Great bassists who most people don't know

[Eldon Tyrell]

6 minutes ago, Piers_Williamson said:

 But he had a bass named after him!

I still doubt most people know who he was as his first name did not start with an A or B. 

[lowdown]

1 hour ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

I'm a big fan of Ewen Vernal, the original bassist from Deacon Blue who's gone on to other musical ventures such as playing with Kate Rusby amongst other. 
 

I always find his bass playing so creative and integral to the song without being overstated. Tracks like Your Swaying Arms are (to me) absolute bass playing gems. 
 

 

 

About 20 years ago or so, I walked into a bar in Glasgow to listen to some Jazz and Ewan was on Double Bass. He sounded great, very fluent and on top of it.

I was then told he hadn't been playing Upright that long.

 

Excellent musician.

 

[Rayman]

Colin Moulding - XTC

 

He, Tina Weymouth and JJ Brunel were the reason I bought my first bass, a Columbus Jazz, in 1981.

[tegs07]

https://www.danielkimbro.com/
 

👆

 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by tegs07

[Leonard Smalls]

Here's one, Ryoji Orihara of the Ken Sato Experience. Their version of 20th Century Boy is also excellent!

 

 

[bass_dinger]

20 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

 

 

Is that a  5 string Ricky?

 

I had no idea that they existed!

[SteveXFR]

2 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

Is that a  5 string Ricky?

 

I had no idea that they existed!

 

It is. I think it's a 4003S/5.

He has a signature Rickenbacker which looks amazing and is a short scale 4 string. 

[MacDaddy]

Floyd Pepper, Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

[Boodang]

Eberhard Weber.

Changed my perception on melodic bass playing... genius.

[BlueMoon]

Here's a killer player from Iceland...........Jóhann Ásmundsson

 

He has been bassist for funk/fusion band Mezzoforte since they formed back in the 80's.

[P-Belly Evans]

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

Floyd Pepper, Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

Absolutely

 

 

[Piers_Williamson]

Nice to see a leftie band in action.....

 

22 minutes ago, P-Belly Evans said:

Absolutely

 

 

 

[SteveXFR]

Here's another favourite of mine. Others may disagree (they're wrong) but I would say Matt Freeman of Rancid is the best bassist in punk rock. 

I highly recommend listening to And Out Come The Wolves by Rancid. The bass on every song is absolutely killer.

 

 

[Lozz196]

Matt is an awesome player

[MattM]

9 hours ago, Clarky said:

Martyn P Casey of The Bad Seeds. Understated, always plays whats right for the song. Also owns the coolest 60s P bass ever (his stage bass for decades)

 

This.  Here’s another photo of Martyn’s aforesaid early 60s Precision

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by MattM

[Misdee]

11 hours ago, lowdown said:

Neil Stubenhaus.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Stubenhaus

Good call. Love his playing on Just To See Her by Smokey Robinson and On My Own by Michael McDonald and Pattie LaBelle.

[Misdee]

I've always liked Chris Bostock's playing with the JoBoxers back in the early '80's. There were a lot of really good bass players about at that time, and he was definitely one of them. I know he played on a few projects subsequently but he is another very talented player who isn't as high- profile as he should have been.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

5 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

Here's another favourite of mine. Others may disagree (they're wrong) but I would say Matt Freeman of Rancid is the best bassist in punk rock. 

I highly recommend listening to And Out Come The Wolves by Rancid. The bass on every song is absolutely killer.

 

 

Never mind punk, Matt Freeman is one of the best bassists in rock.

[SteveXFR]

8 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Never mind punk, Matt Freeman is one of the best bassists in rock.

 

Definitely. 

[Coilte]

Michel Hatzigeorgiou from "Aka Moon".

 

 

[Japhet]

David Dyson. Particularly the live stuff he did with Meshell NdegeOcello.

[cetera]

Joe Puerta (Ambrosia)

Martin Tiefensee (Lake)

Del Palmer (Kate Bush)
Dieter Horns (Lucifer's Friend)

Richard Searle (Corduroy)

Ron Anaman (Trillion)
Bob Marshall (John Miles)
John Anderson (Charlie)
Bert Veldkamp / Theo De Jong (Kayak)
 

[Barking Spiders]

Seems it's the norm for bass players to be unknown outside of the bass microcosm although guitarists are mostly hardly more famous and if they are known it's because they're in a very famous band. Even within the bass microcosm I guess most of us are unfamiliar with those who play stuff we don't listen to. Don't think I can name a single metal or contemporary blues rock player. Conversely I guess most rock players won't be familiar with Kai Eckhardt, Scott Ambush and Armand Sabal-Lecco plus there's loads of top notch players across Africa.

[EssentialTension]

On 20/03/2022 at 00:52, Nail Soup said:

I’m going to suggest one who is not well known despite being in a very well known band.

Doug Yule was in the Velvet Underground after John Cale ‘left’ and played some pretty cool bass lines. But he has been airbrushed out of the band history.

 

In 1972, at Birmingham University Students Union, I saw (a band calling themselves) The Velvet Underground.

 

No Cale, no Reed, no Morrison, no Tucker, just Yule and some unknowns who were never in VU, except for that tour.

 

I'd tell you more about the gig but it was fifty years ago and I don't remember.

[Nail Soup]

21 minutes ago, EssentialTension said:

 

In 1972, at Birmingham University Students Union, I saw (a band calling themselves) The Velvet Underground.

 

No Cale, no Reed, no Morrison, no Tucker, just Yule and some unknowns who were never in VU, except for that tour.

 

I'd tell you more about the gig but it was fifty years ago and I don't remember.

Yes, on Doug's negative side he did lead a bogus version of VU for a short while, and also switched from bass to guitar first chance he got.

 

Pretty cool that you saw that infamous version of VU though.