Bilbo

Current Pat Metheny Group - I could do it technically but only on electric as I don't double. Past? Bruford.

I have always considered Ken Smith basses to be fundamentally ugly. Whatever they sound like (and I have heard some great sounding KS basses), they look horrible. Like me I guess; sound ok but looks ugly....

At the risk of making myself unpopular (like a give a rat's...), I don't do it for 'fun' either. I think 'fun' is overated. That doesn't mean I don't get an awful lot out of it,; pleasure, satisfaction, an opportunity to express myself yadda yadda - but to compare playing music to knobbing about with a wii, sea-fishing or snowboarding devalues its potential massively. I don't do it for 'fun' either. I may occasionally have fun whilst doing it, but that is entirely peripheral. They'll be calling it a hobby next

Just came across this on Amazon - Fantastic value for money - its got lots of the great Prestige recordings (Workin, Relaxin, Steamin and Cookin) and Miles' 'Miles Ahead' stuff. The second box set is Porgy and Bess, Milestone and others. All for less than £4 each. If you haven't got these (all have Paul Chambers on bass), you have to get them. Its the law.... [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-Away-Davis/dp/B001F6YZTA/ref=pd_ys_ir_all_127"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-Away-Davis/d...d_ys_ir_all_127[/url] [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-58-Davis/dp/B001PA7OYO/ref=pd_ys_ir_all_157"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-58-Davis/dp/...d_ys_ir_all_157[/url]

Thriller - Michael Jackson Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band Tribute - Tenacious D

Whay are you asking us? Ask PRS. I was always under the impression that PRS was paid for by venues not bands. We had a PRS lady turn up at a gig last Sunday. She listed every song and composer. This was more than a little amusing as the whole gig was in Portuguese. She had never heard of any of the songs we did ('Drao', 'Tiro Onda', 'Deixa Acontecer', 'Xote da Alegria' etc) or of any of the composers (Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Djavan, Joao Bosco etc) We could have told her anything but gave her the infor she needed and she left happy.

Study music not musicians. Biographies and magazines are not all they are cracked up to be. They create the illusion that you need to do this or that to get good, that you need this gear to play that or that gear to play this. Read 'em for two years and you have got pretty much all that you can get out of them. Save the money and get some music theory books.

Of course, this could meant that Ms. Houston is going in a new direction and going all 'fusion' on us rather than Garrison going for a commercial gig.

Its cheese: the voice of corporate America. Has nothing whatsoever to do with the creative energy behind rock as an expressive art form and has everything to do with the tin pan alley, 'line 'em up and pick em off', 'tell me what you want and how much you can pay' method of songwriting. The eighties was full of this watered down stuff, the rock equivalent of ready meals. High on sugar content and short on nutritional value. Me no like.

Playing in 5:4 was an innovation in 1959 but, like all innovations, has become pretty mundane. At the time, it was revolutionary. Bill Bruford's 5:4 playing is one of my favourite grooves. The release of alternate takes is controversial. Some think it is the opportunity ot hear alternative solos on the same classic forms, others think it is just an excuse to defend the re-release of old material. Gary Giddins, one of the top jazz critics in the US, is very anti but others are less polarised. Personally, I am not a huge fan and, when listening to them, find that I am mostly of the opinion that the decision to release the original is almost always defensible. There are exceptions but they are few and seldom definitive.

That is so cool, Rayman. Its as visceral as that, isn't it? All the intellectualising is great but, when it comes down to it, it hits you emotionally, just as immediately as any pop song. Marvellous.

No problem with people getting due credit but, in the history of jazz, EW is a bit part player compared to PC, who played on Kind of Blue, Giant Steps, Sketches of Spain, Porgy and Bess, Tenor Madness, Smokin at the Half Note, Full House, Workin', Relaxin', Steamin', Bass On Top, Blue Train, Blues and the Abstract Truth, Round Midnight, Someday My Prince Will Come.....I get that tv has to prioritise but EW over PC? Not defensible.

I always considered his 'Hot House Flowers' LP to be a guilty pleasure. Jazz with strings!! Outrageous!

I love 'Citi Movement' but didn't really enjoy 'In This House On This Morning' nearly as much; I found the latter a bit 'slow'. Same with 'Blood On The Fields' - A one cd album crammed onto 3.

Reading Ron Carter's biography (Finding The Right Notes - ISBN-10: 0-615-26526-X ISBN-13: 978-0-615-26526-1), I have just rediscovered an early favourite double LP (yes, I know) called 'Herbie Hancock Quartet'. Hancock, Carter, Tony WIlliams and Wynton Marsalis recorded live. Absolutely magical stuff from all angles. It is because of the hours I spent listening to this lp that I can recognise all the players pretty much instantly. Truely interactive playing from all parties and some great arrangements. Diamond stuff. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0012GMWUC/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0012GM...cr_mts_prod_img[/url]

Great venue, great sound, great soundman, great dressing room. What can I say? Played there with 3 times w. different singers Andi Hopgood, Sara Mistra and Bridget Metcalfe. Really attentive audience as well. Its one of the gigs I get excited about becasue, whatever else is going to happen, you don't have to fight the room.

Just ditched the one function band I had grown to hate and am now doing less gigs but enjoying them all again. Its a quality vs quantity thing. The art now is to increase the quantity of the quality gigs! But, absolutely no regrets about giving the higher paying gig the boot.

[quote name='The Funk' post='601648' date='Sep 17 2009, 08:06 PM']Mark Levine's [i]The Jazz Theory Book[/i]. Can't be beat.[/quote] Agree 100% - its a 'once purchased, you'll never need another book on theory' thang. Whilst the book is about jazz, the theory is universal and applies to all genres. Levine's book is just really easy to follow and takes you through the full range of simple to complex theories from a basic major scale right up to Giant Steps! Its a no-brainer

Another way to try and make sense of it: In the key of C major, the modes are all the white notes and only the white notes on a piano but different modes of the C scale start in different white notes. If you play an ascending scale starting on C and using only the white notes, you get the Ionian mode If you play an ascendng scale starting on D but still play only the white notes, you get the Dorian mode and so on.

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='601428' date='Sep 17 2009, 04:34 PM']That's a really lovely track. Who are the other players ? The bass sounds gorgeous ![/quote] Its Marc Johnson on bass, Kenny Werner, piano, John Abercrombie (guitar) and Bill Stewart on drums (the first time I heard him). Johnson's bass is beautiful. I saw him with John Taylor and Joey Baron several years ago and he did the most glorious bowed bass solo I have ever heard in my life but what I loved the most was the fact that he sounded exactly the same in real life as he does on record only more !! Apparently, his bass was made whilst Bach was still alive....

[quote name='Zombywoof' post='601423' date='Sep 17 2009, 04:24 PM']I was going to say something really profound but I've lost track of this thread!!!![/quote] Just make something up on the spot

Agreed but again with qualification (or hair splitting, whatever you prefer). I think 'lyrical' is a subjective concept. One of my favourite 'lyrical' tracks is 'Emperor Jones' off Joe Lovano's 'Landmarks' cd but I acknowledge that some may think it isnt 'lyrical. You can sample the track here - let me know what you think. I think its bone chillingly beautiful. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Landmarks-Joe-Lovano/dp/B000005HGU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1253200404&sr=8-1-catcorr"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Landmarks-Joe-Lova...;sr=8-1-catcorr[/url]

Hardly. Jon was always a capable and intelligent player and eager to learn. All I did was give him some new perspectives. I haven't heard him play since about 1994 so I suspect he is a lot better now than he was then (and he was cool then). Anyone got a recording of him playing (his website is still 'under construction')?

I am a jazz musician. What can I say?

I don' tplay one anymore but, in my experience, the 3/4, 7/8, full size debate is only a guide and can be potentially misleading. If you don't define full size as an absolute, how can you define 3/4? I would recommend you go somewhere where they have several basses of different sizes within your price range and find one you are comforatble with size and soundwise.