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knirirr

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Everything posted by knirirr

  1. knirirr
    Last month's jam had 4 bassists and 0 guitarists. "Aha!" I thought, "this could be a great opportunity to learn the head for a favourite piece on guitar and call it at July's jam, particularly as one of the other bassists likes it." This time, we had 1 bassist (me) and 1 guitarist. Maybe next time... We did just about manage to get through Gichi though, which was nice.
  2. knirirr
    Apparently so...
  3. knirirr
    Something I read recently described jazz as a "meta-genre" rather than a genre, and also suggested that what defined jazz was the musicians playing it asserting that their material was jazz. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me. The jazz jams and gigs I play cover a variety of material, some of which the general public enjoy and some they complain about (and turn us down for gigs if they run venues). This, this and this are all jazz...
  4. knirirr
    One of those would be very nice indeed, but if I had that much money to spare I'd buy a decent carved double bass instead (which is cheaper anyway, IIRC). I used to have one made c. 1981 but sold it recently to someone able to do the work it greatly needed. It did good service for jazz purposes and even some other genres on occasion. These days I am mostly using a G&L ASAT.
  5. knirirr
    Good point; I'd have nothing to do with a company which asked for a photo of my ID to be emailed. Even then, I'd look at their T&Cs and privacy policy (and request further info. if necessary) to check what they would do with the photo. If it ends up sitting on their servers for years there's always a risk of a data breach at some point...
  6. knirirr

    Though I can get gigs playing other peoples' preferred material, it's getting very frustrating that every venue I approach with the music I most want to play turns us down. They phrase it in various ways but it comes down to them not wanting hardcore jazz, as far as I can tell.

    1. MuddBass

      MuddBass

      Here's what ChatGPT offeres for alternative wording you might use - give these a try instead and watch the gigs come pouring in.....(start with the last one!!!)

       

      Certainly! Here are some alternative words and phrases for "hardcore jazz":

      Bebop

      Avant-garde jazz

      Free jazz

      Fusion jazz

      Progressive jazz

      Modal jazz

      Post-bop

      Jazz rock

      Experimental jazz

      Cutting-edge jazz

      Innovative jazz

      Modern jazz

      Acid jazz

      Contemporary jazz

      Aggressive jazz

       

    2. knirirr

      knirirr

      I'm disappointed that it missed out "defiant jazz".

      Unfortunately, the problem is more like:

       

      Band: Do you want some jazz?
      Venue: Sounds interesting.

      Band:  Great! Here's a demo tape.

      Venue: Er.... Actually... We meant a pianist/singer doing quiet background music during dinner. Or something with a tune the punters could dance to.

       

      Perhaps the trick is to record a mild demo tape then wait to unleash the hard stuff at the gig. But, despite being jazz musicians, we'd like to get paid.

    3. MuddBass

      MuddBass

      Just play a couple of pop melodies as heads then let loose. What's the worse that can happen?

  7. knirirr
    It can be... I'm reminded of one where both modern jazz horn players and gypsy jazz guitarists turn up in varying proportions and call their preferred material. It was ... interesting ... to see the latter group trying to strum their way through So What recently.
  8. knirirr
    Four increasingly short sets at the Charlbury beer festival today. We were accosted by quite a few people who said they liked what we did, and Witney radio were interested in recording some for one of their programmes.
  9. knirirr
    This seems to happen to me often - when I want something it's hard to find and expensive, but if I no longer need it then the bottom's fallen out of the market. There are some non-musical items I'd sell right now but there are few people interested and they'll only offer half what I paid (used), which at the time were in line with typical dealers' prices.
  10. knirirr
    I'm not a fan of haggling at all. Ebay's offers seems a little less bad and I've used that, but sometimes when I've listed something with offers I've received cheeky messages from "buyers" complaining that their silly low offers have been rejected.
  11. knirirr
    I'm listening to this album right now. Somehow, I got an email from a percussionist who'd heard me at a dep gig in a pub and is looking for someone to play Cuban music. The first track has an appropriate bassline, and turns out to be rather nice.
  12. knirirr
    Last night's jam involved too many gypsy jazz guitarists some of whom were, I think, trying to wind me up. Unfortunately I don't think they'd easily find another bassist so I feel obliged to keep attending.
  13. knirirr
    Thanks! Yes, I think you might be right about the first tune. It sounded appropriate to us when playing. I'll have another listen and will think on it.
  14. knirirr
    Here's a demo tape created by a band I currently play with: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/av3w44msyi8c220m1qhfa/speak-no-evil-demo.mp3?rlkey=k5x0fkx1js92746hxyqckoenf&dl=0 This is approx. 10 minutes of samples from a 2 hour rehearsal. Unfortunately, when we recorded it we were all exhausted after work and I think it shows in the slow tempos and lack of energy.
  15. knirirr
    It was a salsa class, and I took that photo during the practice session before the band started playing. Not that I would consider myself qualified to comment on dancing...
  16. knirirr
    With apologies for two posts in a row, I thought I'd mention today's gig at the Ramsden fete. The music went very well - lots of children dancing to it and people hanging around to listen past official chucking out time, until the electricity was cut off half way through our last number. I somehow left my amp's kettle lead behind as well and had to scrounge one; my bass's acoustic volume was not enough for the drummer.
  17. knirirr
    Last night's gig (and the "open rehearsal" the night before) weren't too bad. We got a reasonable number of dancers in, and the rhythm section (bass, drums, tres, percussion) kept good time despite some soloists' attempts to shake the foundations on occasion. First time I've gigged with a fretted bass, which was strange. The venue was here. I've not been since before they revamped it to add a bar; it's a rather nice performance space now.
  18. knirirr
    I have a PhD (though we insist on calling it a DPhil here) in virology. The pianist I usually play with is a professor of atmospheric physics. I used to play with a different pianist who was in laser physics.
  19. knirirr

    My fancy jazz bass has developed an annoying habit of having the sound fade in and out from time to time. It's difficult to reproduce the problem consistently. Someone with better soldering skills than me will need to go over the wiring.

    So, in preparation for next week's gig I dug out my only fretted bass, a barely-used Squier Jaguar. This turns out to be rather nice to play and sounds really good as well (it has GHS precision flats on).

    1. bakerster135

      bakerster135

      Could be as simple as a dirty pot, I had that issue and was annoyingly difficult to isolate...Turned out to be the volume pot on my always-on OD pedal. You got some contact cleaner? If so, spray every pot you've got on your bass and any pedals, give them a good few turns and see if the issue continues

    2. knirirr

      knirirr

      I have got some contact cleaner - certainly worth a try, thanks.

  20. knirirr
    Probably dating from around 1987-88 I have a Grainger and Campbell practice chanter looking like this one. Also, a set of their army regulation pattern pipes dating from a year or so later. Unfortunately, playing these instruments isn't really possible at present. If I ever do get the chance again I might try a bit of jazz.
  21. knirirr
    As I mentioned here, the pros weren't able to turn up for their usual jam session so it ended up with my band depping as the house band. This turned out quite well; there was a chap in the audience who organises music at local beer festivals and he seemed to like it. We played Spain at the end and I think we got away with it. Once again, the TC Electronics BAM200 appeared to give good service - perhaps I won't need my Orange Terror any more (which I didn't even bring).
  22. knirirr
    Twice now in the same pub a mother with small children has wandered up to the jazz jam area and said something along the following to her children: "Do you know what that instrument is? It's a guitar! How about that one? It's a trombone! And what about that? It's a cello!"
  23. knirirr
    One drummer I play with prefers to be on the side with bass in the middle, if possible, which presumably gets a bit more notice for me: Mostly, though, it's drummer in the middle with bass to their left and keyboard/guitar to the right, horns in front.
  24. knirirr
    It was an Orange OBC112. I have a jam on Sunday and a rehearsal with a different band (and bass) on Monday. I'll have to see if it still holds up after both of those.
  25. knirirr
    We got through a lot of material last night, in preparation for both a recent gig offer and the surprise need for me and our horn player to replace the pros (who have presumably been offered money to be elsewhere) at a jam coming up on Sunday. It was also a chance to try out a new head, a TC Electronics BAM200. Everyone appeared to think that this sounded better than my Orange Terror so the latter might go up for sale (not that anyone will buy it ;-).
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