Hansford Rowe’s singular playing style incorporates heavy doses of chordal comping, string bending, a bright tone and refined rhythmic sensibility. His professional playing career began in the Seventies when he joined French drummer Pierre Moerlen in PM’s Gong. The gig had a significant impact on Rowe’s rhythmic approach to bass. Back in 2011, he told Bass Player Magazine: “I was very lucky to have played with him when I was young,” he admits. “I was twenty-three and he was already a classically trained, seasoned artist, and had a rigor to his playing that I had never seen in America. In addition to traditional kit, he played vibes and marimba, which use arpeggiated lines most of the time and in those arpeggios are bass lines. So Gong became a puzzle where we would mix all these contrapuntal lines together in ways that grooved. It became a counterpoint puzzle.”
Since then, he’s gone on to work with Mike Oldfield, Allan Holdsworth, John Martyn, Biréli Lagrène, La Monte Young, David “Fuze” Fiuczynski and Gary Husband, among others. He is also a founding member of the Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Progressive band Gongzilla with guitarist Bon Lozaga. In 2011, he released Love’s Appeal, with Moment, featuring Catalonian jazz guitarist Jordi Torrens, and in 2019, he debuted his trio HRIII at the Festival Quebec Jazz en Juin. His most recent release, Decadence, is an HRIII spin-off, by Gong Expresso, featuring HRIII guitarist Julien Sandiford, along with Gong alumni François Causse (drums/percussion) and Benoît Moerlen (vibes/marimba).
Additionally, Rowe, along with microtonal guitarist Jon Catler and Warwick bass guitars developed the first Just Intonation bass. He is considered an expert in the use of Just Intonation tuning systems. To check out Hansford’s exceptional music and bass playing please visit him at https://www.hansfordrowe.com/.
Hansford endorses: Tao Guitars, Ashdown Amplifiers, Supro Guitars, DR Strings, Lehle Pedals, Applied Acoustic Systems, Stringjoy Strings, Peterson Tuners and Sommer Cables.
Tao Guitars was founded by Belgian luthier duo Serge Michiels and John Joveniaux in Brussels in 2004. The boutique builders collaborate closely with customers to perfectly outfit guitars to the individual and since the two luthiers handcraft all of the instruments by themselves they limit their output to just a few instruments per year. Infused by a deep sense of design and inspired by architecture, Italian auto design and Japanese aesthetics, Tao’s work is a perfect balance between functionality, tone and adventurous design. For more on Tao Guitars, please visit: http://www.taoguitars.com/.
HR Signature Superleggera Bass by Tao Guitars
Lightweight Swamp Ash body
Neck-through of Bosnian maple with a wenge center (tinted black)
Wenge fingerboard with brushed aluminum fret marker inlays
Custom proprietary Benedetti pickups
Proprietary aircraft-grade brushed aluminum hardware
Circular graining of electronics box aluminum lining
Modified Hipshot lightweight tuners
Proprietary titanium truss rod by KTS Japan (single bar, double action)
Fret and nut material 18% Nickel / Silver (Maillechort – copper, nickel, and zinc)
Paint: Lamborghini Oro Elios
Scale: 34.5”
String spacing at nut: 9mm
String spacing at bridge: 17mm
Fingerboard radius: 14”
Weight: 7.8lbs
