About Alana:

Alana Orr is a 24-year-old bassist from Woodstock, NY. She was playing gigs within the first year of owning a bass at age 16. While in Woodstock, she established herself as a well-known bassist, and kept busy gigging, recording, and playing. Alana played with several different bands during her late teens/early twenties and toured with the all-female rock band, Big Sister.

At one point a member of 5 different bands, Alana played opening gigs for Vernon Reid (Guitar Player for Living Colour), George Clinton and members of P-Funk, Zac Alford (the drummer from the B52's and David Bowie), members of Bad Brains and various national reggae acts. In 2005, she relocated to Seattle, Washington and began playing with Altered States Of Funk, whom the Seattle Weekly called "Seattle's funkiest band."

In 2006, Alana was chosen to be the touring bassist for Van Hunt, which included a world tour and opening gigs for Mary J Blige, Anthony Hamilton, Heather Headley, and The Brand New Heavies. As part of Van's band, she also appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O'Brian, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Late Late Show With Craig Feruson, and CD USA.

Alana performs under the name "Duchess Of Funk" and is currently working on an independent project focusing on her original compositions with drummer, Tyler Orion.

A few questions for Alana:

1. What's the best thing about the instrument you play?

I absolutely love the feel of the bass and how you can express so much with it. It's a very versatile instrument, it combines the best of both worlds, rhythm and melody. It's has a very distinguishable range and it really resonates with me, I just love the feel of the low end!

2. Give us one or two of your most memorable moments on stage or in the studio.

This question is a bit tougher, LOL. Well, one of the most recent shows I played with Van Hunt was in Japan and I remember just playing and thinking how it just felt so right to be doing what I love the most and being so grateful that it has brought me around the world. And despite the fact that most of the audience probably couldn't understand most of his words, they understood the music and how it made them feel.

Music being a universal language allowed me to communicate my gratitude and everything I could express to the audience that night and it was definitely a beautiful high that couldn't have been achieved through anything else. ...Well... except maybe sitting in with George Clinton and the 420 Funk Mob as I did last Saturday (how's that for a segway? LOL). That was definitely a trip. The band this time consisted of members of P-Funk whom I've looked up to my entire life (and known for part of it), including Mike "Clip" Payne, Garry Shider, Mike "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton, Lige Curry, Gabe Gonzalez, and a couple of my friends (Anthony "Da Funkscribe" Warner and Mike Theiss of Altered States Of Funk) who got to play the show because they were in need of a keyboard player and a sax player. I was so happy to have hooked them up with the band because they've got to be the biggest P-Funk nuts I know. That show was by far some of the most fun I've had in a long time! The show was sold out and it was a total party!

Double click on the song in the player below
to hear Alana Orr, the "Duchess of Funk."

Alana Orr on MySpace