bassace

You'll see from my sig that I have a few speakers to play with but I've been using a single Wizzy 10 a lot recently. It works well even with drums and can fill quite a large hall. Putting a second 10 with it gives a lot of headroom and I sometimes find that I have to eq some of the bass out.

Be true to yourself, your playing and your style. Don't be over-awed by the theorists; in fact, ignore them if you can. If you find someone whose playing you admire try to get close and learn as much as you can from them. Oh, and buy your round, otherwise people will talk about your parsimony long after they've forgotten how you play.

Some good suggestions here. You say that you have a good ear and that is a good start. There are those on this forum who are very good on theory and this is a good place to graduate to. For now, I suggest you use your ears to the max by immersing yourself in some of the suggested jazz CDs. Spotify is a very good source. My suggestion to you is to listen to some piano trios. Nice and simple, you will hear how the pianist states the tune in the first chorus and then builds up his improvisation. Then listen to how the bass and drums play along with him. Anything by Oscar Peterson will do nicely and of course most of the time he will have Ray Brown on bass - nice solid bass lines.

That sort of money would buy quite a nice double bass. I used to play a blonde Fender Jazz in '62. Wonder where it is now.

Great vid! Sounds of Aaron Copeland. Did the blonde play the guitar or did she use it just for the walk?

I've had a double bass in a Micra. It'll go in anything, however small, as long as there is a rear opening. Coupes are good because their two doors are usually wider than a four-door. In fact, the question should be phrased what car [i]can't [/i]you get a double bass in. Porsche Cayman perhaps not. When I started out I had a little Standard Ten (my first car) and the bass went on the roof. Doesn't bear thinking about.

That must be everybody except Jet Harris.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1079195' date='Jan 5 2011, 09:26 PM']My Dad was a Jazz drummer in the 60s and likes Art Blakey's stuff a lot. He was always trying to get me to listen to the bass. I'm sure he loves having a dumb rock n roller for a son! It all sounds very impressive to me these days, whilst not strictly being "my bag". RIP[/quote] BB, did your Dad play in the Berks area during the sixties? I might have known him.

If someone told me he had 57 basses I'm not sure what my reply would be. I don't think it would be nice.

I've been reasonably abstemious during 2010 (exept for a Phil Jones Super Flightcase) and I'm going to be cutting down on gigs during 11, so not a lot of dosh to spend. However I'm looking towards getting a QSC K10 powered speaker to go with my Headway and DPA mic on the double bass for the more intimate jazz gigs. Good luck and best wishes to you all, especially the guys on this thread who will be playing their DBs.

The Kristin Kolb track is very good for demonstrating how jazz improvisation works. You can hear her sing the Whirly Bird theme in the first chorus. Then she goes into improvised choruses. You can still hear the underlying chord sequence (as you should). The tune is a Neil Hefti composition and is off The Atomic Mr Basie LP/CD. Kristin's improvisation is straight off Eddie Lockjaw Davis's tenor solo for the most part but is no less noteworthy for that. Her vocalising is a lot better than most as well - I don't really enjoy vocalese much. If you haven't heart TAMB you should, even if you're not a jazz fan. The tenor solos are some of the most robust you'll ever hear, even in rock!

Oh dear................

I read an article in this month's Musician, The MU magazine, that Bill Bruford hasn't worked for two years because he doesn't feel up to the job. He just doesn't want to play. If Bill's not up to it what hope is there for the rest of us? Anyone else heard this story?

I've constructed a large cupboard/wardrobe out of OSB at the back of my garage. It can take two double basses, stacks of cabs and heads. The tight door ensures that climatic nasties (cold, damp etc) don't get in. And it's very convenient to load the gear into the car.

My final gig with the seven piece on Saturday. Drove to Sidmouth, Devon to play in a large carpeted room but the PJ Super Flightcase dealt with it well. 320mile round trip with no overnight accommodation. I dropped the sax player off in Stroud and saw minus 7.5 degrees on the car's gauge. Got home at 3.00am. Up at 9.00 to help Mrs Bassace muck out her four horses. Today the band (minus me) goes to Gran Canaria for two weeks. Hey Ho.

[quote name='endorka' post='1001832' date='Oct 26 2010, 10:26 PM']Just listening to some Red Mitchell; Clark Terry / Red Mitchell - It Don't Mean A Thing : [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOWaUR6ta0c&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOWaUR6ta0c&NR=1[/url] Red Mitchell & Bill Mays play "Well, You Needn't" [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA_8CV_h2hg&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA_8CV_h2hg...feature=related[/url] I can't believe how good these guys are! Jennifer[/quote] Thanks for that, Jennifer. I'm conversant with the Clark Terry stuff but hadn't heard Red with Bill Mays before. There's a lot of good stuff on the youtube 'tree'; I've just listened to them doing Round Midnight. Great! - or should I say 'nice!'

MB150 seems OK enough on the lows but I don't like that mwah you get with piezos unless you kill the middle. I do agree that a lot of its attraction seems to be in its smallness.

[quote name='Earbrass' post='992077' date='Oct 18 2010, 11:38 AM']In my view Jools Holland is a serial offender in this department. He will often play boogie-woogie left hand parts even when playing with a band. It seems to me that the whole point of the boogie-woogie left hand is to simulate a "chugging" band rhythm section, and as such is essentially a solo piano style. If anyone listened to the recent memorial show/concert for Humphrey Lyttelton R4, they will have heard Jools ruin the classic "Bad Penny Blues" by doing just this, and muddying up the bass.[/quote] Well done Earbrass; that was exactly my reaction when I heard the prog. Johnny Parker he ain't. Keep those good ears tuned!

I expect Yehudi was easily grade 8, yet when he played 'jazz' alongside Grapelli he was - well, not very good. I wouldn't book him. It's horses for courses and I suspect that a lot of graduates haven't had too much time between the shafts. Most improve but some take longer than others. And don't get me started on NYJO.

Do these people actually exist?

Phil Wilkins, tenor/sop is the only ex LCM I've played with and he is very good inded. Could it be that the OP's disappointment is down to the musicians' initial lack of band experience on graduation. Phil was a bit like this initially but it took him no time at all to get up to speed.

Count Basie Orch. Behind those horns...................wow!

[quote name='Doddy' post='981083' date='Oct 7 2010, 11:35 PM']Try a blues in F and B flat[/quote] That'll be a great start for you. It'll get you into shape for playing jazz along with the horns - which is what the double bass is meant to do. IMHO of course!

Thanks for the interest, guys. Very gratifying. I'll have to get my head together to try to satisfy everyone geographically - maybe not possible to please all. If in the meantime anyone has any ideas it would be good to hear them. I'm looking at Nottingham or Northampton, both with reasonable motorway connections, but what do you think?

Thanks for the great response, guys, keep it coming. It may be geographically impossible to satisfy everyone and perhaps someone may have to run a northern meet. But we'll see how the responses work out. Now, if thisnameistaken could bring his two friends........................................................