Robert Turley - RobOnBass - Touch-Style Musician

Welcome!

"An unparalled performance that leaves you awestruck. Lock's drumming is powerful, and R.O.B. is a virtuoso on the TrebleBass. They blend together perfectly."
-- Bass Player, Japan

"Great Arrangements!"
-- Bass Player Magazine

R.O.B. (RobOnBass)
(aka Robert Turley)

	R.O.B. aka RobOnBass aka Robert Turley ... Detroit: (de-chroit') noun '(1)An economically poor, crime-ridden American city. (2)A mujsically rich, soul-inspiring American city, where RobOnBass was born. R.O.B was raised in a community where it seemed everyone sang or played an instrument, and even if you weren't a musician, your love of music was something you took very seriously in Detroit. Now, with more factory closings and a murder rate twice that of New York's, the people cling more than ever to the hope and redemption they find, that we all find, in music. R.O.B. started out on the guitar, but soon switched to bass after a friend told him that he was playing the guitar like a bass, thumping and plucking on it and playing bass lines. Thus began a linfe-long practice of R.O.B.'s of using unorthodox techniques. At 17, he entered Berklee College of Music, where he majored in audio engineering. After two years at Berklee and a few years of playing "other people's music" in nightclubs and casinos across the country, RobOnBass felt the need to move to New York to perform in the venue that probably allows the most artistic freedom in the world -- the streets of New York City. Today he plays the TrebleBass(TM), a unique ten-string instrument that has a four-string bass and a six-string guitar on one neck. R.O.B. employs a variety of techniques -- thumping, tapping, strumming, harmonics, scratching, and more -- and applies them simultaneously on independent parts to produce his innovative sound. His 1992 solo album (RobOnBass: Straight from the Street) received international critical acclaim.
	About LOCK aka Lockatron aka Tyrone Hamlette ... New York City in the 1970's and 80's: DJ's Grand Wizard Theodore and Grand Master Flash are battling in the park in the Washington Projects, the Rock Steady Crew are break-dancing and boggieing at Roxy's, Afrika Bombaata and the Zulu Nation are just beginning to organize, graffiti artists are bombing the trains, everybody's hanging out at the school yard jams, and an impressionable, enthusiastic child drummer and dancer, raised in Harlem and The Bronx, is given the name LOCKATRON, and he is there to witness and participate in the birth of not only a musical style, but arguably one of the most important cultural and political movements in history -- hip hop. In his early teens, LOCK and the uptown dance crews headed downtown to make money dancing on the streets, unknowingly acting as early ambassidors of hip hop. Soon, he was bringing his drums downtown as well, rocking the streets with real funk beats. Expanding his role as street-level cultural ambassador, LOCK went on to travel the world as a street performer, adding singing, rapping, percussion, and an audio engineering certificate from Center for the Media Arts to his arsenal. He displays these talents on his first album (The Next Generation: Positioned for the Kill), recorded in Tolky. LOCK always returns to his roots, and can often be found performing on the streets of New York City, bringing his music straight to the people and making great music and cultural enrichment accessible to all, ideals to which he remains dedicated.
	About LOCK & R.O.B. together ... Today, more than ever, to say that you are "from the streets" seems to be the greatest claim of credibility for recording artists. This phrase has different meanings, but in the case of this musical duo, the claim could not be more literal. They are both street musicians in New York City, and the street is where they met, where they write all their music, where they rehearse, and at the time of the release of the album below, the street is exclusively where they perform and earn their living. And so, LOCK & R.O.B.'s unique and pioneering sound is a combination of two factors: (1) the streets, and (2) the full musical orchestration achieved by just these two musicians. LOCK's creativity and polyrhythmic abilities on the drums are a signt to behold and a sound to be inspired by. R.O.B. has for years amazed audiences with his imaginative solo work, playing indepenent parts with a variety of techniques in his ongoing search for the fullest soulful sound one man can produce. LOCK & ROB met and began playing together five years ago. They have since worked on honing their sound and melding their unque individual abilities in to a cohesive unit. The result is this innovative album -- a product of focused and inspired dedication to one thing alone -- making great music ...

LOCK & R.O.B. -- Duet Standards

Dedication: This album is respectfully dedicated to all street artists everywhere, and especially to those who join us in the fight for the right to spontaneous artistic expression in public places, a constitutional right guaranteed to us the First Amendment, and more importantly, an inalienable human right imparted to us at birth.

Our right to perform and your right to enjoy our performances are being denied by the New York City Police Department. We street artists have been arrested, handcuffed, jailed, fined, physically and verbally abused, and had our musical instruments damaged and confiscated, sometimes without return, by the police. Presently, we have a lawsuit in federal court against New York's Police and Parks Departments. We strongly believe that our struggle is tied in to the age-old struggle against the powerful few who seek to control and silence the "powerless" many. But we are musicians, and so the last thing we could ever be is silent. We urge you to raise your voices with us. Write to the mayor and the police and parks commissioners. Please make your feelings on this issue known. We will continue this fight at great risk -- for our sake, for your sake, and whether they know it or not, even for the sake of the fools who handcuff us -- we will never quit. THE BEAT GOES ON!

Last word and final dedication goes to Professor Pop. Those of us who knew him well know without a doubt that his life was lost as a result of New York City's policy of abuse of street performers. His burning memory is the flame that fuels our fight and the torch that lights our art.

To hear one of our songs from the album, click on the controls of the Shockwave streaming audio 'Tape Player' below. The featured selection was written by John Coltrane, and is used by permission of Jowcol Music. All bass and guitar parts are played simultaneously, without overdubs, on the TrebleBass. (The TrebleBass is a ten-string instrument with both bass and guitar strings on one neck, designed by Sergio Santucci (who can be contacted at 212-302-6805). We hope you enjoy the music!

If you would like to hear some of R.O.B.'s other songs, visit 'Traktor's Juke Joint' at www.traktor.com to hear a TrebleBass solo and TrebleBass with Synthesizers, two cuts from 'Straight From the Streets'.

CD Title: LOCK & R.O.B. -- Duet Standards
Available as: CD and cassette
Brief Description: A number of current and older 'standards', in 'Pop' style, and the jazz 'Bop' style.

Personnel:

LOCK: Drums
R.O.B.: TrebleBass

The Tracks:

Pop Standards:
- Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing (Stevie Wonder)
- It Don't Mean a Thing (Duke Ellington)
- It's Only a Paper Moon (Harold Arlen)
- Aquarela Do Brasil (Ary Barroso)
- Lately (Stevie Wonder)
Bop Standards:
- Joy Spring (Clifford Brown)
- Yardbird Suite (Charlie Parker)
- Four (Miles Davis)
- Pent-Up House (Sonny Rollins)
- Giant Steps (John Coltrane)

Cost: CD $17 each postpaid and cassettes $12 in the USA, foreign orders add $3.
Order From: Robert Turley, Post Office Box 73, New York, NY 10108 USA.

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