Steve Bailey is an American bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 who is famous for his pioneering work with the six string fretless bass. He was voted runner up for "Bass Player Of The Year" in 1994 and 1996.

Steve began playing the bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 at age 12 and started playing fretless bass after he ran over his fretted Fender Jazz Bass

Fender Jazz Bass

The Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...

 with his car. Bailey not only plays electric bass, but he also plays double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

; he started playing upright after hearing Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...

 playing with Return to Forever

Return to Forever

Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...

. Steve received full scholarships to both North Texas State University and University of Miami

University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

. He is currently an Artist in Residence at Coastal Carolina University

Coastal Carolina University

Coastal Carolina University is an independent, state-supported, liberal arts university in Conway, South Carolina, USA, located eight miles west of Myrtle Beach. Founded in 1954, Coastal became an independent university in 1993. The University enrolls approximately 8,300 students on its campus...

 and a teacher at University of North Carolina at Wilmington

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, sometimes referred to as UNC Wilmington, is a public, co-educational university located in Wilmington, North Carolina...

. He has done work as a studio musician, as well as numerous collaborations including several albums with fellow bassist Victor Wooten

Victor Wooten

Victor Lemonte Wooten is an American bass player, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards....

. Bailey and Wooten host a bass camp called Bass At The Beach which helps to teach bassists of all ranges. The camp is for people who just bought their basses, to people who are very advanced in their playing. Steve also likes to surf and play tennis. He is the older brother of Charlie and younger brother of John Anthony Bailey.

Associated Acts

Steve has played with a huge range of artists, including Victor Wooten

Victor Wooten

Victor Lemonte Wooten is an American bass player, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards....

 in Bass Extremes

Bass Extremes

Bass Extremes is the name of a collection of works by bassists Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey. It has been released as on CD, video, and in a book of sheet music and tablature. The book was transcribed by Roy Vogt....

, Paquito D'Rivera

Paquito D'Rivera

Paquito D'Rivera is a Cuban alto saxophonist, clarinetist and soprano saxophonist. The winner of multiple Grammys and other awards, D'Rivera has lived in the United States since the early 1980s. He has worked in a variety of contexts, but is perhaps best known for playing Latin...

, Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, James Moody

James Moody (saxophonist)

James Moody was an American jazz saxophone and flute player. He was best known for his hit "Moody's Mood for Love," an improvisation based on "I'm in the Mood for Love"; in performance, he often improvised vocals for the tune.-Biography:James Moody was born in Savannah, Georgia...

, Dave Liebman

Dave Liebman

Dave Liebman is an American saxophonist and flautist. In June 2010, he received a NEA Jazz Masters lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.-Biography:...

, Claudio Roditi

Claudio Roditi

Claudio Roditi is a Brazilian jazz trumpeter.After arriving in the United States in 1970, he began to study at Berklee School of Music, where he became musically influenced by Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan...

, Michel Camilo

Michel Camilo

Michel Camilo is a pianist and composer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work...

, The Rippingtons

The Rippingtons

The Rippingtons are a contemporary group mainly relating to the genres Smooth jazz, Jazz pop, and Crossover jazz. Formed in 1986 by guitarist and band leader Russ Freeman , their career has spanned two decades...

, David Benoit, Chris Duarte

Chris Duarte

Chris Duarte is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Duarte plays a style of Texas blues-rock that draws on elements of jazz, blues, and rock and roll.-Biography:...

, Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (band)

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...

, Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

, Ray Price

Ray Price (musician)

Ray Price is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music...

, Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe Shaver is a Texas country music singer and songwriter. Shaver's 1973 album Old Five and Dimers Like Me is a classic in the outlaw country genre.-Biography:...

, Scott Henderson

Scott Henderson

Scott Henderson is a fusion and blues guitarist best known for his work with the band Tribal Tech.-Early days:Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, Henderson began playing guitar at an early age...

, Larry Carlton

Larry Carlton

Larry Carlton is an American jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and singer. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...

, Emily Remler

Emily Remler

Emily Remler was an American jazz guitarist who rose to prominence in the 1980s. She recorded seven albums of hard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar.- Early Life and Influences:...

, Brandon Fields

Brandon Fields

Brandon David Fields is an American football punter for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Dolphins in the seventh round in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan State.-Early years:Fields attended St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo,...

, Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....

, Kitaro

Kitaro

, better known as , is an award winning Japanese musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist who is regarded as one of the pioneers of new age music.-Early life:...

, Max Highstein, T Lavitz

T Lavitz

Terry "T" Lavitz was an American jazz-rock/fusion keyboardist, composer and producer. He is best known for his work with the Dixie Dregs and Jazz Is Dead.-Biography:Born on April 16, 1956, Lavitz grew up in New Jersey...

, Tab Benoit

Tab Benoit

Tab Benoit is an American blues guitarist, musician and singer. He plays a style that is a combination of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a Fender Telecaster electric guitar and writes his own musical compositions. Benoit graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma,...

, Johnny Witherspoon, Toni Price

Toni Price

Toni Price is a country-blues singer from Austin, Texas.-Life and career:Price was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her adoptive parents, the Prices, named her Luiese Esther after her grandmothers. Her first exposure to blues was through second-generation blueswoman Bonnie Raitt...

, Mel Tormé

Mel Tormé

Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...

, Ernestine Anderson

Ernestine Anderson

Ernestine Anderson is an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than five decades, she has recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She has sung at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival , as well as at jazz festivals all...

, Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy (singer)

Mark Murphy is an American jazz singer based in New York. He is most noted for his definitive and unique vocalese and vocal improvisations with both melody and lyrics...

, John Patitucci

John Patitucci

John Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...

, Billy Sheehan

Billy Sheehan

William "Billy" Sheehan is an American bassist known for his work with Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, and Niacin. Sheehan has won the "Best Rock Bass Player" readers' poll from Guitar Player Magazine five times for his "lead bass" playing style...

 and others. He has released albums with many of these artists.

Instruments and Electronics

Steve endorses TC Electronic

TC Electronic

TC Electronic is a Danish audio equipment manufacturer.Its current product ranges include guitar effects, bass amplification, computer audio interfaces, audio plug-in software, live sound equalisers, studio and post production equipment, studio effect processors and broadcast loudness processors...

's RH450 rig (since 2009), as well as Ibanez

Ibanez

is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass produce...

, Michael Kelly

Michael Kelly Guitars

Michael Kelly Guitars is an American guitar, bass and mandolin manufacturer, based in Clearwater, Florida. They are a division of Hansor Music Group, who also own B.C. Rich Guitars, Rockfield Pickups, and Kustom amplifiers. Michael Kelly Guitars was founded in 1999...

, Aria

Aria (guitar company)

Aria is a Japanese manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars and basses.- History :Aria was formed in Japan in 1953 by Shiro Arai as Arai and Company. They began retailing acoustic guitars in 1960, although the company didn't actually start manufacturing their own until 1964. Aria arranged for...

 (since 1995), Fender

Fender

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

 (since 2008) and Warwick

Warwick (bass guitar)

-Overview:Warwick basses were originally a premium brand offering a small range of models built from high quality and exotic tonewoods with 'Neck-through' design...

 basses (since 2011). He used a custom-made signature Aria Pro II

Aria (guitar company)

Aria is a Japanese manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars and basses.- History :Aria was formed in Japan in 1953 by Shiro Arai as Arai and Company. They began retailing acoustic guitars in 1960, although the company didn't actually start manufacturing their own until 1964. Aria arranged for...

 six-string bass, the Avanti AVB-SB-6, equipped with a pair of custom-wound, dual-coil Basslines

Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan is a company that is best known for manufacturing of guitar pickups, and currently has a line of effects pedals. The company was founded in 1976 by guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and his then-wife Cathy Carter Duncan in Goleta, California, USA...

 humbuckers powered by an 18V active 3-band EQ and strung with D'Addario

D'Addario

D'Addario is a manufacturer of musical instrument strings, primarily guitar strings, currently headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York...

 EXLS510 strings. This signature bass was also available in 4 (AVB-SB-4 - endorsed by Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....

) and 5-string versions (AVB-SB-5), fretted and fretless.

Steve teamed with Fender

Fender

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

 in 2008 to create his own signature Jazz Bass

Fender Jazz Bass

The Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...

 modeled after the Aria Pro II AVB-SB signature series basses.

The Artist Series Steve Bailey Jazz Bass VI (introduced in 2009 and discontinued in 2011) featured a select alder body, a quartersawn maple neck with an asymmetrical profile, a 9.5” to 14” compound-radius two-octave ebony fingerboard, a pair of custom 6-string Jazz Bass pickups, a recessed Stratocaster jackplate, 18-volt active electronics, an onboard mute switch, onboard active 2-band EQ, a heavy-duty fully adjustable Fender locking convertible modular bridge and Bailey’s initials on the back of the headstock. It was offered in 3-tone sunburst and black, in fretted http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0197401306 and fretless versions http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0197400300.

Equipment

• Main basses: Fretless Fender SRB 6-string, 1964 Fender Jazz Bass, Michael Kelly 6-string acoustic bass guitar, circa-1910 Juzek upright
• Basses on So Low … Solo: Fender SRB 6, Aria AVB-SB 6, Ibanez custom SDGR 6, all recorded through a Radial J48 Active DI into Tube-Tech MP1a or Avalon VT-737SP mic preamps, into Pro Tools HD2 (at 24-bit/96 kHz).
• Strings: D’Addario XLS (.032, .045, .065, .085, .105, .135)
• Amps: SWR SM-1500 head and two Goliath 4x10 cabinets; Ampeg PB-800 PortaBass head and BXT410 cabinet; Radial Bassbone DI (for no-amp gigs)
• Effects: Boss RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay

Discography

• Roberto Perera - Erotica (1981)
• Paquito D'Rivera
  Paquito D'Rivera
  Paquito D'Rivera is a Cuban alto saxophonist, clarinetist and soprano saxophonist. The winner of multiple Grammys and other awards, D'Rivera has lived in the United States since the early 1980s. He has worked in a variety of contexts, but is perhaps best known for playing Latin...
  
   - Taste of Paquito (1981)
• Starfighters - In-Flight Movie (1982)
• Compilation Album
  GRP Records
  GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
  
   - Guitar Fire!: GRP Gold Encore Series (1983)
• Masi - Downtown Dreamers (1985)
• Max Highstein - Stars (1988)
• Compilation Album
  GRP Records
  GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
  
   - GRP: On The Cutting Edge (1989)
• Bryan Duncan - Strong Medicine (1989)
• The Rippingtons
  The Rippingtons
  The Rippingtons are a contemporary group mainly relating to the genres Smooth jazz, Jazz pop, and Crossover jazz. Formed in 1986 by guitarist and band leader Russ Freeman , their career has spanned two decades...
  
   - Tourist in Paradise (1989)
• Roberto Perera - Erotica: Enhanced CD (1990)
• David Benoit - Inner Motion (1990)
• Compilation Album - Just Friends: A Gathering in Tribute to Emily Remler
  Emily Remler
  Emily Remler was an American jazz guitarist who rose to prominence in the 1980s. She recorded seven albums of hard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar.- Early Life and Influences:...
  
   (1990)
• Compilation Album - Just Friends: Tribute to Emily Remler
  Emily Remler
  Emily Remler was an American jazz guitarist who rose to prominence in the 1980s. She recorded seven albums of hard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar.- Early Life and Influences:...
  
  , Vol. 2 (1990)
• The Rippingtons - Welcome to St. James' Club (1990)
• The Rippingtons - Curves Ahead (1991)
• Compilation Album
  GRP Records
  GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
  
   - GRP Digital Sampler: On The Cutting Edge
• Compilation Album - Just Friends, Vol. 3: Tribute to Emily Remler
  Emily Remler
  Emily Remler was an American jazz guitarist who rose to prominence in the 1980s. She recorded seven albums of hard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar.- Early Life and Influences:...
  
   (1991)
• Harry Sheppard - This-A-Way That-A-Way (1991)
• Kilauea - Antigua Blue (1992)
• Wendi Slaton - Back Here Again (1992)
• Kitaro
  Kitaro
  , better known as , is an award winning Japanese musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist who is regarded as one of the pioneers of new age music.-Early life:...
  
   - Dream (1992)
• Compilation Album
  GRP Records
  GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
  
   - GRP 10th Anniversary Collection (1992)
• David Benoit - Letter to Evan (1992)
• Robert Hicks
  Robert Hicks
  Robert Hicks may refer to:* Barbecue Bob, born Robert Hicks, early American blues musician* Robert Hicks , British Conservative Member of Parliament for Cornish constituencies...
  
   - New Standard (1992)
• Tab Benoit
  Tab Benoit
  Tab Benoit is an American blues guitarist, musician and singer. He plays a style that is a combination of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a Fender Telecaster electric guitar and writes his own musical compositions. Benoit graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma,...
  
   - Nice & Warm (1992)
• Harry Sheppard - Points of View (1992)
• Guy Bailey - A Good Day for Tea (1992)
• Kilauea - Spring Break (1992)
• Kilauea and Daniel Ho - Tropical Pleasures (1992)
• The Rippingtons - Weekend in Monaco (1992)
• Steve Reid
  Steve Reid
  Steve Reid was an American jazz drummer who played with a wide range of artists including Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, James Brown, Fela Kuti and Sun Ra, and as a session drummer for Motown.- Biography :...
  
   - Bamoboo Forest (1994)
• David Benoit - Shaken Not Stirred (1994)
• Tab Benoit - What I Live For (1994)
• Kilauea and Daniel Ho - Diamond Collection (1995)
• Compilation Album
  GRP Records
  GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
  
   - GRP Christmas Collection, Vol. 2 (1995)
• Russ Freeman
  Russ Freeman (guitarist)
  James Russell Freeman is a smooth jazz artist of multiple genres, composer and bandleader. He studied for a time at UCLA and CalArts, but remained somewhat obscure before leading the studio-formed contemporary jazz band The Rippingtons in 1986. Freeman and his manager, Andi Howard, also formed...
  
   - Holiday (1995)
• Jesse Dayton - Raisin' Cain (1995)
• David Rice - Released (1995)
• Jeff Kashiwa - Remember Catalina (1995)
• Jethro Tull
  Jethro Tull (band)
  Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
  
   - Roots to Branches
  Roots to Branches
  Roots to Branches is the name of the 19th studio album by the band Jethro Tull. It carries characteristics of Tull's classic 1970s art-rock and folk-rock roots alongside jazz and Arabic and Far Eastern influences. All songs were written by Ian Anderson and recorded at his home studio...
  
  (1995)
• Shaver- Highway of Life (1996)
• Doug Cameron - Rendezvous (1996)
• Steve Reid
  Steve Reid
  Steve Reid was an American jazz drummer who played with a wide range of artists including Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, James Brown, Fela Kuti and Sun Ra, and as a session drummer for Motown.- Biography :...
  
   - Water Sign (1996)
• The Rippingtons - Best of the Rippingtons (1997)
• Steve Bailey and Victor Wooten
  Bass Extremes
  Bass Extremes is the name of a collection of works by bassists Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey. It has been released as on CD, video, and in a book of sheet music and tablature. The book was transcribed by Roy Vogt....
  
   - Bass Extremes Vol. 2 (1998)
• Toni Price
  Toni Price
  Toni Price is a country-blues singer from Austin, Texas.-Life and career:Price was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her adoptive parents, the Prices, named her Luiese Esther after her grandmothers. Her first exposure to blues was through second-generation blueswoman Bonnie Raitt...
  
   - Lowdown & Up
• Robin Williamson
  Robin Williamson
  Robin Williamson is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, songwriter and storyteller, who first made his name as a founder member of The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
  
   - Old Fangled Tone (1999)
• Victor Wooten
  Victor Wooten
  Victor Lemonte Wooten is an American bass player, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards....
  
   - Yin-Yang (1999)
• Ray Price
  Ray Price (musician)
  Ray Price is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music...
  
   - Prisoncer of Love (2000)
• Bobby Boyd - Honky Tonk Tree (2001)
• Bass Extremes
  Bass Extremes
  Bass Extremes is the name of a collection of works by bassists Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey. It has been released as on CD, video, and in a book of sheet music and tablature. The book was transcribed by Roy Vogt....
  
   - Just Add Water (2001)
• Compilation Album - Leaflets, Vol. 1 (2001)
• Jessie Allen Cooper - Moment In Time (2002)
• Mark Winkler - Garden of Earthly Delights: The Best of Mark Winkler (2003)
• Victor Wooten
  Victor Wooten
  Victor Lemonte Wooten is an American bass player, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards....
  
  - Soul Circus (2005)

Main source: http://www.stevebaileybass.com/

Books

Steve is the author of a successful series of bass instructional books.

• Rock Bass (Steve Bailey Bass Guitar Series) (1991)
• Advanced Rock Bass (Steve Baily Bass Guitar Series) (1991)
• Five String Bass (Steve Bailey Bass Guitar Series) (1991)
• Six String Bass (Steve Bailey Bass Guitar Series) (1991)
• Fretless Bass
• Bass Extremes (1993) by Steve Bailey and Victor Wooten ISBN 0769249159 ISBN 978-0769249155

Videos

• Fretless Bass
• Bass Extremes: Live (1994) (Warner Bros.)