Biography

Josh Werner (born September 17, 1974) is an American bassist, producer, painter and songwriter.

Early life

Werner was born in Wisconsin, and grew up in the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee. He studied privately with famed Bassist Richard Davis, before attending the New School Jazz program in New York.

Solo works

In October 2020 his solo bass record Mode For Titan was released on the label MOD reloaded. Consisting of only bass performances and original compositions, this instrumental record was widely met with positive reviews.

In 2016, under the JD Werner moniker he released Station of Lost, a collection of solo produced performed and written songs, made specifically for cassette release, on his Beyond Science imprint.

Collaborations

As a session musician, Werner has worked with Lee “Scratch” Perry, Cibo Matto, Wu-Tang Clan, Vacationer, Ghostface Killah, Mabel, Vybz Kartel, James Brandon Lewis, The Alchemist, Popcaan, Tunde Adebimpe, CocoRosie, The RZA, Sinkane, Sly and Robbie, Matisyahu, K Michelle and is a frequent collaborator of noted American bassist / producer Bill Laswell.

Werner is a former member of Roots Tonic, the original backing band of Matisyahu. He was the bassist and co-writer of the Certified Gold RIAA albums Matisyahu (Live at Stubb's) and the Grammy nominated album Youth. Producer Bill Laswell was so impressed with Youth the band that he invited them to record a dub album with him. The result, Roots Tonic meets Bill Laswell, was released in mid-2006 on Reach Out International Records.

In 2014 Werner co-produced, wrote and performed Helio Parallax, Vol 1, a collection of analog recorded dub and jazz influenced songs in a created genre he coined “Sci-Fi Dub Noir”.

Along with multi-instrumentalist Takuya Nakamura and dub specialist Marihito Ayabe, the record included guest performances from Bianca Casady, Doug Wieselman, Jah Dan and Dustan Louque.

Downbeat magazine awarded the release a 4 star rating, and Bass Player magazine (March 2014) noted, “Josh Werner has re-emerged with a project that spotlights his masterful dub playing.”

In July 2020 Werner was awarded an artist in residence from The Cell Gallery located in New York, NY. As a part of this residency Josh presented various works in different mediums from visual art to music. In lieu of the 2020 pandemic, he was unable to present music to a live audience and instead offered a pre-recorded live performance to be aired at a later date. Werner was able to put together an ensemble of some of the leading improvisers on the New York City scene—James Brandon Lewis, Ches Smith and Patrick Holmes. This live record was released by the RRgems label under the title Resilient Vessels: Live at the Cell.