Bilbo

Opinion - yes, I never pretended it was anything else. It's a discussion and I was contributing. Generalisation - of course. It's the nature of the beast but it is informed by 37 years of gigging, including periods spent playing covers and not enjoying it. The whole post was about ME! ;)

Thanks, Pops. I do try to 'play the music' despite the reputation that Jazz has for random noodling. It is a nice trio with no egos on show. Michael composes all of the tunes and Tom and I agreed that we should maintain the integrity of the ensemble by remaining focussed on those tunes with none of ours (Tom is a pianist and arranger for big bands as well as a drummer) and no standards/covers. A lot of the playing is understated and there is a LOT of space in the performances with no-one inclined to fill it unnecessarily. My favourite gig at the moment.

I have always preferred originals and, as a consequence of my conditioning as a fledgling player, cannot help but consider an excess of covers to be a bit 'cabaret'. I do the occasional covers gig with friends but I tend to do them for the social aspect rather than the musical and can't help but think of a life spent playing covers as a bit, well, pointless. I accept that I am in a minority but I think that time spent learning covers should be spent writing originals and that, were people to spend time learning how to compose instead of learning thousands of tunes by other people, then the quality of their composing would improve exponentially and then their originals might not be so poor. Self fulfilling prophecies and all that. I think covers bands tend to be the shortest distance between starting a band and earning money and it is that which drives the thing rather than the creative aesthetic. I completely understand why people do it but, personally, I just can't get excited about another run through of 'Ain't Nobody', 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' and 'Son of a Preacher Man'.

A trio I perform with. Not the strongest piece in the set but the video was the only one I could upload without editing a massive 30GB file!

It's another tone to be used as one sees fit. Anthony Jackson uses the technique a lot.

Jazz: Bass Instincts by Marc Johnson Landmarks by Joe Lovano Identities are Changeable by Miguel Zenon. Conference of the Bird's by Dave Holland. Feels Good to Me by Bruford Rock: Seconds Out by Genesis Going For the One by Yes Permanent Waves by Rush Marauder by Magnum

The John Mclaughlin Trio with Trilogy Gurtu. I could do that. I could.

Pat Metheny Group. No brainer.

I played a Palladium. It was very easy to play but I found it too light for a Wal player like myself. Had the same thoughts about an Alembic Stanley Clarke I once played too.

My weekly Jazz East events are about 200 yards up the beach. I can actually see the Spa venue although it is usually in darkness when we are playing. The punters won't go there on a Sunday because the Jazz is so good and they hate to miss it ;-) oh. and our gig is free entry whereas the Spa is expensive. Ps I did a 'Brief History of Jazz' night a couple of weeks ago. Got a Herbie Hancock tribute lined up (one gig) next week. It's all good, even if it's a bit stinky poo. :-D

My weekly Jazz East events are about 200 yards up the beach. I can actually see the Spa venue although it is usually in darkness when we are playing. The punters won't go there on a Sunday because the Jazz is so good ;-)

Rearranging pieces for strings like the Joni/Mendoza thing is totally different to adding strings to an existing recording.

Women? Maria Schneider is an incredible talent. Mary Laughs Williams, Nadir Boulanger (not sure of the spelling). How about Richard Bona? Pat '17 Grammys' Metheny? Or the new kid on the block, Jacob Collier? There are so many, it is impossible to choose. As for Prince and Michael Jackson. Entertainers, yes, but most musically talented? Can't see it. How about George Martin? I don't think L&M would have been half as lauded without him. Steve Morse? Listen to the genre busting Dixie Dregs. John Paul Jones, a massive talent over and above his bass playing. I am grateful that I haven't got to choose

Have you TRIED F&M's brioche burger buns?....

Felixstowe Spa Pavilion. December 2017 to May 2018. 24 events. 15 of them are Tribute Bands. Elton John, Rat Pack, Soul Legends, Elvis, Carpenters, Pink/Winehouse/Gaga, Barry White, Four Seasons, Johnny Cash, Lionel Bart, Vintage Vixens (Girl Power), Bob Marley, George Michael, The Drifters and The Bee Gees. The rest includes 80s Mania, Aladdin, Kenny Lynch, Chubby Brown, the Circus of Horrors, G4, The Good Old Days, The Wizard of Oz and a hypnotist. All that is missing is a Medium. I know. It's only rock and roll but I like it.

My love of Jazz started with TV and radio theme tunes. The links and themes on The Friday Rock Show included the Dixieland Dregs, Al DiMeola, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Weather Report's Birdland, Cagney and Lacey, TSOS, Hill Street Blues... The list is endless.

Oh, dear. A bit thin on the ground. Will try to get something in next month.

Fun and high standards are not mutually exclusive. Sharing a stage with, say, Nicolas Meier and Asaf Sirkis and kind of nearly nailing it is a complete buzz. My point is that, given a two hour rehearsal, I KNOW I would have nailed the handful of details that I missed because, say, my reading was not up to it or I didn't know a break or ending as well as I should. It is rarely because I am 'not good enough'.

I think it is astonishingly naive to think that the world is divided into good guys and bad guys and that this line matches the Arts. I am also saddened when people are accused of something, not convicted but the mud nevertheless sticks. I am also a great believer in the concept of rehabilitation. Once a criminal always a criminal? I don't buy it. As a 25 year Probation Officer, I have learned that it's all shades of grey.

I wanted to raise something by way of insight that has come to me very late in life and which relates to the issue of technical ability. As players, we have probably all, at some point, dreamed of achieving something as a musician that, as we failed to achieve it, may have appeared increasingly unattainable. I have had periods when I had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that I was a total genius but also have had (much longer) periods when I have held the view that I am either a total wanker or, at best, am only ever going to be a B-Lister at best. In my mid-50s, through conscious decisions made over the last few years, I have long since stopped doing gigs that I found frustrating musically and just done gigs that I know are going to involve a good standard of music making. Whilst this has reduced the numbers of gigs I am doing considerably, every gig I now do is with people who are playing at a high standard and I am almost always the weakest player in the band (there are almost no ‘bands’ involved in this as most of the music I play is with ensembles are scratch bands that are made up of deps and guests with local rhythm sections etc). What I have noticed is that there are many occasions where I find myself playing fairly demanding material and generally nailing it. The bits where things fall apart tend to be the complex passages of written material that I am not familiar with before the gig. What is apparent is that the difference between my playing being good and it being great is NOT ability (unless you mean my ability to read complex passages ‘cold’) but simply a lack of rehearsal and of familiarity with the material being performed (no stinky poo, Sherlock). Looking back at my development over the years, I have to say that a lot of my early and mid-term lack of confidence has come from playing with people who, frankly, weren’t very good and my failing to recognise that, whatever levels of competence I had as a player, I could not make it swing or groove on my own no matter how hard I tried. However good I may or may not have been, a crap drummer/pianist/ guitarist etc was always going to compromise the performance and make it sound ropey. The issue is, how does a developing player learn to recognise when a weak performance is his/her fault and when it is the fault of a weak sideman? When I think back, a lot of the weaknesses in performances I was involved in in the past were not my fault (some undoubtedly were so don’t think this is a cop out). When I play with the ‘big guns’ now, I know my shortcomings (extended harmony mostly) but I have also come to realise that I am only two or three rehearsals away from nailing pretty much anything within reason. There have been a few occasions when there has been a rehearsal and things gel quite quickly. It feels good, particularly as a semi-pro, to think that the ability to play the music I love at a high standard is not necessarily as far away as I thought. It’s not about ability per se but about the amount of time I can commit to preparing for each specific performance. I guess most of us are better when we practice, rehearse and prepare.

It's a complex relationship between tension and release. Things you like have the correct mix of melody, Harmony and rhythm that is complex enough to be interesting but accessible enough to be not overly demanding. If it is too complex it will prove too intense but if it is not complex enough, it will sound boring. The really interesting thing, though, is the fact that it is changing for each of us all of the time so stuff you like today will bore you in a few years time and vice versa.

I seriously doubt it. It is not at all uncommon for people to 'discover' things independently of each other. Besides, Jaco's approach was very different to this.

Jaco fell apart later on and relied on those licks to get him through. It was a tragedy but, had it not been for the stunning playing in his breakout period, the bad stuff would never have been released.

Ps my wife can sing the bass line from Dry Cleaner and she is not a Jazz fan. It's pure pure melody.