Bootsy Collins Collaborates With George Benson, Branford Marsalis And More On ‘The Power Of The One’

  I  
Image

Bassist Bootsy Collins is set to issue The Power Of The One, an album featuring a litany of jazz luminaries, as well as artists like rapper Snoop Dogg and blues guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.

(Photo: Nick Presniakov)

Bootsy Collins has been dispensing funk as a bandleader and with performers like James Brown and George Clinton for decades. And now the Ohio-born bassist is set to issue his latest album, The Power Of The One (Bootzilla/Sweetwater Studios), on Oct. 23.

Bassist Christian McBride shows up on the new disc, as does saxophonist Branford Marsalis for a pair of tracks. And the album’s first single, “The Power Of The One,” features a guest spot from guitarist George Benson.

“The power of the one is what pulls us through,” Collins said in a press release. “Everyone has ‘the one’ inside of them. You never know who is using you for guidance, so always be pure and never fake the funk. Everybody got a light. Everybody needs to shine.”

To mark the album’s release, the bassist is planning an Oct. 23 livestream just a few days ahead of his 69th birthday. DB



  • Emily_Remler_-_Photo_by_Brian_McMillen_%284%29_copy_2.jpg

    “She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”

  • Ted_Nash_Alexa_Tarantino_by_Gilberto_Tadday_copy.jpg

    As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.

  • Larry_Appelbaum_with_Wayne_Shorter_by_Ken_Kimery_from_2012_copy.jpg

    Larry Appelbaum with Wayne Shorter in 2012.

  • DCGY-Steve_Coleman_-_Graz%2C_Austria_-_2024-DCGY-sans_titre-_DGY6606-Avec_accentuation-Bruit_copy_2.jpg

    “If you don’t keep learning, your mind slows down,” Coleman says. “Use it or lose it.”

  • Coltrane_John_008_copy_2.jpg

    “This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.


On Sale Now
April 2025
Isaiah Collier
Look Inside
Subscribe
Print | Digital | iPad