Tal Wilkenfeld (born 2 December 1986) is an Australian bassist, singer and songwriter. She has performed with artists including Chick Corea, Jeff Beck, Prince, Incubus, Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock, Toto, and Mick Jagger. In 2008, Wilkenfeld was voted "The Year's Most Exciting New Player" in a Bass Player magazine readers' choice poll. In 2013, Wilkenfeld was awarded the Bass Player magazine's "Young Gun Award" by Don Was; she then performed "Chelsea Hotel" by Leonard Cohen.
Wilkenfeld is a bandleader of her own bands in which she sings, plays bass, and plays guitar. In earlier work, she was backed by musicians such as Wayne Krantz and Vinnie Colaiuta. She opened for the Who on the North American part of The Who Hits 50! tour in 2016.[1] In 2016, she released a single entitled "Corner Painter" featuring Blake Mills and Benmont Tench.[2] Also in 2016, Rolling Stone said that Wilkenfeld was "working on new music that sees her evolving from an instrumental prodigy into a formidable singer-songwriter."[3] On 15 March 2019, Wilkenfeld released her vocal debut album Love Remains,[4] which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseeker charts on the first week of its release.[5]Love Remains has been highly praised by the press and was featured in Rolling Stone, Relix, Paste, Billboard, and Forbes. Rolling Stone described her vocal debut as having "ten dense, riff-heavy tracks with brazen, introspective lyrics—prove her songwriting abilities."[6] Wilkenfeld has also been a guest on popular podcasts, including WTF with Marc Maron, and Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast.
Born in Bondi, New South Wales,[7] Wilkenfeld began playing guitar in 2000 when she was 14 years old. Two years later, she dropped out of high school and emigrated to the United States,[8] where she studied electric guitar. Within a year, Wilkenfeld switched to electric bass.[9] In 2004, Wilkenfeld graduated from Los Angeles College of Music. She accepted an endorsement from Sadowsky Guitars, and devoted herself to forming a band and composing songs. At the age of 18, Wilkenfeld moved to New York City and began performing in New York's jazz clubs.[7]
Early career
While playing at a club in New York in 2006, Wilkenfeld met some members of the Allman Brothers Band. She credits Oteil Burbridge and Derek Trucks with encouraging her to join them at the Beacon Theatre,[10] her first time on a large stage. The jam was about 40 minutes long; Wilkenfeld sent a recording of the performance to Jeff Beck when she auditioned for his band.
The Tal Wilkenfeld Trio November 2008 L to R: Krantz, Carlock, WilkenfeldBeck with Wilkenfeld during her tour with Beck at the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago
In 2008, Wilkenfeld accompanied Krantz at shows in Los Angeles, before an Australian tour with Krantz and Kevin Carlock, a reunion of the band which appeared on Transformation. At the end of the tour, Krantz, Carlock, and John Beasley backed Wilkenfeld during her headlining set for Bass Player LIVE! 2008 in Los Angeles. In July, she accompanied Jeff Beck in a tribute to George Martin in Los Angeles. She appeared at Warren Haynes's 20th Annual Christmas Jam while reuniting and performing with the Allman Brothers and guesting with Gov't Mule, Ivan Neville, and Robben Ford.
In 2008, Wilkenfeld received a phone call from Prince. She was surprised that his first words to her were, "Do you like the drum rolls of Jack DeJohnette?" [11] Prince had Wilkenfeld attend parties at his Los Angeles home. Sometimes he and his band played and she was the only other person there.[11]
Months later, Prince called Wilkenfeld from Minneapolis and said that he wanted to put together a trio with her; he asked Wilkenfeld to find a drummer for the act. Chris Coleman was selected; he had been playing with Chaka Khan and Rachelle Farrell. Prince flew Wilkenfeld and Coleman out to Paisley Park for the first time in late 2009.[11]
In March 2010, Wilkenfeld traveled to Paisley Park; she began to improvise and play chords on instruction from Prince. "I just made everything up; he gave me no direction about what to play beyond a chord here or there. It was just do your thing", Wilkenfeld explained. "I never heard the lyrics, never knew what the songs were about, never heard the melody. It was like we had to be psychic when we were playing", she added. The process culminated in Welcome 2 America - Prince's 2021 album and first posthumous release with previously unreleased music featuring Wilkenfeld on bass on 10 of the 12 tracks, recorded in 2010.[12]
In 2009, Wilkenfeld toured Australia and Japan with Jeff Beck. Weeks later the group toured the United States, beginning with Beck's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They played Beck's Bolero there and were joined by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page on Immigrant Song. A DVD of this performance, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Legends, TV was released in 2010.
In October 2009, Wilkenfeld reunited with Jeff Beck at Madison Square Garden for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th Anniversary two-night concert. The set included Buddy Guy on "Let Me Love You Baby", Sting singing "People Get Ready", and Billy Gibbons on "Foxey Lady". The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts DVD, which also included "Big Block", "A Day in the Life", and "Freeway Jam", was released in 2010.[13]
In 2010, Wilkenfeld appeared in the Baked Potato's 40th anniversary show at the Ford Amphitheater with Steve Lukather's band; she accompanied Hancock across the U.S., Canada, and Europe promoting a new release on which she had played. The tour included a show at Carnegie Hall to celebrate Hancock's 70th birthday. In September 2011, Wilkenfeld accompanied Steven Tyler and Jeff Beck at the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
On 19 May 2012, Wilkenfeld accompanied Beck and Mick Jagger on Saturday Night Live.[14] In 2013, she joined alt-country singer-songwriter Ryan Adams as a collaborator on his studio album, Ryan Adams (2014). She contributed to two tracks on the Toto album Toto XIV,[15] and co-wrote a song called "Running Whiskey" with ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. "Running Whiskey" was released in 2016 by Supersonic Blues Machine.[16]
On 3 March 2016, Wilkenfeld released a single, "Corner Painter", which featured Blake Mills and Benmont Tench.[2] On 15 March 2017, Judd Apatow featured "Corner Painter" during a 12-episode season two of his Netflix series Love.[20] She opened for the Who on the North American part of The Who Hits 50! tour, starting in Detroit on 27 February 2016. On her own she headlined between the Who dates, beginning in Toronto on 29 February 2016.[1]
On 14 December 2018, Wilkenfeld released a song entitled "Under the Sun". In 2019, Billboard magazine premiered her new single "Killing Me". Wilkenfeld released her debut vocal album Love Remains on 15 March 2019. The album includes Mills on guitar, Tench on keyboard, and Jackson Browne as executive producer.[4]Love Remains reached No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseeker charts during the first week of its release.[5]
Personal life
Wilkenfeld practices meditation. "I'm very focused on my spiritual, emotional, and mental growth" she told Rolling Stone. "I meditate every day, and I just want to continue to evolve as a person, and I hope that my music will reflect that."[21] In a Popdust interview she added, "Meditating helps creativity flow. The more you meditate, the more you realize that everything is a meditation. The silence is important."[22]Bass Player magazine asked about what it was like to work with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. She said, "It's comforting to know that two of the greatest musicians alive are just as focused on their spiritual paths as their musical paths, and for them, they're one and the same. I remember standing at the side of the stage a few minutes before I was going to play with Wayne, and he came up to me and said, "Play eternity!" Leonard Cohen, who I was lucky enough to spend time with, was also deeply focused on his spiritual journey. Self-inquiry is a very important part of my life, and it's reassuring to meet other like-minded people."[23]
Wilkenfeld says that stand-up comedy is one of her favorite forms of entertainment.[24]
She has appeared on some comedians' podcasts: promoting her album Love Remains on Marc Maron, Bill Burr, and twice on Jeff Ross's podcast as well as once with Dave Attell. She co-wrote and produced a song for Maron called "New Boots" for a movie titled Sword of Trust.
^ abJisi, Chris (8 October 1976). "Tal Wilkenfeld: Thunder From Down Under". Bass Player. pp. 48–51. ProQuest199959496. Born in 1985 in Bondi, Ausiralia, a beach suburb of Sydney, Tal had an early ear for music, humming along with Vivaldi. At age 14 she began guitar lessons, learning all the open chords and writing a song the first day. A year later, she heard and met Victor Wooten at a Béla Fleck & the Flecktones concert and became smitten with bass, as well. Firmly focused on becoming a musician and studying in the U.S. (and with the help of faculty member/Australian guitar god Frank Gambale), she headed to Pasadena at age 16 to attend the Los Angeles Music Academy. Following six months of guitar studies, she switched to bass for her second year at LAMA. While jamming at the 2003 NAMM Show, Tal was noticed by famed New York bass builder Roger Sadowsky, who gave her an endorsement. Upon coming to New York City to check on her Sadowsky bass, she met two of her musical heroes, Anthony Jackson and guitarist Wayne Krantz. By spring 2004, Tal had moved to Manhattan and was soon playing in jazz clubs with Hiram Bullock, Kenwood Dennard, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, and others.
