Bilbo

Am I talking to myself, here?

There are people out here who will sell their own children for sex. Why would they have a problem scamming people for money? Be careful out there.

I think the Double Bass is a wonderful instrument and my one regret in life will always be that I never got a chance to nail it (I had one for a couple of years in the late nineties but it coincided with a bad case of CTS and I had to put it down for good). My beef is not with people who legitmiately choose the double bass as their instrument of choice in a given ensemble. I just get narked when good players lose out on good gigs to people who can't play very well but own a double bass! I am also disappointed that more electric bass players (myself included) dont' get to do more 'serious' music because the electric players tend to only get called for pop/funk/jazz hybrids rather than creative contemporary improvised music. I slightly resent the fact that, as an electric player, I seem to have to spend my career continually playing repetitive lines and not the more creative, organic alternatives that are often allowed the double bass (RSI on top of CTS - ouch!)?

Just listening to Michael Brecker's 'Pilgimage' - massively great stuff! Metheny, Patitucci, DeJohnette, Hancock and Mehldau. Magic in real time!

I love Pat Travers - THAT is great rock 'n' roll!

That's the way to break new ground, mate. Keep it real. Find your own new arrangements. Learning someone else's won't get you anywhere like as far as preparing your own. Make it happen.

I think this area of practice is pretty innovative, thedarxide. I suspect you will have to get piano transcriptions and prepare them for six/seven strings. Remember, if you do it properly, you may be writing your first (?) book!

Why anyone would part with £1200 to a stranger without the bass in their hand is beyond me! Is anyone actually that gullible?

Did a great trio gig in Bury St Edmunds last night with Phil Brook, a Norfolk jazz guitar player - the man can do no wrong! Nice sounding room, attentive audience. I took a guitar player friend who sat through the gig with his jaw open. Keep your eyes peeled for him.

Bilbo's Wal Custom Fretless - oh, I've already got that. :wub: Anyone got a Fodera Anthony Jackson Signature 6 I can drool over?

My ego's smaller than yours...

Anthony Jackson's 6-string Fodera or Jimmy Johnson's original (stolen) Alembic 5-string. Listen to JJs work with the Wayne Johnson Trio - he invented the 5, he really did!!

I know several professionals that couldn't play their way out of a paper bag. Being pro is a great way to maximise your potential as a player but it doesn't follow that a pro is a better musician. And making a living as a musician is HARD. Most people are at least 80% teachers and 20% performers. The number who are 100% performing players are VERY low and many of them learned to live off cat litter a long time ago. I know a GREAT piano player who earned £12K last year - thats less than a Kwik Fit Fitter. I'll stay semi until Metheny calls me.

I do like a happy ending! There is an an old Ibanez Artist solid body guitar out there somewhere that I would love to see again (as well as a GK150S combo and an SWR cab that both got nicked in the early 1990s!!)

When I lived in Newport (Wales), both Arild Anderson and Miroslav Vitous borrowed my amp (on seperate occasions)! How cool was THAT?

Hey Wulf! I know all of the rhetoric about creativity in delivering jazz standards but it always feels like the arguments classical musicians use to discuss creativity when they are playing the same stuff that every other instrumentalist on their instrument has played for 4 or more centuries. Local jazz players in Suffolk are all a little stale and bored (look at the jazz listings for Suffolk - they are conservative and rarely reveal anything more radical than Stacy Kent!). Even the young guys are playing 70s jazz funk! I agree re: computers as an outlet for creative ideas but its a shallow victory, isn't it? Playing great stuff in your bedroom to an audience of one! Its ok for a while but you need to play. A great covers band is still a covers band. It can work on the night but its a poor second to the real deal!

The Jazz Theory Book - 'Mark Levine' That'll scare the doo doo out of him!

Am I the only person in the world who is sick to death of covers, 'standards' and other people's stuff? I enjoy listening to other people's music but I am just getting increasingly frustrated at playing the same old stuff (again). I have often contemplated an 'originals only' policy as a player, turning down any covers gigs, but am anxious that it would mean I would never play at all. Is the endless run of covers gigs better than less frequent but creatively more satisfying gigs? As a jazzer, this is particularly difficult as 'standards' form 95% of the material played. The money is part of it but no all of it by a long way. So, the question is, has anyone every taken a purist line on their career and not lived to regret it?

If anyone ever hears me say 'I'm kinda getting bored with my strings', you have my permission to execute me.

Love it! Its just the best! The pop/rock/funk stuff works for me for about two gigs before I start to get bored with the repetition. Latin stuff keeps me interested for about six gigs but jazz? Jazz is forever! PS Love the avatar - Floyd Pepper was an early influence!

Trouble is, teentshirt, that there are levels of structure. Some jazz (big band, most 'smooth' jazz (Diana Krall doesn't actually take chances!!), third stream jazz etc) is very structured whilst some (free jazz) has none whatsoever. If you like structure try Mike Stern's solo stuff, or Miles Davis 'Sketches of Spain' or any of Bob Mintzer's Big Band Cds. Or Michel Camilo's 'One More Once' - they are all very structured. Most jazz is built on clearly defined forms that are set out in advance but only in the way that, for instance, a conversation about fish would be - it has a beginning and middle and an end and you can say anything you like as long as it it about fish. The freedom to express yourself as a jazz musician comes from the structures. Absolute musical freedom is massively overated! That's what Ron Carter said and I believe him!

Ha ha - whats the chances of that happening!!

I have recently got a weekiy gig at a bar in Ipswich, Suffolk (Mar Azul - Saturdays 10 - 1 a.m.), playing what is essentially Latin Pop - Its a heavy gig in that it requires you to play straight for two hour and a half sets pretty much without stopping. Its a cool gig with a receptive Portuguese audience but the pay is only £50. I can do it most weeks but I do quite often get other gigs which I prefer (that'll be the jazz then ). So I need a dep whocan do the odd gig. The trouble is, the charts are poor and you have to let your ears and eyes guide you as the singer/cavaquino player/guitarist ploughs on regardless! Its great experience for someone looking to get inot this kind of music. Anyone interested? More than one dep would be cool. PM me if you are interested and I'll let you know what's what. Rob

Thanks chaps (assuming you are chaps) - I now know more than I did at 4 p.m. today. Muchos gracias!