Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Kinga Głyk Sets The Bass World On Fire

Kinga Głyk is a gifted young bassist who has been dazzling music lovers with her phenomenal talent. The musician has been creating quite a stir in jazz and blues circles, and her star has been steadily rising. She is widely considered the best Polish bassist of the new generation. Kinga's improvisational skills and technical abilities are equally impressive. And her playing is smooth and fluid; she handles complex runs and lines with nimble-fingered finesse. 

Kinga was born on January 27, 1997 in Rydułtowy, Śląskie, Poland. She began playing bass at age 12 and became part of the family band, Głyk P.I.K. TRIO, with her father Irek (a noted vibraphonist and drummer) and her brother Patrick (drums). Kinga honed her chops playing with the family trio, and her skills grew exponentially. She soon became a virtuoso on the bass and has been thrilling audiences with her remarkable abilities for several years now. 

Kinga has toured extensively worldwide, performing in countries such as Austria, Italy, Indonesia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Portugal, Germany, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. And she has played with a host of esteemed musicians, including Natalia Niemen, Joachim Mencel, Junior Robinson, Tim Garland, Jorgos Skolias, Ruth Waldren, Natalia Niemen and Bernard Maseli, among many others.

In June 2016, a video clip of Kinga performing a beautiful bass cover of Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven” was posted on Bass Players United’s Facebook page and reached 20 million views.

In addition to her formidable bass skills, Kinga is a talented songwriter, arranger and producer. She brings the same creativity and adventurous spirit that she brings to her bass playing to her production work and arrangements. Her musical arrangements are always highly imaginative, and her production work is consistently topflight. 

Kinga has released four albums so far. Her most recent album, Feelings, was released in 2019 on Warner Music Group Company. It’s a stellar collection of jazz-funk tracks that showcase Kinga's considerable talents as a musician, composer, producer and arranger. One of the album highlights is the aptly titled “Joy Joy.'' The exuberant instrumental features some superb bass work from Kinga. And guest musician Brett Williams lends his amazing keyboard skills to the mix. The song’s fun and quirky music video was directed by Klaudia Stępień, and it currently has 1.3 million views on Youtube. 

And album track “Let’s Play Some Funky Groove'' catches Kinga at her funkiest. The groove is overflowing with creativity and energy with Kinga letting loose with some nasty bass funk. The song has a really cool and interesting arrangement that takes the listener on a groovin’ little sonic journey.

Kinga thumps and plucks up a storm on the funkalicious “5 Cookies,” which features an incredible synth solo from keyboardist Anomalie. The rest of the tracks on Feelings are also killer.

Kinga is currently working on a new music project, according to an announcement her Facebook page. To learn more about her or to get updates on new music releases or tour dates, visit her official website or Facebook page.

Kinga performing "5 Cookies"
Kinga's cover of "Tears In Heaven"


Friday, December 16, 2022

Earth, Wind & Fire Reinvents Beatles Classic “Got To Get You Into My Life”

Earth, Wind & Fire’s brilliant cover of the Beatles’ “Got To Get You Into My Life” is one of the few good things to come out of the disastrous 1978 film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was a massive commercial and critical failure. EWF lend their special groove magic to the Beatles classic. The band didn’t just cover the song; they gave it a complete sonic makeover. This is one of those rare occasions in which an artist or band improves on a Beatles classic. EWF enhances the strengths of the original while at the same time putting their own unique stamp on it–and taking it to a whole new level in the process. Even Paul McCartney, the song’s writer, loved EWF’s take on it and said it was his favorite Beatles cover. 

Earth, Wind & Fire’s jazzy blues-laced rendition is bolstered by Maurice White’s impeccable production work and inventive arrangement. And it showcases the band’s incredible musicianship. Their playing is simply flawless. The cover features scorching guitar licks, dazzling horn charts, irresistible keyboard riffs and some fantastic bass work from Verdine White. And guitarist Al McKay elevates the track to the heavens with a magnificent solo. Also, Maurice and Philip Bailey bring the fire on vocals. 

EWF’s cover of the Beatles classic was the highest charting single from the film’s soundtrack. It rose to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped Billboard’s R&B singles chart; and it peaked at #33 on the UK singles chart. It went on to sell a million copies. The cover also landed Maurice White a Grammy win for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist (s) and garnered the band a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Earth, Wind & Fire also appeared as themselves in the film. They are shown performing “Got To Get You Into My Life” in a concert scene. Fortunately for them, the stench of this ill-conceived stinker of a musical comedy didn’t stick to them like it did to the film’s stars, The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, whose careers were nearly derailed.

In addition to appearing on the soundtrack for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the cover is included on Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1978 greatest hits album The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1.