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B i o g r a p h y

 

George Anderson bass player with the legendary 80's multi-award winning group Shakatak who's tune 'Nightbirds' was a global phenomenon, George is also a solo artist with four studio albums and a live album recorded in Cape Town   his first release 'Positivity' , 2010 ‘Expressions’, 'From Cape Town To London live' , 'Body and Soul' through to 2021  with 'Songs From Tomorrow'  his latest  a compilation 'Story So Far' all on Secret Records and available to download. Having composed, produced and engineered all of his solo releases, George continues  to amaze fans once again with his truly unique style of modern jazz-soul funk.

 

George was instrumental in co-writing many of Shakatak's repertoire past and present most famously 'Day by Day' featuring grammy award winner Al Jarraeu. George was also responsible for co-writing the song 'Perfect Smile' which was a smooth-jazz radio play hit in the US for Shakatak in the 90's. The Jill Saward (Shakatak's lead singer) album 'Just for you' with the brilliant Jason Rebello on piano/keyboards was also co-written and produced by George. 

 

Today George is busy playing bass with Shakatak around the globe while continuing to produce  his own brand of new jazz soul funk with his  band.  

 

George's  basses are made by John Diggins which he is a proud endorsee. More information can be found at    

 

http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/george_anderson.html 

 

Thanks for visiting !

 

Ardviz Simonian

Along with performing with  Shakatak,  I have been doing gigs with my own band playing songs from my solo c/d's and more. The GA band features singers Debby Bracknell  plus other stellar musicians who played on the cd's. Keep checking this website for forthcoming gigs and appearances.

 

 

I  got into music from playing the trombone in the school orchestra, this gave me the buzz for music. It quickly dawned on me that i wanted to play bass guitar. I got my first bass at 16 and set about learning it, at that time i was interested in soul and funk music locked myself in my bedroom and set about practising, learning all the bass lines I could. I also took some lessons from Laurence Canty at Goldsmith's College. 

 

Influences at the time were pretty diverse i would listen to Louis Johnson, Larry Graham , Wille Weeks , Chuck Rainey, through to Chris Squire and Andy Fraser, (still one of my favourite players just listen to his playing on 'Mr Big' damn funky ) I would listen to anything that grooved regardless of genre.

 

 Then one day I heard a player that sounded like no other. Jaco Pastorius truly the greatest bassist ever period ! He rewrote the book, elevating bass players to the fore as soloists in their own right, but he did it with such style and musicality . 

 

It was an exciting time for bass players,(aah the 70's & 80's !) where once they were seen as simple background boys, they were suddenly propelled into lead hero superstars. These included players like Jaco ,Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller , and Jeff Berlin who raised the bar regarding technique. 

 

Lots of great music influences me from George Duke with his funk/fusion style through to Weather Report and Return to Forever with their Jazz Rock style , but ultimately it has to be Stevie Wonder who has been the biggest influence on my songwriting . 

 

 

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