World renowned musician is new artist-in-residence at CCU
He will be teaching two courses: Music: A Career Choice and Contemporary Improvisation and will be accepting a limited number of private students. He will also assemble and direct a faculty ensemble that will perform in the community and which could be a useful recruiting tool for music students, said Philip Powell, associate professor and chair of Coastal’s Department of Music.
Bailey, who now lives in Myrtle Beach after more than 20 years in New York and Los Angeles, first attended the University of North Texs on an applied bass scholarship and then earned a bachelor’s degree in studio music and jazz from the University of Miami. He grew up in Myrtle Beach and started playing bass when he was 12; he got his first big break when he joined jazzman Dizzy Gillespie’s band in 1983.
A partial list of his extensive credits include recording and/or touring with artists such as Paquito D’Rivera, James Moody, Lew Tabackin, Dave Leibman, Claudio Roditti, the Rippingtons, David Benoit, Kilauea, Jethro Tull, Jon Anderson, Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Billy Joe Shaver, Larry Carlton, Emily Remler, Kitaro, Mel Torme and Johnny Witherspoon.
He was twice recognized as runner-up Bass Player of the Year by Bass Player Magazine and has released two solo CDs. Bailey was a faculty member at the Bass Institute of Technology for more than 10 years and is on the Advisory Board and a columnist for Bass Player Magazine. He has been featured in music magazines and journals worldwide and is co-founder, with Victor Wooten, of Bass Extremes, a cutting edge two-bass group on the Tone Center label. He is the author of numerous books and videos on bass performance, endorses Ampeg Amplifiers, BassLines p-ups, and D’addario Strings, and is in constant demand worldwide as a clinician and performer.