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



  • Buster_Williams_by_Jimmy_Katz_copy.jpg

    “What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.

  • Don_and_Maureen_Sickler_by_Richard_Halterman_copy_2.jpg

    Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.

  • 241e91ef-80d3-7409-17b8-d66ab05d21a1_EE.jpg

    ​The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.

  • Darius_Jones_JazzEmAgosto_2025_By_Petra_Cvelbar.jpg

    ​This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.

  • Trio_aRT_courtesy_Trio_aRT_copy_3.jpg

    Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.