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Leonard Smalls

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Everything posted by Leonard Smalls

  1. Beautifully played and recorded (as is all ECM jazz!), and a lovely bit of background dinner jazz. But, for me that's all it is. I couldn't lose myself in it because there just aren't enough surprises, or fireworks - it's a sort of a continuum of nice-ness but lacks the killer punch. If I'm going to listen to a piano jazz trio I'd go Jacques Loussier or The Bad Plus every time!
  2. New Fads finally release their live at the Hacienda album... Featuring Dredd and the Badass Weeds singer Andy https://newfastautomaticdaffodils.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-hacienda
  3. Careful now... That's Gateway Free Improv! It's a slippery slope - I started with the soft stuff like that and soon I was listening to Full Bailey, Brotzmann and Steve Lacey. Nowadays ordinary muzak sounds far too square, daddy-o!
  4. Good stuff! I'm always entertained by a bit of free improv... Perfect for Getting Up To Get Down! I used to be in a sort of free improv band, However, we were a bit more groovy - basically the drummer and I (we'd been playing in another band together for years) would set off on some sort of funk groove, while the sax, trumpet, keys and guitar did crazy widdleshit all over it. It sounded like a busy version of Derek Bailey and Jamaaladeen Tacuma's "Mirakle". We weren't at all po-faced mind, unlike another free improv do I went to where the organising woman held up colours as moods for us to convey. I found it difficult not to snigger!
  5. I can't listen to ol' JS Bach any more... Not since that darned Frenchie Jacques Loussier covered all of Johann's stuff in a far groovier way!
  6. I got one set of the £12 ones, and two at £16. They arrived at the same time on Saturday in 3 envelopes (2 were from the same suppler bought at the same time!) Once I deciphered the Player's Circle codes (8s and Bs are identical!) all of them registered, so I suspect all were legit.
  7. It's a 79 Wal Pro 1 (or 2?). Either way, you know you wants it... And it will have been touched by Mr Ian himself! Go on go on go on go on etc
  8. You're lucky, you could actually get a good one rather than a thumpy old Fender with an ashtray on it!
  9. I taught myself "bass" by playing along to Bootsy records on the bottom 4 strings of an acoustic guitar. Then about a month later went to a m8's party, there were some instruments and a few of us had a jam, which is how the band formed. We had our first gig after about a month at the Tartan Bar, Leeds Uni then a week later at The Warehouse in Leeds. Basically it was me playing a simple groove on a borrowed Gibson short scale - it belonged to Jez, who played a bit of guitar with us and later became the Utah Saints with our drummer, who with us didn't so much drum as jump about with a drum machine strapped to a guitar body tapping out rhythms. We had Jay Rayner (!) on keys, Chris Haskett on guitar (later went to join Henry Rollins!), Andy from Cassandra Complex on guitar with final guitar being John (later in the Snapdragons). Our singer was another Andy, who went on to be singer for the New Fast Automatic Daffodils. And it was chaos! Somehow we're still playing occasionally - and recording our first album (it's only taken 40 years) though with only the 2 Andys, John and KeithTheDrums. Though We've largely dropped "Dredd", "And" and "Badass" from our name calling ourselves simply, The Weeds.
  10. We had a mosh pit! And despite that, no punch ups... The horror I have is that middle of the road do where they're trying to keep everyone happy meaning that most aren't. Or at least I wouldn't be, but then I hate most music that isn't an unlistenable racket!
  11. Playing your average wedding fills me with horror! However, I remember our punkfunk band in the early 90s being booked to do a wedding - it was for someone very posh who our drummer knew. We'd just finished gigging with Gaye Bykers and were at the height of our rock'n'rollness; 2 of us turned up on our motorbikes, rest came in the van which we were all going to kip in at the venue. As soon as we'd turned up at the stately home somewhere in Surrey we were offered champagne, which we alternated with tequila shots that the guitarist had brought. I remember the look of horror from the older folks there as we launched into our set, which for some reason was at 3pm. We leapt about, swigging from champagne bottles, playing songs no-one would have known unless they knew us (we actually played well!), and as soon as we finished we jumped on the kiddies bouncy castle, spraying young 'uns with more champers. Then we lazed about smoking dope and started on the beer. But strangely, we weren't shunned, or beaten up, or arrested - folks came and joined in with our excesses and we were convinced to play our set again in the evening. After that, there was a rave DJ, which perhaps meant we hadn't just been booked by mistake. All in all it turned out to be a serious party - similar to many of the free festivals of the late 80s, just that someone posh who liked to party was getting married too! I suspect there aren't that many proper rock XS weddings though - it was like Fear and Loathing in Guildford!
  12. They're doing heavy NYXLs even cheaper - just bought 2 sets at £16.37 each! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01NAJH97M?psc=1&smid=A1522385LAKHHO&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp
  13. I get round playing covers I don't like by being in an originals band... That way we get to play songs wot we wrote ourselves and like a lot, but nobody else likes 'em. Luckily, we don't like crowded places.
  14. Most often, I come along with the bass lines/chord sequences etc for a song which everybody works out a part for (or sometimes I suggest), and singer writes lyrics. A couple of times our singer has come along with lyrics which we'll then work out riffage for. Either way, we jam it until it works. With a cover we'll look for a spin on the idea like funkin' or punkin' itup, or making it into a mash-up. I object to doing straight covers!
  15. Here's some racquet... I got to thinking about a certain type of person for whom the future is only acceptable if it stays exactly the same as the present, hence a ditty about some bloke who won't never grow up. All is by me, except some EZ drummer loops (plus some programmed by me). All mixed in Ableton with bass fx by Helix, guitar tones by Bias FX, keyboard is Iris. Everything's rolled in the glitter that is Ozone 9.
  16. Funny you should say that... Here's my song for this month:
  17. I sort of regret that time 30-odd years ago when there were a number of record company scouts coming to see us at the Bull and Gate, and we thought that if we got completely off our faces we'd play much better. We couldn't... And worse, we thought we'd played really well! However, it probably did me a favour in the long run.
  18. Today it's a touch of compressed Ampeg model in one Helix path, the other path with tube overdrive, plate reverb and Wah. Yesterday it was a Royal Blood sort of thing with bass in one path and autowah screaming guitar in the other. Before that with an actual pedalboard it was whatever craziness I could conjure from Qtron and bass-synth. Tomorrow, who knows?
  19. I'm not quite as flamboyant as I used to be... Then (me in beautiful wedding dress) With the Weeds And more recently, Captain Square in sparkley leggings
  20. Favourite jazz bass player? Always liked Jamaaladeen Tacuma for his harmolodic grooves. And loved Melvin Gibbs power in both Avant jazz and rock - I've seen him with Bill Frisell, Sonny Sharrock, Defunct and Rollins Band so proper versatile. Though neither specifically play a jazz . I've seen Jamalaadeen with a Rick, a Kubicki in pink, a Steinberger cricket bat and some weird cross between a Barbie doll and a Les Paul!
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