TrevorR

Yeah, set up by the guy who runs a local music school and very much with that inclusive attitude. Highly recommend it to anyone in travelling distance to Woking. Great fun night… https://www.wokingmusic.co.uk/weekly-monday-night-jam For full disclosure I should say that this jam is a bit of a one off. There’s another one near me which is a bit ramshackle but friendly and keen to get everyone a go. Been to that a few times and it’s a fun night. And then… there’s another which just seems to be an excuse for two groups of chums (I.e. the organisers) to get up and play up on stage and wasn’t welcoming at all… never went back to that latter one.

I’m fortunate to go the the most fantastic jam night every Monday in Woking. The have the most fabulous house band - headed up at the moment by the phenomenal jazz/rock guitarist Nicolas Meier. How good is he? Let’s just say he played in Jeff Beck’s band a while back. However, it’s an absolutely ego free affair. The house band will do a couple of songs but the main priority is ensuring everyone gets plenty of chances to play if they want to. The music ranges from jazz to Latin to rock to pop to soul… just depending what the punters want to do that night. The jam has full backline and a sweet bass rig… a Tonehammer 500 into a pair of MarkBass 1x12s. Very nice! The house bassist if a fabulous player called Ana-Maria Lazar but there’s no hint of hogging the light. She’s happy to play if nobody wants to but would much rather have folks getting up and having a go. Here’s a vid I took a while back which gives you an idea how good the house band are. Nick and Carl Orr on guitar, Ana on bass and Adam Bond on drums. So e photos from a typical night here… https://www.facebook.com/100092387225241/posts/pfbid0phhRubD7m4uqENxThosDW5CT4e7z5FjQsEBNaWafzejNDkZqDW2dYEK1jtB8B7wwl/?

Late to the party but yet more love for Newtone… like others, have been using their acoustic strings for years… decades, actually, including custom sets for my Fylde Bouzouki. Back in the pre-internet days it was always nice having a chat with Malcolm on the phone. The guys who took over from him when he retired seem to have carried on the ethos of hand winding the best possible quality strings. Using their Diamond 45-105s on my Frankenjazz,and one of my Wals. They’ll be the choice for restringing my other Wal and my Aria when the time next comes to order some strings… love their strings.

Sitting on the train listening to Yes - Live from Lyon. This was the only recording released with Oliver Wakeman in the band in the late 2000s (until he dug out the tracks the band were working on when he got booted out and finished them off the other year). He’s quite a chip off his dad’s old block. Shame this version of the band didn’t last longer before he was ditched in favour of bringing Geoff Downes back into the band. He’s a much more lyrical player than Downes and feels more suited to the Yes vibe to my ear. Shame.

Hmmmm… not so much a “giveaway” then… a paid raffle, tombola or lottery…

A pre-release copy of Bela Fleck’s new album… several different versions of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue featuring him playing banjo!!! Including a full orchestral version and this bluegrass band version… weird! But good weird!

Here’s hoping that the reinstatement comes with better understanding (from both sides, I guess) and more backing for you when you need to address difficulties in the team.

Such sad news - one of the greats in the history of British guitar and bass building.

Indeed! The beauty of that set up is swap over time is take bass off, put on stand, pick other bass up, put strap over head, step on A/B/Y footswitch (Lehle 3@1 - fabulous pedal, bomb proof)… maybe 10 seconds tops. Little or no band filling required!

Back in the wedding band days this was my set up… Always carried two basses and since I love ‘em both always played both over the course of the night. Always both on stage at all times. If I’d ever had a bass fail they would have been swapped seamlessly within a couple of bars. For me there was no point having one in a case or in the boot of the car - the show must go on… or rather must never stop while I faff about finding another bass. Did the same with other combos of my basses - whether the backup was my Aria SB or my Frankenjazz. Of course, having the redundancy I never needed it! But that’s not the point. Insurance is something you hope never having to use… you still need it, though!

Always loved playing this Mariah Christmas song - though not one of the usual suspects you might be thinking of. The final couple of minutes where it goes all full on gospel is great fun to play…

That really is a peach! Sorry about the pun. That would have been my choice too!

Well, his girlfriend’s nan did call him “Foxy” so that fits! 😂

Plenty of prog Christmas music for your Crimble playlist…

Hard to say, really. Even when you can see the face! Donald Fagen? David Baddeil? 🤣🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Very few bass purchases for me this year too… a TC Electronics UniTune clip on tuner (x2 coz I liked the first one so much) and some Newtone Bass Strings - both residing firmly in the Best category.

Bought an I-90 a few years ago and it was very nice. Good build, great sounds but it sadly soon went back as it had a fault. Replaced to with an EHX Bass Clone which I love and also has a wide range of tones from 80s shimmer to 90s wobble-wobble. One thing about the Eden pedals is that IIRC they take a 15V power supply (15!).

And don’t forget that “The Joker” by the Steve Miller Band is a good utility bassline for many worship tunes, “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” in particular.

More pics here… https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0HT7D3T6aqnnZFxWePC6qq6doTQQdS7SfX2r7NZcNb5Y2MddMEANAdm6fS58rUbU6l&id=705595859

Mentioned the result to Lol and he said… ”That's great news Trevor, I'm chuffed to have been a little part of something that was so much fun and also contributed to such a good cause.”

Or you could go “Brooklands” as the Bash was only about two miles from that venerable historic racing venue - now home to the local Tesco and M&S superstores!

Never seen that before! Fabulous! When you think of the number of A list bass players Greg Bisonette could have phoned up and said, “Hey, we’re doing this daft lockdown thing…” it says how well respected Lol is that he’s the one on the video,

Got home and having taken loads of photos of Betsy I realised I never asked anyone to take a photo of ME with it! D’oh!

So long as you do a “whole album set” of Animals!!!

Yeah, Darren was the perfect MC for those bits. As you say, top bloke! I couldn’t believe it when Guy finished his chat and said, “I’ll just leave those there if anyone wants to look at them or have a go. Just limit yourself to a couple of minutes coz there’ll probably be a few of you!” He’s such a lovely erm… guy.