Resonating with Bass Player Dan Robbins

Wasabi the Band & All That Funk

By Julie Horner

“Wasabi is very much a fusion band,” Scotts Valley pro bassist Dan Robbins said. “People enjoy hearing the diversity of sound.” The group was founded in the late ’90s in Arcata, Humboldt County, California by the Work brothers, Alex (drums) and Ron (guitar), and original bass player Matt Robinson. The guys migrated to Santa Cruz in the early aughts, briefly adding keyboard player Mike Emerson. Matt and Mike eventually left the outfit to pursue other adventures, so the brothers auditioned Dan and they resonated. The new trio quickly recorded an EP of five songs called Motivator and hit the road for a mini tour in Alaska over the winter of 2004-2005, filling in their sets with jazz standards and funky improv. “Alaska was a wild ride,” Dan remembers. He’s been part of the band now for more than two decades. 

Wasabi is in all ways a power trio delivering riveting rock, funk, and highly technical jazz fusion performances. They are frequently joined by Santa Cruz local Gary Kehoe on percussion, who, with his playful sense of rhythm, gives the melody makers the freedom to create dense sounds and dig into what Dan calls the “aggressive bits.” Veterans of stages in the SF Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest, and familiar locally at Kuumbwa Jazz, Moe’s Alley, Woodhouse Brewing, Abbott Square Market, and The Crepe Place, they have been part of the Monterey Jazz Festival, Dead on the Creek Festival, and other fair weather gatherings. 

Wasabi the Band: Gary Kehoe, Dan Robbins, Ron Work, and Alex Work

Dan is also a member of the Gary Meek Band, Jive Machine, and Painted Mandolin, and enjoys exciting collaborations with Dan Frechette and Laurel Thomsen and many others. Versatility, Dan says, is the key. 

Fusion Fundamentals

Dan’s first bass as a teen was a Fender JP (Jazz Precision) 90, an instrument he now wishes he had hung onto. Going to the ‘dark side,’ Dan submerged himself in rock, goth, and grunge, learning by playing along with his favorite records. Bassists Eric Avery from Jane’s Addiction, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers (“Who doesn’t love Flea,” Dan said), Geddy Lee of Rush, Cliff Burton from Metallica, Dave Ellefson from Megadeth, and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana were influential. Going sideways later in high school, Dan joined a once a week jazz band where he learned to play off chord charts, and joined a gospel group where he began honing his improvisational skills. “Hats off to John Elge, my high school harmony and composition instructor, who was paramount in the development of my ear,” Dan said. After studying classical and jazz theory at Cabrillo College and heading to UCSC as a young hippie, he found that there was no electric bass program in the music department, but he could study upright acoustic bass and earn a degree. He wasn’t familiar with the upright bass until one day he went into Mobo Sushi in Santa Cruz and saw bassists Tom Bockhold and Stan Poplin jamming along with a vibraphonist. “It kind of blew my mind,” he said. 

Now Dan plays both electric and upright bass. If he’s playing bluegrass or jazz he’ll use the upright, which offers more nuance. He’s working on his “arco,” or bowing technique, but usually plucks the strings with his fingers “pizzicato.” If he’s slapping out the funk, Samba, or Brazilian, he uses his custom modified red 6-string electric which he calls “The Red Bass,” though at a gig he might switch between instruments for variety. “I want to keep things funky and make people dance, but I’m also looking at being expressive and fluid.”

When you’re playing that big double bass, sometimes called “the doghouse,” Dan said, “I call it equal parts music, dance, and wrestling. You’re moving around that thing and wrestling with it and you’re sweating and using all your body to get around it and manipulate it and get it under your hands and fingers in order to get the music out.” Listening to newgrass bassists such as Paul Kowert of the Punch Brothers and Edgar Meyer have been big influences in understanding bluegrass fundamentals. “Playing better bluegrass made me a better jazz player,” he said. “But that visceral feeling of playing jazz is not the same when you’re playing the electric bass. It took me years learning how to swing on an electric bass playing jazz.” 

Everyone Needs a Bass Player

Dan is on the hot list as a session musician for bands looking for a real personality to join them on stage or in the studio. He’s established himself as an in-demand musical voice, which he says, “is a real thrill. It makes me feel good about what I’m doing now, getting hired to be me, not just a bass player who fills in on a gig.”

Dan has done some incredible jobs. He’s played with the late Santa Cruz vocalist Tammi Brown and with Grammy winning jazz bass player Christian McBride at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater. A career highlight, Dan says check out Christian McBride & Dan Robbins “In a Hurry” Bass Duel on YouTube. Another high point Dan remembers was being invited to join California Poet Laureate Al Young on a two-week book tour up and down the state playing libraries, coffee shops, and theaters. Playing purely off the cuff, Dan said, “I had to step up there with no amp and entertain and paint a picture with just the bass, improvised and never to be heard again.” The two recorded an album together, The Sea, The Sky, and You and I: Poetry and Bass with Al Young and Dan Robbins.

Highly sought after as a teacher, Dan offers one-on-one classes at San Jose State, Santa Clara University, and at home in the Santa Cruz area and is an educator with Monterey Jazz Festival, Cabrillo Jazz Festival, and the San Jose Jazz Society. 

“I consider myself deeply spiritual,” Dan said. “Music is my medicine and my therapy. It’s how I feel like I can do the greatest good for the planet, if I can make people happy and spread some love and joy… and humor and weirdness with all my effect pedals, make people smile or laugh, that’s the best thing I can do.” You can only choose so many ways to spend your time, Dan said, so he heads outdoors as much as possible, hiking and biking, walking his dog, and pursuing his new hobby, birding. You’ll definitely find him in the audience at venues all over the county savoring local craft brews and thoroughly enjoying a wide variety of musical styles. 

Where to Find Dan Robbins Live

• Wasabi w/ Gary Kehoe at The Crepe Place Friday, February 27 | $10 Door
• Remembering Laurel Canyon a Benefit for Hospice of Santa Cruz County at Kuumbwa Jazz Friday, March 6 | Tix: thewheelcompany.com
• Gary Meek Band Birthday Celebration at Wave Street Studios in Monterey on March 15. Tix: wavestreetlive774.com
• Honoring Tammi Brown, A Benefit for the American Cancer Society at The Grove Santa Cruz Event Center on Sunday, March 22. Tix: thewheelcompany.com

Wasabi’s new album is called “Wide Open” available on vinyl or CD, or download from your favorite sites. 

wasabitheband.com | IG @wasabitheband
danrobbinsmusic.com | FB @danrobbinsbass