Double Bass / Electric Bass

Thundercat

(1984–)

Thundercat (b. 1984) — Double Bass, Electric Bass. Led Apocalypse, Drunk, It Is What It Is. Worked with Kamasi Washington, Ronald Bruner Jr., Terrace Martin.

Thundercat combines virtuoso electric bass with a delicate falsetto vocal in a style entirely his own. Jazz, funk, electronica, and anime music flow together without seams. Known widely for his work with Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar, he is singular proof that the categories are always more flexible than they seem.

Thundercat's albums

The Epic

Kamasi Washington · 2015

Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) was built on jazz musicians: Robert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー, Terrace MartinTerrace Martinテラス・マーティン, Kamasi WashingtonKamasi Washingtonカマシ・ワシントン, and ThundercatThundercatサンダーキャット. Glasper was supposed to play on one track, but Kendrick kept queuing up songs — he ended up recording nine in a single sitting with no sheet music. The piano solo on "These Walls" was actually his warmup, secretly recorded by Terrace Martin.

— Robert Glasper on Playing Jazz Piano on To Pimp a Butterfly, Slate, 2015

Drones

Terrace Martin · 2021

The musicians on Drones Drones DronesTerrace Martin · 2021 (2021) form the core of post-2010s jazz across LA and Chicago. Where Brainfeeder-adjacent production instincts meet collective improvisation — this is one of the defining sites of where jazz moved next.

Thundercat's videos

October 18, 2017, NPR Tiny Desk. ThundercatThundercatサンダーキャット (Stephen Ronald Bruner Jr.Ronald Bruner Jr.ロナルド・ブルーナー・Jr.) with Justin BrownJustin Brownジャスティン・ブラウン on drums. Thundercat's universe — R&B and funk carrying the DNA of jazz.

— NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, 2017

Justin Brown

Videos featuring Thundercat

Ronald Bruner Jr.Ronald Bruner Jr.ロナルド・ブルーナー・Jr. is the older brother of ThundercatThundercatサンダーキャット, with a career stretching from drumming in Suicidal Tendencies to the bands of George Duke and Stanley Clarke. The Los Angeles rhythmic sensibility cultivated in the brothers' household forms one of the foundations of the Brainfeeder sound.

— Ronald Bruner Jr. on Being a Drummer from Birth, Red Bull Music Academy Daily, 2017

Ronald Bruner Jr.