Bilbo

I think the OP makes an interesting point regarding the relationship between location and a scene and the ability of a musician to immerse themselves in music that will help him or her to progress. Jaco was playing percussion with Cubans before he was in his teens. If he had grown up in Boston, Lincs, he wouldn't have even HEARD of Cuba until he was 34 If you are living is a time or a location where you are surrounded by musicians who want to improve and play all day etc, and who play different musics at a high level you are going to get better quicker. If your experiences are less intense and less varied and the opportunities to play revolve around a small coterie of rock players who can't move past AC/DC licks, your rate of progress is going to reflect that. If you want to play Jazz at the highest possible level, you will need to be somewhere where that is encouraged and supported. The 'where' you can influence; the 'when' is in the hands of the Gods but Anthony Jackson particularly made the point that that era was a special time for players in parts of the US that is unlikely to be repeated. We have the unlimited resources of the internet available to us now but the consequence seems to be that the greatest of our musicians are scraping a living doing party tricks at music fairs. We have our own time and must do with it what we can.

I look like a git in a tee-shirt so that's the end of that!

I am the same as the OP and now only play the gigs I want to do. No Stagecraft for me!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aDuymevgNA Tony Malaby, William Parker and Nasheen Watts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSir05KwGw0

There is an Abbey Lincoln lp on which she is supported by the Wynton Kelly trio with Paul Chambers on bass. The last tune of the session features no piano because Wynton Kelly plays bass in place of an ailing PC.

Reading takes you places you would probably never otherwise go. I bought a book of Ron Carter solos last week and can play most of several of them right off the bat just by reading them. It means I can focus my study on the passages I struggle with and not waste time learing every scrap of the solo.

Interviewed Ron Carter. He was lovely.

No brainer http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-P-C-Chambers-Popular-History/dp/1845536363

If Yes can do tour with a dep for Chris Squire at 72 hours notice, I guess you probably can!! I have heard of guys learning sets in vans on the way to gigs

The Tony Banks album 'A Curious Feeling' was originally a concept album linked ot the 'Flowers for Algernon' book by Daniel Keyes (not sure why the connection broke). Also, there is a 1976 Michael Mantler LP called 'The Hapless Child' based around the poems of Edward Gorey. 'Winter Morning Walks' by Maria Schneider is based around the poetry of Ted Kooser Steve Swallow did an album based around Robert Creeley poems I guess it all depends on your definition of a concept album.

Yes - Tales of Topographic Oceans Camel - Nude Eloy - Planets

Carla Bley - Escalator Over The Hill. Ellington - Such Sweet Thunder Wakeman - Six Wives, Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Had it a month ago but still not watched it (time). Will get to it soon. Can't wait. I thing Jaco was one of the greats in that his bass playing was exquisite but his musicality was equally important. An intelligent voice on our instrument.

One of my 'things' is solo performers on monophonic instruments e.g. solo sax players etc. The tricksie solo bassists do next to nothing for me whereas a single voiced horn solo, weaving the harmony into the lines really excites. At the end of the day, I love music in all it's myriad forms, with or without a bass guitar.

It's not all about us, you know.

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1454940034' post='2974383'] So how would you argue regarding efficiency? [/quote] If someone can recommend a means of achieving the same musical goal more easily you would have to look at it. Doesn't make your way wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L67B_eRLUuY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2dcVYdpm0&list=RDTJ2dcVYdpm0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IddP8AAIGTQ

Is Dave Goodier still in Bristol? He is a nice player.

Great replies above. My perspective is, it depends on how well you know the material. I do gigs every week with a whole range of artists who bring varying levels of expectation to each gig. If I get called to solo on a blues, I am in the zone and am playing entirely my own ideas executed by ear etc. If I am playing rhtyhm changes at 320 bpm, like I was last week with Simon Spillett, I am using a much higher degree of muscle memory interspersed with bullshit. If I am on a ballad I don't know with a range of complex harmonies, I am invariably crashing and burning It's all of the above. Some of my solos are strong, some are weak and some are total trainwrecks. Improvisation is, by definition, a high risk undertaking and you are going to be unhappy with what you do most of the time. It's the thrill of the chase as much as it is the winning. I cannot, for instance, do anything meaningful with Giant Steps. Too fast, too complex for my little ears. I know some very competent players who can get through it but who feel the same; it's maths not music. Then you hear someone like Chris Potter do it and you think 'I am a w*****'.

I know Steve Swallow carries an amp but hires cabs. I think that is one practice. Most people who play at my venue bring their own but I guess it depends on distance, the nature of the gear etc.

Came across these at Mum's last Saturday. They were taken by a friend of mine at the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival in the early 1990s. Or was it Live at Pompeii? [URL=http://s283.photobucket.com/user/bilbo230763/media/Ebbw%20Vale%20Garden%20Festival%20001_zpsvn9bkfgb.jpg.html][IMG]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/bilbo230763/Ebbw%20Vale%20Garden%20Festival%20001_zpsvn9bkfgb.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s283.photobucket.com/user/bilbo230763/media/001_zpsxdmk8ur8.jpg.html][IMG]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/bilbo230763/001_zpsxdmk8ur8.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

A great songwriter and lyricist who, like many great artists, gets remembered for his look and his 'pop' hits. I don't have any of his stuff but that Alone Again Naturally lyric is really deep. Ian Shaw has recorded a stunning version of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8UbNFnYWw8

Saw them at Bristol Colston Hall in 1836. Great band (it wasn't Pino on bass but I cannot remember who it was)

No such thing as an illegitimate technique. It's all about the music. If you can make a musical noise using any part of the body (easy, tiger), it's legitimate. You can argue whether there is a more efficient means etc but legitimacy is always a moot point. Anything else is missing the point.