Tal Wilkenfeld (born 2 December 1986) is an Australian bassist, singer and songwriter. She has performed with artists including Chick Corea, Jeff Beck, Prince, Incubus, Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock, Toto, and Mick Jagger. In 2008, Wilkenfeld was voted "The Year's Most Exciting New Player" in a Bass Player magazine readers' choice poll. In 2013, Wilkenfeld was awarded the Bass Player magazine's "Young Gun Award".
Wilkenfeld is a bandleader of her own bands in which she sings, plays bass, and plays guitar. In earlier work, she was backed by musicians such as Wayne Krantz and Vinnie Colaiuta. She opened for the Who on the North American leg of The Who Hits 50! tour in 2016. In 2016, she released a single entitled "Corner Painter" featuring Blake Mills and Benmont Tench. Also in 2016, Rolling Stone said that Wilkenfeld was "working on new music that sees her evolving from an instrumental prodigy into a formidable singer-songwriter." On 15 March 2019, Wilkenfeld released her vocal debut album Love Remains, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseeker charts on the first week of its release. Love Remains has been highly praised by the press and was featured in Rolling Stone, Relix, Paste, Billboard, and Forbes. Rolling Stone described her vocal debut as having "ten dense, riff-heavy tracks with brazen, introspective lyrics—prove her songwriting abilities." Wilkenfeld has also been a guest on popular podcasts, including WTF with Marc Maron, Lex Fridman and Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast.
Wilkenfeld has recorded on projects with Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, Toto, Todd Rundgren, Macy Gray, Dr. John, Trevor Rabin, Jackson Browne, Joe Walsh, Rod Stewart, John Mayer, Sting, Ben Harper, David Gilmour, Pharrell, Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Wayne Shorter, Prince, Susan Tedeschi, Hans Zimmer and Carlos Santana.
Tap on any album for track list.
Spinal Tap, Tal Wilkenfeld, and Thundercat turned “Big Bottom” into a five-bass showcase on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The low end ruled the night.
Tal Wilkenfeld has long been a favorite among No Treble readers, and 2024 was no exception. This year brought a mix of exciting videos from her career, blending both new highlights and timeless classics. These standout moments earned Tal her place on No Treble’s 2024 Reader Favorite Bassists list.
Filmed during the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, here’s Beck and his band, which included Tal Wilkenfeld performing The Beatles song, “A Day in the Life.”
Andy Summers shared a video yesterday titled “Jamming with Tal…” In this clip, they perform The Police’s “Walking On The Moon,” with Tal Wilkenfeld handling the vocals.
Tal Wilkenfeld was a guest on Lex Fridman’s podcast, and she shared this segment, reflecting on her 2007 Crossroads performance with Jeff Beck.
