cameltoe Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 Just got back from a holiday in Barcelona, where one night we decided to enter a little cavern club hosting a jam night. All good music, really laid back Jazz and lots of good players. The bassist in particular was very good. After every song the chubby host insisted on introducing every member of the band, so over and over I heard the words 'and on bass, the hardest working man in show business.......Gary Willis!' I've sinced looked him up, quite a high profile player! Luckily, I didn't drunkenly wander over to him and start talking bass nonsense. I possibly would have, if my missus hadn't had a strop on that night (cos I made her go to a jam night). I would have looked like a bit of a tit I reckon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 Aye, Gary can play alright! Never been a huge fan of his tone but he can find his way around a fretless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 I loved the early Tribal Tech stuff when he was fresh out of MIT but they lost me after Nomads. Some of th e later jam band stuff just didn't do anything for me at all. 'Bent' has a nice track on it.... 'Its Only Music'? I think (bass takes melody) - its in 3 I think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phobucket Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Cool! Gary Willis is a big influence on me. I'm just about finished transcribing "Say Never" from Actual Fiction. What a beast! I would just about fall over if I stumbled into a jam session where he was on bass. Back in 2000 I had just moved to San Francisco. Been in town less than a week and had a 1 day temp job doing some consumer survey stuff for luxury automobile brands in a big room in the basement of the Masonic Hall. I took my 15 minute break and was walking around the lower levels of the building when I spotted a bunch of people carrying instruments into a room. A few of them looked to be about my age (24 at the time), and I thought to myself, "Cool! A local jam session. I'll go introduce myself." So I walk right into the room behind these guys and girls and said, "Hi! Is this a jam session? I'm a bass player." And who should turn around, but Wayne Shorter! I muttered an "Oh....sorry" and sheepishly backed out of the room. Turns out he was playing there that night and this was his rehearsal I had just barged in on. So by comparison, I don't think talking bass to Gary Willis at a jam session would have been that bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Gary Willis is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 I'm a massive GW fan - for me he's in another league to the vast majority of other players out there - I was lucky to hear him play a full on jazz gig with Gerard Presencer in London a few years ago - pretty much sat in front of his amp and it was stunning. One of the modern greats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doddy Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Gary Willis is a great player. I saw him in clinic a while back and he was killing and had a good attitude too. I love his first solo album 'No Sweat'. It's one of my favourite 'bass player' albums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 [quote name='Doddy' post='924532' date='Aug 13 2010, 11:41 PM']Gary Willis is a great player. I saw him in clinic a while back and he was killing and had a good attitude too. I love his first solo album 'No Sweat'. It's one of my favourite 'bass player' albums.[/quote] Same here No Sweat is really cool, the last two tracks are beautiful and his fingerstyle grooves on the tune 'Til The Cows Cone Home' are just incredible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcgiver69 Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 [quote name='Bilbo' post='919640' date='Aug 9 2010, 02:07 PM']I loved the early Tribal Tech stuff when he was fresh out of MIT but they lost me after Nomads. Some of th e later jam band stuff just didn't do anything for me at all. 'Bent' has a nice track on it.... 'Its Only Music'? I think (bass takes melody) - its in 3 I think?[/quote] Bilbo at this moment I'm listening to that track, definitely one of my favourite tracks. the bass is just so beautifully laid that it's even kind of sexy. Have you listened to "Actual Fiction"? that album it's great too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithless Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Gotta admit, Garry never got any serious attention from me, but maybe I should give his music a go.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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