Colin Sankey: Colin Response
He did that thing I wondered about
Colin Sankey plays in the global arena of extended techniques on the electric bass, inspired by Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller and with peers like the YouTubers Charles Berthoud and Davie504 among others. He's also been a working bassist who finds frequent opportunities to lay it down, including in many band configurations as a leader and sideman.
Colin Response, Sankey's latest album, integrates those two sides. The band is saxophonist Brent Mah, guitarist Seb Chamney, keyboardist Winston Matsushita, and drummer Eliot Doyle. The bassist played a Frankie's After Dark with Chamney last weekend, and the two are back there under his name, with Doyle, this Friday. The album release show with all band members happened at Tyrant Studios last month, on February 15; they run it back at Langley's Bez Arts Hub on April 12.
In September 2022, Sankey released a debut album, Reawakening, that was mostly solo bass. At that time I titled my piece about it, "Why didn't Colin Sankey make a full band album?" Talk about me not seeing the forest for the trees. He graciously answered my question back then: "I wanted to actually do a lot more ensemble tracks than the two I put on the record, but time constraints and lack of funding, plus cost of recording, got in the way," he said. And so we have Colin Response: surely intended as a pun on call and response, but for me it's Colin's response to my ignorance regarding his particular talent.
Not long after Reawakening, Sankey had one of his biggest hits with an arrangement of "Get Lucky":
Since then, Sankey's go-to arrangement has been the theme from Super Mario Bros, supporting the ongoing canonization of the past generation of video game music (and to some extent anime music) as the 21st-century Tin Pan Alley. It's track two on Colin Response, the only solo bass number.
Ben Kaplan, whose other groovy clients include Five Alarm Funk and Brass Camel, is the album's producer. They recorded the band tracks at Hipposonic Studios. Sankey wrote all the non-Mario compositions, showing good integration with his bandmates' musical tastes and tendencies. The opening title track is the most upbeat and retro. Mah is on tenor and gets after it with his typical high energy, And I can't think of a better match on the kit for Sankey's chops than Doyle (except also for Trent Otter, who plays with him and Chamney in the band Meridian).
"Bailando en la Calle" and "Musica de la Noche" reflect this group's alignment with Cuban music. All these tracks are packed with riffs, blazing unisons, and soaring saxophone. "Coffee Shop Funk Jam" and "Funk Apocalypse" are the more fusion or smoother compositions. Chamney has an outstanding solo on the former, and Matsushita's solo with a synth sound on the latter is also a highlight.
Sankey's focus on the craft will drive him in time to another signature bass piece and potentially an even bigger following. However, I'm quite convinced that this VCC-trained local musician won't forget where he came from any time soon.
released February 15, 2025 | available on streaming
