Bilbo

Just getting into Chris Potter's 'Gratitude'.

It's a bass that does what you need a bass to do when you need it to do it. That's all you can ask of an instrument, isn't it.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='335092' date='Nov 23 2008, 07:19 PM']A very good drummer friend of mine had a buyout session for which he was paid £300. The album sold 15million copies in America.[/quote] Paul Chambers got about $350 for 'Kind Of Blue', it has sold over 3 million copies. In fact, all those classic Blue Notes were done for scale. Gil Evans recorded one LP and. unitl the day he died, he still OWED the label money for the session! That's JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZzzzz!

[quote name='ARGH' post='335341' date='Nov 24 2008, 10:45 AM']Is it just me Bilbo,But they 'feel'....they induce confidence?[/quote] I do know what you mean. I sometimes think that, for me, a heavy bass gives an sense of quality and commitment (bit like the 'clunk' of a heavy car door). I have never actually considered the Wal to be a partucularly heavy bass but, at 6' 1'' and 16 stone, I guess that this is relative!

In about 1998, I was asked to do a rehearsal with a jazz gtr/bs/dr trio in Epsom, Surrey. I had met the drummer before but not the guitar player. I got there first and set my gear up and put my Wal Custom fretless on its stand and sat down to wait the arrival of said guitarist. The chap arrived and walked into the room with his guitar over his shoulder, carrying his amp, but, before putting them down, he walked over to my Wal and peered closely at it. 'I think I made that' he said. It was Paul Herman (I later did a duo gig with him and think he is a really nice player). It turned out that he hadn't and Pete Stevens had made it but it was a great moment. Paul did some cosmetic work on mt bass around that time and reset the intonation - that's twice it has been done in 22 years! I think that post about a bass that lets you 'sound like you' really says it all. When I got mine in 1986 (£760 from Monkey Business), I was still young enough to be trying every bass I came across at shops and music fayres etc and this one stood out big time. The quality of the build was high and the evenness of the sound remarkable, It had a rich, warm sound (at a time when lots of basses were very 'zingy' - Status, Jaydee etc) and I used to say it sounded like wood and not electric circuits. My 'industry standard' sound at the time was Jack Bruce on Cozy Powell's 'Over The Top'. a real traditional 'bass' sound not that Mark King/Stanley Clarke rattle/twang and the Wal delivered. More to the point, it delivers everything. I have had other basses since (Washburn and Status) but they always stayed on theie stands and rarely got out. I haven't gigged another bass in years and find that whether I am playing funk, Latin, pop, rock or jazz, the Wal is on the money, 110%. Why would I need another bass? My only GAS is for a 5-string Wal fretless but I never have the money so I will have to wait for a rich relative to die before I can resolve that one!

Solid song writing, solid professional perfofrmances from all concerned (except the cameraman!). A good set, karl. Well done.

[quote name='chris_b' post='333911' date='Nov 21 2008, 03:23 PM']Alzheimer’s?[/quote] Nope - LP, CD and Enhanced CD/DVD (wanted to see the KoB DVD - disappointing!!). I gave the original cd away in a moment of evangelism! The curse of being born before CDs were invented is that you have this overwhelming need to 'up-grade' big chunks of your vinyl collection! Other up-grades include Yes, ZZ Top, Genesis, Weather Report, Pat Metheny (Bright Size Life), Jaco (Word of Mouth and Jaco), a couple of early John Scofield recordings.... the list is growing!!

[quote name='mcgraham' post='333888' date='Nov 21 2008, 02:52 PM']They had a coffee table style Limited (Re)edition of it too. It had a coffee table stylee book, numerous CD's, associated bumf, AND what appeared to be a 'blue' vinyl LP still in its original sleeve/jacket. I assume these are being distributed with these packs as New Old Stick collector edition vinyls. Mark[/quote] This fella, I assume [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-Davis-Kind-Anniversary-Collectors/dp/B001D08SK0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227279325&sr=8-2"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-Davis-Kind-A...9325&sr=8-2[/url] I have all of its constituent parts so have no need to buy it but, for a completist, it is good value (the Robert Herridge DVD has some lovely Davis/Gil Evans and some of the best video footage of Paul Chambers that is out there. The Kind Of Blue DVD with all the names on it got my back up because the only mention Chambers got was one reference to say that he was on it - nothing about the absolutely crucial contribution that he made to the integrity of the sextet's performances).

[quote name='mcgraham' post='333882' date='Nov 21 2008, 02:47 PM']Sorry Bilbo, I'm not meaning to put it down. I'm just not in the mood for it at the moment. Nothing wrong with the music, but right now it's not what I'm after, so I didn't get it. Simple as that really. I'll get it eventually don't worry Mark[/quote] I have bought it three times!!

[quote name='mcgraham' post='333848' date='Nov 21 2008, 02:09 PM']I was tempted to get Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, I wanted something with a groove, something with a pulse[/quote] And your problem is? I keep meaning to send you some more Latin stuff but my CD reader has been kernackered and I couldn't get the stuff MP3'd and fit for travel. I just got a new usb cd burner so I will have another try... As for me, this month's purchases are; Joshua Redman - Moodswing Lee Morgan - The Cooker Abbey Lincoln - That's Him Red Garland - Groovy (all three for my Paul Chambers research) Ohad Talmor - The Other Quartet - Sound Stains Stravinsky - Rite of Spring (upgrading from vinyl) Dave Grusin - West Side Story (replacing a lost gem)

Prejudice - an unfavourable opinion formed beforehand without knowledge, thought or reason. I am not arguing with the accuracy of the original post but I do regret the fact that bass solos as a phenonmenon are judged on the basis of the worst examples and not the best. The reality is that most people have never heard a bass solo so, when they hear one, they don't know what to do with it! Personally, my favourite definition is the bass solo is 'the bit you can't hear in the car'.

Rufus Reid - The Evolving Bassist - simply laid out, it will give you the stuff you need to make sense of the thing and then you can move in any direction you see fit.

Coull be one of a few things but I guess its to do with the settings you have in relation to MIDI in and MIDI out (the one that determines which device makes the noise - could be your internal soundcard, your VST instruments or an external module). I don't know what the different boxes are called tho' and am reluctant to confuse you. I am at work and don't have the manual handy to refer to for the correct terminology. Can anyone else help?.

Learn to read music, get loads of theory under your belt and learn to play some burning jazz solos. Then go to a local jam session and kick some a***.

I am often overawed at my capacity to disappoint myself It only ever comes together about once or twice a year. The rest of teh time, I am looking for the motherlode and winning nothing more than a pan of gravel....!

That's not an argument, its sarcasm, which is the lowest form of wit. I COMPLETELY agree with the arguments against jazz musicians and tired old versions of the standards. There is a growing list of standards that I won't play. I COMPLETELY agree that a lot of jazz musicians are inately conservative and think that anything recorded after my Dad was born is too 'modern'. I COMPLETELY agree that jazz musicians are their own worst enemy and often shoot themselves in the foot by what can only be called 'low production levels'. But this is no different to every other genre of music and doesn't change the fact that 'Mustang Sally' has become a parody if itself, as have 'Midnight Hour', 'Dock Of The Bay' and 'Superstition'. Pointing the slow unmoving finger of scorn at Jazz doesn't alter that in any way.

[quote name='steve-norris' post='328561' date='Nov 13 2008, 06:27 PM']Bilbo just shoot me please! Bilbo why do i like 'A kind of blue' ? is it not real jazz or is it some simplistic form that a mere mortal like myself understand?[/quote] You like the best selling and most influential jazz recording of all time? So what's the problem? (So what's the first track, as well! ) Its real, mate. You are a jazz fan. Deal with it.

Some people put notches on the handle of their guns when people cross them. I just get a carrot.

I was stood waiting for a bus this morning listening to Bill Stewart drumming and thinking about this thread. It occured to me that one of the things that is distinctly different in jazz than it is in most other forms of popular music is the use of implication over statement. This is, as always, not an absolute but I'll try and explain what I mean. What I am referring to is a range of things really. Firstly, the time pulse. With many performances, the momentum of a jazz performance is not created by repetition in one area of the music. In, say, Funk, the bass lines can be repetitive, or the drum part, or the rhythm guitar or, sometimes, all three. In jazz, it is less likely that the pulse is actually stated for any significant length of time by one instrument. Riffs are implied, not stated, they are toyed with not just repeated. Chords are changed and substituted each time they are played, Melodies are twisted and realigned with the pulse, harmonies altered and altered again. Improvisations can be thematic and use the core of a compositions themes as a launching pad but rarely are these themes actually stated outside of the head. In rock, Metal, Folk, Pop etc the bass often plays and plays around the root note and or chord tones. Jazz bass playing does do this but it also tends to provide more of a counterpoint, changing its emphasis note by note, phrase by phrase, bar by bar. So, when you are listening to jazz, you need to kind of put that pulse in for yourself, define the core harmonies, themes etc and keep these in mind so that you can hear what is going on. Take any jazz standard that you know the melody of (e.g. My Favourite Things) and then listen to the performance whilst keeping that melody going in your head. As the players take it away from the familiar theme, you will be able to hear a relationship between the tune you know and the solo. One of my favourite things to hear is when a drummer uses the rhythmic phrasing of a melody to construct his drum solo. What previously sounded random thrashing, suddenly sounds totally logical. Eventually, you will be able to do this having only heard the main themes once and then you will really get a sense of what it is all about. What it is not is randon noodling. You have no idea how much it irritates me when people mention random noodling in connection with jazz. I keep a list.

[quote name='The Funk' post='327808' date='Nov 12 2008, 06:03 PM']That song is so hard to play well. I've never played a good version - only train wrecks.[/quote] Its a 'less is more' tune. Just play the roots and let the harmonies speak for themselves. Give the notes space to breath.

[quote name='dangerboy' post='327668' date='Nov 12 2008, 02:59 PM']What if you like listening to some jazz, dislike listening to some other jazz, but find jazz musicians, fans and students almost universally tedious and self-regarding? Obviously that's not unique to jazz, but they really do write the manual from which other musical bores learn.[/quote] With respect, DB, and this isn' t particularly directed at you, I find it ironic that so many non-jazz musicians refer to us as tedious and self-regarding (or something of that nature) but then go and rave about musicians who write songs with what they consider to be really important messages about 'life' or 'the streets', who are millionaires who drive around in limos or flash cars, stay in hotels that the rest of us couldn't even work in never mind stay at, attend celebrity dos, appear on posters, badges and t-shirts and spend the remainder of their time generally being pampered by the endlessly sychophantic. Personally, give me a man or woman who just wants to play their instrument really well anytime.