Bilbo

Also Pfrancing (Miles Davis or Joe Henderson) or C Jam Blues by Duke Ellington (only got two notes in it).

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='1188786' date='Apr 5 2011, 11:30 AM']But then I think, hey wait a minute, "So What" is melodically very (very !) repetitive. the harmonic structure is simple ..... so why are we jazzers happy to play this tune ?[/quote] I don't like playing that tune much either Having only heard the original once, I am delighted that the Major recognised it immediately for what it was. I do occasionally play Moondance (once or twice a year?) and, given the right rhythm section, can swings its a*** off but that doesn't alter the fact that it is a weak piece. My feigned outrage is that it gets erroneously associated with Jazz by the uninitiated - bit like Michael Buble I am sure Van has made millions off it. But so did Terry Wogan and The Floral Dance. THat doesn't make it ok... And kudos to the Major for doing the deed. I really haven't got the time.

Every buyer I have dealt with bought and paid for the gear in one sitting, every trade I have made went smoothly, every bit of gear I bought without seeing has been as described and was sent as soon as payment was made (or even before) Must be lucky

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1188048' date='Apr 4 2011, 06:01 PM'].... some of it is pony poop.[/quote] Like 'Hey, Victa'

I never consider Blue Monk to be a conventional 12-bar (I///, IV/, I/, II, V, I/). If you want it to sound 'Monkish', its actually quite hard to play (like a lot of Monk)!! But, yes, strictly speaking, it is a blues,

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1188022' date='Apr 4 2011, 05:44 PM']So what you're saying is, that jazz isn't meant to be very entertaining.[/quote] Not at all. What I am saying is that 'stunt' bass is not very entertaining. Its like those video outtake programmes. watching people forget their lines or fall over is amusing a few times but quickly gets boring. Same with the home movie howler programmes: 'oooh, look. He fell over/the kid headbutted him in the nuts/the cat opened the door'! It gets tedious quickly. If a solo has no musical 'point', its acrobatics. And I don't know about you, I don't find acrobats very entertaining Of course its subjective. But lets not all agree that its all good. Its not. In the grand scheme of jazz, some of it is good, some of it is great and some of it is pony poop.

Exactly and I think that is what happens in a lot of fusion type grandstanding (not all of it; some of it is perfectly legit). I find a lot of Jeff Berlin very '1,2,3, GOOOOOOOOOOOO!' whereas, say, a Steve Swallow solo with John Scofield is usually more organic.

I think we need to define what the purpose of a solo is. WHen someone like Wooten does one of his mad clinic solos, its not good jazz its great technique presented in a circus act/entertainment fashion. I can't access the Salina video here so can't comment but a lot of fusion solos are not, for my money, jazz solos per se but something more akin to HM stunt guitar

Not sure if I can see the wood for the trees. I have Simandl book 1 and 2 but am not sure which source I can acces in relation to the Rabbath method you are discussing. Is there a link to any books or dvds on the Rabbath method? Trouble is I can' t open the links on here whilst I am in work.

I don't like the term faker as it implies deceipt but I do think that some people are lightweights and others are players. A lightweight is someone who can play to a degree, play in bands, can knock out tunes, do gigs etc but who, when confronted by other musicians who talk the language of music (key signatures, time signatures, chord names, specific terminaology etc) are immediately out of their depth. Some people struggle to communicate ideas because they lack the language and that is usually (not always) indicative of a lack of knowledge. It shoudl be noted that there is no relationship between a lack of success as a musician and being a lightweight. You can be very successful and still be a lightweight. In my experience, those who are faking it, know it. Its the ones who acknowledge it and do something about it that I admire.

I am not a pro but when I got to work every day, I go to work. I don't knob about (much) and get on with the tasks appointed. If I don't deliver, I risk censure and ultimately the sack. If you are being paid as a pro musician to deliver at that level, the same variables apply. If you are an amatuer, the return on your investment is not financial and the motivation to deliver does not come from the same space. Lots of people here say 'it has to be fun'. I think for some of us its more a case of 'it has to be good' or 'it has to be satisfying' (that satisfaction coming from a sense of a good job done). But can you 'push' people to excel is they are giving their time for nothing? Some you can, some you can't. Its a complex dynamic.

[quote name='BottomE' post='1187006' date='Apr 3 2011, 07:43 PM']If we all liked the same things life would be boring[/quote] Yes, as a final principle, but don't let that mean that any old crap is fine. It is important to have the debate about what things work and what things don't, otherwise there is no motivation to improve.

No.

I have downloaded several jazz theory books (David Baker's and samples of The Jazz Theory Book and the Jazz Piano Book as well as a book about couinterpoint)) but have found the musical examples very hard to read as they do not enlarge like the text can. Very frustrating. I did get a book on Alexander Technique for double bassists that was fine but that's about it.

Bags Groove, Nows The Time, Straight No Chaser, Au Privave, Trio Blues (John Scofield), Blues on Purpose (Wynton Kelly), Tale of the Fingers (Paul Chambers), Blue Train (Coltrane), Soon All Will Know (Wynton Marsalis), Housed From Edward (Branford Marsallis), Blutain (Jeff Watts), Play The Blues And Go (Wynton Marsalis), Intimacy Of the Blues (Duke Ellington).... this list is endless and massive Half of the jazz lps ever recorded carry at least one 12 bar blues.

Phoronesis were a real buzz. These guys are so on top of their game, it is a reall pleasure to hear them and watching only enhances the experience. They must rehearse 25 hours a day all of the time!! The drummer is particularly creative.

Got the soundpost adjusted and the bridge on my Gedo bass tweaked yesterday, by Steve Laws at Oakdene Music in Essex. It has made a massive difference to the sustain and playability of the instrument. I was playing it last night and it is so much easier to execute ideas, runs, scale, arpeggios etc; the whole neck has opened up. I saw jasper Holby the night before and, after the adjustments, what he was doing seems so much more attainable now than it did on Friday

Any decisions regarding the placing of a solo in a performance need to be made intelligently and musically. Where does it sit in an arrangement and why? Often, in Jazz, decisions about solo space are made because of habit and solos just get passed around without thought or purpose (noone has any reason to solo, they just do). If the decision to solo is made with purpose and the player understands that purpose, then there is every chance that the solo will have some sort of internal integrity. If its just another in a long line of 'habitual' solos, it will probably sound like it.

I like the good ones but not the bad ones Definition of a double bass solo? The bit you can't hear in the car.

[quote name='robocorpse' post='1184934' date='Apr 1 2011, 04:02 PM'].... or with half the band SIGHT READING it,[/quote] God forbid! I am not querying whether an originals band, tribute band or covers band pull a crowd or whcih pulls the biggest, just whether or not cover band A can pull a bigger crowd than cover band B or vice versa. Most of the bands I see or hear about in Suffolk tend to play before the same audiences as everyone else. If the venue is full because there is a band in, it is pretty much full whether it is cover band A or B or C or D. The prime determinates on audience size are things like 'is there an international football game on tv tonight'? 'is the X Factor final on tonight'? 'is it a bank holiday tomorrow (our Sunday residency is always busier if there is no work tomorow - nothing to do with us!!)? I am sure there are exceptions but I haven't seen them. The Latin band I play in always pulls a massive audience at one local venue. That'll be because the audience are all Portuguese and we are the only band in the area with a Portuguese speaking singer singing the hits of the Portuguese diaspora!!

I agree - that first Elektric Band was a monster triumph (first major appearance by John Patitucci? Got A Match - killer) but, from then on, it went downhill for me. I only liked one track on the 2nd LP and preferred his early Return To Forever stuff with Clarke, Purim, Moriera and Farrell etc. My favourite Corea stuff, though, was the Miroslav Vitous/Roy Haynes trio. Those lps are still on my playlist.

I took my Metro to be fixed last week and, whilst I was at the guy's house, we plugged its speakers into his Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0. It sounded pretty impressive and weighs less than my smallest Yorksire Terrier (ickle.. ). Like you, I know the days of my 78lb Metro are numbered and counting down rapidly but the more I look at Markbass, Acoustic Image, other Eden products etc, the less I worry about it.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1184513' date='Apr 1 2011, 11:56 AM']Also, you are asking opinions from the wrong people. Cover bands are aimed at the general public not musicians.[/quote] Not really. I know that most of the gigs I do with covers bands are to audiences that are there anyway: weddings, functions etc and rarely is the size of the audience determined by the band ot the content of its sets. The only 'choices' that take place are the ones where someone in the audience likes the band and books them for another gig later on. The jazz gigs I do are mostly in a similar vein; functions, private parties etc. although some are in the public domain. We do pull an audience at our regular gigs (biggest at the venue in question, they tell us, although that's not hard) but some of them are certainly regulars and are there anyway.

Just thinking about another thread about paying to play and it got me thinking. Do people think that a covers band develops a following or are they just one in a long line of covers bands appearing at the same venues week after week? The only covers bands I have seen in the last few years have been when I have gone to a pub that others take me to because they go here every week. When I used to go regularly as a teenager, the audience in The Isca pub or El Seico's in Newport was near as damn it always the same people. I have no doubt that a tribute band will pull an audience of fans of the subject act but just wondered whether covers bands doing the kinds of set lists we have seen here recently are an attraction in their own right or whether they just fulfil a need by default. Any thoughts? My query is a response to the idea that a covers band would be asked to 'pay to play' on the promise of a percentage of door take and that they would be expected to 'pull' an audience. So I am curious whether punters are selective about which covers bands they see of whether they are going to the 'venue where there is a band on', irrespective of who the band is.

Happy Birthday, Gil Scott Heron.