George Anderson

Well, where shall we start ? … I was born at an early age in 1958 and got into music from playing the bass trombone in the school orchestra. After auditioning, I was good enough to be chosen for the  London Youth Orchestra.  This gave me the buzz for music.  It was a terrific hot house environment playing different types of music, ranging from classical, folk and marching band styles.  It was only when we attempted to play jazz (finger in ears etc!!) that it opened up a yearning to hear more !!  So I followed the yellow brick road…. ! Wait a minute WRONG STORY!  I started listening to proper Jazz i.e. Kenny Ball… NOT ! You know Miles Davies, John Coltrane etc.  My interest in the trombone began to lessen, and my ears were drawn to the bass guitar.  I got my first bass at 16 and set about learning how to play it.  At that times I was interested in Soul and Funk music – well after all it was the mid 70’s and disco was King !  A lot of music at that time was bass driven and I became hooked.  I spent many a day /evening practising my craft.
It was while I was at college doing ‘A’ level art that I was invited to play in lunch time jam sessions with other students.  We played tunes like ‘Running Away’ by Roy Ayers and stuff by Lonnie Liston Smith amongst others !!  Wow – those were the days!  I joined a number of bands playing Jazz/Funk & soul stuff.  I then joined a band that had Junior Giscome (‘Mama Used to Say’ fame) and Paul Gendler (Modern Romance and top session player!) called …hey don’t laugh ……. Atlantis.  We were a cross between Parliament and the Isley Brothers.  As fate would have it, Junior was signed up by London Records which meant the band split up.  It was time to find another band.  The Musicians bible at the time was the Melody Maker.  If any band wanted musicians they would advertise there.  I answered such an ad…. And yes, the band was Shakatak – THE REST IS HISTORY !!!
In 1984, I began my association with JD Customs Guitars which still continues today and was instrumental in the development of the GA24 model bass.  Of course, I have used other basses, but JD basses remain my favourite!!  JD can be contacted via their website http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/index.html
Among the many highlights being in Shakatak was co-writing the song ‘Day by Day’ which was sung with Jill Saward by one of my musical heroes AL JARREAU – this was like a dream come true for me !!  As my confidence grew I co-wrote, produced/engineered and played on Jill’s solo album ‘JUST FOR YOU’ featuring Jason Rebello on keyboards.
Today I am busy touring/recording with Shakatak whilst pursuing other projects with various artists/songwriters, either playing bass or engineering/producing!
The future is bright, the future is SHAKATAK !
I can also be contacted via my own new website www.gabass.co.uk or via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/george.andersonshakbass. Look forward to hearing from you……