derrenleepoole Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Oh my... now that is special Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risingson Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1346754527' post='1792622'] PS Jeff Berlin thinks all fretless players sound the same. Jeff Berlin talks but he doesn't listen. [/quote] Jeff Berlin IMV is an idiot who gives but can't take. I've got no time for him and his general attitude irks me more than any other bass player I've read about or come across. Usually players so outspoken have usually had some major impact on music but I struggle to see what Berlin has brought to the table that other far more genuine and talented musicians haven't done already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Well..you can't deny that Berlin can play.. Saw him live in a club around here in Belgium and he was on a level I had never seen (and I'm aware what goes around on the bass-scene). No one plays like Jaco but also : no one can play like Berlin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) All round good-egg and a stout fellow, old Jaco. I remember a time when I was lunching with Hermione Gingold. That grand dame of the British stage turned to me and said: "I met the most interesting fellow the other day. I was out in the Daimler and I had a flat tyre. While I was waiting for the RAC this man came up to me and offered to help. Do you know, he lifted the car up with one hand, changed the wheel with the other, all the while explaining his approach to composing bass solos. Name of Pastorious, if memory serves." She paused and added: "But such sad, sad eyes. Reminded me of Googie Withers just before the end." [color=#ffffff].[/color] Edited September 4, 2012 by skankdelvar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongebob Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 I've just ordered the biography mentioned earlier, so can't wait to get stuck into that when it arrives! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I will probably never recover from the first time I heard his version of Donna Lee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1346754527' post='1792622'] I think, during that time, JP backed it up. Others have passed him since which is as it should be but he made it happen in the same way that others did on their instruments. [/quote] I'm sure this is not what you meant and I am probably reading it wrongly and all that, so don't take this personally Bilbo, but this sentence speaks of the "Music as a contact sport" which we all (including me, but less as I get [s]fatter[/s] older) subscribe to. What Jaco played (certainly with Joni, Metheney, WR and doubtless lots of others) was right for the music. He sat in the weave of what was going on. What always strikes me (and I have been returning to this stuff for 33+ years by now) is that what he gave a piece was what was needed. Would someone with "better" technique bring anything better to the table? No. We get caught up in the chops so easily, but [i]really[/i] it is about the moment and the interplay. Of course there are all sorts of examples of Jaco's stuff that is not what he would have chosen to leave as a legacy if he had had that luxury, but when the circumstances were right (and the good recordings only happen when the circumstances are right), Jaco brought an inherent musicality which was served by his technique, but not subservient to it. If I had his chops then I would be shredding for days on end, just because I could and I would not have the self control not to. His natural bounce/groove/timing is always what does it for me. His note placement was exquisite and really let everyone around him breathe, or be carried along by the momentum of his playing. His ensemble playing was immaculate. He would have been a great on whatever instrument he played because it is about what he was expressing, not the means of how he expressed it. Have others passed him since? Others have bought beautiful stuff as well, but would a pear pass an orange? Ultimately for me it comes down to "does that music move me?" not "wow, stellar technique!". There will always be someone with more technique round the corner, but is Mozart better than Bach? Jaco said what he had to say and I am still hearing it, not at the expense of anyone else but alongside others saying what they have to say. Obv, tonight I am full of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risingson Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 [quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1346765433' post='1792844'] Well..you can't deny that Berlin can play.. [/quote] No way, absolutely the guy can play the hell out his bass. But so can a lot of other guys as well too, without the attitude and egotism he tends to drag around with him. Players I'd far prefer to listen to, players whose music is better as well IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Silly moustache, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 [quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1346756843' post='1792658'] Bit off topic but anyway.. a couple of years ago I had to play in this tv-show and Toots Thielemans was there too.. I walked by, saw him standing there and just shook his hand to thank him. An hour later he passed by while I was sitting in the hall and sat next to me and we talked about Jaco and the fact that Toots had played on "Three views of a secret", one of my favourite pieces. Without me asking Toots went into his pocket and started playing the theme for me.. I was driven to tears by the sheer beauty of that moment. I still treasure it.. Here's a picture of the two of us that evening.. he is such an amazing and kind musician. [/quote] That is pretty f***ing awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Jeff Berlin? I rest my case [attachment=117528:f66e5f72eefc926d45ae404d7a308.jpg][attachment=117529:post-2944-0-76217100-1328822144.jpg] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Toots playing 'Three views...' with Jaco on piano http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBhoDaS5SKQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 [quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1346794790' post='1793478'] Jeff Berlin? I rest my case [attachment=117528:f66e5f72eefc926d45ae404d7a308.jpg][attachment=117529:post-2944-0-76217100-1328822144.jpg] [/quote]What case would that be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 [quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1346795030' post='1793482'] Toots playing 'Three views...' with Jaco on piano [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBhoDaS5SKQ[/media] [/quote] Actually a friend of mine did the lights that evening..he told her to have it as bright as possible and no effects. Later on he was very drunk and showed up at the bar of the concert hall in a terrible state. Two or three years ago I bought a Status bass in the southern part of Belgium and the seller showed me this old sixties Fender fretless bass.. He pushed it in my hands and it was the bass Jaco had played during that concert with Toots shown here above (actually it sounded terrible :-)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 A 60's bass, defretted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 [quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1346795515' post='1793494'] What case would that be? [/quote] Was having a joke at his sartorial taste Steve. Bit of levity mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 During that concert he also used the fretless bass Michel played here in this video...that was the one I played. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSp_oqY9l20"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSp_oqY9l20[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deaver Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 [quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1346795515' post='1793494'] What case would that be? [/quote] You'd think twice about leaving your kids with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4000 Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 [quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1346268386' post='1787316'] I wish I'd written Teen Town. [/quote] That'd be approx number 423,000,096 on the list of things I wish I'd written. To be honest I've always found it rather dull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Sausage Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 [quote name='Wil' timestamp='1346794211' post='1793465'] Silly moustache, too. [/quote][quote name='Wil' timestamp='1346794211' post='1793465'] Silly moustache, too. [/quote] I don't think i've ever seen a moustache that isn't silly, maybe apart from Hitler's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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