wombatboter Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 I rarely start a topic myself here on bass.chat (we should stick to chocolate and beer around here in Belgium !) but this bass-player deserves a bit more attention although I doubt it bothers him that his name is sometimes forgotten amongst the top-bass players. I've seen him already a couple of times live and every time he just blows me away with his sense of rythm, his harmonical concepts, his sound and the vision he has when he creates music.. Every time he seems to be completely in peace with himself, free of pressure and stress and totally in touch with a world I haven't encountered yet.. I remember being at the Frankfurter Messe years ago and he was giving demonstrations for a certain bass or amp (can't remember which one) and some Mark King-addict wanted to have a bass-duel with Kai and they exchanged bass-lines.. After a minute the King-fan had already shown his complete arsenal (the furious left hand slap included which made his face turn red) while Kai was still smiling and hadn't even begun with what he could have had in mind.. For him it wasn't even a competition in speed and he proceeded with colouring up his bass lines and leaving the crowd and the other bass players speechless.. This video was a small journey for me.. the great chordal work, the slap which he makes musical, the sound and again : the great feeling that someone is able to express himself like he wants to.. Hope you enjoy it (I'm going to make some waffels now !) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R4SiBnh0tY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassninja Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 (edited) While musically a little outside my usual playlist, John McLaughlin's 'Live at the Festival Hall' trio with Kai and Trilok Gurtu is amazing. Still listen to it loads. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk4MAHAMYOw Kai also had a great hyper jam band called Garage a Trois, IIRC, I think authorised live tapes are available for download at archive.org. Edited March 24, 2014 by icastle Link fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted August 10, 2013 Author Share Posted August 10, 2013 I had the pleasure once of doing two concerts with Trilok Gurtu but I had to stop thinking what Kai was able to play with him or I would have walked out immediately.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Wow! Thanks for posting! best, bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Brilliant musician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 A serious muso and bassist - I've been a huge fan for many years - since that John M Trio album came out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badass Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Anyone know what gear he uses? Can't seem to find any info on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Yup, great bassist...big fan of his his chops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTB Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 [quote name='bassninja' timestamp='1376125483' post='2169915'] Kai also had a great hyper jam band called Garage a Trois, IIRC, I think authorised live tapes are available for download at archive.org. [/quote] I think the band is Garaj Mahal but am unable to check at the mo'. Great player I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 His band was called Garaj Mahal and they were totally killing, sadly they've split up now after not really breaking through internationally - tho they had a solid fanbase in the US. He's doing some new projects now that are even more eclectic - he does a lot of teaching in Berkley, California where he lives - awesome guy and an awesome player - interviewed him a couple of times - can get pretty mystical too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassninja Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 [quote name='PTB' timestamp='1376160193' post='2170433'] I think the band is Garaj Mahal but am unable to check at the mo'. [/quote] Thats it... fuzzy memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetaFunk Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 [quote name='bassninja' timestamp='1376125483' post='2169915'] While musically a little outside my usual playlist, John McLaughlin's 'Live at the Festival Hall' trio with Kai and Trilok Gurtu is amazing. Still listen to it loads. [/quote] Great bass player. I was at that Festival Hall gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 [quote name='Badass' timestamp='1376154216' post='2170347'] Anyone know what gear he uses? [/quote] His bass in this vid is a Coura from Coura African Guitars. Model is named Malindi 5 Kai Eckhardt signature. Dunno about other equipment. b, b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risingson Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Cheers for sharing, I'll be the first to say that his style of bass playing doesn't interest me at all but he's clearly good musician. I always find that the bass guitar's voicing doesn't lend itself well to that style of playing, but I appreciate I could be in a minority on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 [quote name='Badass' timestamp='1376154216' post='2170347'] Anyone know what gear he uses? Can't seem to find any info on it. [/quote] I think he used German Shack basses too in the beginning (those headless versions you see with John McLaughlin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoRi Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Information from his CD "Honour simplicity, respect the flow": http://[url="http://postimage.org/"][/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whynot Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 One of my favourite players for sure. He used Schack and Clover headless basses in the JM days (still owns one). In recent years he played mostly a Precision I think, then had a custom 5 made a couple of years back which he plays on almost everything I understand. I had an email exchange with him a couple of years back and comes across as a genuinely nice inspirational guy. He also does online bass lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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