Joseph Thomas Fine (; born December 7, 1964), known professionally as Yossi Fine (), is an Israeli bassist and producer. Fine fronted the world music/reggae/funk band Ex-Centric Sound System.
Biography
Personal life
Fine was born in Paris, France, to a West Indian vocalist mother and an Israeli guitarist father.
Early career
At the age of 16, Fine began working as a session musician in Israel. He moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 1985, performing with a variety of musicians around the city,Peter Margasak "Ex-Centric Sound System," ''
Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...
'', March 9, 2000. working regularly with the
Gil Evans Orchestra
Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role in ...
from 1985 to 1991. In 1991, he received a
Grammy
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
nomination for his composition "Always Knows," which appears on the
Stanley Jordan
Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands.
Music career
Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...
record ''Cornucopia''.AvilaStreetRecords.com. Accessed March 12, 2012. Fine moved back to Israel in 1995.
Ex-Centric Sound System and solo work
In 1997, Fine formed Ex-Centric Sound System with drummer Michael Avgil and three
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
ian vocalists, Nana Dadzie, Adevo Savour and Benjamin Kouleho, who also contribute melodies on
flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
kalimba
Mbira ( ; ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and ...
and
balafon
The balafon (pronounced , or, by analogy with ''xylophone'' etc., ) is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé peoples, Mandé, Bwaba Bobo people, Bobo, Senufo people, Seno ...
. ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' described Ex-Centric Sound System as "a band that mixes authentic African sounds with dub, techno and hip-hop," adding that the band is "a triumph of the collective imagination." Their debut album, ''Electric Voodooland'', was released in 2001.
In 2007, he released the solo album ''Live in Jerusalem'', consisting of four tracks culled from his one-man bass tour. "Few people are brave, or crazy, enough to stand on stage with a few simple drum loops, an effects board and a bass, and go for it. Yet that's exactly what he does, amazingly well," wrote
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
. "The landscapes he paints are orchestral, lush and textured."Derek Beres "Bass Makes the World Go 'Round," PopMatters, January 24, 2008. An introduction to Fine on Israeli music television station
Music 24
Channel 24 (), formally known as Music 24 (), is an Israeli free-to-air television channel owned by Telad, which was launched on July 20, 2003 and broadcasts music videos by Israeli musicians. Apart from music videos, the channel has different ...
proclaimed, "Yossi Fine does to bass what
Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
did for electric guitar."
Collaborations
Fine has frequently worked with
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
an guitarist
Vieux Farka Touré
Boureima "Vieux" Farka Touré (born 12 March 1981) is a Malian singer, composer and guitarist. He is the son of Malian musician Ali Farka Touré.
Biography
Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali, in 1981 to Ali Farka Touré. Despite his father's ...
. After remixing a track for 2008's ''Vieux Farka Touré Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako'', he took a larger role in Touré's career, producing and playing bass on his 2009 album, ''Fondo'', as well as remixing a track on the follow-up, ''Other Roads: Fondo Remixed'', at Fine's studio in
Novato, California
Novato (Spanish language, Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, situated in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...
.Andrew Gilbert "Ali Farka Toure [sic /nowiki> brings Mali to the World,"">ic">"Ali Farka Toure [sic /nowiki> brings Mali to the World,"''Los Angeles Times'', July 5, 2009. Fine plays bass in The Touré-Raichel Collective, a collaboration between Touré and Idan Raichel, which led to the 2012 album ''The Tel Aviv Sessions''. ''Haaretz'' singled out his bass playing for being "flexible and dynamic."Ben Shalev "Israeli instrumental albums strike multiple chords," ''Haaretz'', March 9, 2012.
Fine has performed, recorded with and produced music for musicians across the globe, including Naughty By Nature (recreating the bassline for their 1993 hit single "
Hip Hop Hooray
"Hip Hop Hooray" is a song by American hip hop group, Naughty by Nature, released in December 1992 by Tommy Boy Records as the first single from their third album, '' 19 Naughty III'' (1993). The song spent one week at number one on the US ''Bil ...
"), 85-91
Gil Evans Orchestra
Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role in ...
, 85
John Scofield
John Scofield (born December 26, 1951) is an American guitarist and composer. His music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention as part of the band of Miles Davis; he ...
, 86-87
Kenny Kirkland
Kenneth David Kirkland (September 28, 1955 – November 12, 1998) was an American pianist and keyboardist.
Biography Early life
Born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, Kirkland was six when he first sat down at a piano keyboard. After years ...
, 87
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...
,
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...
, 89-95
Stanley Jordan
Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands.
Music career
Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...
, 93-94
Me'shell Ndegeocello
Meshell Ndegeocello ( ; born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her mid-career work. ...
,
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
,
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...
,
Anthony B
Keith Blair (born 31 March 1976), better known by the stage name Anthony B, is a Jamaican DJ and member of the Rastafari movement.Moskowitz, David V (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dance ...
,
Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale (pronounced ''Kursh Kah-lay'', ''कर्ष काळे'' in Marathi; born 1 November 1974) is an Indian-American musician born in England. Known primarily for his experimental tabla playing within electronic music contexts, Kale ...
,
Cheb i Sabbah
Serge El Beze, best known as Cheb i Sabbah"Jewish DJ Captivates Arab Ears" ''
Antibalas
Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band founded in 1998 by Martín Perna. Initially inspired by Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra, the music generally follows ...
,
Hassan Hakmoun
Hassan Hakmoun () (born 16 September 1963) is a Moroccan musician who specializes in the Gnawa style.
Early life
Hakmoun was born to a family of musiciansHadag Nahash
Hadag Nahash ( ', ) is an Israeli hip hop and funk band, founded in 1996 in Jerusalem, which makes leftist political statements in many of its protest songs.
History
Hadag Nahash has been a major contributor to the Israeli hip-hop scene, and ...
,
Ofra Haza
Ofra Haza (; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, songwriter, and actress, commonly known in the Western world as " the Madonna of the East", or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-sop ...
, Noa and Hamsa Lila.
Considered a pivotal force in the evolution of the bass, Fine has produced over 25 albums, and contributed bass to over 150. In 2005, he received the ACUM Award for music producing, for his work on
Hadag Nahash
Hadag Nahash ( ', ) is an Israeli hip hop and funk band, founded in 1996 in Jerusalem, which makes leftist political statements in many of its protest songs.
History
Hadag Nahash has been a major contributor to the Israeli hip-hop scene, and ...
's 2004 LP, ''
Homer Mekomi
''Khomer Mekomi'' (חומר מקומי) (lit. "local material") is Hadag Nahash's third studio album, released in 2004.
The album features " Shirat HaSticker" (The Sticker Song), whose lyrics are based on bumper stickers in Israel. The lyrics wer ...
''. ACUM is Israel's music and literary rights association.
Yossi Fine & Ben Aylon
In 2016 Yossi moved from Bass to Microtonal guitar and together with drummer Ben Aylon formed a ban Yossi Fine & Ben Aylon The style of music is defined as 'Blue Desert' or Afro Arab Trance, inspired by regional music styles.
In 2018 the band released their debut album 'Blue Desert' and toured Europe, USA, Canada, China, India and Israel.
Artistic style
An early adopter of
live looping
Live looping is the recording and playback of a piece of music in real-time using either dedicated hardware devices, called loopers or phrase samplers, or software running on a computer with an audio interface. Musicians can loop with either loo ...
in order to perform as a one-man band, Fine's style in his solo work has been called "extreme bass groove," incorporating
drum & bass
Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre ...
,
breakbeat
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...
,
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
Bass Player
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low bra ...
'', November 2011.
Fine has called U2 guitarist
The Edge
David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...
a huge influence, stating that his "echo-laden sound" is "the most innovative without being too technical."
Selected discography
Yossi Fine & Ben Aylon
* ''Blue Desert'' (2018, Blue Desert Music)
Solo
* ''Live in Jerusalem'' (2007, EXS Music)
* "Peace Is the Answer" (single) –
Skyler Jett
Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, are an American funk and soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer.
The members of the group met as mostly fresh ...
& Yossi Fine (2012, First Kiss Records)
With Ex-Centric Sound System
* ''Electric Voodooland'' (2000, Relativity)
* ''West Nile Funk'' (2004, IndieLand/EXS)
* ''Afro Riddim Sessions, Vol. 1'' (2006, In the Pocket Records)
* ''Live In San Francisco'' (2010, Avila Street Records)
* ''Premixes'' (2011, Avila Street Records)
* ''Re Spect'' (5-CD box set) (2011, Avila Street Records)
Featured on (playing bass)
* Rubén Blades – ''Nothing But the Truth'' (1988,
Wounded Bird Records
Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York.
They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists. Most of the Wounded Bird catalogue is licen ...
)
* Stanley Jordan – ''Cornucopia'' (1990,
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...
)
* David Bowie – ''
Outside
Outside or Outsides may refer to:
* Wilderness
Books and magazines
* ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras
* ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine
Film, theatre and TV
* Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network
* '' ...
BMG BMG may refer to:
Organizations Music publishing companies
* Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008
** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that was pur ...
)
* Noa – ''Calling'' (1996,
Geffen Records
Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
)
* Karsh Kale – ''Realize'' (2001,
Six Degrees Records
Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists.
History
In 1996, former Windham Hill employees Pat Berry and Bob Duskis founded Six Degrees Records with the i ...
)
*
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author, New Age, new age guru, and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthi ...
– ''A Gift of Love, Vol. 2'' (2002,
Tommy Boy Records
Tommy Boy Records is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Amber, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digita ...
)
* Karsh Kale – ''Broken English'' (2006, Six Degrees Records)
* Cheb i Sabbah – ''Devotion'' (2008, Six Degrees Records)
* Vieux Farka Touré – ''Fondo'' (2009, Six Degrees Records)
* Vieux Farka Touré – ''Live'' (2010, Six Degrees Records)
* The Touré-Raichel Collective – ''The Tel Aviv Session'' (2012, Cumbancha)
Producer
*
Shabak Samech
Shabak Samech (Hebrew: שבק"ס,שב"ק סמך) (aka Shabak S) is one of the first recognized hip-hop music, hip-hop groups to come out of Israel. Their sound is primarily hip-hop, but it includes elements of rapcore, dancehall, ska, and funk. T ...
- ''Shabak'' (1995, NMC)
*
Shabak Samech
Shabak Samech (Hebrew: שבק"ס,שב"ק סמך) (aka Shabak S) is one of the first recognized hip-hop music, hip-hop groups to come out of Israel. Their sound is primarily hip-hop, but it includes elements of rapcore, dancehall, ska, and funk. T ...
Homer Mekomi
''Khomer Mekomi'' (חומר מקומי) (lit. "local material") is Hadag Nahash's third studio album, released in 2004.
The album features " Shirat HaSticker" (The Sticker Song), whose lyrics are based on bumper stickers in Israel. The lyrics wer ...
'' (2004, Levantini)
* Eljuri - "En Paz" (2008, Manovill Records)
* Vieux Farka Touré – ''Fondo'' (2009, Six Degrees Records)
* Hadag Nahash – '' 6'' (2010, HaTav HaShmini)
* Hassan Hackmooun- Unity 2014
*Yossi Fine&Ben Aylon- Blue Desert 2017
*Yossi Fine&Ben Aylon- Blue Desert Live 2020
TV and film appearances
*
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...
– with Stanley Jordan (1989)
*
The Arsenio Hall Show
''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall.
There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989 ...