Bilbo

[quote name='Linus27' timestamp='1330511857' post='1558475'] I must admit, I can't wait for some of the Bilbo and Mani discussions. That could get entertaining [/quote] Does he play in a tribute band?

Never heard of him**. But I suspect he has never heard on me either. Then again, I have not heard of at least 9,985 of the members posting on here so he is in good company (I assume? How would I know). He is welcome, whoever he is. Can he read music? **I am my Dad

I think that's the point. A lot of players who we deem to be 'underrated' (and most of those listed above) are not so much underrated as unremarkable. I get that everyone has their favourite bands, songs, cds etc and each player has their moment to shine but when we talk about people being underrated, there is an implication that they are in some way overlooked geniuses when they are simply journeymen bass players who can deliver a professional product with some level of creativity. The question for me is always 'what would this sound like with a different player'. Now Duff McKagan may have some merits but I can't hear much that couldn't be delivered by any one of 1,000,000 rock bass players from about 15 years of age onwards. Del Palmer is a quiet contributor to Ms. Bush's work but I hear nothing to get overly excited by. Could he be replaced? In a second. Take Jaco off the Heavy Weather cd and its a different album. Take Kasim Sulton off 'Bat Out Of Hell' and its the same album with a different bass player. Competent and capable, yes. Underrated, probably not.

2010 is new. 1959 is 'last season'

The notes of the Bb major scale are Bb C D Eb F G A B. The notes in Parkers lick are Bb G Eb C D F. All are diatonically correct and fit perfectly. It seems that you have a slightly distorted view of the starting point of the Bb major? Were you thinking of the chord tones/arpeggio rather than the scale? It is perfectly acceptable to play absolutely any note over a Bb chord; the only issue is the level of tension created. You get little or no tension from Bb, D, F and A, a little from C and G and and whole lot from Eb but, if you wanted to, you could, for instance, use B, Db, E Gb and Ab as lead in notes for a lick or to create an extension which means every note is right (or probably more accurately 'not wrong'). It's all about context. My gut feeling is that you are operating on a misconception of what being 'in Bb msjor' actually means? Can we help?

For piano trio gigs....

I get around that by writing charts that have long blowing sections that are 'standard' pattern so, after the intensity of reading heads/arrangements, we get the buzz of stretching out. I guess its the nature of the art of composing for jazz and the art of improvisation as opposed to through scoring and fully written scores. Would love to hear some of your mates charts, bassace. Anything out there we can link to?

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1330380770' post='1556668'] I just discovered "Blue Trane" last week. I love Jazz too - that's a superb album. [/quote] Try 'Blues and the Abstract Truth' by Oliver Nelson

Glasper floats my boat but Cowley hasn't grabbed my ears yet. Might try again.

Did that website ever get done, Jake?

I have figured out where I went wrong with the Headtap. Will try again on the next double bass gig (in 84 days!!! (*&%^*($%*^@) Still, I have already got another three bookings for the trio so its all good!

I gigged with a keyboard player's combo for a short while (I think it was a Peavey but am not sure. It was when my own GK/SWR rig had been nicked and I took a while to replace it due to cashflow). It worked great (jazz gigs not rock).

Well that was a mixed bag. Some of my tunes went down well but some of them fell apart as the sax players reading let him down!! Nevertheless, the imnpetus of the project is intact and we are scheduling another rehearsal to nail the detail. A good night's work. Did the whole gig on double bass with no major after effects. My in-ear monitoring idea failed miserably (couldn't get the Headtap to work at all) but the gig was ok and a bass playing regular said it sounded better than ever. THe drummer, who I hadn't played with for ages, commented that there was a marked improvement in my playing (he last gigged with me about a year ago) commenting that the stamina difficulties I was plagued by early on seem to have gone away. The highlight was finishing the two+ hours of playing with Night In Tunisia going past like s*** off a stick. No worries at all. Maintined the pulse throughout and even solo'd on it without any train wrecks. I think I can play the double bass now

Don't forget to wear a Jersey. Its Fresian in there.

[indent=1][/indent] [indent=1]Its been hanging there for about 26 years. When I started it was slung a little lower (in rock bands) but I found that, as I played more and more of the neck, I needed more ready access to the top end and found that having it too low made that difficult. So I moved it up and down and bit for a few weeks/months until I felt I had got the optimum height. And there it has stayed ever since. It never gets uncomfortable and I never really find the bass heavy so I have no reason to consider changing it again at this point. But, as you will have guessed, it is an entirely personal thing.[/indent]

Saw th video at last. Some more great stuff on here. The bar has moved up again in recent years and us ol tarts are getting left behind (which is as it should be)....

All these exciting young players around, its great for the instrument......

As a long standing jazz musician.... I can sit in a room on my own and not be frightened. I can make stuff up as I go along. I can ride on the top deck of the bus on my own.

Agree with Mike on the importance of rehearsals for jazz musicians. A culture seems to have developed in the UK where noone who plays jazz ever rehearses and, as a result, most gigs, particularly in the provinces, are the same old same old. I had one rehearsal on Wednesday and we are doing 11 originals on Sunday that have never been played live before anywhere. Imagine what we could achieve with regular rehearsal time. On the occasions when I do rehearse with jazz bands, they alway sound SOOOO much better. These top guys (sorry, can't watch the clips in work although I do know Sixun) rehearse their arses off and it sounds like it. 'Improvisation' does not mean 'don't bother learning the material and make it all up as you go along'.

Get that reading going and, 6 months from now, youi will be a better reader than 90% of the people on here and will get all their gigs

I sent a flight cased bass overnight Felixstowe to Cardiff for £15 insured so that price is competitive. It was wrapped in brown paper and bubble wrap just to protect the cover of the flight case from nicks. The flight case was there to protect the bass and if that was inadequate, I suspect the truck was at the bottom of a cliff on fire and nothing would save it!! It got there no problem (Parcel Monkey).

Did a rehearsal last night for my next trio gig (this Sunday). We are doing 11 of my own compositions for sax/dbass/drums. Can't wait!! Some are stronger than others but the players I am using, who's opinions I respect (and who will not patronise me in a million years), are enjoying the material and occasionally grinning at the charts (and furiously counting) as the melodies weave in and out through odd time signatures and weird intervals (some are, however, fairly predictable). Apparently, several my compositions sounds Morroccan, which is interesting given that I am part Indian!!

Manuscript paper is good but laying things out and correcting mistakes is easier on Sibelius!! As is transposing Its all good.