bassace

Reading through the posts here it would appear that standards mean different things to different people. The jazzers have their standards compiled through constant usage and the rockers are starting to build up their own canon. Indeed, among the various efforts to come up with a definitive definition of jazz I’d sidestep the desperate attempts to nail the ‘improvisation’ thing but rather settle on ‘ a group of musicians playing a repertoire of tunes that are generally regarded as jazz tunes’ or something like that. Looking through the Great American Songbook there are plenty of tunes I’d hate to have to play on a jazz gig. As there are several jazz standards that aren’t on the list at all, eg the bebop, modal, etc stuff, most of which doesn’t have lyrics as does the GAS. Just my take.

Doughnut City, after all the roundabouts.

If you’re playing half notes make sure they’re the right ones. Because a minim is a long note to get wrong. Said to me by a drummer. Very erudite for a drummer, I thought.

Louis Armstrong said if you’re forming a band start with the bass player.

Writing about music is like tap dancing about architecture. I think Frank Zappa said something like that.

Wish I could remember. Was it on Tina Weymouth’s prog about the bass?

The drums make you tap your feet, the bass makes you swing your hips. Thumb for show, nut for dough. More relevant to double bass.

More from my era. When Humphrey Lyttelton recorded Bad Penny Blues Joe Meek was the recording engineer. By the time the record was released JM had worked his ‘magic’, with max compression etc, particularly on the piano, and the band hated the sound. The disc became one of a few jazzers to get into the top ten charts. Me? It opened a whole new palette of sounds and Joe’s sound went on put a lot of tunes into the charts. We played support to the Tornadoes at the Cheltenham Arts Ball 1965. Clem Cattini, what a nice bloke.

No, unfortunately not that one. Over the last few days there have been a couple of rock docs about Stevie Wonder and Elvis on TV. Steve’s music was particularly good. But, for me, both progs were spoiled by a procession of grotty, ugl - well, aesthetically challenged people talking to camera after each excerpt. And not really having any connection with the artist or anything helpful to say apart from remembering this and that from their own younger days. And not much else. As though they were the ultimate authority on the particular artist. When the Count Basie doc was on a few days ago, Quincy Jones did the chat. And that was very good.

And I’m sure he can afford a decent pair of trousers here and there.

Au contraire. Heaven is a jazz musician is playing a blues. Hell is a guitarist playing ‘The Blues’.

Fair ‘nuff. Didn’t wish to offend.

W And that’s the point. So when a bass player steps outside that zone and is ‘rated’ he’s got to be bloody good. If he isn’t, he’s overrated. Pino comes to mind. It’s all in that chorus pedal, nothing else. I saw him with the Who and he didn’t contribute much at all. Sorry.

QED?

I’ve always played this in F.

Thanks for the heads up, Quilly, but I don’t do home. It’s got to be a gig.

Looking at the amp ads, sales seem to be quite slow right now, and hardly surprising. I’d really like to try going valve but with no gigs in prospect and little opportunity to sell some of my stuff that’ll have to be a dream for now.

‘There’s no love song finer But how strange the change from major to minor Ev’ry time we say goodbye’ Cole Porter

Some PA cabs work very well for double bass, such as QSC. Some are even an improvement on an out and out bass cab in that they offer a wider tonal range.

The amp has been 100% trouble free. The CD player had a problem with the drawer but Quad did a speedy repair for not a lot of money, as I recall.

I bought a Quad amp in 1971 and still have it. I also had a pair of Tannoy Chatsworths at the same time but sold them ten years ago for £1k, replacing them with a smaller, but not quite as good, pair of Tannoys. I originally had a good collection of vinyl kept in mint condition but unwisely threw them all out when we moved two houses ago. The CD player came along a bit later. So the amp has been with me for nearly fifty years and is still going strong. Edit: And thank you to all those kind people who reacted so favourably towards this post. I should add that in all those 50 years the amp/preamp haven't been revalved. I presume they’ve got valves.

In the fifties he was the only bass guitarist with a recognisable name.

Puma 500 doesn’t have a fan.

That was good! Thanks Jack.

From Horace Hawkins, Choirmaster at Chichester Cathedral........ ’His mind is not on this earth, let alone his music’. It improved but I still have the attention span of a gnat. Probably why I don’t practise.