Bilbo

You have learned a valuable lesson. The bloke you sold it to is a w*nker.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1443605148' post='2876079'] You need to broaden the range of music you're prepared to play. [/quote] So Jazz, Blues, Pop, Funk, Big Band and Latin not a wide enough selection, then?

I had 120 gigs in one year and I was living in the same place!! It has gone down every years since. I guess I am going to have to set up my own gigs from here on and be the bloke who books everyone else. PS the November gig is on electric!!

I did a gig with John Parricelli last Sunday and that is it. One more gig in the diary for November (which I have arranged) and then nothing. 'Get a double bass and you will get loads more gigs', they said. Clearly not.

I am going to attack my bridge with a needle file this weekend as my action seems to be about four times higher than anyone else in the world!!!! No double bass gigs in the book this side of Christmas so if it all goes pear-shaped, I have time to get an adjustable bridge fitted!!!

I don't think it matters, if I am honest. I probably get as many listens through Soundcloud itself as I do through here. Nothing I have done here is going to win a Grammy. Leave it be, I say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JNRkEkx6HQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJi7V9rHxz4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4EtzZB4AIM There is a version by John Abercrombie on his live trio recording with Marc Johnson and Peter Erskine that takes the tune far out. These versions all show the different perspectives each player can have on the same tune.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbzxJuvbH08[/media] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gjUANhT6l4[/media]

[quote name='TheRev' timestamp='1443452617' post='2874806'] Moondance. I'll get me coat.. [/quote] Moondance is what we call a 'pop standard' which is shorthand for a diabolical turd that has nothing to do with Jazz.

Practice the material the way you will be playing it, be that standing or sitting. Anthony Jackson has always played sitting down and, if I am not mistaken, without as strap. Works for his gigs although I can't see it working for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers!!

The list is endless but they are essentially a set of tunes that have become an established repertoire for Jazz musicians the world over. There are several lists you can google for that perport to be definitive but, in reality, the list is changing all of the time as some tunes are added and others fall into disuse. The real hardcore Jazzers tend to know these tunes by the hundred and are able to transpose them into any key at the drop of a (hi) hat. There are a range of fake books/real books (pretty much the same thing) that are legal and illegal that contain many but never all of the 'must know' standards. I do not consider myself to be a hard core Jazzer and only know about three. There are the show tunes standards but there are also 'Jazz' standards (often Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane heads etc but again the list is massive e.g.All Blues is not a show tune but it is known by almost everyone, tunes like Bolivia, Airegin, Tenor Madness, Monk tunes etc). This is a massive subject and one that can tie you up for life. A lot of Jazzers believe that, in order to make any headway into the music, you need to 'deal with' the standards but there are others who never bothered with them and find their own way - no roght or wrong, just different.

[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1443264663' post='2873490'] Just out of curiosity, did you write that from memory? [/quote] Did I fcuk 😃

7 x 3 = 15

I voted for you, Dad.

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1443189682' post='2872978'] Voted. Bilbo got my vote this month, I really liked the John Martyn meets Pat Metheny with Danny Thompson on bass vibe. [/quote] THat is so what I heard!!!!

Good idea, Sarah. I had a pair many years ago but they were a bit crap so I never bothered again. Maybe I should revisit the idea.

I can't get enough music. I am surrounded by people who conspire against me in this regard. We have no music playing device in the house that doesn't require headphones to play (i.e. you cannot listen to it unless you are sat at a computer so listening whilst cooking, cleaning etc is not practical. My wife hates Jazz so, even if I could listen, it would only be when she is not there which is rare. I cannot listen in work as we have shared spaces. She also gets the arse if I wear them when I walk the dogs so that is out (I have to say I agree with her in this regard as walking dogs needs all your faculties!!). So I listen to music on my ipod when driving/trevelling and when walking through town to get my lunch and I get some in when I am in my music shed working on stuff/transcribing etc. I reckon its only about 2 hours a day but sometimes more if I am out and about. Could easily be 6 or 7 hours a day if I had my way.

Yaaay!!!

It is only letting us vote for one, Paul. Something is wrong with the whatnot.

These genres are frustrating. If I am honest, I prefer Latin American genres to a lot of Jazz but trying to play them in the UK is difficult depending on where you are. Finding idiomatically informed percussionists is the biggest problem but other instrumentalists are equally hard to come by. I was with a band called Albino Cubana for a while which was great but it petered out as getting gigs for a seven piece is always difficult.

The single problem I have with loopers is a deal breaker. It all operates on the basis of repetition, endless repetition of two or three chords, repeated rhythms etc. This guy has really worked hard on a creative use of the tools he has but, if what you look for is interesting harmony, it's not going to work. Hats off to him, though. It's noble stuff.

If you sit in any working men's club in the country, you will hear guys in their 80s and 90s talking about the war for no reason than it was the most significant and interesting thing that they were ever involved in. Why would the musicians in a successful band like the Bay City Rollers be any different? Nostalgia? Money? Probably both. I see no reason why not, if they can sell tickets they have as much right as any one of us.

I do wonder why people 'burn out' creatively as they move forward. I guess some of it is that they get bored of doing the 'same' thing all of the time. I always have cursory listen to new Iron Maiden LPs as I was into them when Paul Diannio was the singer and I always find myself thinking 'isn't Steve Harris bored by now'? I have similar thoughts about Rush and others. When you look at bands like Yes and Genesis who moved from long forms to shorter 'song' orientated material, you can see why they decide to try and look at things from new angles. Same with people like Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel... You have to keep changing to remain relevant and to keep yourself interested. The fact is, if you move away from that which made you succesfful, you are inevitably taking a risk. But doing something different doesn't mean it has to be bad and some people just do bad stuff as their mojo is compromised.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1443001318' post='2871244'] Hippy. [/quote] I just love the tension created by that opening drone. The words are 'spoken' in almost a monotone. They mean nothing and they mean everything. And, yes, I am.

Dawn of light lying between a silence and sold sources, Chased amid fusions of wonder In moments hardly seen forgotten, Coloured in pastures of chance Dancing leaves cast spells of Challenge, Amused but real in thought, We fled from the sea whole. Dawn of thought transferred through moments of days undersearching Earth Revelaing corridors of time, provoking memories, Disjointed but with purpose, Craving penetrations offer links with the self-instructors sharp And tender love As we took to the air, a picture of distance. Dawn of our power we amuse redescending as fast as misused Expression, As only to teach love as to reveal passion chasing Late into corners, And we danced from the ocean. Dawn of love sent within us colours of awakening among the many Won't to follow, Only tunes of a different age. As the links span our endless caresses for the freedom of life Everlasting.