Bilbo

The imminent publication of my Paul Chambers biography leaves me wanting to start my next piece of research and I have not yet decided who to look at. I did want to write Steve Swallow's story but, having discussed it with him, I discovered that someone else has that in hand. So, who do I look at? Haden would be my first choice and Holland my second. I am also interested in Pettiford, Watkins, Lopez Sr and Clarke as subjects. Hinton is a possibility but some of the others are less likely to gain commercial attention? Anyone got any preferences? Who would you like to read about? PS Mingus has been done several times and far more comprehensively than I coudl hope for.

True but in 1986, Wal was a new company and their basses were not being given away as part of a sponsorship deal (never were, if I am correct). Same with Eden; they were a new company back when I got my Eden. I say look at what your people actually use rather than the adverts. When I say 'if its good enough for them...' what I am actually suggesting is that mastering your instrument is only partially about the kit and more about your ears and mind. If your bass is, for want of a better word, 'good enough', why stress about that detail; spend some time on the music.

Commitment. That's all it takes. Buy a decent professional quality bass of a similar type to the ones your favourite players play (could be a Jazz, a Fodera or a Wal or whatever; its your call) and stop looking at everything else until you learn how to play the one you have properly. I bought my Wal (£740 mail order) because Percy Jones, John Giblin and a few other players I liked had them. That was in 1986 and I have not really looked at another bass since. Same with my amp - if its good enough for Gary Willis etc, its good enough for me. Everything else seems like chasing rainbows.

I have this irrational fear of low tension strings. I have convinced myself that the best way to build up technique is to deal with the more demanding action of a bass with higher tension strings. I have this idea that, if I go for really light strings, I will have the r/h technique of a big girly wuss and sound like a lightweight.

Try looking at Slonimsky's Thesaurus. Its not an expensive book and really gets you thinking outside of the box.

Yes, I had noted that but thought it was a nice moody image, very much in the genre of 1950s/60s jazz photography. I had other clearer images that were just not 'front cover; material. There are 18 or so images in the book including a photo of PC age 14 and 17 and one of his wedding photos, one with the kids. And, of course, a few with Miles, Coltrane, Stitt, Pepper etc. There are 3 images I really like from Val Wilmer (who I really rate as an author and photographer so this is a real buzz for me). take in London in a bar. Very informal and human.

This has just popped up in Amazon tongiht. It is the first time I have seen the cover of the book (the graphics are in line with other books in their jazz biography series e.g. Tom Perchard's book on Lee Morgan). I chose the picture so would welcome people's views on it. There were others I may have preferred but some of the Woolf or Claxton images were well out of our league. This image is from Paul Hoeffler and CTS Images who were really helpful in providing some useful stuff. [center] [/center]

I get that you only change them once a decade or so but, if you are starting out and want to know what is best for you, how the hell can you find out wihtout spending thousands on sets you buy just to try? I have Evah Pirazzi Weichs (I wanted a hybrid for pizz and arco) and they are fine but I have no idea if a set of Spiros will be 10% better or 90% worse and the only way to find out is to spend £150 on a set (I need high C as well as the EADG).

I've decided. The Stranglers were Prog Punk.

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1330523307' post='1558791'] I was listening to Moondance last night. Some Celtic Irish band doing a cover. [/quote] Tossers

My brother was at a festival of some sort (may have been bikes nto music) and was walking along and saw a mate of his so wandered over only to find the mate was with a friend of HIS; one Gary Moore. My brother was a huge fan and, being a bit awestruck and trying to be cool at teh same time, said to Moore 'hey man. Nice to meet you. I've been a fan for ywars'. Moore responds 'Hey man. I don't like to talk about my music' to whcih the mutual friend says 'Oi. Stop being a c*** and talk to the guy. He's been paying your wages for decades'. So he did. Which was nice.....

[quote name='Linus27' timestamp='1330511857' post='1558475'] I must admit, I can't wait for some of the Bilbo and Mani discussions. That could get entertaining [/quote] Does he play in a tribute band?

Never heard of him**. But I suspect he has never heard on me either. Then again, I have not heard of at least 9,985 of the members posting on here so he is in good company (I assume? How would I know). He is welcome, whoever he is. Can he read music? **I am my Dad

I think that's the point. A lot of players who we deem to be 'underrated' (and most of those listed above) are not so much underrated as unremarkable. I get that everyone has their favourite bands, songs, cds etc and each player has their moment to shine but when we talk about people being underrated, there is an implication that they are in some way overlooked geniuses when they are simply journeymen bass players who can deliver a professional product with some level of creativity. The question for me is always 'what would this sound like with a different player'. Now Duff McKagan may have some merits but I can't hear much that couldn't be delivered by any one of 1,000,000 rock bass players from about 15 years of age onwards. Del Palmer is a quiet contributor to Ms. Bush's work but I hear nothing to get overly excited by. Could he be replaced? In a second. Take Jaco off the Heavy Weather cd and its a different album. Take Kasim Sulton off 'Bat Out Of Hell' and its the same album with a different bass player. Competent and capable, yes. Underrated, probably not.

2010 is new. 1959 is 'last season'

The notes of the Bb major scale are Bb C D Eb F G A B. The notes in Parkers lick are Bb G Eb C D F. All are diatonically correct and fit perfectly. It seems that you have a slightly distorted view of the starting point of the Bb major? Were you thinking of the chord tones/arpeggio rather than the scale? It is perfectly acceptable to play absolutely any note over a Bb chord; the only issue is the level of tension created. You get little or no tension from Bb, D, F and A, a little from C and G and and whole lot from Eb but, if you wanted to, you could, for instance, use B, Db, E Gb and Ab as lead in notes for a lick or to create an extension which means every note is right (or probably more accurately 'not wrong'). It's all about context. My gut feeling is that you are operating on a misconception of what being 'in Bb msjor' actually means? Can we help?

For piano trio gigs....

I get around that by writing charts that have long blowing sections that are 'standard' pattern so, after the intensity of reading heads/arrangements, we get the buzz of stretching out. I guess its the nature of the art of composing for jazz and the art of improvisation as opposed to through scoring and fully written scores. Would love to hear some of your mates charts, bassace. Anything out there we can link to?

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1330380770' post='1556668'] I just discovered "Blue Trane" last week. I love Jazz too - that's a superb album. [/quote] Try 'Blues and the Abstract Truth' by Oliver Nelson

Glasper floats my boat but Cowley hasn't grabbed my ears yet. Might try again.

Did that website ever get done, Jake?

I have figured out where I went wrong with the Headtap. Will try again on the next double bass gig (in 84 days!!! (*&%^*($%*^@) Still, I have already got another three bookings for the trio so its all good!

I gigged with a keyboard player's combo for a short while (I think it was a Peavey but am not sure. It was when my own GK/SWR rig had been nicked and I took a while to replace it due to cashflow). It worked great (jazz gigs not rock).