BBC4 now for some awesome upright playing

[Chezz55]

I watched the program, and for me:

 

1)  The drummer spoilt all the performances.  He was far too busy and, to my ears, he was playing against and not with with the other musicians.

 

2)The drums were too high in the broadcast mix throughout the programme.

 

3)  I could barely hear the Double Bass player during his set.

 

4)  The sax player's set was the highlight.

 

 

 

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, Chezz55 said:

I watched the program, and for me:

 

1)  The drummer spoilt all the performances.  He was far too busy and, to my ears, he was playing against and not with with the other musicians.

 

2)The drums were too high in the broadcast mix throughout the programme.

 

3)  I could barely hear the Double Bass player during his set.

 

4)  The sax player's set was the highlight.

 

 

 

 

Agreed, the DB was relatively low in the mix compared to the other soloists, but my ears adapted. And of course he still won, so perhaps something was working about that mix? 

[solo4652]

30 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

I thought exactly the opposite, I'm no great fan of upright as a lead instrument (I tried with Mingus for years), but found his playing more accessible and importantly, enjoyable. I'm looking forward to watching it again 👍

 

Now the pianist who followed I really did not enjoy at all  

Yes - I think that's helped me to understand some of my discomfort. Thinking about it, I don't regard upright bass as a lead instrument and that's why I was left befuddled by the guy's playing.

[Owen]

I used to put my DB through a Berg 6x10. As Nige Kennedy used to say - monster. 

[nekomatic]

19 hours ago, Beedster said:

I thought exactly the opposite, I'm no great fan of upright as a lead instrument (I tried with Mingus for years), but found his playing more accessible and importantly, enjoyable. I'm looking forward to watching it again 👍

 

I'm with you on upright bass solos - I so often end up feeling that both player and listener are fighting a losing battle with the physical limitations of the instrument. And you could argue that it just doesn't make any sense trying to decide whether a bassist is 'better' than a sax player or a pianist based on a fifteen minute performance. That said, I thought Hastie's playing was lovely and would be very happy to hear him in a band. But to be honest I liked all of them, and would struggle to pick which one I thought should have won. Although maybe the guitarist…

 

It was a stellar lineup on the judging panel incidentally - if there's any of them you don't know, check them out.

[Beedster]

20 minutes ago, nekomatic said:

 

I'm with you on upright bass solos - I so often end up feeling that both player and listener are fighting a losing battle with the physical limitations of the instrument. And you could argue that it just doesn't make any sense trying to decide whether a bassist is 'better' than a sax player or a pianist based on a fifteen minute performance. That said, I thought Hastie's playing was lovely and would be very happy to hear him in a band. But to be honest I liked all of them, and would struggle to pick which one I thought should have won. Although maybe the guitarist…

 

It was a stellar lineup on the judging panel incidentally - if there's any of them you don't know, check them out.

 

Perhaps the BBC should do an X-Factor and put all the contestants in the one band 👍

 

Nice point about the physical limitations of the instrument, there's always that risk isn't there that we're impressed by the overcoming of these as much by the music itself (although having said that, it's probably true of many instruments, certainly I suspect of slap on electric bass). What I noticed was how clear and well-articulated each and every one of his notes appeared to be; OK some of that might be the quality of the room and the audio engineering, but he seemed to achieve a clarity of tone that to my mind is rare. Despite the physical limitations of the instrument   

[Leonard Smalls]

Beautiful bit of playing from BassBoy!

But my only problem with the YoungJazzer thing is that it's always also SafeJazzer. They never play anything that wouldn't be out of place at Pizza Express in Soho...

Saying that, I suspect that if they went the full Sharrock, Coleman or Brotzmann they most certainly wouldn't win!

[Beedster]

22 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Beautiful bit of playing from BassBoy!

But my only problem with the YoungJazzer thing is that it's always also SafeJazzer. They never play anything that wouldn't be out of place at Pizza Express in Soho...

Saying that, I suspect that if they went the full Sharrock, Coleman or Brotzmann they most certainly wouldn't win!

 

Yep, all a bit safe wasn't it. I used to date a sculptress and she said that get any recognition in her art you had to be able to do fingers, irrespective of your creative vision. BassBoy did fingers well I think 👍

[jazzmanb]

22 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Beautiful bit of playing from BassBoy!

But my only problem with the YoungJazzer thing is that it's always also SafeJazzer. They never play anything that wouldn't be out of place at Pizza Express in Soho...

Saying that, I suspect that if they went the full Sharrock, Coleman or Brotzmann they most certainly wouldn't win!

i No Jazzer,despite the name , but i  loved it as did my son (17). Safe etc weren't words that entered my head. I wouldn't have known if songs were covers etc if it not for the Title appearing. Maybe they start doing their thing as doors are opened 

Edited November 23, 2022 by jazzmanb
addition

[solo4652]

On 22/11/2022 at 14:18, Beedster said:

 

 

Nice point about the physical limitations of the instrument, there's always that risk isn't there that we're impressed by the overcoming of these as much by the music itself (although having said that, it's probably true of many instruments, certainly I suspect of slap on electric bass). What I noticed was how clear and well-articulated each and every one of his notes appeared to be; OK some of that might be the quality of the room and the audio engineering, but he seemed to achieve a clarity of tone that to my mind is rare. Despite the physical limitations of the instrument   

Yes, Chris - agreed. Once again you've read my mind and neatly summarised and expressed my reasons for being very underwhelmed by the guy's playing. For me, it was a hugely impressive example of somebody playing a bass in a way that I will never, ever be able to do. However, achieving stellar levels of note articulation and clarity, for me, doesn't mean it's enjoyable music. As you say, perhaps a bit like some examples of slap on an electric bass - technically very impressive but ultimately unmelodic (?).  

[bassace]

I suppose to win a competition you’ve got to have good chops on display. But unless he joins a supergroup like MMW he’ll be earning his money by playing in a somewhat more pedestrian role. As I’ve said before, ‘Thumb for show, nut for dough’.

[jazzmanb]

20 hours ago, solo4652 said:

Yes, Chris - agreed. Once again you've read my mind and neatly summarised and expressed my reasons for being very underwhelmed by the guy's playing. For me, it was a hugely impressive example of somebody playing a bass in a way that I will never, ever be able to do. However, achieving stellar levels of note articulation and clarity, for me, doesn't mean it's enjoyable music. As you say, perhaps a bit like some examples of slap on an electric bass - technically very impressive but ultimately unmelodic (?).  

It was a Musicians contest though ,Jazz at that,rather than Composing/songwriting contest 

Someone playing Let it Be in a Bass playing contest would go out in round 1 

[fleabag]

I thoroughly enjoyed that.  In a simple twist of fate, DB is not an instrument that really floats me, but DB supremo Danny Thompson is one of my all time fave bassers.

 

All of the contestants were top bananas,  but for me it was Emma on sax that took the biscuit, and Luke on piano.

 

I also loved that drummer in the backing band.

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, fleabag said:

DB is not an instrument that really floats me, but DB supremo Danny Thompson is one of my all time fave bassers.

 

Conversely, I really like DB and would love one (annoyingly there have been a bunch for sale that I could easily have gone to try before I moved north, but are now, literally, out of reach. The universe trying to tell me something, perhaps?), with Danny Thompson being one of my favourites, not just for his chops, but especially for his tone. Because of that, I didn't really enjoy the DB performance because I didn't like the tone, it was way too muffled and dead sounding for my tastes. Perhaps this was down to the sound guy (the Beeb have previous for poor bass mixes, in a multitude of settings after all), but as his open E sounded kind of OK, I'm guessing it's a personal choice. However, he won over more traditional lead instruments, which is a nice thing for the bass community (how you compare a DB performance to that of a piano is beyond me, but a win's a win).

[Drax]

Loved it. Nice to see electric bass backing the others - Mike Mondesir (Billy Cobham, Jeff Beck, Ginger Baker). Had lessons with him years back. Brother Mark on drums, killer players both of them. 

[Oomo]

As a lefty, was so nice to see someone playing upright bass left handed.

 

I've always wanted to give it a try, but been a bit put off by the lack of lefty uprights, and the number of people telling me to suck it up and learn right handed.

 

So the more people get used to seeing left handed uprights the better 😁