So I agree on some of your points! In their defense, and Russ has said so himself, that they were not a jazz band but more an instrumental pop/rock band but of course record labels HAVE to lump artists into categories and 'smooth jazz' is where they ended. And to be honest, they don't get a lot of airplay at all. I just keep hearing tunes from Russ' first solo cd.

 

I agree. Just like Spyro Gyra, the Rippingtons quickly went from a decent pop/jazz band in the very earliest days to total cheeze. Same thing happened to Michael Franks IMO. Even Sandborn and Larry Carlton and Ritenour followed this unfortunate path eventually (the Yellow Jackets were one of the few from this era who mostly escaped this... primarily due IMO to Mintzer).

The Rippingtons, IMO, took that cheeze to a much smellier level though.

 

Very true about the 'Jackets. They almost went down cheese road but they righted the ship with Mintzer and are in a different league.

 

I have to disagree about Spyro Gyra being in that category! They've been doing their own thing since the beginning (except a few years where the record company demanded vocal tunes). The only tunes I ever hear on the radio are Morning Dance and Shaker Song! And they've always been a 'music melting pot' type of band.

 

I agree... they never got close to the 'depths of cheeze' as the Rippingtons. I really like their bassist also (can't remember his name, he used to make instruments also... another wonderful player). However, I find they never came close to their 'City Kids' era music in later years. Again, pure IMO.