Bilbo

King of Swing (Benny Goodman)....

[quote name='bigjohn' post='168458' date='Apr 2 2008, 01:43 PM']King of Rock & Roll[/quote] Is that what you call being damned by faint praise?

You've never heard 'Ascension' then!!

Have you got an Elvis towel? Or one of those Elvis plates that get sold on the back of tv papers? Fantastic (not)!

'Giant Steps' has a certain notoriety that arises from its use of a complex set of chord changes known colloquially as 'Giant Steps changes'. The series of chords in question follow a cycle of ii-V-I changes that shift by major thirds and tritones (instead of the normal fourths and fifths etc) rendering all routine bebop cliches ineffective. In a nutshell, you can't 'fake it' over these suckers. The melody is actually quite accessible (I suggest you listen to a clip of it on Amazon or something - it starts at the top so you will hear it straight off) but the soloing takes some getting used to. Playing against these changes is widely regarded as the apex of sophisitaiction in terms of harmonic movement etc and many jazz fans, musicians and listeners alike, continue to guage a musicians core competences on their ability to make sense of them. Improvising a solo over these changes is hard. Improvising a good solo is VERY hard. Improvising a great solo - that's somewhere in the region of as tough as it gets. This piece of music is not elitist per se but rather it is arguably as far as you can go with complex harmonies in terms of be-bop and associated genres. Basically, if you want to be a jazz musician per se, you need to deal with these changes to a greater or lesser extent. I haven't heard Mikey's version (I will try to later) so cannot comment on it but I know I struggle with them and, every time the tune gets called, I regret not having worked harder or longer on them. I guess that may be one of the reasons why I play jazz in small pubs in East Anglia not in The Barbican! For the record, Coltrane didn't invent these changes, they were heard much earlier than his 1959 recording but only in obscure corners of minor tunes. 'Giant Steps' features them in a wholly integrated way that was unprecedented. For the Paul Chambers fans amongst you: had you spotted that Kind Of Blue and Giant Steps were recorded a fortnight apart - not a bad couple of weeks work, eh?

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='168383' date='Apr 2 2008, 12:32 PM']Very clever. But what an utter sh*t piece of music. Sounds like a parody of w***-jazz.[/quote] You don't like it, then?

Elvis is proof that you can fool some of the people all of the time.

Yeah.....but its Elvis. I don't care how much you paid me. It's Elvis

For the record, I think one of the most useful ERB players (in the sense that a 5-string is an ERB) is Jimmy Johnson - he really uses the full range of his Alembic in an intergrated manner, as part of his core lines.

I have no conceptual problems with ERBs, I just haven't been moved emotionally by any music played on one. I know all the theory about chords on the higher strings/frets but, compared to the expressive potential of a guitar, the music offered by ERBists has failed to float my boat. I have a 6-string Status Energy (I think) but it stays on the wall most of the time (am considering a swap for a commensurate five). I can't seem to make it sing. But I am confident, as the instrument finds its voice, that someone will do something wonderful and make beautiful music on one of these beasts. Then us 4-string nazis will have to eat humble pie! Maybe it'll be someone here.

[quote name='BassBomber414' post='164649' date='Mar 27 2008, 06:42 PM']Of course , once you've learnt all these tedious scales, it seems to be the 'in thing' to play them all as fast as possible , in a jazzy style , with enough improvisation to fool believers into thinking you are very talented. And if you really want to bore the arse off people you can film yourself and put it on You Tube, with the other 50,000 who have learnt their scales. Or you COULD play from the soul. My advice, Miss Penguin, don't bother , some of the best players don't read or know any theory whatsoever. Rant over, sorry.[/quote] Or you could learn all of the scales AND play from the soul. Cos the SOOOUUUL is magic and can learn you things that you don't even know you are learning! And then you can play from the HEAAART, where REAL things happen (not like thems thats had book learnin' and can't FEEEEL their mojo workin'). Now, where's my crayon's?

Now go listen to some Jazz - you owe it to Leo.

Not studying harder, faster, longer and more productively when I had the time. Now everything gets in the way and I can't seem to get any better, only older.

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='166897' date='Mar 31 2008, 02:34 PM']And for the Bass players that got only one Bass Chatter's vote, the joint winners of the [b]Lonely Sods [/b]award are... Alphonso Johnson Steve Swallow[/quote] A travesty!!!

Have been using Rotosound Solo Bass (groundwound) for 20 years on the same (ebony) fretles fingerboard with no problems.

[quote name='Machines' post='165271' date='Mar 28 2008, 02:25 PM']Wals - isn't that ice cream ?[/quote] No - sausages!

How would he know how loud it is if it has never been played?

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='165240' date='Mar 28 2008, 01:50 PM']Japanese Jazz? [/quote] That would be a Precision.

No - my Wal is played in a traditional and uncontentious manner, as has been the case since the electric bass was invented by Monk Montgomery. Its model name of 'Custom', therefore, has integrity and is, thus, allowed. My Metro combo, on the other hand, sounds great as long as there are no trains running.

I am about to start a campaign that seeks to ensure that Fender 'Jazz' Basses, of all hues, are only ever used to play 'Jazz' and that any use of said basses for idioms other than Jazz should result in the removal of that instrument from the perpetrator and it sale, at a reduced rate, to responsible jazz musicians in order to gain funds for the Musicians Benevolent Fund. I would also insist that 'Precision' basses should be played with precision and that all Double Basses should be played twice.

I envy you. I was in Cardiff when Jed WIlliams was running the Welsh Jazz Scoiety & the Four Bars Inn which is a relateively small pub near the castle in Cardiff. I saw Scofield in that little pub - Mike Stern was scheduled to play with Bob Berg but cancelled when Leni Stern got cancer but other gigs included Dave Murray, the World Saxophone Quartet, Art Farmer, Kenny Wheeler, Bheki Mseleku - the list was endless. Then there was Brecon Jazz every year which , because I was local, I did lots of playing at (7 times one year) and saw lots of great stuff for free - Miroslav Vitous and Arild Anderson borrowed my amps one year, Jamaladeen Tacuma, Jeff Andrews with Vital Information, Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Gerry Mulligan, Paul Motian (w. Steve Swallow!!!!!)! It was heaven. Now I am in the jazz Sahara - nothing EVER gets up here. In the last 4 years I have seen Avishai Cohen and John Etheridge. That's it. It's like the last two decades never happened!!

Cool - where was that, Mikey? We don't get much up here in Felixstowe/Suffolk more radical than Stacy Kent. I'm off to see John Scofield with horns on Saturday tho'(Jazz Cafe). Steve Swallow isn't with them this time, which is a great shame as he is one of my favourites but the event should be special enough anyway.

I (and many others like me) do gigs cold and trust their ears to get them through. I have seen guys transcribing charts off a cd ON THE WAY to a gig! Write some charts out - its a no brainer!!

To put this in perspective, Pat Metheny had to write, arrange and record ALL of the music for the movie 'Map Of The World' in two weeks. And what he came up with is stunning. Doing a film soundtrack in two or three weeks is not that unusual. Learning 30 pretty basic songs like those in your list should be a breeze by comparison. Most of these songs are 16 bars on music repeated over and over again. Sweet Home Alabama is a three chord job, Comfortably Numb is a no brainer as is Paranoid and so on. If you can't nail this in three weeks, you ain't trying! Just do it.

Some nice new stuff on my cd player: Robert Glasper Trio - My Element Jason Robello - Next Time Around Iain Ballamy - More Jazz Taylor Eigsti - Lucky To Be Me Troy Miller - 40 Days I asked some jazz fans around me what they were into and these came up - all quality acts with first class work. Anybody else listening to any new jazz? Also downloaded Janek Gwizdala's 'Mystery To Me' off CD Baby - some nice creative stuff in there, particularly nice horn arrangements. Nice to hear a bass player's record that is defined by the music and not by the bass playing. S'cool.