Tim Landers

Timothy “Tim” Landers (born November 1, 1956) is an American musician and bassist, best known for his contribution to the 1970s-80s jazz-fusion genre and his bass work with Al Di Meola, Billy Cobham, Gil Evans Orchestra, among others. Landers is also known as a prolific session musician and as a member of Tom Scott's band on the CBS late-night television program ‘’The Pat Sajak Show’’.^[1][2]

Born in Taunton, Massachusetts, Landers has recorded or toured with many artists and was a featured sideman on notable jazz, rock and pop recordings by Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, Crimson Jazz Trio, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Loreena McKennitt.’ He is also known for his contribution to bass guitar design with the Pedulla Buzz bass and Peavey Dyna Bass as well as his Signature Series, the Peavey TL-5 and TL-6.^[3]

Career

Musical beginnings

Tim was greatly influenced to pursue music because of his parents. His father, Edmund J. Landers, played guitar, electric bass and lap steel guitar professionally. Tim’s mother Adeline sang with church choirs and played piano. Tim took up the drums at first, then guitar at 8 years old and by the time he was 11 had formed his first band in Brockton, MA called “The Jordan Empire”. The band members would each earn about $5 for playing songs by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, etc. at small private functions then eventually at larger venues. At age 14 Tim shifted to bass in order to play with his high school big band and soon found himself busy playing with a number of bands in the Brockton, MA area - most notably was a popular southern-Massachusetts rock group called “Pledge”. Before going off to school at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA Tim was playing with some well-known local musicians, Steve Roy, Bobby Chouinard, Frank Withey and Rick Kocor.

Tim studied music at the Berklee College of Music and during his second semester was called to tour with rock legend Al Kooper along with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and trumpeter Stanton Davis. When he returned to Boston after the Al Kooper tour he played with many of Boston’s jazz luminaries, Tiger Okoshi, Mike Stern, Mick Goodrick, Mike Metheny. Dean Brown, etc. before moving to New York City.^[4]

Professional music career

Landers left Boston for New York City in 1978 and resided there until 1984 where he performed and recorded with Gil Evans, Al Di Meola, Billy Cobham, Michael Brecker, Barry Finnerty, Horace Arnold, Sam Morrison, Tiger Okoshi, Mike Stern, Nicholas Pike, Michael Shrieve, etc. Tim was a founding member of the pivotal jazz-fusion group Vital Information along with David Wilczewski and lead by Journey drummer Steve Smith. Landers shifted gears in 1984 and moved to Los Angeles to join the booming west-coast recording session scene where he worked with producers like Joe Chiccarelli, Richie Wise, Paul Brown, Csaba Petocz and David Kershenbaum and recorded with Tori Amos, Tracy Chapman, Robert Tepper, David & David, Stan Ridgeway, Steve Wynn, Al Stewart, Vince Neil, Andy Kim, Graham Nash, Marc Jordan, Ferron, Sarah Bernhardt, Loreena McKennitt, Beyoncé, The Pointer Sisters, Stevie Nicks, Jethro Tull, etc. He continued to contribute to jazz recordings on the west coast for Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Tom Scott, Frank Gambale, Pat Kelley, Eric Marienthal, Vinnie Colaiuta, Gannin Arnold etc. He, along with former King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace and Nashville pianist Jody Nardone formed the Crimson Jazz Trio in 2005 and they recorded two albums together before Ian’s untimely death ended the well-received group. Landers spent a number of years as musical director for pianist John Tesh and produced a number of Tesh’s recordings including two big-band jazz releases and was nominated for both a Grammy and GMA Dove Award for music album production from those efforts. Currently Landers is working on his first solo release, an instrumental project to feature some of his well-known musician friends and is slated for release in late 2016. When time allows he conducts an advanced fretless bass course at Los Angeles College of Music in Pasadena, CA. ^[5]

Jingles, television and radio production

Tim has contributed to countless national commercial spots for everything from Nike to MacDonald's to Sprint and Coca Cola and has also had success as a television audio producer and composer. He has mixed audio and written underscore and music beds for Connie Sellecca’s “Intelligence For Your Health” syndicated radio show and John Tesh’s “Intelligence For You Life” television show.

Music for Films

Landers wrote scores and music for a number of films including: Spirits (American Independent Prod., 1990), Talking About Sex (Aaron Speiser, 1994) and The Poet (Achemist Ent., 2007), The Other End of The Line (MGM, 2008) and Barbie in a Mermaid Tale (Mattel Ent., 2010). ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

Nominations

• In 2000, he was nominated along with John Tesh for a GMA Dove Award as producer for “Best Instrumental Album” for Tesh’s One World.^[10]
• In 2003, he was nominated along with John Tesh for a Grammy Award as producer for “Best Pop Instrumental Album” for Tesh’s Power Of Love.^[11]
• In 2015, he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for television music production for "Intelligence For Your Life".^[12]

Basses

Tim currently uses the Pedulla “Nuance” model, a 5 string bolt-on electric bass custom built for Tim by M.V. Pedulla Guitars, and a Pedulla 4 string fretless “Buzz” bass that he helped Mike Pedulla with in the initial design along with Mark Egan.^[13][14] He also uses his own signature model basses designed by Landers and produced by Peavey Electronics from 1988-1996.^[15][16]

Discography

As band member

• Steve Smith and Vital Information

“Vital Information” (Columbia, 1983) “Orion” (Columbia, 1984) “Global Beat” (Columbia, 1986) “Fiafiaga” (Columbia, 1988)^[17][18][19]

• Billy Cobham’s Glass Menagerie

“Flight Time” (1980, In-Akustiik) with Billy Cobham, Barry Finnerty and Don Grolnick “Stratus” (1981, In-Akustik) with Mike Stern, Gil Goldstein and Michael Urbaniak “Observations and Reflections” (1982, Elektra Musician) with Dean Brown and Gil Goldstein “Smokin’” ‘Live at Montreux’ (1983, Elektra-Musician)^[20][21][22]

• Crimson Jazz Trio

“King Crimson Songbook Volume 1” (Voiceprint, 2005) “King Crimson Songbook Volume 2” (Inner Knot, 2009)^[23][24][25]

As sideman

With Al Di Meola

• ’’Splendido Hotel’’ (CBS,1980)

With Gil Evans

• ’’Live At The Public Theater Vol 1’’ (Trio, 1981)
• "'Live At The Public Theater Vol 2’’ (Trio, 1983)
• ’’Live In Switzerland’’ (Atlantic, 1991)

With Lee Ritenour

• ’’Portrait’’ (GRP, 1987)
• ’’GRP All-Stars - Super Live In Japan’’ with Dave Grusin, Tom Scott and Diane Schuur (GRP, 1987)

With Robert Tepper

• ’’No Easy Way Out (album)|No Easy Way Out" ( Scotti Bros., 1986)
• ’’No Rest For The Wounded Heart’’ ( MTM Music, 1996) *also as producer

With Stan Ridgway

• ’’Mosquitos’’ (Geffen, 1989)

With Tracy Chapman

• ’’Crossroads’’ (Elektra, 1989)

With Tori Amos

• ’’Y Kant Tori Read’’ (Atlantic, 1988)

With Ferron’’

• ’’Phantom Center’’ (Chameleon, 1990)

With Marc Jordan

• ”Talking Through Pictures” (RCA, 1987)

With Stan Bush

• ’’Stan Bush and Barrage’’ (Scotti Bros., 1986)

With David Hallyday

• ’’True Cool’’ (Scotti Bros., 1988)
• ’’Rock ’n Heart (Scotti Bros., 1990)

With Steve Wynn

• ’’Kerosene Man’’ (Rhino, 1990)
• ’’Dazzling Display’’ (Rhino, 1990)

With Beyoncé

• ’’Fighting Temptations’’ (Sony, 2003)

With David & David’’

• ’’Boomtown’’ (A&M, 1986)

With Vince Neil’’

• ’’Carved In Stone’’ (Rhino /Warner Bros., 1993)

With Al Stewart

• ’’Last Days Of The Century’’ (Enigma, 1988)
• ’’Famous Last Words’’ (Mesa, 1993)
• ’’Between The Wars’’ Mesa/Blue Moon, 1995)

With Sarah Bernhard

• ’’Without You I’m Nothing’’ (Distance, 1990)

With Eric Idle

• ’’Eric Idle Sings Monty Python’’ (Restless, 2000)

With Frank Gambale

• ’’Thunder From Down Under’’ (JVC, 1991)
• ’’Note Worker’’ (JVC, 1993)
• ’’Thinking Out Loud’’ (JVC, 1995)

With Lou Rawls

• ’’Lou Rawls Christmas’’ (Time-Life, 2006)

With Tiger Okoshi

• ’’Tiger’s Baku’’ (JVC, 1981)
• ’’Mudcake’’ (JVC, 1983)

With Loreena McKennitt

• ’’An Ancient Muse’’ (Verve, 2006)
• ’’Nights from The Alhambra’’ (Quinlan Road, 2007)

With Pat Kelley

• ’’I’ll Stand Up’’ (Nova, 1992)
• The Road Home (Positive Music, 1994)

With Tom Scott

• ’’Them Changes’’ (GRP, 1990)

With Chris Standring

• ’’Blue Bolero’’ (Ultimate Vibe, 2010)

With Andy Kim

• ’’Happen Again’’ (Angel Air, 2011)

With Gannin Arnold

• ’’Not From Here’’ (Ganfu, 2010) * also as producer

With John Tesh

• ’’One World’’ (Garden City Music., 2000) * also as producer
• ’’Power Of Love’’ (Garden City Music., 2003) * also as producer
• ’’Deeper Faith" (Garden City Music., 2002) * also as producer
• ’’John Tesh Big Band" (Garden City Music, 2012) * also as producer
• ’’John Tesh Big Band Christmas" (Garden City Music, 2013) * also as producer

^{[26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]}

Notable compositions

• w/ Steve Smith and Vital Information

Looks Bad Feels Good (Vital Information 1983), Thanks Mr. Edison (Orion 1984), Jave and a Nail (Global Beat 1986), Jonny Kat (Global Beat 1986)

• w/ Billy Cobham:

All Hallows Eve (Stratus 1980), Looks Bad Feels Good (Smokin’ 1983), Jailbait (Observations and Reflections (1982)

• w/ Eric Marienthal:

Tippin'

• w/ Lee Ritenour:

Rio Sol (Color Rit 1988), Shades in the Shade (Portrait 1987)

• w/ John Tesh:

Siberian Allegretto (One World 1997), Avalon (Avalon 1999)

• w/ Crimson Jazz Trio:

The Plank (King Crimson Songbook Vol2),

* all songs copyright Tim Landers / Mudzone Music BMI

References

External links

• Tim Landers Official Web Site.
• .