Bilbo

Thanks for that, Dad. I do know what you mean about the listening. I tend to be listening to the soloist so can miss the nuances of Tom's performance. I will work on that. As for us all playing different stuff, it's supposed to be a counterpoint. We do try.

A waltz called 'Just Love Somebody'.

Breakfast Means Breakfast - a Giant Steps changes fest. This is hard to play!

At last, a few decent video of something I am involved with. The Michael Spearman Trio live at The Fleece at Stoke By Nayland. A trio gig early in January featuring guitarist Michael's composition. This one is called 'Trippin'' (as in falling over, not drug references). It's essentially a rhythm changes blow. The drummer is Essex based Tom Jiggins. The video was done with several cameras and the edited properly so this is as good a set of videos as I have ever been part of. The camera actually points at me instead of my having to wait for passing glimpses!! Apologies for the shirt (you should have seen the Docs).

88 Lansdowne Crescent, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 9EP, UK www.acousticimg.eu +44 (0)1228 590597

Sorted. Thanks, guys.

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement speaker for an Acoustic Image Ten2ex? The kit sounds like an electric bass whose battery is running out but I am playing a double bass through it and there IS no battery AI website lists no dealers in the UK.

Paula Gardiner, a double bass player, is Head of Jazz Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Gill Alexander and Emma Vinyard are Suffolk bassists.

Carl Hudson on keys. Boston 's finest.

I like the White AR220s. I think I saw one in Colchester. I had a Sunburst Artist when I was in my 20s but I swapped it for a stinky poo acoustic (what was I thinking?). Regretted it ever since but there you are. I am not using electric guitars much at the moment and have an Epiphone 335 for the things I need one for but these white AR220s are pretty.

I learned to double thumb a few years ago. I was thrilled. Never used it again.

BR was never really rated by Jazzers. He was an entertainer, showman and a drummers drummer. As clever as he undoubtedly was, he was never really considered very musical. I had one of his albums on cassette way back but would not look for anything he has done again. Ps Neil Peart is also a bit crap at Jazz.

The Marc Johnson /Chuck Sher book is great. Concepts for Bass Soloing.

Every gig. Without fail.

Heaven - Decent charts and a band that can read 'em and play. Hell - too many rehearsals because someone/no-one can read.

I would get something 'real'. My brother bought his son a 'small' drum kit and he was gutted because he had hoped for a real one. Anything short scale is going to lose it's attraction quite quickly.

I have two Monos, one for the Wal and a double case for when I take two basses. They are definitely worth the money. Only issue is that the double case is VERY heavy with two basses in it.

I was into Jack Bruce when I believed he was playing Arias. Whether he actually was is something that would never had occurred to the young and naive Baggins that I was then. I did record on it so it wasn't a total nonsense but, compared to the Wal...

I had an Aria SB-700 when I played NWOBHM with No Quarter and Pop in a band with Feeder's Grant Nicholas. I loved that bass. Fortunately, when I 'moved' it on, it was to my kid brother who still has it so I do not fall into the trap of nostalgia. I play it occasionally and am confident that I didn't know what I was talking about, that it was actually a piece of crap and I was right to ditch it for my Wal Custom Fretless.

Jazz trio gig with Mike Gorman (Incognito, Culture Club). Lovely player, lovely guy. There was Beethoven.

Soundchecks are for wimps....

Had TE myself. Took two years for it to clear up.

My seven string bass was less than £300. It's no Fodera but it's fun.

It is subjective in some ways but much more objective than we may realise in others. First (only?) question; are you good enough to do what is required of you? If you needed to slap and you can't, you don't get the gig. If you need to read and you can't, you don't get the gig. If you are needed to jump around and strike a pose and you stand there like John Entwhistle on Mogadon, you don't get the gig. If you can play all the Bach Cello Suites in all the keys but are not able to improvise, you don't get the Jazz gig. If you play Bach Cello Suites over everything and it's a Country gig, you don't get the gig. In my experience, praise and criticism come from many quarters and some is utterly unreliable. I have been called both solid and fluid in the media. Is this because the person writing the review only heard one song, one recording, one gig or is this because the writer lacks the language or insight necessary to properly described what it is that defines your playing? Evaluating your own playing is a continuous process that is determined in no small part by the experiences you have as a player. If you never move out of your comfort zone, you will never find yourself challenged and will have a distorted view of your own competence. If you have never heard great players (which is often the case in young players), you may have a distorted view of your own capabilities (which is often the case in young players). Until you have played with great players, you cannot properly evaluate your playing. Outside of London, being asked to do a gig is as much to do with how bad everyone else is as it is a measure of how good you are. It can also be about availability. Great players are busy players and can be unavailable. I KNOW I often get gigs because the 19 other guys the bandleader generally uses are busy. Put it this way, how would Geddy Lee fare in Level 42? (Have you heard Neil Peart with a big band? Ouch!!!). How would Mark King cope with a Motorhead set? How would Percy Jones do in the pit orchestra of Jesus Christ Superstar? Horses for courses but does failure indicate incompetence? Yes or no? I play a weekly gig with some of the UK's greatest players and I am reminded weekly of my shortcomings (one of which is I don't really know tunes, a source of shame in the Jazz community) but, at the same time, I find out things about myself and my playing that give me considerable hope e.g. my knowledge and competence in Latin grooves is much greater that one of the best piano players I use. Also, my reading is better than his. Curiously, I have also noticed that I am a 'better' player when I have rehearsed/practised the material. In short, we all have strengths in our playing and we all have weaknesses. We can play to those strengths of have our weaknesses revealed at the moment we least expect it. The joy of achieving competence in our chosen instrument is in the journey not in the destination.

I watched this and found it inscrutable. I don't really get the point of it. What point is being made? I find Collier's stuff over produced, overly cerebral and lacking in beauty but I accept that he knows what he is doing and understands harmony in ways I couldn't dream of. It goes to show that knowledge and wisdom are very different things.