Pre-2015: Concerts, Festivals, Residencies, & More

Outside of the studio recording, Bunny Brunel was a core part of the Matters of the Heart Album Launch Concert held on October 30

, 2013, at Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore. He also appears on the spoken-word final track, “American Pilgrimage Collage,” which features conversations between the collaborators.

In 2007, Bunny Brunel  reached a career pinnacle as the Music Director, Conductor, and Bassist for French icon Michel Polnareff’s legendary “Ze (re) Tour.” Following a ten-night, sold-out residency at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Brunel directed an elite supergroup through 40 arena dates across France, Belgium, and Monaco. The tour’s definitive moment occurred on July 14, 2007, at the Champ de Mars at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Performing for the Bastille Day Concert de la Fraternité, Brunel led the musical architecture for a documented live and broadcast audience of over 3 million people, marking one of the largest live music events in history. To meet the production’s high technical demands, Brunel hand-picked a world-class ensemble of virtuosos, including Virgil Donati (Drums), Tony MacAlpine (Lead Guitar), Freddie Fox (Rhythm Guitar), and Mino Cinelu (Percussion), alongside keyboardists including Brad Cole, and a powerhouse vocal section featuring Judith Hill, Julie Delgado, and Nina Harris. This monumental spectacle was captured in the triple-platinum live album and DVD, Ze (re)Tour 2007, cementing Brunel’s status as a premier Music Director. 

The L.A. Zoo project, active between 1998 and 2004, was a high-energy jazz-fusion residency and recording series led by bassist Bunny Brunel that showcased an unlikely but potent mix of rock and jazz virtuosists. This “supergroup” featured Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard, Dio) on guitar, the legendary Brian Auger on the Hammond B3 organ, and drumming powerhouse Virgil Donati. The project originally debuted with the album L.A. Zoo in 1998, which was born out of intense live residency sessions at various Los Angeles clubs where the musicians would stretch out on complex, improvisational fusion tracks. The series culminated in the 2004 release of L.A. Zoo Revisited, an updated version of the original work that included re-recorded bass and drum parts and new tracks, further solidifying the group’s reputation for blending heavy rock sensibilities with intricate jazz structures.

 

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2002: Musicians Institute (Hollywood, CA) – CAB Live Recording (Bunny Brunel, Tony MacAlpine, Virgil Donati, Patrice Rushen)

The 2002 live recording at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood stands as a definitive document of the jazz-fusion supergroup CAB at the height of its technical powers. This specific performance featured the core powerhouse trio of bassist Bunny Brunel, guitarist Tony MacAlpine, and drummer Virgil Donati, augmented by the sophisticated keyboard work of Patrice Rushen. The setlist captured the band’s signature blend of heavy rock shredding and complex jazz improvisation, featuring standout renditions of tracks like “Madeline” and “Night Splash.” While high-resolution press photography from this specific era is largely confined to the physical liner notes of the resulting CAB Live album, multi-camera video footage of the session has been archived on platforms like YouTube, offering a rare visual look at the intense chemistry between these four virtuosos in an intimate clinic-style setting.

The live recording from the Musicians Institute in 2002 was eventually released as a double CD set, which typically features candid shots of the musicians in action on its cover and inside its liner notes. Similar live footage and photography from this period, such as the Live on Sunset session, show the high-intensity performance environment shared by Bunny Brunel, Tony MacAlpine, and Virgil Donati. While Patrice Rushen joined for the 2002 MI date, much of the band’s official visual history focuses on the core trio that defined their early albums like CAB and CAB 2.

 

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February 26, 1997: 39th Annual GRAMMY Awards (NY) – Ella Fitzgerald Tribute: Natalie Cole feat. Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Jack DeJohnette, Bunny Brunel

At the 39th Annual GRAMMY Awards held on February 26, 1997, at Madison Square Garden in New York, a high-profile tribute was staged for jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald, who had passed away the previous June. The performance featured

On July 27, 1980, the Chick Corea Band delivered a landmark performance at the Denen Coliseum in Tokyo as part of the celebrated Live Under the Sky festival. This high-energy set featured a unique collaboration between Corea’s core fusion quartet and the legendary Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe. The lineup brought together Chick Corea on keyboards, Bunny Brunel on bass, Tom Brechtlein on drums, and Don Alias on percussion, creating a powerful rhythmic foundation for Watanabe’s melodic excursions. The concert is widely regarded as a pinnacle of the jazz fusion era, blending Corea’s intricate compositions with the soaring, lyrical style of Watanabe. Bunny Brunel’s virtuosic fretless bass work was a centerpiece of the performance, providing both the deep groove and the melodic counterpoint necessary to navigate the complex arrangements. Bunny played a critical role on both album Secret Agent for which he was hired as Stanley Clarke’s predecessor and Tap Step where his musical imprint is scattered throughout the release.

This specific show was captured for a live album and remains a fan favorite for its technical brilliance and the seamless chemistry between the American and Japanese jazz masters. The recording from this night highlights the “all-star” nature of the festival, which was known for pairing international giants in one-of-a-kind settings. Tracks like “Sea Journey” and “Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly” showcased the band’s ability to balance tight, synchronized sections with expansive, improvisational solos. For collectors and historians, this Tokyo performance serves as a definitive document of Bunny Brunel’s significant role in Chick Corea’s most influential touring ensembles of the early 1980s.