Tal Wilkenfeld came to America to study guitar at the Los Angeles College of Music. While there she discovered her true calling was bass guitar.
After graduating she moved to New York City at age 18 and made the nightly rounds at various clubs with her electric bass in tow. When possible she sat in, honed her craft, and built a reputation. In the photo above the the petite bassist is 21, so you can imagine the stir she must have caused at the bebop clubs when she was three years younger.
Serendipity Leads to Her First Big Break
From talking to musicians I learned there is a lot of networking, serendipity and synchronicity going on. In fact, synchronicity between the her start in music and the musicians I've interviewed is uncanny to me on a personal level -- even in the few music posts I've shared here on Steemit. Here's the first example. My post yesterday was about Derek Trucks, well it turns out he played a role in Tal getting her first big break. When the Allman Brothers Band were still together they did an annual run at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. Several of them are serious jazz lovers, and they liked to hit the jazz clubs when in the city. On night Oteil Burbridge (whom I've also interviewed) was checking out the clubs and saw Tal play. Spontaneously he and Derek Trucks convinced Tal to come with them to the Beacon and sit in.
Tal Recounts What Happened
From an interview with (link) Digitaltrends.com:
Q: You’ve played a number of classic songs live over the past decade. Can you pinpoint one as your favorite, something that’s at the top of your list?
A: Well, I have a really fond memory of sitting in with The Allman Brothers when I was a teenager [at age 19]. It was the very first time I’d been on a big stage. It was at The Beacon Theatre [in New York, on March 21, 2006], in front of 5,000 people. They found me in a jazz club in one minute, and then I’m onstage with them in the next minute. There I was playing a bass solo with all of them offstage watching me. That was a big moment for me — it was in the middle of [In Memory of] Elizabeth Reed, and it was a long bass solo.
That’s something I’ll never forget. I remember my friend Oteil [Burbridge], who played bass in the Allmans, ran out into the audience and sat down to watch! (laughs) It was really funny and awesome at the same time.
How the Fans Experienced Her Big Break
The Allman Brothers have a truly dedicated fan base who work hard to preserve music history. Here is a portion of a review of the show by Josh Chasin posted on the band's site. link
Jaimoe is more forward and assertive on the first section, which he leads. Marc and Butch each take a turn driving the train, the baton passed organically among the three. Then the drums stop for the bass solo.
Tal Wilkenfeld, a 20 [19]-year-old Aussie with dreads, is sitting in on bass. She is slight of frame, and when Derek stands next to her he towers over her. She plays a pretty melody over a moving bottom, then her solo morphs into a funk riff. The drums pick it up, Derek comes on, squares off with her, adds sparse rhythm playing, the 5 players over a heavy, murky funk riff. It transforms into the Liz Reed bass line, Derek chords, the full band kicks in and a hard close. This slight and unknown player has managed to steal the show in her moment in the spotlight; all around the hall, you hear the buzz: "Who IS she?" At the song's close, Oteil, who has been off stage, is the first band member to embrace her.
Her Big Break Led to a Huge Break
It's my understanding that when Tal auditioned for Jeff Beck, she sent him a tape of her appearance with the Allman Brothers. Her real break out moment came in 2007, when Jeff Beck appeared at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival in Chicago. It is a gathering of many of the top rock &, blues guitarists, and a few stars from country music and jazz. It's been ten years and I don't remember exactly, but I think this was lived streamed on one of the big web platforms. In any case, when I saw her performance I was blown away, it was one of those truly special musical moments.
Eye Witness Account from Derek Trucks
Not too long afterwards I had a chance to ask Derek about it:
Alan Bryson: There were so many stellar guitar moments at the Crossroads Festival, but I wondered if you caught Jeff Beck's set with Tal Wilkenfeld? That was a pretty awesome bass solo she dropped on those people.
Derek Trucks: That was great, Susan and I are both good friends with Tal, so we went out front for that, so that's one of the few sets we caught from the audience's perspective. We got to catch that, we were so excited to see her on the big screen, and people just freakin' out, asking, "Who is that chick?" I loved it! A great player.
I've got a treat for you. There have been some low resolution clips of her break out performance at Crossroads on YouTube for quite a while, but to my surprise when I was putting this post together, way down the list I found this excellent HQ version. It's been up for a couple of years, but has only been seen by 700 people!!
Click to watch a Great Moment in Rock
A Last Bit of Serendipity
Tal's debut album was recorded in May 2006 and released in May 2007. In this post from a few days ago, I mentioned how the band Steely Dan sought out the best musicians for their recordings. I then shared an interview with the super group The Ringers which included interviews with guitarist Wayne Krantz and drummer Keith Carlock who toured and recorded with Steely Dan.
They are prominent players on the NY jazz scene, and when Tal recorded her album (in two days) she enlisted their support. So I've interviewed two musicians who gave her her first break, and two who helped her record her first album. As a matter of fact, it's actually three musicians, because Oteil Burbridge also guested on the album, on a song she playfully titled: "Oatmeal Bandage."
At one point I was set to interview her, but she was living in Los Angeles again at that time. There is a terrible time difference to Europe, with only a small window of opportunity -- early in the morning in LA and late in the evening in Europe. For musicians, early in the morning is the middle of their sleep cylce. So, sadly we never managed to pull it off.
To close, here's my personal favorite from her first album, which I briefly discussed with the drummer Keith Carlock.
If you're not familiar with my Passivity Experiment, click here for an explanation
