bassace

It was a stunt vacuum cleaner.

I’ve been in approx 100 bands. I wouldn’t want to see any of them. Honest.

Interesting, that. I switch a lot between two feel and walking but as most of my stuff is freelance I usually discuss it with the drummer so he knows what to expect. I remember once mentioning to the drummer that I could tell when the rhythm is starting to swing and I can be confident in playing two feel. He replied, ‘Yes, but a minim is an awfully long note to be wrong’. Check out Ray Brown playing Have You Met Miss Jones on Oscar’s We Get Requests. That swings in medium tempo two feel like no other.

I last saw him at Symphony Hall five years ago. He was in great voice and closed with Sanfrancisco without a mic. He filled the auditorium with his voice. I met his DB player, Marshall Wood, through the ‘other’ forum and we formed a friendship. TB toured with just his quartet and almost to the end they went all over the place, including a private gig at Buck House for Prince Charles- as he was then.

Tut Tut!

Why, what’s for sale?

‘Do you play requests?’ ‘Only when we’re asked’ seemed to work well enough for us.

Or if you’re asked ‘How do you get that under your chin?’ You sweetly reply ‘By keeping my f*****g mouth shut’. Then be prepared to run if you’re small. Or old.

The DJ hasn’t arrived yet so the stage is clear for you to set up on.

Wow!! Something I never achieved. But wanted to.

Amazing!

Jazz musicians never play the same phrase once.

Hi Nick Thanks for asking. I just got old and it’s about time I stopped. I’m 82 now and nobody has got any business inflicting themselves on an audience at that age. Mind you, I’ve still got a bit of gear and a nice double bass.

The difference between a jazz guitarist and a 12” pizza? The latter will feed a family of four.

Just as a heads up, I have a Genz Benz 3.0 Shuttle Combo advertised in Amps and Cabs for Sale. It has a 10” cab and weighs in at 18 lbs and is perfect for in an out DB gigs. I’m only getting rid of it because I’m not playing anymore. Heres a pic of the controls, including the versatile eq section.

Yes, I’ve still got BA55 ACE but it’s on retention as I don’t play anymore. I run around on my wife’s number. Which is BA55 MRS - no, only kidding.

I started out in the fifties. Money was still tight post war so we didn’t have anything like the goodies we take for granted today. We all still owe a lot to Lonnie Donegan who kicked off the skiffle movement and with it the ability to play music on the most rudimentary materials, such as tea chest bass and washboard which was my starter instrument. It wasn’t long before I graduated to double bass which I bought new for £45. Recording was single track, unsophisticated, but we had a very nice reel to reel Ferrograph. I met up with Guy and Ted Fletcher and recording time was curtailed because we had plenty of gigs coming in. But I remember Ted made me a simple compressor - the first TFPro model? - soldered together which didn’t seem to have many components apart from a 2v light bulb that glowed dimly or brightly according to the strength of my amped signal. Amp was a 50 watt Leak with KT 88 outputs. At the same time my younger brother cobbled a bass guitar together, with a body made from two sheets of blockboard glued together and a hand crafted fretless neck - a very early fretless indeed - because he didn’t have the skills to put the frets in. The pickup was canibalised from a moving coil headphone earpiece. The Fletchers went on to do very well in the business but I kept music as a hobby. Happy days

Those were the days, and I also had a laminate in the garage. But I’ve only got one bass now.

Great, inspiring story. Congrats!

I’ve always thought that slapping the bass is like the guy who plays the spoons. Or the female contortionist. Doesn’t add much to the whole scheme of things.

This is what I do if I need to slacken strings or take the bridge off. You can see the spacer I made to go between the end of the fingerboard and the top of the bass. It keeps the pressure on the soundpost. Blue towel optional (!).