Bilbo

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!

Kim Mitchell was the guitarist and singer with Max Webster but he has had a solo career post MW. Check out Lemon Wedge from the cd 'Itch'. There is a transcription of the bass part here: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/109178-funky-rock-transcription-kim-mitchells-lemon-wedge/

Joao Bosco, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Celia Cruz, Ozomatli, Airto Moriera, Flora Purim, Dave Valentin, Israel 'Cachao' Lopez, Orlando 'Cachaito' Lopez, The Fort Apache Big Band, Ray Barretto, Robin Jones Latin Sextet, Luis Bonfa, the Buena Vista Social Club, Tito Puente, Afro Cuban All Stars, Santana, Ruben Blades, Ruben Gonzalez, Ibrahim Ferrer.... Come back when you have looked at that lot and I will suggest some more.

I was just reading the Allanah Myles thread and it occured to me how much I have always loved so much of the Rock music that come out of Canada; Rush, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, Max Webster, Kim Mitchell, Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Alanis Morrissette, Avril Lavigne, Bruce Cockburn, April Wine, Pat Travers, FM, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Adams.... not the sort of stuff I listen to any more but the quality was always great. Go Canada!

You are near Jake Newman (Aldershot). Get over to his place for a lesson and talk it over with him. He's a legend!

Cannot watch videos here but try looking up Steps Ahead, Jean Luc Ponty, Dave Valentin, CHick Corea, Return To FOrever, Weather Report, Tribal Tech, Kevin Eubanks, Airto Moriera, Flora Purim, Stanley Clarke, Passport, Dreams, Marcus Miller, Pat Metheny Group....

Always!