Bilbo

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1406650163' post='2513448'] Surely not Bilbo. [/quote] Damn right it's not me. I love Chuck Israel's playing.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1406626586' post='2513060'] Last Sunday with Ivo Neame. Bad hair (it was really hot) and bad left arm technique!! I need to watch that!! [/quote] Many will observe the similarity between my photograph here and my avatar. This is not a coincidence. I really like the sound of one particular note on the C string and only ever play that note. It is my gig so no-one complains but I never get booked anywhere else.

CH161 is right but there are Blues standards, Rock standards, Folk standards and Reggae standards etc. It is all about having a generally recognised set of tunes that 'most' people know. There is no absolute consensus and, as a Jazz performer who works with different artists every week, I can tell you that not everyone knows the list of tunes that everyone is supposed to 'know' and every little clique of musicians has its own list. A handy fake book or ireal book covers a multitude of omissions but, for rock, pop etc, these are harder to come by as charts are less common and you really are expected to know the tunes.

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1406586679' post='2512873'] 1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a, [/quote] I always thought that was the most clumsy, complicated way of 'simplifying' a bar of music. You need to concentrate more on this 'paradiddle from hell' AND read the music in front of you I intially found it easy enough to read quarter notes and eight notes but got lost on sixteeths. I made great progress when, in study (as opposed to when reading 'for real'), I broke everything down into four beats. A bar of quarter notes is four beats, a half bar of eighth notes is four beats and a quarter bar of sixteenths is four beats. That way, everything read the same, it was just a case of learning the 'shape' of each bar in it's entirity so you can read it properly. An example would be a single bar of sixteenth notes would be 'read' as four bars of quarter notes. Now I can 'see' a rhythm much more easily and, if a bar causes me a headache, I can 'talk' my way through it very easily.

I have had some exciting new finds recently including a Joachim Kuhn CD with Daniel Humair and J.F. Jenny-Clark - the tune Heavy Birthday is absolutely stunning; piano trio at it's best. If you like the energy from Hiromi's trio or Michel Camilo, this is like this but with three astonishingly creative musicians taking it to another level. Also a lovely Paul Bley solo cd, 'Play Blue', Mirsolav Vitous' newly re-released cd with Jon Surman and Kenny Kirkland and Arild Andersen's trio with Tommy Smith. Have been revisiting Charlie Haden a lot since his passing and rediscovering the majesty of his playing; his discography is astonishing. Much music to enjoy.

Talking of compensation; apparently, there is £2,649 waiting for me in compensation for that accident I had last year. I was hoping for more, being as how the injuries incurred have wiped all memory of the incident from my mind. No wonder I can't remember the middle eight on All The Things You Are.

One Of A Kind - Bruford! ANother great album but I preferred FGTM.

Absolutely. I was happy to let most of my vinyl go in the knowledge that, on the two occasions I would ever want to listen to Tales of Topographic Oceans again, I could do so on Spotify!!

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1406636682' post='2513224'] Song Of Seven is pretty good too. [/quote] I actually listened to that track on Sunday on Spotify. It is a good album and I also like Olias of Sunhillow but Animation was head a shoulders above both of them. Superb LP (yes, I had it on vinyl as with the other two).

If you want drum lessons, go ahead.

John Abercrombie Trio - Current Events

I am ot altogether sure that bands at charity events offer that much additionlity, really. If it's not a 'gig' per se, then just play some cds over a pa. Family events for charity are like weddings, the audience is too varied for any one band to appeal and you end up playing to an audience of uninterested passers by. All pertty pointless.

Not a great turnout this month - now I feel bad. Must try harder, must try harder.

We all heard Herbe Hancock's 'New Standards' CD a while back, where he @Jazzed' up a few pop songs but there are loads of interesting takes on non-Jazz tunes that deserve a look. No time boundaries, just some interesting takes on songs not originally written for Jazz performance. Some favourites of mine include: Medeski, Martin, Wood and Scofiled - Julia (a Beatles tune) - the recorded version is stunning Vijay Iyer - Human Nature - energetic take Ben Allison - Philadelphia (Neil Young) and 'We've Only Just Begun' (The Carepnters - the arrangement of this is amazing) The Bad Plus - Roundabout (Yes - really interesting take on the old prog classic) Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden - 'Some Day I'll Fly Away' (Randy Crawford - beautiful version) There are loads more. Anyone got any favourites of their own?

We all heard Herbe Hancock's 'New Standards' CD a while back, where he @Jazzed' up a few pop songs but there are loads of interesting takes on non-Jazz tunes that deserve a look. No time boundaries, just some interesting takes on songs not originally written for Jazz performance. Some favourites of mine include: Medeski, Martin, Wood and Scofiled - Julia (a Beatles tune) - the recorded version is stunning Vijay Iyer - Human Nature - energetic take Ben Allison - Philadelphia (Neil Young) and 'We've Only Just Begun' (The Carepnters - the arrangement of this is amazing) The Bad Plus - Roundabout (Yes - really interesting take on the old prog classic) Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden - 'Some Day I'll Fly Away' (Randy Crawford - beautiful version) There are loads more. Anyone got any favourites of their own?

Last Sunday with Ivo Neame. Bad hair (it was really hot) and bad left arm technique!! I need to watch that!!

At the risk of ruffling a few feathers, if you want a fuller sound, I would ditch the GK. Those cabs are a bit crap and, to me, sound boxy. I swear by my Acoutsic Image stuff and it sounds great, much fuller and warmer (and louder) than the GKs (I have had three over the years and found them all wanting). The AI kit is twice the price of the GK but worth every penny.

The slowest tune I ever heard was by Marc Johnson on his second Bass Desire LP 'Second Sight'. That track was called 'Sweet Soul'. The tempo is geological. Steve Swallow's tune 'Away' from John Scofield's 'Quiet' album is another sublime offering. Charlie Haden? Try 'For All We Know' or 'Where Can I Go Without You' off his duo album with Keith Jarrett (Jasmine - 'One Day I'll Fly Away' is another gem)) or the Rejoicing LP with Pat Metheny (Lonely Woman). No flash, just pure music.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1406481616' post='2511815'] In most cases, I would suggest that they need to pull their finger out, get a bigger amp and get shredding. [/quote] Tit

Never regretted selling a bass (I don't do it often) but I do regret letting an old Ibanez Artist guitar go when I was younger. As I now have an ES175 and a Epiphone 335 I am sorted but I do wonder what possessed me to get rid of that old Ibanez. I swapped it for an acoustic I still own but should have held onto it.

I was in a band with these two guys (at the same time): Grant Nicholas (Feeder) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_nicholas Brian Sperber (producer/engineer Moby, Whitney Houston, Ric Ocasek, Blues Traveler) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Sperber Lots of other peripheral contacts but these were guys I spent a lot of time with and gigged properly with.

Another one I keep going back to is Jon Anderson's 'Animation' LP. I saw the tour and the band were great.

http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=h8-u1ipr8zw

Lovely to see so much great music being celebrated. Music is just the BEST thing

I forgot Shadows and Light by Joni Mitchell!!