Bilbo

Two thirds of Dave Hollands catalogue! 'Long As You're Living' - Claudia Acuna (5/4) I'll come back with more later.

[quote name='urb' post='412166' date='Feb 17 2009, 04:39 PM']RAWK!!!!!! That's better - now where's my Iron Maiden t-shirt and frightwig...?[/quote] What you have to remember about this is that, at this point, Iron Maiden were only really one step up from a pub band and had only recently released their first LP (I saw them on their first major UK tour that year - still with Paul Di'anno on vox). These were the heady days of the NWOBHM (this band played a track on the FM Records compilation 'Metal for Muthas Volume 2') and there were loads of original bands gigging in pubs all over the UK - and not a tribute band in sight. I was young and impressionable but soon grew out if it but these were my first steps into being a musician and I learned a lot about what it means to play in a band during this period!

Just realised that I had uploaded a low grade version by mistake (hence urb's comments about fuzziness!). Let's try again - this was state of the art recording technology in 1981! Maida Vale BBC studio!

[quote name='dlloyd' post='411056' date='Feb 16 2009, 01:40 PM']His career as a whole was iffy, punctuated by short periods of brilliance. That's the nature of the illness he had. The illness didn't start in the 1980s, he would have had it right from the outset, benefiting creatively from his manic/hypomanic episodes... and he was aware of it, refusing treatment for fear of losing the 'highs'.[/quote] Depends on several things. His illness may have lain dormant until he started drinking (Zawinul talks about this in his biography 'In A Silent Way' - [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Way-Portrait-Joe-Zawinul/dp/1860743269/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234799439&sr=1-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Way-Portrai...9439&sr=1-1[/url] ) and doing drugs with the likes of Mike Stern. Personally I think of his work as that of a highly capable and vibrant voice but not necessarily one who had a lot to say. I think his 1976 - 1980 work was marvellous but, after he left WR with whom he had started to become unreliable, he was in trouble.

[quote name='dlloyd' post='410957' date='Feb 16 2009, 12:25 PM']I'd say you're overstating that a bit. An individual affected with bipolar in a major depressive episode (as he was at that point), who heavily self-medicates with alcohol and cocaine, frequently sleeping on park benches, etc. has plenty of things to blame for mediocre performance before he needs to blame those around him.[/quote] Your point is valid but I was referring to a career overview not to the defeciencies in his playing that arose over the closing years of his life. There are lots of examples of him throughout his career playing without stellar composers/arrangers and he is not nearly as effective as he was with WR, Mitchell, Metheny etc. Examples include the LPs/tracks he did with Michel Colombier, Airto, Al DiMeola, Mike Stern etc. Even that Trio of Doom thing is a bit iffy.

I write out a chart including chords and dots for groove definition and specific breaks etc. If I have time, I use Sibelius. If not I use a beer mat with the picture torn off.

Pete's tuning idea is one I have thought about for a long time but never actually done anything with. I have a six I don't like playing and would trade it for a 5 but no takers so I thought, what if I tuned my 4 BEAD and worked from there? The questions about neck tension and intonation, however, created what we in the trade call 'the dither' and nothing ever happened. Because I mainly (90%) do jazz gigs, its not a big deal (those low Bs are more a rock/pop/funk thing). I had one gig where I needed the low B but lost that to Mike Mondesir!

My wife once met Francis Rossi at a theatre and went up to him and said 'Hi, Rik'. She then slagged off the play only to find out his daughter was in it

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='407527' date='Feb 12 2009, 12:48 PM']Okay Bilbo recommend me some jazz that's likely accessible for someone with an open ear and mind? Peter[/quote] Hal Williner 'Weird Nightmare' [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Nightmare-Meditations-Various-Artists/dp/B0000028OW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1234443279&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Nightmare-Me...3279&sr=8-1[/url]

I always smile when people talk about Jaco as a far out jazzer; he was a funk/groove player who could take it up a notch further than his peers. His 'jazz' stuff was no where near 'far out' and was all essentially groove oritentated. There is very little Jaco that is hardcore, improvised music. Massive chunks of what he did was very tightly rehearsed groove playing, what I call 'implied repetition'; like Larry Graham or George Porter. His second LP, Word of MOuth, is marvelous. Great writing and arranging - takes repeated listening (if you can get past 'Crisis', the train wreck that opens the cd)

My mantra for practice material: If its dull and repetitive, it'll probably work... (I have the Hanon and have used it on piano not bass. I could do with some bass practice but other things are in the way at the moment. Why does that always happen?).

[quote name='Eight' post='407499' date='Feb 12 2009, 12:21 PM']This thread makes me sad. Bilb - you coulda made it kid. You coulda lived the dream and played metal... instead you got in with a bad crowd and ended up playing j@zz.[/quote] But would I have been happy? The rest of the guys on that recording went on to ........ eh, nothing much. I'll cope with the disappointment!

[quote name='urb' post='407453' date='Feb 12 2009, 11:45 AM']shame it's a bit on the fuzzy side -[/quote] Its an MP3 of a cassette of a 28 year old session taped off the radio - what do you expect!!

[quote name='Hamster' post='407105' date='Feb 11 2009, 10:59 PM']Ummmmmm - if that's you, it's not to bad for a beatnik! [/quote] It's from a Radio One session I did for Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show in 1981. I was 17 and playing an Aria SB700 through a Frunt amp - with a pick!

[quote name='blamelouis' post='407429' date='Feb 12 2009, 11:08 AM']Unless its watermelon man, eh Bilbo ! [/quote] Grrrrr. I am also enjoying the new (?) Dave Holland Sextet cd 'Pass It On'. It is a band with a pianist (Mulgrew Miller - Holland has not used piano in his bands ever before, if I am not mistaken, so this is a departure for him). Some of the tunes on the cd have been on earlier Holland cds but these versions are fresh.

I went through a massive Jaco phase and still love some of what he did but, when you listen to a LOT of it, it is amazing how much repetition you hear - same with Stanley Clarke. I am not referring to stylistic things, the little idiosyncratic details that define every player to some extent, I am talking about stock licks that are 'party pieces', things that are pulled out of the hate time and again for non-musical reasons. Some Jaco is sublime; Joni Mitchell's 'Shadows and Light', Heavy Weather, the Word of Mouth stuff, Bright Size Life etc but some of it is clumsy beyond belief and very uncool. Personally, I think that Jaco (I feel the same about Paul Chambers) was at his best when working with strong musical personalities who kept him in check and gave him great material on which to work; Zawinul & Shorter, Mitchell, Gil Goldstein, Bob Mintzer, Pat Metheny etc. When the people around him deferred to Jaco's muse (Birelli Lagrene, Jon Davis, Brian Melvin etc), the product was second and even third rate. But, in short, some of what he did was absolutely marvelous.

[quote name='Rich' post='406776' date='Feb 11 2009, 06:31 PM']Old enough to remember Kerrang! mag being launched. My mate probably still has issue #1 lurking somewhere.[/quote] I think I was in it......

Listen and learn.... BETTER VERSION in post no. 10

I think they just call it rrrrrrrrrock grrrr

It's great because the more you invest in it, the more it gives you in return. The demands it places on you as a performer and listener increase as your skills, knowledge and competence increase. You play the same song the day you start playing jazz and the same song 5, 10, 15, 20 years later and it will grow with you and demand more of you each time. Your ability to deliver a fine performance depends on your whole mind, body and spirit and the more ready you are, the more you will find in every chord change, rhythmic inflection and dynamic. It is spiritually, emotionally and viscerally satisfying and will always remain the gift that continues giving.

[quote name='mcgraham' post='406144' date='Feb 11 2009, 12:06 PM']I'd forgotten how good a fresh and original piece of jazz can be.[/quote] Absoflippinlutely. Its the best....

Recent acquisitions: Lee Morgan 3 - Sextet recording with Paul Chambers on bass Chambers is also on Abbey Lincoln's 'That's Him', another recent purchase. Joshua Redman - Moodswings - with Christian McBride John Scofield - Uberjam not sure yet!! The Other Quartet - Sound Stains - with Ohad Talmor on saxophones. Very interesting (Talmor has done a cd of Steve Swallow stuff called Athe Bum's Tale - think Stravinsky plays Swallow!!!) website is worth a look; [url="http://www.ohadtalmor.com/"]http://www.ohadtalmor.com/[/url] Anyone else got any nice jazz recently?

For anyone that knows his work, this is a real blow. [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7880557.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7880557.stm[/url]

THe warmth you are looking for will best be achieved by leaving the strings you have on there for at least a decade. Seriously, tho'. New strings are horrible on a fretless. Leave them for a few months and then you will find them warmer (my current set of Rotosound Solo Bass strings are at least 6-7 years old. In my opinion,, new strings improve guitars but ruin basses!

I know 9 of these. D'ya need a dep?