Bilbo

Thousands of albums come and go as we move through life but there are always a handful that stay with us and which we never tire of. For me, there ones that never seem to grow stale include... Nova - Vimana - a 1976 LP by an Italian fusion outfit but with Percy Jones on bass. Impossible to locate but there are some tracks in Youtube (Vimana, Night Games, The Princess and The Frog) Bill Bruford - Feels Good To Me (1978) Jeff Berlin's finest moment with Annette Peacock, Allan Holdsworth, Dave Stewart and Kenny Wheeler) Kenny Wheeler - Music for Large and Small Ensembles (1990) Marc Johnson - Bass Desires (1985) John Scofiled, Bill Frissel, Peter Ersking - stunning Dave Holland - Extensions (1990)Holland, Steve Coleman, Kevin Eubanks and Marvin Smitty Smith Jaco Pastorius - Twins - the US double LP version (recorded 1982 but released 1999) Joe Lovano - Landmarks (1990) - Lovano, Marc Johnson, Bill Stewart, Kenny Werner, John Abercrombie but this one is greater than the sum of it's parts Genesis - Seconds Out (1976?) - every track a gem - love lots of their stuff but this one was the one that broke them for me Branford Marsalis - Trio Jeepy Yes - Close To The Edge - my first prog LP There are so many more but these are the ones that come to mind and which I occasionally go back to whilst others are long, long gone. What are your keepers?

Viggo Mortensen plays piano and records with Buckethead

I don't think I am going to get there this month. I had an idea that moved someway forward but then I went on holiday, the in-laws moved in pending purchase of their new house (imminent, thank God) and all music activity went south. Can't see how I am going to get to it before the deadline. I have to admit, I wasn't totally inspired by the picture and the world is unlikely to stop turning for want of hearing the piece of sh*te I was preparing so there are not that many drivers in place to make it happen 'against the odds'!!

Author Stephen King played guitar for the rock band Rock Bottom Remainders, several of whose members are authors. Other members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Matt Groening, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry, and Greg Iles. Woody Allen play a credible jazz clarinet and has his own band. Clint Eastwood plays Jazz piano and Dustim Hoffman is also an accomplished pianist but more in the classical vein. Not sure if these last two are in bands per se but they do play and very well. Comedian Steve Martin plays banjo and guitar in bands, Kevin Bacon plays in a coutntry band (The Bacon Brothers), Jack Black leads Teacious D, Jeff Bridges plays piano (see The Fabulous Baker Boys), Ryan Gosling (Dead Man's Bones), Billy Bob THornton plays in a country band, Alan Arkin sand with a olk group, Pauline MOrna (Miss Lemon in Poirot) was a bass player as was Mr. Kidd from Diamonds Are Forever (Putter Smith). Charlie CHaplin was a muso (wrote 'Smile', amongst others).. I guess it is a common thing to work in more than one field of art. There are lots of musician/photgraphers, musician/authors, musician/painters etc. Makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Interestingly, there is a version of this on youtube with Geddy's bass mixed forward in the mix. What is enlightening (and gives us all al ittle hope) is the fact that, when you listen to it, you realise where his bass was dropped in. All those monster fills where he plays agasint Peart's drum fills were all drop ins. Also to hear how dirty the bass was. The interesting thing as it relates to the lick under discussion is that the first triplet is even and doesn;t have a double note on the first note of the triplet as the aboive transcription would suggest. I heard it as a two eighth notes as well but it isn't.

With all the whizz-bang gunslingers out there playing bass, I just wanted to give credit to the guys who play their Jazz slow and with consideration. Few can say as much with so little as Charlie Haden and Steve Swallow. Deep notes and [i]deep[/i] notes. Kudos also to Jim Hall, Thelonious Monk, Stan Tracy, Bill Frissel and Paul Motian; musicians with real depth to their playing and who never chose to hide behind a flurry of notes.

With all the whizz-bang gunslingers out there playing bass, I just wanted to give credit to the guys who play their Jazz slow and with consideration. Few can say as much with so little as Charlie Haden and Steve Swallow. Deep notes and [i]deep[/i] notes. Kudos also to Jim Hall, Thelonious Monk, Stan Tracy, Bill Frissel and Paul Motian; musicians with real depth to their playing and who never chose to hide behind a flurry of notes.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1405435798' post='2501885'] I only know his playing from Survivors Suite by Keith Jarret, very nice and pretty understated. Cool player. RIP [/quote] Then you have a lot of previously unheard but stunning music to listen to As have I. His discography is massive and, even as a fan, I have only scratched the surface. I only found this yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VkHjig6MSI

This is astonishingly poignant, given the circumstances. It features Haden himself on vocals. Thanks to Georgia Mancio for drawing it to my attention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErhpYoXA4Dk

Not watched the videos but it is interesting to note how the Jazz divas of the last few decades are wearing less and less on their cd covers (look at Diana Krall's cds in order of release). It is not a particularly 'noble' trait and, frankly, demeans all involved. Great musicians but do they need this?

Listen to some Charlie Haden and remember the point of it all.

If I Had A Million Dollars and The Big Bang thing..... that's my lot.

I know this track but cannot get a handle on what part of it the 'tricky first bit' refers to. Can someone indicate the point in the track where this line occurs (e.g. 1.10 or 3.20 etc). Or write out the dots

I find that having teh amp louder and digging in less means you have MORE dynamic control rahter than less. If you have to dig in to get heard, you have nowhere to go in terms of accents etc. If you are playing gently and being heard, you can easily make a note pop out with just your fingers. The best parallel I can think of is a snare drummer. YOu can play an even roll at one level and then play accents by hitting that little bit harder to make a beat stand out. If ALL of the beats are loud, you cannot draw attention to one accented note. Turn up and play softer.

I think there are other cultural considerations involved in this. Most of the UK is relatively sparcely populated and the idea of any bar outside of London and a couple of other cities being able to fill itself with a credible audience for 5 hours a night on anything other than a Friday or Saturday night is close to fantasy. Add the issue of genres of preference, work patterns, available disposable income etc etc and you have very few areas that could even begin to sustain a scene that would allow for 4 or 5 hour gigs on anything other than an VERY exceptional occasion. I have done Jazz gigs where I have done 4 x 45m sets but have found them interminable and exhausting. As a reader, I have an endless repretoire so it is not about knowing enough material, it is about audiences having the stamina, venues having the audiences to justify that much music etc. I know a lot of US venues practice clearing the venue for each set (Village Vanguard used to do this, I believe) so each set has a different audience. Also eating out in the US is more common than it is in the UK so that may have some bearing on audience size. It is also cheaper, as is fuel, alcohol etc. All sorts of factors are at play here.

Always seemed to have a huge amount of integrity.

Word is coming out that the great bassist Charlie Haden has passed away. I know he has been ill for a long time but am not sure of cause of death yet. Will post if I hear anything. One of my greatest influences in recent years.

My 'beef' is simply that the work involved in translating tab into music is as great as learning dots. So why bother with a shortcut that isn't? Tab is bass-centric and of no use outside of bass-palying. Dots can be passed to a pianist, trombone player, cellist etc etc and (nowadays, at the flick of a switch, transposed up and octave, into treble, alto and tenor clef for sax, trumpet, guitar etc etc. Tab is more like a jigsaw than painting by numbers. It only works if you have the lid

I agree. A high C on a fretless just lacks the warmth and body of a high G. The difference is about 5 notes that. at the top of the neck, sound like sh*t whereas the extra 5 at the bottom on a low B sound stunning. No brainer. Using the high C to p[lay chords is the only justification but, on a fretless, this is high risk territory and even on a fretted sounds lumpy as fcuk. B to G is the one for me. He says! My fretless is a four string and my five string double bass is tuned E - C. Maybe I just need to shut the f*uk up.

In light of lobematt's discussions, I thought it was time we had a conversation about Tab, the practice of representing nots by indicating the fret that each note of a line is played upon in order to allow non-readers a 'short cut' to learning the parts without having to learn to read conventional notation. To be blunt, that is the most dumbass piece of logic I have ever come across in my 33 years of playing. In order to work out something off a tab sheet, particularly something complicated that you may not be able to pick up by ear, you will need to spend at least as much time fart-arsing with it as you would learning it by ear off the recording. If you can't read, learn parts using some sort of transcribing software that slows things down. If you can't 'hear' a part that way, you sure as hell won't be able to figure it out from a tab sheet. If you want to learn how to read something, learn to read the dots. I don't mean sight read fly sh*t on toilet paper, just learn enough to find the notes and translate them onto the neck in the same way you would a tab chart. Reading dots enough for practice and learning is not as demanding as reading dots on a gig but it is useful in communicating ideas. Or am I wrong? Again.

6/10 and I was guessing most of the time. Who the hell are half of these bands? Vampire Weekend? Haim? Never heard of half of them, never mind their bass players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aH4DAa-B_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F-awFT0hi4

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1404423050' post='2492601'] I don't think of Joao Bosco, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Luis Bonfa as what i would describe simply as Latin music. All are in the MPB ( Musica Popular Brasiliera) section of my music collection which is a whole seperate genre to me. [/quote] They are what they are and all play a much wider scope than pure pop. Bossa, Samba, Samba Reggae blah, blah, blah. Given the nature of trhe query, I think this level of detail is premature. They were included in the list because they come under the umbrella of Latin Music (and are all featured in encyclopedias of Latin Music accordingly). [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKChV_aBLcc[/media]

Ney Conceição is on a lot of Bosco's stuff.

Bugger - I am going on holiday that day. Third gig I have had to turn down!