Biography
Pino Palladino and Blake Mills is the name used for the ongoing studio and live collaboration between Welsh bassist, songwriter and producer Pino Palladino (b. 1957, Cardiff, Wales) and American guitarist, songwriter, singer and producer Blake Mills (b. 1986, Santa Monica, California). Palladino is widely regarded as one of the most influential session bassists of the last four decades, known for his fretless bass work with Paul Young in the early 1980s and later for recordings and tours with artists such as D’Angelo, The Who, John Mayer, and many others.[4][6] Mills emerged from Los Angeles’ rock scene as a founding member of Simon Dawes (which later became Dawes) before establishing himself as a distinctive solo artist and an in‑demand producer whose credits include Alabama Shakes, Perfume Genius, Dawes and Sara Watkins.[1] Their collaboration formally crystallized on Palladino’s first album as a leader, the co‑billed project Notes With Attachments (New Deal/Impulse!, 2021), followed by the duo’s second album That Wasn’t a Dream (2025), both presented under their two names together.[1][3][6]
The partnership grew out of studio work on John Legend’s album Darkness and Light, where the two first connected creatively.[2] Palladino initially began Notes With Attachments as a solo endeavor after decades as a sideman, sending sketches and partially completed compositions to Mills; over roughly two years the material evolved into a true duo project, with Mills co‑writing, producing and playing on the sessions and helping to shape Palladino’s ideas into finished pieces.[2][5] Working largely between their respective studios and trading files back and forth, they assembled an eight‑track set that draws on shared influences from West African and Cuban music, funk, jazz and English folk, while maintaining a borderless, small‑ensemble instrumental feel that resists easy genre classification.[1][2] Critics have highlighted the records as rare opportunities to hear the music that had “been marinating inside Palladino’s head” all these years, while also showcasing Mills’ experimental approach to guitar textures, production and arrangement.[2][5] As a duo, their legacy centres on redefining what a bassist‑led, guitar‑forward project can sound like in contemporary improvised and groove‑based music, emphasizing melodic bass, subtle production detail, and an exploratory but song‑centric aesthetic.[1][2][5]
Mills’ broader career frames the collaboration: after leaving Simon Dawes, he worked as a touring guitarist for Jenny Lewis, Band of Horses, Lucinda Williams and Julian Casablancas, then released solo albums such as Break Mirrors (2010), Heigh Ho (2014), the instrumental Look (2018), and Mutable Set (2020), all noted for inventive guitar work and sophisticated songwriting.[1] Palladino’s wider body of work spans fretless, fretted and upright bass in rock, soul, R&B, pop and jazz contexts; he first came to prominence with Paul Young’s hit “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” in 1983, later became closely associated with neo‑soul via D’Angelo’s Voodoo, and spent many years as touring bassist with The Who from 2002 to 2017.[4][6][8] Against that backdrop, the Pino Palladino and Blake Mills projects stand as late‑career, co‑authored statements that foreground composition, texture and ensemble interplay over virtuoso display, while quietly influencing a generation of players interested in hybridizing jazz, alternative, and global rhythmic languages.[2][4][5]
Blake Mills grew up in Southern California and began his professional journey as a teenage guitarist and songwriter, co‑founding the band Simon Dawes with Taylor Goldsmith; the group released the EP What No One Hears (2005) and the album Carnivore (2006) before he left and the remaining members renamed the band Dawes.[1] After departing, Mills became a sought‑after touring and session guitarist, working with Jenny Lewis and serving as a hired gun for Band of Horses, Lucinda Williams and Julian Casablancas.[1] His first solo album Break Mirrors was conceived largely as a portfolio to attract production and session work, but its originality in writing, arranging and production drew critical acclaim and established him as an artist in his own right.[1] He went on to produce and co‑produce records for Jesca Hoop (The House That Jack Built), Sara Watkins (Sun Midnight Sun), and later Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color, which brought him a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year (Non‑Classical) and a share in the band’s Best Alternative Album win.[1]
Pino Palladino was born Giuseppe Henry Palladino in Cardiff, Wales, to an Italian father and Welsh mother, and initially played guitar before switching to bass in his teens.[4][6][8] He first attracted international attention in the early 1980s through his lyrical fretless bass work with British singer Paul Young, particularly on the 1983 hit “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home),” where his singing tone and use of a fretless Music Man StingRay with octave effects became a signature sound of the era.[4][8] Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he became a ubiquitous session player across pop, rock and soul, later working with artists such as Gary Numan, Go West, Elton John, and Don Henley, and by the late 1990s and 2000s he was anchoring projects ranging from D’Angelo’s Voodoo to live and studio work with The Who and John Mayer.[4][6][8] Despite this visibility, he generally avoided the spotlight until, in partnership with Blake Mills, he stepped forward as a co‑leader on Notes With Attachments and subsequently That Wasn’t a Dream, which emphasize his compositional voice as much as his celebrated bass playing.[3][5][6]
Musically, the Pino Palladino and Blake Mills collaboration is characterized by intricate rhythmic ideas, deeply melodic bass lines, subtle yet adventurous guitar and production work, and a fluid ensemble concept that draws from jazz, funk, Afro‑Caribbean and folk forms without settling neatly into any single genre.[1][2][5] The duo’s work gives Palladino space to explore harmonic and textural ideas that were previously only hinted at in his sideman roles, while Mills’ production, co‑writing and guitar contributions provide a frame that is simultaneously experimental and accessible.[2][5] Their recordings often feature a rotating cast of high‑level improvisers and studio players, such as saxophonist Sam Gendel, drummer Chris Dave, keyboardist Larry Goldings and multi‑instrumentalist Rob Moose, reinforcing the sense of a small, borderless ensemble whose focus is on collective sound rather than individual display.[1][2][5]
In the context of modern instrumental and hybrid jazz‑adjacent music, the Palladino–Mills partnership has been seen by critics as a model for how a veteran session musician and a younger producer‑guitarist can co‑author work that both honors their histories and pushes into less commercial but artistically ambitious territory.[2][5] The success of Notes With Attachments in musician circles and specialist press, and Palladino’s explicit identification of it as his first solo‑artist statement, underscore how this pairing has reshaped perceptions of him from pure sideman to composer and bandleader.[4][5][6] For Mills, the projects further cement his reputation as a “musician’s musician” producer and collaborator, capable of bringing out hidden aspects of other artists’ musical personalities while still imprinting records with his own experimental, detail‑oriented sonic identity.[1][2][5]
Their second co‑billed album, That Wasn’t a Dream, was described by Palladino in an interview as his “second album with Blake Mills,” highlighting that the duo now functions as an ongoing artistic unit rather than a one‑off experiment, and that they intend to continue touring with an ensemble featuring Chris Dave and Sam Gendel to bring the material into a live, improvisatory context.[3][6] In this way, “Pino Palladino and Blake Mills” can be understood less as a fixed band and more as a flexible collaborative platform centred on their shared aesthetic of groove, subtlety and sonic exploration.[1][2]
Fun Facts
- Pino Palladino released his first true leader/co‑leader album only in 2021—Notes With Attachments with Blake Mills—despite having been one of the most in‑demand bassists in popular music since the early 1980s.[4][5][6]
- Their collaboration started somewhat accidentally: Palladino initially envisioned the material that became Notes With Attachments as a solo project, but as he kept sending sketches to Mills, it evolved into a fully co‑billed album with shared writing and production.[2][5]
- Blake Mills originally made his debut solo record Break Mirrors mainly as a calling card to get more session and production work, not to launch a solo‑artist career; its critical success unexpectedly pushed him toward the spotlight he had not initially sought.[1]
- Palladino and Mills have cited West African and Cuban music, funk, jazz and English folk among the wide‑ranging influences feeding into Notes With Attachments, which helps explain why the album resists straightforward genre labels.[1][2]
Musical Connections
Mentors/Influences
- Paul Young - Early‑career bandleader whose music first brought Pino Palladino’s distinctive fretless bass style to international attention, shaping his melodic approach and profile as a session musician. (Paul Young – “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” and other early 1980s recordings) [early–mid 1980s]
- D’Angelo - Neo‑soul bandleader whose Voodoo sessions and tour deepened Palladino’s connection to groove‑oriented, R&B‑inflected bass concepts that later inform the rhythmic feel of his projects with Blake Mills. (D’Angelo – Voodoo and associated live work) [late 1990s–early 2000s]
- Simon Dawes (with Taylor Goldsmith) - Foundational band experience for Blake Mills, shaping his songwriting, guitar style and understanding of collaborative rock ensembles before he moved into solo and producer work. (Simon Dawes – What No One Hears (EP), Carnivore) [mid 2000s]
Key Collaborators
- Sam Gendel - Saxophonist and multi‑instrumentalist who is a key voice in the Palladino–Mills ensemble, contributing distinctive woodwind textures on their studio projects and live performances. (Notes With Attachments; touring band for That Wasn’t a Dream) [2020s]
- Chris Dave - Drummer whose elastic, groove‑centric playing underpins the rhythmic feel of the duo’s work, both on record and in live settings. (Notes With Attachments sessions; touring lineup for That Wasn’t a Dream) [2020s]
- Larry Goldings - Keyboardist who adds harmonic depth and jazz‑inflected voicings to Palladino and Mills’ recordings. (Notes With Attachments) [around 2021]
- Rob Moose - Strings arranger and multi‑instrumentalist who has worked with Mills on his solo material and appears among the extended circle of players tied to the duo’s projects. (Blake Mills – Mutable Set; sessions overlapping with the Palladino collaboration) [late 2010s–early 2020s]
- John Legend - Singer‑songwriter whose album sessions first brought Palladino and Mills together in the studio, indirectly sparking their later duo work. (John Legend – Darkness and Light) [mid 2010s]
Artists Influenced
- Contemporary bassists in rock, pop, and neo‑soul scenes - Palladino’s melodic fretless style and later pocket‑focused electric bass work on landmark recordings have been widely cited in musician press and education materials as models for modern session and groove bass playing, which in turn influences younger players drawn to projects like Notes With Attachments. (Influence flowing from “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)”, D’Angelo’s Voodoo, and the Palladino–Mills albums Notes With Attachments and That Wasn’t a Dream.) [1990s–2020s]
External Links
References
Heard on WWOZ
Pino Palladino Blake Mills has been played 2 times on WWOZ 90.7 FM, New Orleans' jazz and heritage station.
| Date | Time | Title | Show | Spotify |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 9, 2026 | 06:54 | Taka | The Morning Setw/ Dave Dauterive | |
| Nov 4, 2025 | 08:40 | That Was A Dreamfrom That Wasn't A Dream | The Morning Setw/ Fox Duhon or Mark LaMaire |