Cairobill

Prince is a colossus. Total genius. But I went from loving him to feeling indifferent when he embraced hiphop and ultraslick R&B around Batman but when he's great, he's amazing. The turning point for me was around the time Wendy and Lisa split and he formed the NPG (although Sign of the times is Godlike and Lovesexy has its moments) Cairobill's Top Five Prince 1. Parade 2. Signothetimes 3. Dirty mind 4. Around the World in a Day 5. Black Album I'm not particularly interested in picking up this free album. I did it last time and it was instant coffee coaster time. A shame... Is this mirror one as duff?

As a caveat to my praise of Gwizdala's work I do find Oli Rockberger's songwriting and singing to be amazingly middle of the road and vanilla. Maybe it's just me...

Interesting discussion... I find Feraud and Garrison's albums drift in one ear and out the other. I occasionally like what Garrison does (when he's a sideman) but his own stuff is not my cup of tea. Feraud's solo album suffers from horrible production. It seems to be stuffed to the gills with spectrasonics presets to my ears. Not nice. Gwizdala, though, seems to be a much more developed composer and has a greater interest in being a band leader than a soloist on his two solo records. There aren't many bass solos on his albums funnily enough which might surprise his detractors. I've seen Gwizdala in full on improv mode and he's very good. He's one of the few musicians I've seen who flows straight through his instrument - a very good improvisor. CB

"to shed" "woodshed" etc etc has always been used in the UK to mean 'practice' as far as I'm aware. To use 'cat' to describe a jazz musician is an NYC jazz thing and has been around for decades.

Gwizdala is one of the few proper bass heavyweights around at the minute IMO.

These basses are great. I think this might be the seller who tried to flog this bass for way too much a while back. If it hits 1.5 K it would be worth it. While it is true that some of the details look a bit suspect i.e. tantamount to forgery, I think that response is a bit shrill and lacking in imagination. Elliott (and Nash, for that matter) do not consider current FMIC guitars, including Custom Shop reissues etc as in the same ballpark as those from the sixties. Elliott builds them from scratch to emulate the feel and tone of the older guitars and the detail is present throughout the guitar right down to the neck stamp in this case. I think he succeeds where Nash doesn't but then Nash isn't in control of the whole process. The neck on my Bravewood is very good indeed whereas the Nash necks are off the shelf and a bit chunky for my tastes. Barring aesthetic objections to the relic repro, these basses are totally amazing. However, I have just picked up a second hand 75RI and it is a beautifully made bass.... Cairo

'Visions of China' is one of my favourite songs. Karn is amazing and Jansen is phenomenal...I hope he pulls through. His illness sounds pretty serious...

Pastorius had a reputation as being warm hearted and generous on one hand and being a total dick on the other. Probably something to do with being mentally ill and a terrible cokehead towards the end...I, for one, totally love his bass playing. He was also a serious R&B player before he went off into the jazz thing - he knew a lot about how to drive a band groovewise. N

As a teenager, cairobill owned and enjoyed both 'Jaco Pastorius' and 'Quirk Out' and generously offers to arbitrate if fireworks ensue...

Just bought Phil's amazing 75RI. This bass feels as together and punchy as a Celinder. He certainly knows how to choose a bass! Thanks for a smooth transaction and good vibes. Cheers, Nick

This is sad. It's a shame that Karn could have been core to the sound of a successful group and still come out the other end with no real financial benefit. It's highly likely that Sylvian being the main financial beneficiary in the band contributed to Japan's split up and the band's difficult internal relationships. It's funny how the bands that have the greatest success and longevity e.g. REM, U2, Radiohead and Coldplay have a more egalitarian financial set-up and more often than not split songwriting royalties. I think that songwriters in bands that become successful should be very mindful that it is often the chemistry of the band that creates the success. Once money rolls in and the songwriters start coining it as the other musicians stay on 200 quid a week, things sour VERY quickly! Then the band splits and it's all over for everyone. I have seen it happen many, many times and I would not be surprised if it is the cause behind the collapse of creative verve and ultimate implosion of most bands that suddenly split when they seem to be at the top of their game. I sincerely hope Karn recovers, his work in Japan elevates him to the rare group of bassists who can be identified by their sound and note choice. Nick

Here is a sabre being played by a very talented musician, Tom Jenkinson. He describes it as the perfect bass. I would like one if I could find one. I used to have a stingray but hated the neck. Apparently the sabre has a more 'jazz bass' profile. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLcxve603-4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLcxve603-4[/url] It gets going about 3 minutes in... N

Hear hear, My old Nash (which is the one that stacker now has?) is a beautiful sounding j bass. I also had a T63 which I had to sell, the teles are exceptional guitars, especially with lollars on them! Price wise that's not too bad esp. as the euro is going down hill. Almost equivalent to buying it from the states given the guff you have to deal with getting it into the uk. N

I have a bravewood bass (fretless 62 jbass) which is the most amazing thing. Someone was asking about growly jazz basses on BC the other day. I never knew what growl was on a j bass until I played the bravewood. I think the vintage wound bareknuckles have a lot to do with it...this bass really growls...