Avi Kaplan – Bass Singer extraordinaire!

Everyone knows by now I appreciate singers who go that extra mile to delight their listeners with their voices. None is truer in that respect than Dimash Qudaibergen and for a while now I have struggled to find anyone who is even remotely comparable in vocal agility. Until I tripped across Avi Kaplan.

Avi Kaplan is a Bass vocalist who has an impressive 4.5 – 5 Octave range and his voice is so smooth and dark and rich that I could literally listen to him forever and never get over his voice.

The first time I heard him sing was when he did a guest performance of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire with the incomparable vocal harmonies group, Home Free.

In this performance, Tim Foust (beautiful bass vocalist) of Home Free begins singing the song and Avi comes in with the second line, Austin Brown brings in that crystal clear tenor and then we are off and running with what can only be described as one of the best versions of this song I think I have ever heard, (and it’s been butchered by many for a very long time.) It is such a pleasure to hear it sung so beautifully and by so many talented individuals all in one place all at the same time!
As an aside, this post is going to be largely about Avi Kaplan but a huge acknowledgement of appreciation for the mega talented Home Free, their harmonies are so tight and on point they give you chills, Adam Rupp on the beatboxing sounds like a real drum kit! I will be covering this fabulous band in later posts but for now enjoy this brilliant version of Ring of Fire. (Oh and just for the record, Avi is my kind of man! His charisma leaps off the screen and drags you right in there with him!) You can see just how much he enjoys singing with these guys at the end with that beautiful smile.

So the next song I have posted here is Avi Kaplan – Change on the Rise. This is an absolutely stunning piece of work. I believe the backing vocalisation is also Avi and a layering effect of his voice has been used to provide the beat and percussion. I sat down to listen to this and was putting on basic makeup for the day, I ended up with a warrior streak down my cheek and I was ready to go into battle by the end of the song! So very powerful and inspiring!

In this next video, we hear Avi singing in a much gentler higher octave, but equally as rich in tone and emotion. The lyrics to this song reach inside me and take me on a journey into my own past and brings me back into the present with a smile on my face for the successful journey I have been on, for the realisation I won enough battles to win the war. A beautiful song written and sung by a superbly talented gentleman.

Avi Kaplan was the original Bass vocalist for the ACapella group Pentatonix. He left the group to pursue his own solo career and I for one am very glad he did. In my opinion his talent was stifled in Pentatonix, there are too many singers competing for centre stage and Avi was largely left sitting in the back singing the bass notes. He did get solo opportunities but they were few and far between.

As a solo artist he is finally able to show his full and impressive vocal range, performing the music he wants to be known for. Beautiful.

Avi Kaplan music and information can be found on his official website

www.avikaplanofficial.com

Or find him on YouTube under AviKaplanMusic

As always, I hope you enjoy this selection of music by some of the finest musicians out there today.