Bilbo

That video you posted was fine, Jake. Not my favourite sub genre but it sounded like it was supposed to; it swings, people's phrasing is ok etc. My videos are just off the scale for plain wrong. That band got paid £600 for that gig. I have seen people sentenced to prison for less.....

Told you. Now THAT skeleton is out of the closet, my reputation is in tatters.....

[quote name='witterth' post='919869' date='Aug 9 2010, 05:53 PM']I'd have loved to have seen His first gig (that he worked so hard towards in 1980"ish") he must have been brilliant.[/quote] It was a rock band that had its faults but it was ok and sounded like a rock band. It was rehearsed and it was tight (I was 17, the rest of the band were 30+). We did a Radio One session three months later so it couldn't have been that bad. Seriously, though. Check this out and tell me I am wrong. The piano solo at 1.00 is a doozy. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnrhE5ARc_w&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnrhE5ARc_w...feature=related[/url] This is even better... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fl1_kqsas&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fl1_kqsas&NR=1[/url]

I don't want anyone to get the idea that this is about elitism and snobbery. This is about crap music being played crap. Jazz, like all ensemble music, is a collective art. If there are weak links that prevent it being the best it can be, we have a responsibility to do something about it, even if, as in this case, the thing we do is to not play. If there is any integrity at play here it is the honesty of saying 'no, I will not play because, however hard we try, because of your lack of preparation and practice, it will not be good music and does not deserve to be played'. This isn't about 'that trombone player is a little too old fashioned for my tastes', 'the saxophonist needs to work on his ideas' or 'the piano player plays too many Bud Powell licks' etc. This about every note from bar one of the first tune being dead, souless, unimaginative and excruciatingly pointless. It is about giving Jazz a bad name in front of the viewing public and, just as importantly, it is about me feeling that, however hard I concentrate, however hard I work at my contribution, it will suck. And, actually, if one is absolutely honest about it, it is actually quite unprofessional.

Don't know any of them so will have a look around (love Mike Walker though not so sure about Zorn)

I am a jazz musician. What are people?

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='919682' date='Aug 9 2010, 02:50 PM']Just out of interest Bilbo, what jazz are you currently spinning?[/quote] This month's downloads: Enrico Pieranunzzi/Marc Johnson/Joey Baron Trio, Robert Hurst's Unrehurst, Dave Holland's new album w. Pepe Habichuela and John Patitucci's Rememberance. I know what you are getting at but I am trying to avoid 50s and 60s jazz at moment for the same reasons; I want to know what is happening now not historically. Still get the old stuff out periodically but only really listen to music on my ipod so its new stuff mainly.

I am just reading Tim Blanning's 'The Triumph of Music' and what we are experiencing in the modern music industry is just history repeating itself. There were several mediocre performers who were fairly entreprenuerial in previous centuries and made considerable fortunes giving the uninformed 'what they want' at the expense of the artists who, hindsight has taught us, had something to say (the Cowell's of their day). The mediocre is, and always has been, throughout the history of music, where the money is. 'A tune you can hum after hearing it once' would seem to be the order of the day. The familiar. The tragedy is, for me, that rock and jazz are doing what classical music has done; turning into a repertory art form based on a very narrow catalogue of music. Tribute and covers bands are the 21st Century equivalent of the London Mozart Players, just regurgitating the tried and tested. Some people make their money like that. Good luck to them. I still thnk its a shame....

I loved the early Tribal Tech stuff when he was fresh out of MIT but they lost me after Nomads. Some of th e later jam band stuff just didn't do anything for me at all. 'Bent' has a nice track on it.... 'Its Only Music'? I think (bass takes melody) - its in 3 I think?

I have an old copy of Double Bassist magazine that has an article on preparing for auditions. I will look it up and, if I can find it, will scan a copy and email it to you (or photocopy and post).

[quote name='Marvin' post='919540' date='Aug 9 2010, 12:57 PM']Are you learning a new foreign language?[/quote] No. Biting my tongue.

[quote name='oldslapper' post='919530' date='Aug 9 2010, 12:53 PM']I think it's a shame Bilbo. Bad musicians only improve by playing with better musicians.....(it's only an opinion folks so no shouting please)....so you may be denying someone the opportunity to improve by playing alongside someone as good as you.[/quote] Not adverse to that, o/s, but the $64,000 question is, when is someone just not good enough to be learning in public? Personally, I think the answer is sometimes as plain as the nose on your face. I have contact with a lot of US Jazz journalists and one of the big issues for players in the major US cities is that students at the local music colleges (inc Berklee and BIT) are taking all of the gigs from the pros by agreeing to being paid a pittance and bringing along a string of other students to watch (and spend money). So, the irony is, the developing players take the gigs that, when they graduate, will be unavailable to them. I think there is a difference between taking a developing player (I would consider myself to be little more than that) and giving them air time and taking a beginner and letting them 'have a go'. Traditionally, that was what jam sessions and sitting in was for. THere are some people turning up a jam sessions that are nowhere near ready to play in public. Now these guys are getting gigs because they can fool some of the people all of the time. I was talking to a (very competent) sax player who did a recent gig with the band I left last year and he told me that, on the last occasion, he saw members of the audience actually [i]laughing[/i] at the band. At the end, the bandleader said 'that went well'. Delusional. These people get gigs because they have the gift of the gab, can set up a website and can fool some people. They are a disgrace and should be exposed as charlatans. There I said it! The cognoscenti in the audience know and the rest aren't listening. The better musicians deserve better and so do the audiences. My point is simply this: if they can get away with it, then who am I to criticise? Its just that I won't be party to it any more.

Shushun frmmnt ssereo , pithic funch :snob:

That gig on 29th is my own band but it is not originals so its only a shallow victory! Great players, though, so I am looking forward to it. The band is called 'Whither Then'?

Cubase but have never tried anything else because it works for me. Pro Tools is the industry standard, though, I am told. Again, as I always say, your skills, imagination, ears and patience are what makes it happen, not the software. Software on its own is of limited value.

Buying and fitting a new speaker is easy. I did it and I can't find my ars* with both hands.....

Some of you may remember that I kicked a lurative gig into touch last year because the QC was so poor and getting poorer and I couldn't face the embarrassment of standing in front of an audience playing music I knew to be dreadful (especially when it starts appearing on Youtube ). Even at £150 a gig and 8 or 10 gigs a month in the summer, I couldn't do it anymore. I would finish the gigs and be driving home (usually clutching the moolah) feeling like s*** because this wasn't what I signed up for when I took up the bass in 1980. Anyway, as a result of that decision, I have subsequently realised that, particularly in jazz, there are a LOT of very bad musicians out there; pianists, guitarists, drummers, horn players etc who are taking up gigs that should be available to creditable players and that I, by agreeing to play with them, am giving them undue credibility and feeding their delusions. More to the point, whenever a 'new' audience member was there looking to hear jazz for the first time, their experiences were wholly negative and, to my mind, this was doing harm to me, the music and the better players I come across. So, since the new season started, I decided not to take gigs that I knew were going to be crap jazz, to turn down gigs where one or more the players lacked basic competences (time etc) and to refuse to associate myself with any of this third rate drivel. Now, I now what you are thinking; arrogant t*sser. I would specify that some of these people are dreadful. Its not that they are not 'brilliant'/of top professional standard, it is that they lack the skills to play the music they are attempting. They lack basic technique, they have poor time, nothing swings, poor gear/bad sounds, no idiomatic knowledge, they are lazy and don't concentrate when playing etc etc. In short, if I walk away from a gig thinking 'that was total sh*te', why go back for more just for the money (I don't 'need' it. I like it, but I don't need it )? I have a drummer friend who has taken a similar route with some of the same people as I. Some of the gigs I do, I feel that I am floating on a cloud, everything works, it grooves, its musical etc etc. Other gigs suck big time. So why do them? I have done gigs with developing players to encourage but, when they don't learn and don't develop past 'good enough to get paid/fool some people', I withdraw. If they start getting 'attitude', they get honesty - both barrels . What am I saying? I don't know. Don't play bad music, I guess. I am known here as a staunch advocate of jazz. I love it. But bad jazz is just that; bad jazz, And I won't be party to it any more. I am playing one gig in August (I had 7 in 2009, 12 in 2008) but I feel emotionally better for it. Less is more. Quality over quantity. I am hoping to fill the gaps with db gigs as time goes on but, even if I don't, I will stand by this decision and use the time for study and composing. Bad gigs are no better than working in Macdonald's........

[quote name='endorka' post='919414' date='Aug 9 2010, 11:16 AM']Ah, so you've also noticed, it isn't always just the end of the tunes this pertains to as well?[/quote] Its funny you should say that but I have started 'filtering out' some of teh bad gigs/players I have been cursed to play alongside - life's too short for bad jazz..... It has cut my gigging in half but I feel emotionally better for it. I am off to start a new thread on this subject.

[quote name='endorka' post='919407' date='Aug 9 2010, 11:13 AM']How do you find the Sevcik one? Jennifer[/quote] I like it although it is early days and, as it is the first book dedicated to bowing I have bought, I have no comparisons. I like the way it is laid out and the way it explains all of the little subtleties that you may otherwise miss such as the imprtance of being able to utilise the different areas of the bow. It is working for me and I am seeing a distinct improvement (may just be because I am practicing anyway but I do feel that the book is helping).

There is some interesting perspective taking in the double bass world on this issue. The question is, is a £15K bass ten times better than a £1.5K bass. Answer is probably not. Law of diminishing returns. But, for me, the only question is, when you hear the bass in the context of the music, can you tell the difference and, if you can, does it matter? There are some great sounding songs recorded on cheap basses and some terrible sounding recordings made by expensive basses (I have always struggled to enjoy Jimmy Haslip and Bunny Brunel, for instance). And its all subjective anyway. I have never really bought the idea that a battery of expensive basses is necessary to do this job.

Song endings (and often beginnings) are often left to chance and, consequently, end up being something of a dog's breakfast. In truth, that lack of clarity over endings is usually the first victim of limited rehearsals, poor writing, overall laziness and that destructive inner voice telling you that 'now is your chance to shine' or 'Bored? I'll show them..... Either way, it makes for shoddy performances. A bit of thought, a decent chart/arrangement, a bit of clarity and a weak ending cn be turned into a showstopper. [i]I hear a lot of noodling at the end of tunes on jazz gigs, with every musician in their own little sonic place playing their own cadenza, with nobody listening to anyone else. 99.999% of the time, the result is a chaotic racket that goes on far too long. [/i] Careful, Jennifer! That's my career you are talking about.

I guess the question is what is the purpose of a bass solo. Regrettably, it is seldom a musical decision and usually come from a bad space (showboating, routine space filling etc). A lot of Jazz is based on soloing but, in truth, I can count the really musically valid bass solos I have come across on the fingers of one hand. Mind you, the same could be said of every other instrument. Best trombone solo ever? 'Spiritual Awakening' off Marcus Roberts' Deep In The Shed (on Spotify) - now THAT's musical...

I really do think that people are often trying to 'buy' the things that only come with time and dedicated practice. Good technique comes from concerted investment, not from a 'fast neck'. An instrument will never 'play itself'. If you can't hear a flat five, your shiny new gear won't hear it for you My thoughts are, firstly, why would anyone want to buy a bass that sounds like the one X plays? Most people are disappointed with these types pf purchases as they lack the playing skills of X so will never actually SOUND like them, even if they have the required bass. IMO, they would be far better off sitting at home with a credible professional instrument and learning to play it rather than spending time and effort knobbing about trying to find the perfect bass. Whilst I have had other basses, I have pretty much played one electric bass for 24 years and one amp for nearly 10. I have issues with my playing (lazy intonation at times and a mismatch between my head and my hands) but the solution is more practice time and improved concentration, not new gear. I actually have more guitars than basses: Gibson ES175, Takamine nylon and Adamas steel string but I don't have GAS for gear anymore. I have MAS (musicality acquisition syndrome )

Write out the dots and do it without any rehearsals.

I couldn't commission a boutique bass as I would have no idea what factors influence the ultimate sound. My only 'must haves' are fretless and an ebony board. After that, I have no idea what works and what doesn't other than the aesthetics. Off the peg works for me. The day I find a bass lets me down, I will consider it but, after 30 years of playing, I'm not holding my breath.