Bilbo

Sorry, not read the whole thread but most of the gigs I do are deps. In short, you turn up with an ireal book and make music by having a collective insight into what you are there to achieve. It's done by a knowledge of tunes, obviously, but also of idioms, certain groove types, predictable figures, instinct, nods, winks, eye contact, chord charts, dots and little bit of luck and fairy magic. You won't be able to busk Bohemian Rhapsody but there are a million songs that you can put together at the drop of a hat. I remember one gig with a singer a drummer I had never met and a guitar player I worked with often. Before the first note, our chats revealed that I didn't know a single tune they were going to do. As we approached the stage, I was listening to the first tune on my phone, much to the singer and drummer's alarm. We knocked it out of the park and it was one of the best gigs they had ever done. It's a mix of knowledge, competence and intuition. I have done hundreds of gigs like this (it has got to the point where a single rehearsal is actually inhibiting). It doesn't always work (but it is usually 'good enough' but, when it works, it can inspiring.

Another version of 'Oye Como Va', this one features Jay Anderson on the Bob Mintzer version from the 1998 album, 'Latin In Manhattan'. Readable and closer to the original than the Paolo Meijas/Hans Glawischnig version I posted a few weeks ago. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/oye-como-va-bob-mintzer/

Easy but gorgeous, this is the Chris Thomas bass part for the tune 'Spiritual Awakening' from the 1990 Marcus Roberts album, 'Deep In The Shed'. Listen to the trombone solo. It is my favourite solo in all Jazz - and it's one chorus long. If this doesn't move you, you are already dead. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/spiritual-awakening-marcus-roberts/

Impressive, Chris. That's a hell of a piece of work. Did you work out the chords yourself (I really struggle with that)?

Got hold of that World Trio recording, Chris. Lovely to hear Holland so exposed.

Another one from the Tribal Tech 'Spears' album, this is Gary Willis's bass part for the tune 'Island City Shuttle. Lots of weird bar lengths. Remeber, when you writing it down, you are recording what you are hearing not what the tune actually IS. The performance is what matters not the dots. So, if you disagree with my take on the differing bar lengths it doesn't make it wrong. It just means I have grouped it in a different way. It's the noise you make when you are playing it, not the dots themselves. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/island-city-shuttle-tribal-tech/

What confuses me is, if everyone loses their job to some sort of AI based tech, who will be able to earn enough to buy the products produced by these companies? Seems incongruous to me.

I have never seen that recording before, Chris. I will see if I can get hold of it. Thanks for that!

Fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Cheapens everything, doesn't it?

A stunning performance from Dave Holland on his composition 'The Empty Chair (For Clare)', a dedication to his wife who had recently passed away. Some deep guitar work from Kevin Eubanks who is such an idiosyncratic player. The tune is from Holland's 2013 'Prism' album. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-empty-chair-for-clare-dave-holland/

I agree. There is something about the bass where it sometimes works really well when you can't hear it as much as 'sense' it.

Nice one, Chris. I will avoid both for now, then. I have plenty of ideas for more obscure transcriptions to be getting on with!

Something from Jimmy Haslip today. This is his complete bass performance on the tune 'Homecoming' from the 1985 Yellowjackets album, 'Samurai Samba'. I chose it because it is mostly an easy read but there are some tricky fills in there so be warned! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/homecoming-yellowjackets/

Should be working now, Dave.

Sorry, Dave. Am at the Chinese waiting for my order 😎 Will have a look later.

Another Kazumi Watanabe/Jeff Berlin tune, this is The User from the 2013 album 'Spinning Globe'. Some interesting ideas in here but no solos per se so we are in with a chance. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-user-kazumi-watanabe/

An industry that exploits it's workers and then discards them without a second thought? Nah. It'll never happen.

Something I haven't tried before, this is the Matt Brewer bass part for the tune 'How Insensitive' from the 2018 SFJAZZ Collective album, 'Plays the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim'. If you don't know these guys, they perform every year at the SFJAZZ Festival and perform the music of a celebrated Jazz legend (Coltrane, Monk, etc) heavily rearranged by the musicians themselves. They have done Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson material too and some of their stuff is absolutely incredible so go and check it out. This transcription is not too difficult as the tempo is very forgiving but there are a couple of tricky moments. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/how-insensitive-sf-jazz-collective/

That's a lot of detail, Pete. You and your colleagues must have spent a lot of time looking at the issue. I guess if the original band couldn't reproduce the thing live, the rest of us haven't got a chance.

Yes, lots of reversed studio effects etc. I guess you could do a version but it wouldn't sound like the original

A bit of light relief, this is the John Paul Jones bass part for the tune 'When The Levee Breaks' from the untitled album known to us all as Led Zeppelin IV (1971). Great stuff and very easy to play (note: I think a lot of it is on an 8-string so there are ambiguities in terms of specific details but this chart will get you through it if you every have to dep for JPJ at short notice). https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/when-the-levee-breaks-led-zeppelin/

58 Jeff Berlin transcriptions up there now. I once learned Dixie but didn't write it down, sadly. I struggle with the chordal stuff, both hearing it and in writing it down. I love that Beethoven improvisation he does on line but am more than a little intimidated by it.

It's been a while but here is some more Jeff Berlin. This time, it is the complete bass part for the tune 'Fu Bu Ki' from the 1988 Kazumi Watanabe album, 'Spice Of Life Too'. It's mostly alternating bars of 9:8 and 5:4 so 'break a leg'! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/fu-bu-ki-kazumi-watanabe/

Easy to transcribe, not so easy to read. Funk in 11:8, this is the Percy Jones bass part for 'Princess And The Frog' from the 1976 Nova album, 'Vimana'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/princess-and-the-frog-nova/

This one is a slippery little sucker and I am not convinced about bars 118-121. This is the Gary Willis bass part for the tune 'Ivy Towers' from the 1985 Tribal tech album, 'Spears'. Don't you wish you could write stuff like this? An interesting point, though. I was in awe of Willis at that point in my life but I can play this now. It is a through written piece - no solos. Fascinating ideas across the piece, though. It is a tough read but brilliant fun once you can get under the thing. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/ivy-towers-tribal-tech/