Doc Hardy Reviews Brendan Rothwell's CD "Time On My Hands”

Published on May 16, 2018

Get ready for a smooth and funky ride when you listen to Canadian bassist, composer, and producer Brendan Rothwell’s debut CD “Time On My Hands”. Rothwell, who played violin and piano before taking up the bass, moves the bass from the back of the band to front and center, displaying the compressed, shiny sound of the bass while optimizing tone, scale, and feeling. This labor of love is an amazing piece of art, reminiscent of the sounds of the late great Wayman Tisdale, the incomparable Stanley Clark, and the legendary Marcus Miller. I had a full range of emotions while I listened to every note several times.

Rothwell first heard Marcus Miller in 1986, when Miller played bass on the Miles Davis watershed CD, “Tutu”. The Marcus Miller influence is felt from the first song, the hypnotic, “Intro (Wake the Bass)”. The simmering fusion combined with funky precision of the bass is a harbinger of melodic brilliance that is about to flow into your ears.

The debut single, “This is the Love”, inspired by his wife Lisa, demonstrates the control and precision Rothwell has over the tonal quality of the bass. The beautiful, fluid melody of the bass plays well off the backing vocals blended throughout, providing a classic bass/vocalist duet.

The song, “Smooth”, according to the album notes, is dedicated to “LTK”, a reference to the Legendary Trevor King, a drummer who influenced Rothwell into playing jazz. The piece, dedicated to Trevor and his family, is written around machines and program drums, is funky and smooth, and is perfect for your road trip jazz mix.

The tune, “The King”, is inspired by his relationship with his Dad, Alfred King Irwin Rothwell, who passed away many years ago. “It musically sums up some of the things I learned from him during the time he was on this planet”, Rothwell recently explained in an interview on the radio show, “Jazz On Ice-The Sunday Brunch”, WNLK 1350 Norwalk, Connecticut. As he strums the Takamine acoustic bass, I find myself thinking about my own relationship with my Dad. I came away with a greater appreciation for the father and son dynamic and was moved to pick up the phone and call my own son.

“Decade” has that Stanley Clark twang, fusion feel, and sound. 

The title track, “Time On My Hands” made me reminisce about my hometown, playing with my friends and how I grew up. Rothwell’s ability to play the bass with feeling for the mood of any tune is clearly demonstrated on this track. 

He closes the album with “Outro”, a spoken word piece that reminded me of Marcus Miller’s classic, “Tales”. Excerpts from the book, “Crucial Conversations” authored by Joseph Grenny are deftly woven throughout. "Selective Perception: our emotions come from OUR STORIES, not from the facts” Grenny says on the track. 

MY STORY, and I’m sticking with it, is that Brendan Rothwell’s CD “Time On My Hands” is not just a bass lovers’ delight, but is what any lover of good music is looking to hear. To all my fellow lovers of Marcus Miller, Stanley Clark or Wayman Tisdale, I highly recommend adding Rothwell’s CD to your collection. 

Checkout Doc Hardy's interview of Brendan Rothwell:

https://soundcloud.com/user-796855614/jazz-on-ice-brendan-rothwell-4-8-18-soundcloud

www.brendanrothwell.com 

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