Bilbo

[quote name='YouMa' post='370939' date='Jan 5 2009, 02:32 PM']The butt and oysters nice in the summer.[/quote] The Butt and Oyster is great all year round!!!

I do try!!

As a card carrying jazzer, I can say that this tune is the worst piece of remedial s***e ever to find its way onto the world's airwaves. It doesn't swing at all, anywhere, the solos are atrocious, Morrison drops nearly a whole bar in one place and is only able to avoid looking like a complete t** by the fact that the band, despite their complete lack of chops, manages to pick him up again. How this recording was ever allowed to see the light of day is an astonisihing inditement on the low production values that existed during that era. The producers (Van Morrison and Lewis Merenstein) should be ashamed of themselves (although Morrison's complete lack of self awareness would make this unlikely). The song (which I loath) is on my 'won't play' list, along with Canteloupe Island, Waternelon Man and Fever. But that's just me.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='370902' date='Jan 5 2009, 01:57 PM']Bilbo has kindly done it Mark so thanks for that Bilbo. I think Dave is at his improvisational and support best with Kenny Wheeler (helped by the fact that I think Kenny is a compositional genius) They have an affinity for each others gifts that make the music awe inspiring. My fave albums are Music for large and small ensembles, Angel Song and Flutterby Butterfly. Also the Metheny and Roy Haynes Question and answer Bilbo also mentioned is great.[/quote] You're right, Jake. You are me. Music For Large & Small is unquestionably one of my favourite LPs of all time (saw the band doing it live at Cardiff St David's Hall), I have written lyrics to 'Everybody's Song But My Own' off 'Flutterby Butterfly' (and done a gig with Stan Sultzman who is on that CD) and am even on the audience in the BBCs video of the Metheny/Holland/Haynes gig at Brecon! I have 'Angel Song' but haven't got into it as much as you clearly have. Are you stalking me or am I stalking you? PS - Mark. I would recommend Dave Holland's 'Extensions' CD as a potential start. 'Razor's Edge' is also great, as is 'Seeds of Time'. Other great sideman gigs include 'So Near, So Far' by Joe Henderson (another of my top 5), Joe Lovano's 'From The Soul' or 'Trio Fasconation Vol 1 & 2' (these two will demand a little more of you), Gary Burton's 'Like Minds' or Circle's 'Paris Concert' (marvelous). One of Holland's strengths is his consistency so, if any of teh list I copied takes your fancy, you will get a good insight into where he is coming from.

[quote name='The Funk' post='370839' date='Jan 5 2009, 12:50 PM']Off-topic, I didn't realise that Manring played with Hedges - can you point me in the direction of some of their best collaborations?[/quote] 1984 Aerial Boundaries (Windham Hill) 1986 Watching My Life Go By (Open Air) 1987 Live on the Double Planet (Windham Hill) 1990 Taproot (Windham Hill) 1996 Oracle (Windham Hill) 1999 Torched (Windham Hill) 2000 Michael Hedges – The Best Of Michael Hedges (Windham Hill) 2001 Beyond Boundaries – Guitar Solos (Windham Hill) 2003 Platinum & Gold Collection (RCA Victor) 2006 Pure Michael Hedges (RCA) The only one I have is 'Watching My Life Go By' - Manring only appears on a couple of tracks and is very understated so you may be disappointed (almost everyone here could have done these bass parts).

[quote name='mcgraham' post='370828' date='Jan 5 2009, 12:37 PM']Jake, any suggestions on a Dave Holland album that I should assimilate into my brain?[/quote] Any of the attached...... Music from Two Basses (with Barre Phillips) - 1971 - ECM Conference of the Birds - 1972 - ECM Cloud Dance - 1975 - ECM Sam Rivers/Dave Holland, Vol. 1 - 1976 - Improvising Artists Sam Rivers/Dave Holland, Vol. 2 - 1976 - Improvising Artists Emerald Tears - 1977 - ECM Life Cycle - 1982 - ECM Jumpin' In - 1983 - ECM Seeds of Time - 1984 - ECM The Razor's Edge - 1987 - ECM Triplicate - 1988 - ECM Extensions - 1989 - ECM Question and Answer - 1990 - collaboration with Pat Metheny and Roy Haynes Ones All - 1993 - Intuition Dream of the Elders - 1995 - ECM Points of View - 1998 - ECM Prime Directive - 2000 - ECM Not for Nothin' - 2001 - ECM What Goes Around - 2002 - ECM Extended Play: Live at Birdland - 2003 - ECM Overtime - 2005 - Dare2 Critical Mass - 2006 - Dare2 Pass It On - 2008 - Dare2 In groups or as sideman Miles Davis, Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968) Miles Davis, In a Silent Way (1969) Miles Davis, 1969 Miles - Festiva De Juan Pins (1969) Miles Davis, Bitches Brew (1969) Miles Davis, Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970: It's About That Time (1970) Miles Davis, Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East (1970) Circle, A.R.C. (1970) ECM Circle, Paris Concert (1971) ECM Anthony Braxton, New York, Fall 1974 (1974) Arista Anthony Braxton, Five Pieces (1975) (1975) Arista Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton Live (1975) Arista Anthony Braxton, The Montreux/Berlin Concerts [live] (1975) Arista Anthony Braxton, Quartet (Dortmund) [live] (1976) HatART Kenny Wheeler, Music For LArge and Small Ensembles Kenny Wheeler, Gnu High (1975) ECM Kenny Wheeler, Deer Wan (1977) ECM Gateway, Gateway (1975) ECM Gateway, Gateway 2 (1977) ECM Gateway, Homecoming (1994) ECM Gateway, In the Moment (1994) ECM Kenny Wheeler, Angel Song (1997) ECM Bill Frisell, Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones (2001) Nonesuch Scolohofo, Oh! (2003) Blue Note Records Tomasz Stańko, Balladyna (1976) ECM 1071 PS This discography is SOOOOOOOOO incomplete!!!!

[quote name='YouMa' post='370755' date='Jan 5 2009, 11:31 AM']Waving from across the bay at shotley.[/quote] I used to have a flat at the Old Schoolhouse at Shotley Gate before a short stay at Chelmondiston - small world, huh?!

Lynot died on the same date as Paul Chambers, just 17 years later (Chambers died exactly 40 years ago yesterday).

[quote name='mcgraham' post='370766' date='Jan 5 2009, 11:40 AM']Agreed. Many solo bass pieces are (or were) better off played on these instruments due to timbre, pitch, how that's recognised by people's ears etc. But should we see these as limitations? Or simply a challenge to write, create and perform music on the bass that suits the timbre of the bass? I like to think the latter.[/quote] 100% agree - if it works better on the bass, it should be played on the bass. Most of Manrings stuff couldn't be played on anything other than his Hyperbass.

Hello from Felixstowe - the Suffolk contingent is growing. Maybe the next Bass Day will be in Grundisburgh?

Like many of us, as a developing player, I have looked at the solo bass videos and listened to the solo bass cds, just exploring the potential of my chosen instrument. I once recorded a short Vivaldi piece (Concerto in D 2nd Movement) on double tracked (fretted) bass – it kind of worked – and learned Jeff Berlin’s ‘Dixie’, Hamm’s ‘Country Song’, a solo by Jerry Peek (Steve Morse Band) and a thing by Dave Pegg (couldn’t do any of them now). But, over the years what I found was, however hard I tried, I could never make any of the music in question sound better because it was played on the bass. To me, it always sounded like it’s only value was as a display of motor skills; acrobatics not aestheics. So I stopped. Having an eye on the world of bass, I have heard most of these soloists over the years but have found only limited successes within the ‘solo bass’ genre. Michael Manring, for instance, is a genius. His concept is entirely unique (due to his use of open-tuinings and dedicated technology) and his compositions are sophsticated and musical. He uses the specific tone of his instrument(s) to create a vocabularly that is integrated and entirely congruent. What is more, if you listen to his work with Montreux or Michael Hedges, he is a mature, professional musician, perfectly capable of playing the gig and taking a back seat when the music demands it. Wooten I like less – his technique is astonishing but I don’t buy anything he is on because I generally don’t like the music he plays (I have one Flecktones CD I listened to twice but I have never gone back to it). But he is a great player, that cannot be denied. My feeling on the ‘solo bass’ genre is that it is an attractive place to go if you want to draw attention to yourself as a performer (not necessarily as a musician) and for pointless grandstanding (pointless unless you are selling gear!!?). I am not saying the genre itself is pointless but I do think it is full of misguided intentions – all glamour and no content. For me, as I have matured, studying music is about the music as a whole and not about the bass and, as a result, I have found myself listening more and more to the timbres of instrument and the way they interact, harmonically and sonically. The specific sound of a trumpet in unison with a soprano saxophone or a trombone line doubled by a flute presents the composer with opportunities for expression that are matched only by the listeners potential for delight. The colours available are far reaching and multi-faceted. That is not to say that the bass has no such potential: Manring has proved that. But many of the solo bass pieces I hear would sound better on the piano or classical guitar – even if they would be unsuccessful or, at best, unremarkable compositions for either instrument. In a nutshell, when looking at a performance, I always ask myself, ‘is this music being orchestrated in the best way possible’? Playing stuff, however, melodic, on a solo electric bass, with 4 or 14 strings, rarely provides the answer I would want it to.

A wonderful trombone/bass/drums trio piece with Robin Eubanks and Billy Kilson respectively on trombone and drums. The chart needs to be interpreted as swing eigths not straight.

Here is Ron Carter's line off Wynton Marsalis tune 'Hesitation' from his eponymous CD. It is essentially a Bb 'rhythm changes' tune but the absence of a piano means that Carter can take liberties with the harmony as his ears guide him. It is a great line and his perspectives on the changes are really interesting. The chords are included but these are a guide only as Carter is thinking outside of teh box here. This is a great way to lok inot these staple be-bop chanes as, for a jazz player, a knowledge of these changes is essential (like almost every gig!!). I am including a chart for the head as well so that people can have it as a point of reference (it is in bass clef not Bb as it would be for tenor sax/trumpet). It is important to point out that Carter doesn't play for the first 16 bars of the first and final chorus, coming in at the middle 8, and watch that tag ending.

I spent the first 23 years of my life in Cwmbran (Llanyravon) from 1963 - 1987. Great jazz scene (not) !!

[quote name='lowdown' post='364470' date='Dec 27 2008, 09:18 PM']Good stuff Bilbo... I presume the 8'th notes are swung and not straight .. ? Garry[/quote] Yup, sorry, that's me assuming again. And as for the time signatures!! Doh! I guess I have got lazy and fallen into the 4:4 if not otherwise stated habit. I will address that too! These all make a lot more sense if you have the recordings but the Housed FromEdward tune is available as an MP3 download so that is an option.

Not a technique I have a lot of use for but I was wondering what it was all about and Youtubed it. I found this (it may have been posted here before) and was impressed by the fact that this player showed me what it was all about without uttering a word. Go to 0.54 and he takes about 20 seconds to explain it. I can now do it but, in the interests of musicality, won't [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnngPvedXEM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnngPvedXEM[/url]

Get Barry Green's 'The Inner Game of Music'. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-Game-Music-Barry-Green/dp/0330300172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230330370&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-Game-Music-B...0370&sr=8-1[/url] You're talking yourself into being nervous. You just need to learn to talk yourself out of it!

That's one of the hardest things to get your head around but the secret is to understand that a bar of sixteenth notes is just four bars of quavers going past very quickly!!! Learn the quavers first and the semis will quickly follow, then the semi-demis and so on. Incremental learning - its the only way. Trying sixteenth notes s frustrating and can be disheartening. Get your quavers and semi-quavers sorted and the rest will follow.

Perfectly reasonable request, Mike. I didn't bother on this one because it is a straight blues but, as you rightly imply, assuming knowledge is the best way to alienate those who lack it. I will address the issue in any future transcriptions. Thanks for the suggestion. Rob

My wonderful wife got me a bass clef copy of The Real Book - 6th Edition (it looks like the original illegal book but is fully copyrighted and contains a lot of different tunes). She also got me a Dan Morgenstern book, 'Living With Jazz' [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Jazz-Dan-Morgenstern/dp/037542072X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230322441&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Jazz-Dan-Mo...2441&sr=8-1[/url] and the 'Trio of Doom' cd with Jaco/Tony Williams/John McLaughlin. She's a diamond. But my best Christmas present was the Christmas Eve news that my Paul Chambers biography book proposal has been accepted by a legit publisher!! Early days yet, in terms of the thing appearing in print, but, nevertheless, what an affirmation and what timing!!!!

Here is my transcription of Milt Hinton's lines on Branford Marsalis' 'Housed From Edward', the opening track from his CD 'Trio Jeepy'. The track is a conventional twelve bar F blues as follows: F7/// Bb7/// F7/// //// Bb7/// //// F7/// D7/// Gm7/// C7/// F7/// //// It is a great transcripion for early reading practice as it is almost entirely quarter-notes/quavers but it is, nevertheless, interesting and cool for learning your way around a jazz 12-bar. I left out a key signature and wrote it out using accidentals (sharps and flats) as a way of improving reading (it is a chart I have used with students several times). Enjoy!

And a Merry Christmas to you to, Jake. There will be lots more of these coming soon!

Wow - it appears to have worked so you can all look forward to loads of other transcriptions I have done (when I get around to putting them onto Sibelius and converting them to PDFs. Much more use to all of us than a list of favourite effects pedals

I am posting this mainly as a an experiment to see if I can actually do it! The transcription is of a Steve Swallow solo on 'Wrong Together', a tune on his CD 'Real Book' Swallow's full catalogue of lead sheets is available free on [url="http://www.wattxtrawatt.com/leadsheetsswallow.htm"]http://www.wattxtrawatt.com/leadsheetsswallow.htm[/url] so I suspect none of us will be sued for posting this transcription!

Less juvenile?.....you're in for a shock Welcome!