Yossi Fine
| Yossi Fine | |
|---|---|
Fine at Havana Club in Tel Aviv, 2011.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph Thomas Fine |
| Born |
December 7, 1964 Paris, France |
| Genres | World music, reggae, funk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician/producer |
| Instruments | Bass, guitar |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | Avila Street Records |
| Associated acts | Ex-Centric Sound System Vieux Farka Touré Idan Raichel Hadag Nahash Stanley Jordan Me'shell Ndegeocello David Bowie |
| Website | yossifine.com |
Joseph Thomas Fine (born December 7, 1964), known professionally as Yossi Fine, is a Jewish Israeli bassist and producer. He fronts the world music/reggae/funk band Ex-Centric Sound System.
Fine was born in Paris, France, to a West Indian vocalist mother and an Israeli guitarist father.
At the age of 16, Fine began working as a session musician in Israel. He moved to New York City in 1985, performing with a variety of musicians around the city, working regularly with the Gil Evans Orchestra from 1985-91. In 1991, he received a Grammy nomination for his composition "Always Knows," which appears on the Stanley Jordan record Cornucopia. Fine moved back to Israel in 1995.
In 1997, Fine formed Ex-Centric Sound System with drummer Michael Avgil and three Ghanaian vocalists, Nana Dadzie, Adevo Savour and Benjamin Kouleho, who also contribute melodies on flute, kalimba and balafon.NME described Ex-Centric Sound System as "a band that mixes authentic African sounds with dub, techno and hip-hop," adding that the band is "a triumph of the collective imagination." Their debut album, Electric Voodooland, was released in 2001. The New York Post called it "a beautiful beast… a very unusual album that avoids pop convention and clichés."
In 2007, he released the solo album Live in Jerusalem, consisting of four tracks culled from his one-man bass tour. "Few people are brave, or crazy, enough to stand on stage with a few simple drum loops, an effects board and a bass, and go for it. Yet that's exactly what he does, amazingly well," wrote PopMatters. "The landscapes he paints are orchestral, lush and textured." An introduction to Fine on Israeli music television station Music 24 proclaimed, "Yossi Fine does to bass what Hendrix did for electric guitar."
Fine has frequently worked with Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré. After remixing a track for 2008's Vieux Farka Touré Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako, he took a larger role in Touré’s career, producing and playing bass on his 2009 album, Fondo, as well as remixing a track on the follow-up, Other Roads: Fondo Remixed, at Fine's studio in Novato, California. Fine plays bass in The Touré-Raichel Collective, a collaboration between Touré and Idan Raichel, which led to the 2012 album The Tel Aviv Sessions.Haaretz singled out his bass playing for being "flexible and dynamic."
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