Bilbo

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='248977' date='Jul 27 2008, 04:15 PM']Fair enough I guess but to play devils advocate, are you not painting him with your own prejudices against fusion when he's also branched into rock and jazz? I think your points about craft could probably stand on their own merits regardless of style.[/quote] You have to remember that I was a Jeff Berlin devotee in my yoof! I have transcriptions somewhere of some of his bass solos on 'Pump It' and Champions' (my own work) and used to pride myself on my ability to execute some of his solos in real-time. I think Berlin has kind of become a parody of himself. His sound has thinned out in order to allow him to play chordally but he has, as a result, lost a lot of what I liked about his early playing (I particularly love his work on Allan Holdsworth's 'Road Games'). His forays into rock and jazz (and country) are a little embarrasing - he clearly doesn't understand the genres in question and will never make a mark that way as he is not delivering anything with integrity. People (audiences) can see through that kind of superficiality very easily. I want him to do something classy but he keeps delivering pompous self-indulgence. As I said, I want to like his stuff but don't. He is becoming a jack of no trades and master of none. His teaching methods are uncontentious - he is just doing what 1,000s of standard music teachers do. Teaching the dots and basic music theory. Where he irritates me is when he starts talking in absolutes.

[url="http://www.kayona.co.uk/"]http://www.kayona.co.uk/[/url] Watch the dvd - its me selling out!

I had heard but have no idea why. Anyone know any details? He wasn't that old, was he?

No irony, Ck. I have come to see JB as the epitomy of what is/was wrong with Fusion (with a capital F). Complexity at the expense of humanity. There is little in Berlin's music or playing that is anything more than the evidencing of skills and competences. To use a literary metaphor, it is like looking at a writer's CV and never reading one of his books! JB is a craftsman who clearly wants to be an artist but in order to achieve this, he continues to work on his craft: "More technique, more technique, more knowledge, that'll do it, if I know more I will be better"!! You can read 1,000 books on roses but, until you have smelled one.... I really WANT him to do something beautiful but, so far, its all nuts and bolts.

I agree with some of what JB says but feel that his perspective lacks humility. His perspectives on bass playing are credible but, because his own playing is cold, doesn't always groove and lacks musicality, I have to approach his views with some scepticism. I WANT to like Berlin's playing and have several of his cds but I can't see them as anything but juggling and acrobatics. He has great technique and no idea what to do with it! His perspectives on time and groove playing start with assumptions about human beings that don't meet with my own life experiences so I haveto treat those views accordingly. Has anyone heard his take on Norah Jones, John Lennon etc? He is SOOO missing the point of those pieces; adding noodling bass to a Jones hit and playing 'Imagine' without the lyrics is like adding a moustache to the Mona Lisa and watching the Aurora Borealis in the daytime! He lacks any critical sense. He has invested emotionally in an academic approach to his art and is hacked off at the fact that other succeed without it. The world isn't fair Jeff. Trying to get a hit by adding crass bass filigree to established hits is not going to get you anywhere. You need to move people and your playing and writing just doesn't do it. Berlin says he gets a better response from a rock crowd because they are more open-minded. No, Jeff. You get a better response because that audience is impressed by fast playing and technique - they don't 'get it' any more than a jazz crowd. More to the point, most jazz audiences are just not impressed by the superficialities of your playing. Just write some beautiful music that doesn't feature what is essentially a naff bass sound and you may have a chance to be heard. When I was starting out, I loved Jeff Berlin. But now I am a mature musician, I can see why I was enamoured of his motor skills but not his music - I still like 'Palewell Park', I still like the Bruford version of 'Joe Frazier' but, on hisown CDs, I am struggling to find anything other than athleticism. Shame.

Sorry, Mike, but you really need to tighten your sh*t up. The walking lines don't swing and your phrasing over the head is very stilted/laboured. You still have some work to do to make this a great performance piece. But you are not a million miles away from nailing it. You need to remember that Jaco took NINE years to nail it. I have been working at Parker's 'Passport' for 15 years and am yet to catch a performance I like. Maybe one day. I know this sounds like I am being tough on you but there are hundreds of people out there that will tell you you are great. It's nice to hear that but it won't make you any better. You need to hear the truth. Trust me, if your performance was on the money, I would have said so but you have some more work to do before you can deliver on this tune. Keep trying and good luck. Rob

Having pretty much played my Wal Custom Fretless 4 exclusively for 22 years, I can honestly say it has delivered in every setting I have taken it into : jazz, funk (not slap), rock, latin etc. What I like about it is that it never sounds like anything but me. I don't think of 'my sound' as the Wal but believe that the Wal facilitates the expression of my musical ideas, 'my' sound. Other basses I have played have sounded like the bass. The Wal sounds like me. The addition of an Eden Metro about 6 years ago (previously SWR, GK, Trace Eliot and Frunt (remember them?)), I feel like I am home and dry. Musicians I play with have, for many years, been complimentary about my sound so I feel confident that my selection is affirmed. The DI sound is great for studio work too. That's why I stick with it. Why would I need another bass? Yes, I would love a 5-string fretless but am not desperate and, financially, it has always felt unnecessarily self-indulgent. I have played 3 or 4 other Wals, including 5s. They all sounded like me too! Wals work for me. Always have. Oh, and 6stringbassist, that was a beautiful thing you did for your brother. Some things matter more than basses.

I refuse to engage in this debate as it is, by its very nature, sexist. A players gender is of no relevance to his or her playing. You'll be asking who is the best gay bass player next. The best Muslim player? The best Socialist player? The best player over 65? Nonsense.

Lincoln Goines - rarely talked about but an exceptional journeyman player who has a cv as long as your arm.

Cubase has a mixing desk on it so you won't need one (unless you want to). What you will need is an audio/midi interface that turms an analogue signal (e.g. a bass or guitar) into a digital one. There are loads out there (I use an Edirol Audio Capture UA-20 but its ancient). You need to make use the ASIO driver on your soundcard is adequate (mine wasn't); not a big deal but, if it is not powerful enough, it will mean playback and recording won't match and there will be a gap between what you hear and what is recorded - not much use to a musician. But don't worry about it, its not an expensive bit of kit and there are 100s on ebay if youy need to cut costs.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='242523' date='Jul 18 2008, 11:21 AM']It was the Army Officer's Christmas do and there was only about 100 of them.[/quote] Its always a bit harder when there are 100 people in the room that could kill you instantly using only their thumb.

I just got hold of a book called 'Sibelius: a comprehensive guide to Sibelius Music Notation Software' by Thomas Rudolph and Vincent Leonard. Got it from Amazon Marketplace for less than £12. Its incredibly easy to use and has really opened some doors (and reduced a lot of wasted time) on the software for me. I just wanted to register how useful this software is, not only in preparing charts and composing, but also for transcribing and study. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn't got it already! Probably a lot more use than a third, fourth or fifth bass!!

I had a mate who was TOLD he had the Jamaroqui gig (on guitar) - that was the last he heard from them. He is now in a well known national act so it turned out ok but the problem with these pro-gigs now is that you aren't dealing with artists but huge anonymous corporations. Chances are the band like you but the money didn't (too tall, too short, too young, too old -s'all b******t)

Right; I'm gonna say it.....! Putting a funky groove to 'Fever' does not improve it - it is a turd. Polish it as much as you like it remains a turd. Captain Smith and Pocohontas my a***. 'Summertime' was written as light opera (Porgy and Bess) (and how you can call someone a contemporary musician when he died in 1937 is beyond me ). There are several good versions of it (the Miles Davis/GilEvans arrangement especially). Every other version I have heard or played has been a pale imitation and it has become embarrassing to play it or hear it played. It makes me cringe. Stop doing it. Now. I know you like it. I know you think its funky and great but it isn't. Its a sixteen bar minor blues. There are 1,000s of them. Find another one.

[quote name='pete.young' post='241385' date='Jul 16 2008, 11:35 PM']Anyway Bilbo, with the kind of stuff you're knocking out on a regular basis in the Mar Azul I'm surprised that you've got any time for playing jazz ;-)[/quote] The funny thing there, Pete, is that most of that stuff Gione plays is the Brazillian equivalent of 'Barbie Girl' - its really lightweight pop stuff but, because it is relatively hard to play if you are not familiar with Brazillian rhythms, it comes out sounding fresh and exciting. I guess its called fooling some of the people all of the time!!

Hammersmith Odeon. The Mason's Arms in Pantygasseg - that'll be no stage at all

Billie's Bounce!! Blue Monk!!

Prompted by responses to the guy who is gooing to play jazz at the Jazz Cafe..... Some jazz standards are just sickeningly over played and almost always suck. OK, I accept that it is still possible to do something creative with them if you are Iain Ballamy but, in the main, these 'evergreens' keep appearing at jam sessions etc being played badly by people that can't play. I have heard (and played) them all a million times but now refuse to play them (really, I do). Its the jazz equivalent of 'James Galway plays The Beatles'. So I am starting a campaign to have them banned. The offending tunes are: Fever Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Canteloupe Island Watermelon Man Summertime Mac The Knife Tenor Madness Please feel free to add any jazz standards you consider banal, boring or just bad. I get the last say

In my experience, most jazz musicians like all sorts of music (most of us didn't start in jazz) but, as you get older and you have less and less time to dedicate to consuming music, you tend to go for the genres you get the most out of. I 'like' lots of genres but rarely listen to, buy or play them because I prefer jazz. My time and money is limited so I prioritise. Just keep your ears open and enjoy what you enjoy.

As URB has implied - improvisation is, like all music, about communication. In order to communicate in a language, you need to get a grip of its rules; grammar, vocabulary, syntax etc. We have all done it with the English language if nothing else. As a result, if anyone starts a conversation (the most natural form of improvisation), we can all take part. For example, if someone starts a conversation about fish, we call all say something pertinent about fish but no-one will know at anytime what anyone is going to say next. Some people will say very little; 'I like fish;. Some will be very intellectual 'I like eating fish because they contain OMEGA 3 oils that help reduce choloestrol'. Some will be funny; 'three fish walked into a bar...'; others abstract; 'I think my ex-wife was a fish'. Despite the varied responses, they are all subject to some form of agreed and, to a degree, pre-determined structure, in this case, teh English language. Improvised music is the same. If you play a blues in Bb, you can play anything you like as long as you can relate it to the 'mother' key. John Coltrane would play something very different to Stevie Ray Vaughan, who would play something very different to Keith Jarrett, who would play something very different to Evan Parker, who would play something very different to you, who would play something very different to me. But it would all be related to the key of Bb, even if that relationship is to ignore it in order to create tension. Just like there are great speakers, there are great improvising musicians; Bach was one - its not a skill that is confined to jazz. Lets get this straight: improvisation is not about making stuff up spontaneously out of nowhere. It is not 'playing what you feel' - anyone who actually beleves that knows nothing about improvising. It is engaging in a process of communication with other players and with the audience that has form, logic and depth. It is hard to do well but immensely rewarding when you get it right.

Been there and done that.....

I read somewhere that you can use any power ouput amp with any power handling cab and that, if any of these combinations makes bad sounds then you just need to turn down and/or stop cranking the bass EQ excessively or damage may occur. Its that simple. I've also got a great recipe for Special Fried Rice if anyone wants it. As for 'Inside The Score' by Rayburn Wright; when you have written a couple of dozen scores, go back to it. It will all make sense then.

Our culture is geared towards low input, high return, immediate gratification stuff. No-one seems inclined to invest in themselves anymore and the Arts suffer. Its a pretty shallow and ultimately unsatisfying existence. It'll turn around eventually (I notice the Australians have canned Big Brother - more power to them)

None taken....

[quote name='Clive Thorne' post='240585' date='Jul 16 2008, 08:41 AM']So if things went really wrong with a song how far out of time would the guitarist (we all know that bassists don't go out of time) be allowed to go before it counted as a separate (but simultaneous) performance of the song, and thus incurr double the royalties? [/quote] No, silly, That would be jazz.