Tal Wilkenfeld

Tal Wilkenfeld was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1986; she discovered the guitar at 14 and at 16 decided to become a musician and dropped out of high school.⁠[1]

She recalls that when she first picked up a guitar in Sydney, tears ran down her face, and she knew then that she wanted to make music forever.⁠[2]

In 2002, as a teenager, she emigrated from Australia to the United States.⁠[3]

At 16 she enrolled at the LA Music Academy as a guitarist, and later switched to bass at the suggestion of teachers and colleagues.⁠[4]

She graduated from the Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music in 2004 and moved to New York City, making a name for herself in the jazz club scene; she went on to perform with artists including Chick Corea, Jeff Beck, the Roots, Prince, Sting and Brandi Carlile and to record on projects with Herbie Hancock, Ringo Starr, Jackson Browne, Pharrell, Buddy Guy and John Mayer.⁠[5]

Oteil Burbridge and Derek Trucks invited her to join the Allman Brothers Band at New York’s Beacon Theatre, where she took Burbridge’s bass for “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”⁠[4]

At 20 she recorded her debut album, Transformation, an all-instrumental record that she composed, produced and arranged and on which she played bass.⁠[3]

The funk-fusion album was recorded in two days.⁠[6]

When Pino Palladino could not make a show on Jeff Beck’s summer 2007 European tour, she sent Beck’s management Transformation and a recording of her jamming with the Allman Brothers, then auditioned in England and got the job.⁠[3]

She played with Beck’s quartet at Eric Clapton’s 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival, where a clip of her bass solo on “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” went viral.⁠[7]

By 21 she was accompanying Chick Corea on a tour of Australia and Jeff Beck on tour in Europe.⁠[1]

With drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and keyboardist Jason Rebello she formed the band for Beck’s week-long residency at Ronnie Scott’s in London; a CD of the shows came out in fall 2008, followed by the video release Performing This Week…Live at Ronnie Scott’s.⁠[8]

She recalls meeting Jackson Browne backstage in 2009 while playing with Jeff Beck at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th-anniversary show.⁠[4]

She said that when Browne and Benmont Tench, whom she met through him, realized she had not grown up hearing Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones or Neil Young, they set out to educate her, which shaped her later songwriting.⁠[9]

Prince recorded the album Welcome 2 America in 2010, one of his only studio collaborations with bassist Tal Wilkenfeld and drummer Chris Coleman; he then archived it.⁠[10]

At Bass Player LIVE! 2013 she performed Leonard Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel” and received the magazine’s Young Gun award.⁠[7]

She said the songs on Love Remains had been taking shape since about 2013.⁠[6]

She said “Corner Painter” was recorded in 2013 and released as a single in 2016, while the rest of the album was mostly recorded in 2014 and entirely self-funded from her session and touring work.⁠[11]

Love Remains was set for release on March 15, 2019, and she previewed the songs at New York’s Mercury Lounge over two nights beforehand.⁠[12]

The 10-song album, released by BMG, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, with Jackson Browne as executive producer.⁠[13]

The album features guitarist Blake Mills, drummer Jeremy Stacey, keyboardists Benmont Tench and Zac Rae, and co-producer and guitarist Paul Stacey.⁠[9]

She had opened a series of dates for The Who; she said the album took only about 10 days in the studio.⁠[14]

She extended her North American tour with Northwest dates including the Aladdin Theatre in Portland on July 25 and the Triple Door in Seattle on July 26.⁠[15]

The Women’s International Music Network announced that she would be honored and perform at the 2020 She Rocks Awards at the House of Blues Anaheim, alongside honorees including Gloria Gaynor, Linda Perry and Suzi Quatro.⁠[16]

The PrinceThe PrinceThe Prince (Il Principe) is a political treatise written by the Florentine political thinker Niccolò Machiavelli between late 1513 and 1514 and published posthumously in 1532. In 26 chapters it discusses the types of principalities, how power is acquired and maintained, armies and the qualities a prince should have. Its argument that a prince may set aside traditional morality to maintain his state has provoked lasting controversy in Europe since the sixteenth century, and in 1559 it was placed on the Catholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Books.Open the full entry Estate and Legacy Recordings released Welcome 2 America, bringing out for the first time the 2010 studio album on which she played bass.⁠[10]

After Jeff Beck’s death she said playing in his band had been “so fun” and that “we’ve lost our favorite guitarist.”⁠[17]

She appeared on episode 408 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, discussing Jeff Beck, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, confidence on stage, songwriting and how to practice, and performed “Under the Sun” and “Killing Me” live.⁠[18]

X: Public account: https://x.com/talwilkenfeld (opens in a new window)⁠[18]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/TalWilkenfeld (opens in a new window)⁠[18]