Excellent DB playing (not jazz)

[Burns-bass]

I’ve recently enjoyed playing along to songs from the Wood Brothers, Billy Strings, John Martin and Gregory Porter but need to add to my repertoire.

 

(I love jazz but I don’t want to play walking basslines. I know Gregory Porter is considered jazz, but they’re not walking basslines and are fine. I know there are many other jazz tracks without walking basslines and I listen to them too.)

 

So, I thought I’d asked you learned people for examples of good DB playing in different genres that I can use for inspiration, practice and tone study. 

[Linus27]

Some nice ones here,

 

 

 

 

 

[knicknack]

1 hour ago, Linus27 said:

 

 

 

 

 

Everything about this show and the documentary of that week is incredible... certainly worth a viewing if you haven't!

 

[Burns-bass]

2 hours ago, Linus27 said:

Some nice ones here,

 

 

 

 

 

Really cool. Not stuff I’d ever considered. Thanks!

[Linus27]

16 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Really cool. Not stuff I’d ever considered. Thanks!

 

You are welcome, I'll dig out some more for you as well in a bit.

[itu]

Edgar Meyer is my all time favourite.

Start from Dreams of flight.

[Burns-bass]

10 minutes ago, itu said:

Edgar Meyer is my all time favourite.

Start from Dreams of flight.

I see Edger Meyer and Christian McBride play play in Bristol once. Was pretty amazing.

 

Will start where you suggest!

[JoeEvans]

Anything by John Martyn and Danny Thompson but this is especially delicious. 

https://youtu.be/ohmSPv-rtSQ?si=6SEQn3lYfQyeiuEk

 

[Beedster]

Good thread 👍

[Mykesbass]

@BassTractor once recommended to me some Baroque music with 'Basso Continuo' and some almost improvised percussion. I did end up buying the CD, but can't find it or remember who it was, but it was fabulous! Hopefully he'll see this and add some of his slightly unusual, but always excellent choices.

[Beedster]

37 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

@BassTractor once recommended to me some Baroque music with 'Basso Continuo' and some almost improvised percussion. I did end up buying the CD, but can't find it or remember who it was, but it was fabulous! Hopefully he'll see this and add some of his slightly unusual, but always excellent choices.

Thr Baroque rhythm section (double bass/cello and harpsichord usually) was f***ing awesome, predating similar awesomeness by the likes of Chic by about 300 years 👍

[MrCrane]

2 hours ago, JoeEvans said:

Anything by John Martyn and Danny Thompson but this is especially delicious. 

https://youtu.be/ohmSPv-rtSQ?si=6SEQn3lYfQyeiuEk

 

More from DannyThompson

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2024 by MrCrane

[Mykesbass]

59 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Thr Baroque rhythm section (double bass/cello and harpsichord usually) was f***ing awesome, predating similar awesomeness by the likes of Chic by about 300 years 👍

Yep, this semi improvised stuff is fabulous. Got to find it ( but my CDs are all a bit squirreled away at the moment).

[BassTractor]

21 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

@BassTractor once recommended to me some Baroque music with 'Basso Continuo' and some almost improvised percussion. I did end up buying the CD, but can't find it or remember who it was, but it was fabulous! Hopefully he'll see this and add some of his slightly unusual, but always excellent choices.

 He sees this, but can't for the life of him tell you what that might've been.  😪
BTW, thanks for the recommendation of my recommendations!  😀

Do you mean I recommended one baroque thing with both bc and percussion, or did I recommend one thing with bc and another thing with almost improvised percussion?

In the first case, I'm sadly pulling a blank right now.

In the latter case, I may have recommended one of Ton Koopman's recordings of the Bach's Christmas Oratorio.
In that case I still have no idea about the DB with percussion. It may come to me later.
Though: I seem to remember Joel Chadabe wrote some pieces for DB where a computer program responded to the DB with live-generated percussion - to which the DB player then reacted again ... and so on and so forth ...    Musically highly improvised despite the software having fixed algorithms.

Edited July 6, 2024 by BassTractor

[Mykesbass]

2 minutes ago, BassTractor said:

 He sees this, but can't for the life of him tell you what that might've been.  😪
BTW, thanks for the recommendation of my recommendations!  😀

Do you mean I recommended one baroque thing with both bc and percussion, or did I recommend one thing with bc and another thing with almost improvised percussion?

In the first case, I'm sadly pulling a blank right now.

In the latter case, I may have recommended one of Ton Koopman's recordings of the Bach's Christmas Oratorio - not only because Koopman is a bit good at this but also coz I played harpsichord and organ on one of those, so it gets a bit personal for me.

In that case I still have no idea about the DB with percussion. It may come to me later.
Though: I seem to remember Joel Chadabe wrote some pieces for DB where a computer program responded to the DB with live-generated percussion - to which the DB player then reacted again ... and so on and so forth ...    Musically highly improvised despite the software having fixed algorithms.

I will find the CD in a couple of days (buried in the garage) and put us both out of our misery! I'm probably describing it incorrectly, but feel it would be of interest to @Burns-bass

[BassTractor]

1 hour ago, Mykesbass said:

I will find the CD in a couple of days (buried in the garage) and put us both out of our misery! I'm probably describing it incorrectly, but feel it would be of interest to @Burns-bass

Waidaminnet. After a little site search, I think you may be thinking of Francesco Cavalli's opera "L'Ormindo".
Could that be the one?

 

Edited July 5, 2024 by BassTractor

[Burns-bass]

1 hour ago, MrCrane said:

More from DannyThompson

 

 

 

This is great. I love Richard Thompson, but the first track is new to me. What a tone he gets. 

[Mykesbass]

18 minutes ago, BassTractor said:

Waidaminnet. After a little site search, I think you may be thinking of Francesco Cavalli's  "L'Orminde". Could that be right?

That's the style, but I am sure this one had some percussion on it (slack tuned drums played with beaters perhaps)? I WILL find it tomorrow!

[BassTractor]

16 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

That's the style, but I am sure this one had some percussion on it (slack tuned drums played with beaters perhaps)? I WILL find it tomorrow!

We might just be on track here, as for example "Che città" from act 2 of that opera has a slack tuned drum in one or more versions of it; it's important to hear the right version, as wildly different ones exist.
Here's one that I'd typically recommend, with the L'Arpeggiata ensemble and soloist Vincenzo Capezzuto.  I've earlier mentioned a similar version with Núria Rial, also highly recommended, and what these two versions share is a very modern, free, look at authentic performance principles, and my guess is that's where the drum comes in.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2024 by BassTractor

[TheRev]

I really like Ali Friend's playing on the Clayhill 'Mine at last' album.  

 

 

The stuff he did with Red Snapper is amazing, but possibly a bit closer to jazz than you'd like?

 

 

 

[Burns-bass]

38 minutes ago, TheRev said:

I really like Ali Friend's playing on the Clayhill 'Mine at last' album.  

 

 

The stuff he did with Red Snapper is amazing, but possibly a bit closer to jazz than you'd like?

 

 

 

Yeah lovely. I do love jazz, I should point out I just want to play something else. I particularly want to explore folk and bluegrass stuff, but the examples here so far have been really great. I’m going to build a playlist.

 

Seen Red Snapper a good 10 times I think and always amazing. Last time I caught Covid at the gig but I don’t hold it against them.

[Mykesbass]

As @BassTractor posted earlier, it was indeed Che citta, but I'm pretty sure this was the version as I ended up buying the CD. Very modern sounding! Got there in the end.

 

 

[BassTractor]

37 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

As @BassTractor posted earlier, it was indeed Che citta, but I'm pretty sure this was the version as I ended up buying the CD. Very modern sounding! Got there in the end.

Yay! 👍
Yup, that's the version with Núria Rial that I mentioned back then, and this is the exact album I too bought. The other singer on that album, Hana Blažíková, IMHO is great as well.

Must say "Che città" to me is the stand-out track here; Cavalli ain't no Bach. Me, I won't invest in the whole opera, but this album is nice.

[Mediocre Polymath]

If you've enjoyed Billy Strings, I'd suggest the great Paul Kowert of the Punch Brothers and his own band, Hawktail. I think their track "Frog and Toad" is a good example of him in a more relaxed mood. He can play some crazy stuff, often involving him doubling Brittany Haas's fiddle playing up at the dusty end of the fingerboard. This rendition of the Scandinavian folk song Gla låten is a good example.

 

Edited July 6, 2024 by Mediocre Polymath

[itu]

Salsa hasn't been mentioned here. Many bands use Ampeg Baby Bass.