Bilbo

Dave Holland's bass part to the opening head of the tune 'Vicissitudes' from his 2006 Quintet album 'Critical Mass'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/vicissitudes-head-dave-holland-quintet/

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/la-villa-strangiato-rush/ https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/yyz-rush/

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/dual-of-the-jester-and-the-tyrant-return-to-forever/ https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/duel-of-the-jester-and-the-tyrant-excerpt/

I do remember a brilliant story about a gig I did with a guitar player who knows me well and a drummer and singer who didn't. Before we started playing the gig, we sat down to talk through the set list. This amounted to the singer asking me ' do you know this one'? and me replying 'no'. As we were called to the stage, I was listening to the first tune on my phone just to get a sense of the groove. It turned out later that drums and vocals were freaking out because we were about to play and I didn't know any of the tunes. We played a blinder. With vague notions of the tunes, good eye contact, watching the Guitarist's hands, 30 years of experience and big ears, I was able to keep the whole thing together without any difficulties whatsoeve. If I had said we can't play anything I don't 'know' , it would have been 2x45 minute versions of Johnny B Goode. Most of my best gigs ever have been playing things I have never learned.

I almost never learn anything. I read dots and chord charts so can play most stuff cold. The trouble with learning stuff is that you have a very narrow available body of work at any given time. I learned lots of tunes in the past but cannot remember them. If I have the dots, I don't need to remember the tune, I just play it off the paper. If you have to learn something (because the band leader doesn't like music stands on stage), learning stuff off the paper is the best way and saves you a lot of time finding out what is happening. I read through this last night relatively cold (not the solo, just the 'bass' line). Listen from 5:44 onwards. I could never have done it by rote.

Sorry it's been a while but this is the Robert Hurst bass part for the tune 'In The Afterglow' from the 1991 Wynton Marsalis album, 'Standard Time VOl. 1'. It is a slow ballad but the phrasing of the bass lines is incredibly nuanced and it took several passes to get some of the phrasing right. Ballad playing for Jazz bassists is a very subtle art form. Staying on the root works perfectly but this part shows how sophisticated you can get whilst remaining sympathetic to the main themes. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/in-the-afterglow-wynton-marsalis/

Jaco spent 9 years on Donna Lee. I spent 32 on Al DiMeola 's guitar part for Suite:Golden Dawn 😄

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-analog-kid-rush/

Or his take on 'Tears In Heaven'. Both of these tunes are the real deal: harmonically and melodically sophisticated music that is rhythmically strong. These are 'solos' that are not based on silly tricks and 'juggling' but on melody, harmony and rhythm. I don't live everything JB does (I don't like his High Standards and Low Standards cds, for instance) but you cannot deny this guy has chops, technically, compositionally and harmonically.

It's got to be Jeff Berlin's version of 'Dixie'.

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/its-only-music-gary-willis/

Did you want this embedded?

Some more double bass, this is the complete Reginald Veal bass part for the tune 'Brother Veal' from the Wynton Marsalis Septet's 1992 album, 'Blue Interlude'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/brother-veal-wynton-marsalis-septet/

There isn't a bass player in here that cannot play this exquisite little tune but nobody sounds like Charlie Haden. This is the Haden bass part for the tune 'Cinema Paradiso (Love Theme)' from the 1996 Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden duo album 'Beyond The Missouri Sky'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/love-theme-from-cinema-paradiso-pat-metheny-and-charlie-haden/

From the same album, this is Dusty Hill's bass part to the tune 'Master Of Sparks'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/master-of-sparks-zz-top/

From the 1973 ZZ Top album, 'Tres Hombres', this is Dusty Hill's bass part for the tune 'Shiek'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/shiek-zz-top/

A special request that came through the website yesterday, this is the David Hood bass line from the tune 'Whale Meat Again' from the 1974 Jim Capaldi album of the same name. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/whale-meat-again-jim-capaldi/

Not enough double bass recently so here is the Robert Hurst bass part to the short interlude tune 'Juan (Skip Mustaad)' from the 1988 Wynton Marsalis album, 'Live At Blues Alley'. Some nice double stops but, otherwise, a fairly straight Jazz blues in Bb. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/juan-skip-mustaad-wynton-marsalis/

A one minute reading exercise that is 'real world' and represents a small part of the 2001 recording 'Here...Now' by the Wynton Marsalis Septet. The recording was a ballet Marsalis had written the music for and this is a tiny part of that, performed, I believe, by Gerald Cannon. It is not a show piece for anyone but it will allow a relative beginner to play at least a part of a Marsalis long form composition. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/style-wynton-marsalis-septet/

Another Mike Stern track, this is the Lincoln Goines bass part for the track '6th Street' from the 2009 Stern album, 'Big Neighbourhood'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/6th-street-mike-stern/

Another tune from the 1975 Rush album, 'Fly By Night', this is the complete Geddy Lee bass part for the tune 'Beneath, Between And Behind'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/beneath-between-and-behind-rush/

The complete Anthony Jackson bass part to the tune 'Race With Devil On Spanish Highway' from the 1977 Al Di Meola album, 'Elegant Gypsy'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/race-with-devil-on-spanish-highway-al-di-meola/

From the 1979 album, 'Touch Me' by The Enid, this is the first movement from the Charades suite and features the complete Terry Pack bass part to 'Humouresque'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/humouresque-charades-1-the-enid/

From the 1975 Rush album that introduced Neil Peart to the world, this is the complete Geddy Lee bass part to the tune 'Best I Can' from the album, 'Fly By Night'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/best-i-can-rush/

I have three more to post when I can get to it. It takes about 20 minutes to post an individual transcription and it is nearly all done on a laptop that is NOT the one I do the transcriptions on so it's a bit of a b*** ache sometimes to get it all sorted whilst there are other things going on. Bear with and I will get them up there soon.