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[quote name='Alastair' post='282470' date='Sep 12 2008, 11:23 AM']Ooo, howd you get a copy? Muso copy? Cant wait. Hope it comes out on vinyl, I'll be buying it fo' sho'.[/quote] Sorry I was sent a 'watermarked' preview copy so even I'm barely allowed to even 'look' at it or the copyright police will come knocking - but seriously I'm a music journo so I was lucky to get a white label - though SP is one artist that I will happily pay for Cds and gig tickets... he's on scary good form on this one. M

Hey there Just wanted to give you guys a heads up on the new Pairsquasher album - it's absolutely awesome - I've been a fan of some of his older stuff and his last album 'Hello Everything' was good but a bit safe sounding - but I have struggled with his electro heavy drum and bass albums like 'Big Loada'... anyway.... This is staggering as he's once again played everything including great drums, classical guitar and of course loads of bass - in fact I think this is his most bass-heavy album to date. Not only that he uses distorted bass loads - slapping the hell out of it on a monster tune called 'Delta-V' - it's just rocking and sounds immense. There are some contrasting bits of sub-classical on acoustic guitar, there's some messed up jazz and the album actually kicks off with two really hard funk tunes with some amazing picked bass lines - there's also a mad vocoder tune called 'Open Society' that has a full vocal track that sounds really kitsch - a bit like Air - really funk and psychedelic too. As you can probably tell - I think it's awesome - and it's great to hear Tom on such hot form - playing how he likes on what he likes - his intention was to make a 'band' album and it's really worked. I'm not sure when it's out but if you like what he does I think you'll dig it too. Mike

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='282176' date='Sep 11 2008, 09:40 PM']Congratulations, it's a great feeling isn't it, ordering your bass. When you say the John East pre, do you mean the ACG/East, I had the East deluxe fitted to my bass but recently changed to the ACG/East, and I have to say it's made a hell of a difference, the bass was amazing before, now it's out of this world. You know I was going to buy the Fodera 6 string that's for sale at the Gallery, but my Sei bass really is so much better that I decided that it was pointless doing so.[/quote] Thanks man - yes I probably do mean the one you mention - I'm looking for a circuit that will be ideal for tweaking the mids but retain warmth etc - I've heard great things about what John does so I'm liking the idea of using a homegrown design and from what you are saying it sounds like the one... as for pups I'm still not sure - I really dig my Nordy Fatstacks and I'm sure the J versions will be as good. As for that Fodera it's definitely not a good Fodera, I tried it but it was so ridiculously large that I'm simply not built for it - and it looks weird being such a huge bass... not my bag at all - I tried the two Monarchs they had in a year or two ago and really dug them and the Matt Garrison Imperial was great - but 6K.... no thanks - I LOVE my Sei and it's easily as good in terms of craftsmanship and playablity - and looks. I don't think I could handle all the hassle of getting a bass made for me in the US and or the three year waiting list. I know that Dave Swift (Jools Holland's bassist) has been waiting over three years for his Anthony jackson 6 string - anf he's really good pals with Vinnie... if you live in the UK you have many great options to get a brilliant bass made right here now - no question about it. I'll post pics as soon as I get them - probably in a month or so - the top is just sick man... M

Hey people, I just had a great day as not only did I decide it was time to comission up my next Sei bass - I also found out that my Warwick 1990 Thumb had sold as well... for whatever reason no one had told me as Alex thought Martin had told me but when I arrived today it was news to me... so I have a good start on the funds for the build. The other great thing that came out of ordering the bass today was I got the last piece of the absoluetely mind blowing bit of American spalted maple... Martin said that he thought it was one of the nicest pieces he'd ever acquired. So I am utterly thrillied about that. As you'll see from the specs below it's pretty much a 'standard' J bass with an ash body and maple neck - I'm still undecided on the elctronics - though I'm really interested in the John East preamp - and the only pups I was recommended earlier that might be worth a shot are the Fender Custom Shop ones - but hey I'm open to suggestions: 4 string 24 fret maple neck - bolt on. Birdseye maple fingerboard Ash body Absolutely stunning American spalted maple top Ramp with top wood on it Red LEDs along top side of finger board. Abalone markers on the board Black hardware Bridge TBC Electronics - Glokenklang J bass Pickups - Nordstrand NSJ4 Hipshot D-tuner Full spalted maple facing on the headstock with Sei Bass 'curve' design. Flamed Bubinga Ramp As ever it'll be a while before I have any pics but I feel like the bass is already 'meant to be' and I'm sure Martin will deliver another cracking instrument. Thankfully I already have one to sustain me in the meantime - but I'm still really excited about this bass as it will have a distinctly different character to the Single Cut. Cheers Mike

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='280198' date='Sep 9 2008, 10:27 AM']That's great news. Did you give the Sei a good outing then? Hope that you manage to pull off WOMAN and Glastonbury - they would be fun gigs to land![/quote] Er I didn't pull any 'woman' (sadly) - being happily 'married' anyway... sorry I know you meant WOMAD, and yes the Sei was magnificent - the thing just has the most massive tone - and the more volume you give it - the bigger it gets... (oo, er, misses!) - I'll let you know how we get on. Next gig we do will be in November at a very lovely club called Momos near Piccadilly Square - it's small but quite a trendy place to place and really good atmosphere etc - I'll post details as soon as I have them. M

[quote name='Alun' post='279153' date='Sep 7 2008, 03:12 PM']Hey Mike, only just seen this sorry - congratulations and good luck!!! Cheers Alun[/quote] No worries Al - it was a lot of fun and not without it's scary moments of 'what the f*** is going on here...' which is what a lack of rehearsal and bad communication can result in - but overall it rocked. I was pleased that I kept my cool and head together throughout and even when things weren't perfect I had enough wits about me to think on my feet and above all keep going and not look like anything went wrong! I shan't dissect the gig any further as I can't be arsed but it was very gratifying to play such a prestigeous place, pull a decent crowd and keep their attention for a full hour and a half. I really played as best as I could, which was relaxed and completely focused in the moment and technically and sound wise I was happy with how it all went as well. Hopefully this also bodes well for further gigs with this band next year which could well include WOMAD and Glastonbury and other things overseas - so it was worth the stress just to get to this point. A good experience overall - including the hairy moments too! M

Played the QEH main hall on the South Bank in London last night - we headlined it - and it was rather good actually - we got the place more than half way full which is good for a £20 a ticket gig in a sit down venue - so about 400 - 500 - people... sadly I'm working (or meant to be) right this minute so I'll have to be brief but it was great having top quality monitoring and the Sei bass absolutely kills it live - the tone is massive. I was using an Ampeg but I found some nice settings and it was all good. Aside from a couple of under-rehearsed tunes that went slightly awry - the set kicked ass and a good sign of how things were going was that our alloted hour and a half flew by. I was pleased that I didn't get that nervous beforehand and felt really comfortable on stage - so, being relaxed, I played well and held the grooves down, basically did my job! Anyway - got to get this bit of freelance nonsense finished now! Cheers Mike

OK, I'm going to add one comment to all of this, Why is it bass players are so hung up about 'knowing' what they play, or not? Would this debate be going on a saxophone forum or piano forum? It's stupid to see having skill as being elitist and not having them as 'natural', what the f*** does that mean? I definitely fall into the category of having a better informed starting point will take you a lot further in your chosen subject areas, but I've lost count of the amount of threads I've seen this kind of subject. Someone, naming no names, came up to me at the Bass Bash in March, and before he's even introduced him self said "stop playing that jazz...", sorry but that pissed me off a bit. It's like it's a good thing not to be informed, to maintain a state of ignorance is to retain your 'cred'. Well it's not. I'm not suggesting that you should like jazz, it's not an easy thing to like all the time, I DON'T like it all the time but it's opened plenty of doors in my playing and continues to do so. Doesn't mean I can't play rock or funk or blues or soul or grunge or drum and bass.... If you would rather bash out a few tunes on the bass, have a spliff, play on your games console and then go down the pub then great go for it, it's cool. If you want to work out tunes by ear and not worry about whether you understand all he theory behind every chord change or progression, that's fine too. If you are a top pro that really never needs to read music and does it all by ear great and if you can sight read and have perfect pitch then brilliant. there is actually room for every one here and there's nothing wrong with different approachs, it's just your choice at end of the day. How you do it is up to you but if the central question is 'does knowledge matter?' then surely the answer is simply 'yes'.

Thanks for the good wishes etc - just a quick bump for any one who might be in the London area tonight and fancy some North African funky tunage tonight - it'll be good (I hope ) I'll report back afterwards Mike

Thanks Jake - looking forward to it - but the nerves are kicking in already.... M

Hey Guys and Gals Just wanted to let you all know I will be headling at the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Hall this coming Saturday with North African/Algerian singer Cheb Nacim - it's really full on funky music, mixing funk, latin, Spanish and a touch of jazz. It's going to be a full 8-piece band with trumpet, violin, 2x percussionsts, 2 guitarists, keys, drums, bass and vox. Should be a good night - my first massive London gig - no idea if any of you will make it - just wanted give it a mention - wish me luck! Details here: [url="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/calendar/productions/cheb-nacim-42164"]http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/calendar/...heb-nacim-42164[/url] Cheers Mike

Looks amazing - but it makes my wrists hurt just looking at it... M

Holy sh!t man - that looks stunning... really and truly some of the best custom made basses anywhere in the world... come right out of little old Camden town. I'm getting a Sei jazz next - more details coming soon - but once again Red - HUGE congrats - that's a very special bass you have there. M

While not wanting to state the obvious, if you start learning jazz in some form or other you'll soon find you'll encounter a lot of advanced rhthmic and harmonic material that stretches you way beyond the technical side of the bass. Having good technique is one thing but being able to listen and react to musicians in a split second and play without any limitations is, for me at least, the ultimate goal. However this doesn't mean shredding or playing tons of notes it means playing something original based on your own knowledge and experience. From my own personal experiance of playing in rock orientated bands for far too long, as soon as I stopped doing that and switched to playing funk, jazz and world music, my playing improved massively. Learning how to jam creatively, improvise in different styles, with good musicians is the way out of playing riff based music that once you have learnt the riff or the chords then that's all the bass does. When you have more freedom to create your own lines, push the groove with a great drummer, and play music outside your comfort zone, that's when you'll start to discover stuff 'beyond chops' as Mr Jeff Berlin would say! If you can go on a course or take some lessons with a good teacher, at least that way you will get a better idea of what level you are actually at, and that way you can then get some focus on the areas you need to work on. I did this a few years ago and while I was slightly shocked at the areas I was weak in, thinking I knew more than I did, the following year's work I did meant I really improved. So when I went back and did the same music course a year later the tutors really commented on how much I'd improved. If you set yourself attainable goals with your playing, and subsiquently acheive those goals, it will have a cumilative effect, so that after a number of years of focused study and practice, you will defiinitly be a better musician, and bass player! Hope that helps Mike

[quote name='chris_b' post='267502' date='Aug 22 2008, 12:44 AM']The difference is the cost of someone in the US getting paid £1500 a month against someone in China getting £100 a month. You can ship these cabs anywhere, twice, and still make loadsa money. That's why they are ALL doing it!![/quote] Cool - yeah I understand - and I know the rents in Brooklyn are going through the roof - it's like Primrose Hill in London - once a dive, now cool as hell. I suppose it's also a sign of success too - or staying afloat... which we are all trying to do today! M

Um, is all this speculation based on sound fact? I'd really like to know who told you this and why Epifani would bother to do it - when the cost of overall production (and all that shipping) wouldn't really be affected - Nick (who I have met on several occasions) strikes me as someone who cares deeply about the quality of what he's doing and less about the 'selling boxes' attitude of some of the big amp companies out there. If it is fine - I'm sure he has his reasons - I just get concerned about us all sitting here specualting on 'what it all means' when none of us actually know the facts of the thing. Just my 0.02 pence on the subject. M

[quote name='dood' post='267286' date='Aug 21 2008, 07:05 PM']I wonder how [i]they[/i] will pronounce 'Epifani' lol lol!!![/quote]

I have no reason NOT to beleive this but at the same time I'd be very surprised - sorry to er, name drop, but when I visited the Epifani work shop last year the stock room was piled high with hundreds of cabinets waiting to be shipped - not sure why they would suddenly need to stop producing them on the premises - I know they are popular - but not [i]that[/i] popular...they aren't exactly Ampeg. Love their stuff tho - my 502 UL head is just awesome. M

Mmmmm - that's why these babies are worth the wait and the money... Another awesome bass from Martin Peterson - massive congrats - I know you will absolutely love it, my single cut just keeps feeling better and better and the wow factor on gigs and from other bass players is really nice - it sounds and plays great too. Have fun. Mike

And in October Victor Bailey plays two club nights, and in November Hadrien Feraud is over for two nights as well: [url="http://www.myspace.com/charliewrights"]http://www.myspace.com/charliewrights[/url] 10 Oct 2008 20:00 FR)-VICTOR BAILEY GROUP-only UK dates-premier of his new album since 2001 London 11 Oct 2008 20:00 SAT)-VICTOR BAILEY GROUP-only UK dates-premier of his new album since 2001 London 18 Nov 2008 21:30 LONDON JAZZ FEST: Hadrien Feraud Group (France) London 19 Nov 2008 21:30 LONDON JAZZ FEST: Hadrien Feraud Group (France) London

Hey nice story and good vibes all the way, great to see Bona at the 55 bar with Stern, a rare one that for sure.... I saw amazing guitarist wayne Krantz there in April last year, but he had... Anthony Jackson on bass and Steely Dan's drummer Keith Karlock, which was er, nice! Plus I hung with Matt Garrison over at Fodera and heard him jam in the Epifani workshop too, which was also nice. And while I agree that NYC is full of incredible bass talent, within a few days/couple of weeks in London recently we had Richard Bona, Tony Grey, Matt Garrison, Stanley Clarke, Dominique Di Piazza and Mr Victor Wooten visit town to play gigs, so NYC may be home but playing in Europe is certainly paying those bills! However I have to say NYC is a very, very special place for jazz in general being the birthplace of what we essentially know as modern jazz and with so much history steeped in the streets and bars and clubs, the place is still vital and exciting and the standard of playing across the entire range of instruments is astonishing. It's just nice to see both American musicians coming to London because the standard is very high here as well, but it's also great to see many UK musicians going to NYC and getting stuck in there as well. It's all good! M

Sweet dude - that looks stunning - should be amazing to play too. Congrats. M

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='253598' date='Aug 3 2008, 08:01 AM']Excellent Where did you get it from? (I thought it wasn't released in the US until 8th August!) Rich.[/quote] Hey Rich - I'm afraid to say it's my job - I review CDs for Jazzwise magazine - so I got an advance - it is genuinely good, I think it'll actually surprise a few people who expect it to be purely self indulgent. Another thing I would add is that both Stanley and Marcus are great producers, SC has 30 movie soundtracks to his name - and Marcus is a studio legend - Vic ain't too shabby either... - anyway I'm not a huge fan of all bass albums (IMO the Manring/DiPiazza/Carbonne CD was very dissapointing) but this one is actually OK. Cheers Mike

OK , I've heard it, in fact I have a copy, and it's actaully a lot better than that naff youtube clip, my one vaguely controversial verdict is that Stanley come off worst for his tone and his playing, while Vic and Marcus groove like crazy and play some really tasty bass, they even 'jam' a version of Classical Thump, which is full of chops but also grooves like crazy and has a real sense of fun about it, Marcus adds some tasty blues licks to the 'classical' ideas and Vic is on it big time. It's also really well produced, has some very musical themes, melodies etc and generally comes over as a very complete project rather than a bass w***fest. M