Bilbo

I know, I know, I know......

A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace, And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace And achieve it all with music that came quickly from afar Then taste the fruit of man recorded losing all against the hour Barbie Girl - Aqua

There are all sorts of ways of making a chart a b*gger to read and, trust me, if there is a right way or a wrong way, I will find the wrong way. I am learning a lot about writing charts for sax players a drummers!

I did a gig last night with my own sax - bass - drums - trio called 'trio East' and, after investing over a year on working on the issue, we have reached the point where we can do a whole night of original tunes. We did actually do 5 standards last night ('In a Sentmental Mood', 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat', 'Alfie's Theme' and a deconstructed 'You Don't Know What Love Is') but we worked them in around a dozen or so of my tunes (others are written but not yet gig ready - they are too difficult for the sax player to read without rehearsal due to sixteenth notes in 5:4 or alternating 7:4/9:4 bars etc). It's not the first time I have played my own composition live; I remember doing originals in Cardiff in the late 1980s, but its been a long time and I have never before tried to let my original compositions 'carry' a gig. What, for me, was interesting last night was that, all of a sudden' people's reactions to the material became really important and when mistakes happened (they always do when you are improvising), the stress levels were so much higher. What this tell me is that, for most of my playing life, what I was doing didn't really matter to me and that I ordinarily have much less investment in the outcome than I do when the material had my name on it. I think that I have learned somthing about what drives me to do this and where my efforts should be concentrated, for better or worse. As for audience reaction; it varied from polite to enthusiastic applause or open mouthed disbelief (it wasn't supposed to sound like that ). One regular said he liked most of it but didn't 'get' one of them on one hearing (which was unsurprising as the sax player screwed up the head). What was a relief was that the overall reaction was pretty much the same as it would have been for a set full of the same old same old and no-one walked out. So the 'you can't do originals, do something they know' mantra, on the evidence of last night's gig, is pretty much a myth.

Monster, Phil. Now re-shoot it so we can see your right hand Nice to see BL avoidiing the routine blues phrases and pseudo be bop in favour of some interesting intervals.

Interesting the massive and marked difference between the playing in the first solo vid and the second band vid. One was what we do for each other on bass forums and youtube, the other is what we do for a living Shows the dichotomy we all deal with every day of our professional lives.

I have more guitars than basses but am a better bass player. I use guitars for composing and recording and never gig on them (well, twice in 30 yeard).

It's what I do......

Look for The Waking by Kurt Elling on Youtube. Absolutely stunning.

I played there 6 years in a row ('89 - '95) but its too far and too expensive now unless I get a gig there and the free stroller that comes with it. Unlikely, I am afraid!

You would be surprised what you can do when you are focussed. I researched and wrote my 200,000+ word book whilst holding down a full time job and gigging (and moderating on here and on another Probation-based website). You may find that the buzz of getting these things done will cover any reduction in exercise (personally, the only exercise I get is pushing 50) and contribute to the management of your depression. Music can take up a lot of time but, if it is appropriately managed (and not a free for all or someone's 'drop everything when I say so' culture). You may have to margianally manage someone's expectations at peak periods but this is normal prioritising. Sell the telly and stay away from 'time thieves' on the internet (use it for working not 'browsing' or basschatting!!)!!

I lost count many years ago. Certainly over 1,000 as I remember that landmark but that was a long time ago. Maybe 1400-1500 in 32 years. Good ones are still probably in double figures

The groove obsession is certainly a barrier to the acceptance of less repetitive genres. Personally, I find 'groove playing', particularly when it is locked into one or two chords, increasingly tedious, both as a listener and as a player. If the harmony is moving, it becomes less irritating but if the rhythm and harmony are static - yeeuch!

Makes sense.

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1344207850' post='1761382'] BTW this kind of music is all [i]very[/i] readable and [i]not[/i] difficult to understand (or appreciate). [/quote] Can you elaborate on that? I'd welcome your views.

To me it was what evidence of the phenomenon that is often considerd to be what is wrong with session musicians. All the notes in the right place but still not there. A bit like 'James Galway plays The Beatles'. It's like asking Mike Batt to do a tribute to Metallica - its never going to gel.

Very Brand X; marvellous. There are acres and acres of great musicains out there who have no presence in the mainstream media and increasingly I am finding myself drawn to them.

I love Jazz but this is shocking.... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzBCUIHE7zc&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzBCUIHE7zc&feature=related[/url]

And, of course, this monster from Metheny (solo starts with the greatest 'wow' moment in jazz guitar history...at 1.36) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSmWCYNRpNs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSmWCYNRpNs[/url]

+1 for Ladies Night In Buffalo but, for me, the most emotionally satisfying guitar solo ever (today) is The Un-Merry Go Round by Allan Holsdworth, The tune is over 14 minutes long and there are all sorts of 'sections but the bit that bleeds is from 9.42. You need to start listening at around the 6.00 minute mark in order for the solo to make sense. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DtvLxrL9VA[/media] Another favourtie of mine is Carlos Rios' solo on Chick Corea's Cool Weasel Boogie off the first Elektric Band lp. It isn't on youtube so you'll have to look it up on Spotify.... solo starts at about 3.06.

Got a couple of really nice downloads by Elvin Jones with Joe Farrell and Jimmy Garrison. Called The Ultimate Elvin Jones and Puttin' It Together, they both come highly recommended. They are rare and not on Spotify but I think there are selections on youtube.

I have been pretty much 'fret free' since 1986 when I got my Wal. I have owned fretted basses but, opposite to everyone else, on the rare occasion that one of them left the house, I only used the fretted for one song per set rather than the other way around. I have played jazz, Latin, rock, blues, small group and big band. Sold my last fretted several year ago now (to someone on here) and have no real intention to look for a replacement. With reference to fretless cliches and the usual tricks/slides etc, with respect, those are a matter for the player. I never really slide in a 'special effect' kind of way and my bass is pretty much a mwah free zone (I rarely hear it that way, anyway). My cliches are my cliches and are not fretboard/instrument specific! To be fair, I don't slap more than the occasional note and don't really play any music where the precision of a pick is essential but, to be blunt, you can easily play a fretless and not have it sound like one.

That Lenny White thing is nice. Would have avoided it as I am off tribute records of any kind so its good that it got posted here.

It sounds a litte iffy to me, as if his idea/intonation clash for a couple of beats. Personally, I wouldn't sweat blood over it as it is not a definitive or decisive line. Even people as great as LaFaro can mess up and there are plenty of examples all over the jazz canon of subtle mess ups of this kind, partiucuarly in the era during which this recording took place. I would try and work it out using TRasncribe but it is on a different PC and I woudl have to download the track etc etc and, for two bars of music...? My advice? Spend your time on the details you can hear and don't worry too much about the ones you can't. You won't be missing much.

I have to say, watching Steve's performance makes me realise the 'art' is in the writing and not in the performance. There are moments of 'wow' but a lot of it is not that hard to execute, given a relatvely small investment (the bass part and guitar parts are often the same, for instance). I always smile at this astonishing waste of time..... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPWJc42n8iU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPWJc42n8iU[/url]