Bilbo

I always smile when people talk about Jaco as a far out jazzer; he was a funk/groove player who could take it up a notch further than his peers. His 'jazz' stuff was no where near 'far out' and was all essentially groove oritentated. There is very little Jaco that is hardcore, improvised music. Massive chunks of what he did was very tightly rehearsed groove playing, what I call 'implied repetition'; like Larry Graham or George Porter. His second LP, Word of MOuth, is marvelous. Great writing and arranging - takes repeated listening (if you can get past 'Crisis', the train wreck that opens the cd)

My mantra for practice material: If its dull and repetitive, it'll probably work... (I have the Hanon and have used it on piano not bass. I could do with some bass practice but other things are in the way at the moment. Why does that always happen?).

[quote name='Eight' post='407499' date='Feb 12 2009, 12:21 PM']This thread makes me sad. Bilb - you coulda made it kid. You coulda lived the dream and played metal... instead you got in with a bad crowd and ended up playing j@zz.[/quote] But would I have been happy? The rest of the guys on that recording went on to ........ eh, nothing much. I'll cope with the disappointment!

[quote name='urb' post='407453' date='Feb 12 2009, 11:45 AM']shame it's a bit on the fuzzy side -[/quote] Its an MP3 of a cassette of a 28 year old session taped off the radio - what do you expect!!

[quote name='Hamster' post='407105' date='Feb 11 2009, 10:59 PM']Ummmmmm - if that's you, it's not to bad for a beatnik! [/quote] It's from a Radio One session I did for Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show in 1981. I was 17 and playing an Aria SB700 through a Frunt amp - with a pick!

[quote name='blamelouis' post='407429' date='Feb 12 2009, 11:08 AM']Unless its watermelon man, eh Bilbo ! [/quote] Grrrrr. I am also enjoying the new (?) Dave Holland Sextet cd 'Pass It On'. It is a band with a pianist (Mulgrew Miller - Holland has not used piano in his bands ever before, if I am not mistaken, so this is a departure for him). Some of the tunes on the cd have been on earlier Holland cds but these versions are fresh.

I went through a massive Jaco phase and still love some of what he did but, when you listen to a LOT of it, it is amazing how much repetition you hear - same with Stanley Clarke. I am not referring to stylistic things, the little idiosyncratic details that define every player to some extent, I am talking about stock licks that are 'party pieces', things that are pulled out of the hate time and again for non-musical reasons. Some Jaco is sublime; Joni Mitchell's 'Shadows and Light', Heavy Weather, the Word of Mouth stuff, Bright Size Life etc but some of it is clumsy beyond belief and very uncool. Personally, I think that Jaco (I feel the same about Paul Chambers) was at his best when working with strong musical personalities who kept him in check and gave him great material on which to work; Zawinul & Shorter, Mitchell, Gil Goldstein, Bob Mintzer, Pat Metheny etc. When the people around him deferred to Jaco's muse (Birelli Lagrene, Jon Davis, Brian Melvin etc), the product was second and even third rate. But, in short, some of what he did was absolutely marvelous.

[quote name='Rich' post='406776' date='Feb 11 2009, 06:31 PM']Old enough to remember Kerrang! mag being launched. My mate probably still has issue #1 lurking somewhere.[/quote] I think I was in it......

Listen and learn.... BETTER VERSION in post no. 10

I think they just call it rrrrrrrrrock grrrr

It's great because the more you invest in it, the more it gives you in return. The demands it places on you as a performer and listener increase as your skills, knowledge and competence increase. You play the same song the day you start playing jazz and the same song 5, 10, 15, 20 years later and it will grow with you and demand more of you each time. Your ability to deliver a fine performance depends on your whole mind, body and spirit and the more ready you are, the more you will find in every chord change, rhythmic inflection and dynamic. It is spiritually, emotionally and viscerally satisfying and will always remain the gift that continues giving.

[quote name='mcgraham' post='406144' date='Feb 11 2009, 12:06 PM']I'd forgotten how good a fresh and original piece of jazz can be.[/quote] Absoflippinlutely. Its the best....

Recent acquisitions: Lee Morgan 3 - Sextet recording with Paul Chambers on bass Chambers is also on Abbey Lincoln's 'That's Him', another recent purchase. Joshua Redman - Moodswings - with Christian McBride John Scofield - Uberjam not sure yet!! The Other Quartet - Sound Stains - with Ohad Talmor on saxophones. Very interesting (Talmor has done a cd of Steve Swallow stuff called Athe Bum's Tale - think Stravinsky plays Swallow!!!) website is worth a look; [url="http://www.ohadtalmor.com/"]http://www.ohadtalmor.com/[/url] Anyone else got any nice jazz recently?

For anyone that knows his work, this is a real blow. [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7880557.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7880557.stm[/url]

THe warmth you are looking for will best be achieved by leaving the strings you have on there for at least a decade. Seriously, tho'. New strings are horrible on a fretless. Leave them for a few months and then you will find them warmer (my current set of Rotosound Solo Bass strings are at least 6-7 years old. In my opinion,, new strings improve guitars but ruin basses!

I know 9 of these. D'ya need a dep?

[quote name='endorka' post='373131' date='Jan 7 2009, 03:14 PM']The Muppet Show theme is also on our repertoire. As is "Cantina Band". Bilbo, I know I'm not going up in your estimation by stating these facts, so I'll propably just stop right now :-)[/quote] As in Star Wars Cantina? Done it. It sucked.

What do I think of that GRP All-Stars trumpet section video? Load of horses***. I know where the one is and I can hear the changes - I know the tune and have played it although, like bassace, I am not a lover of the tune. As someone said, the performance doesn't swing, it is emotionally empty and exists only to show that these 4 trumpters can play very fast and very high. Its a malaise that has existed in jazzsince its exception and this kind of showboating is a renowned failing in trumpet players (the jazz version of lead guitarists. All I can say in excusing this excess is that someone must have thought that, in the context of a full evenings performance, this might be a bit of fun. But, as an advert for jazz, it is a gift to tBBC and those others who seek to ridicule it. And I have heard Randy Brecker play SOOOO much better...

[quote name='Galilee' post='401191' date='Feb 5 2009, 04:16 PM']Sitting down?[/quote] LYING down!

Actually, I think you can pretty much play the whole thing (except the solo) in one position! Galilee: the numbers you are looking for are 4,5, 6,7 and 8... But not necessarily in that order

Like anyone, I can respond to the immediacy of a great funk groove, or the energy of a System of a Down track but, after a very short while (like 2 tracks), I'm finished. I think the only reason I like them when I hear them is some sort of visceral nostalgia. Using the analogies already raised, for me its like a Big Mac is ok once in a while but two? Three? Every day? No way, Jose. Or Police Academy One might be a laugh; but PA 2, PA 3, PA 4, 5, 6, 7 etc. S'no good. Charlie Parker's stuff is actually very melodic (unlike later Coltrane etc). Best way to get inside it is to learn to whistle a couple of heads.You have to understand that, when he hit, Parker was God. Nowadays, any half decent big band can play charts that are written of his heads and solos; with 13 horns covering it in unison. How hard can it be? For teh record, when I listen to jazz, I almost never respond to anything simply because it is complicated (some very hard stuff is very boring and emotionally unsatisfying). I react to good jazzin exactly the same way as I did Iron Maiden, Rush, Genesis, Yes, Motorhead etc when I was starting out. Main difference is I Know What I Like and I Like What I Don't Know. That's why I like improvised music. Precisely because it is a lot less predictable. Not, in any way, because it is hard to do.

'Serenade' the last track on Dave Holland's 'Points Of View' CD. This track features a trio of Dave Holland on bass, Steve Nelson on marimba and Billy Kilson on drums. Pretty calypso type tune with a very relatively easily read bass line AND NO MINDLESS NOODLING IN SIGHT (note: key signature changes. Also, harmony is implied by marimba but not stated). Enjoy

Yeah but no nut. Its also about breaking down prejudices. If I hear the terms 'jazz' and 'mindless noodling' in the same sentence (which is very common amongst the uninformed), I have two responses. One is the pro-social impulse to educate, to inform to enlighten. The other is more defensive ('I've got a brain the size of a planet and you think I am going to be satisfied with 'mindless noodling' and invest 28 years (and counting) in perfecting my approach to it? Eh? Do Ya? Do Ya?). Besides, like most Welsh people, I like good argument!

There is a freat Dave Liebman/Steve Swallow/Adam Nussbaum trio cd out there called We Three Recommended

[quote name='Eight' post='398888' date='Feb 3 2009, 01:20 PM']I do like The Jazz Singer (Neil Diamond version) if that makes up for my joke. [/quote] That has as much to do with jazz as small cars and aftershave. I was thinking about the point someone made about everyone being made to feel that they should like jazz when the same was not the case with other genres. I think the answer to that is that most people who come to jazz do so after having played other genres and have got to it after a journey with their instrument. I started out thinking Steve Harris was the dbs, then Chris Squire, Geddy Lee, then on through Percy Jones to Jaco and Jeff Berlin, onto Mingus, Paul Chambers, Marc Johnson, Dave Holland etc. So when you get to the point where you have found something that holds your attention (for decades), it is inevitable that you want to share your enthusiasm. More controversially, you get to recognise that many of the so called greats, like Harris and Lee (or Flea or whoever), are not so unassailable as you thought they were when you heard them as a young player - if I can play Phantom of the Opera, it can't have been as hard as I once thought. So, because you went through this process, you are inclined to think you 'know' a truth that is not evident to those who liked the first thing they heard and stuck with it.