molan Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 (edited) Just got back to my hotel after a day at BPL and thought I'd report back Had a great time with lots of amazing bass playing going on and some fun / informative clinics. I managed to catch: Victor Wooten clinic - very inspiring speaker, really enjoyed hearing some of his views on 'music vs theory' Steve Bailey, Reggie Hamilton & Victor Wooten jam - Bailey & Wooten playing off each other was pretty damn impressive! Billy Sheehan clinic - I always find him to be a really engaging speaker, just has fun with the audience and simply bursts with enthusiasm about playing bass (he unveiled his new Yamaha Signature as well) Daryl Jones Ampeg demo - showing off the new B15 (which looks very cool indeed) Nate Watts clinic - well, what can you say about NW. Just such a genuine guy, full of stories about playing with Stevie & the Jacksons etc. Happily took requests for any song he's ever played on & demonstrated it. Managed to get an entire room full of guys singing the horn parts to I Wish whilst he played along Steve Bailey, John B Williams & Divinity Roxx jam - great to see John B & Divinity R on the same stage playing hip hop funk stuff with Steve B filling in chords behind them Bootsy autograph signing - I couldn't resist, got my pic taken with him and I have a stupid grin from ear to ear, lol (luckily I can't upload the pics!) Bass builder's forum - Joey Lauricella, Mike Tobias, Jimmy Coppolo & Jens Ritter discussing their theories and design goals for bass All this plus a stack of great basses & amps kicking around. Plus I managed to miss Mike Inez, Matt Garrison & Daryl jones clinics as well due to clashing times. Different kinda vibe to the UK Bass Day - really helped by a way quieter volume from every single demo booth. You could genuinely hear people playing & there was less obvious 'showing off' going on (although a few younger guys couldn't help slapping like crazy). Good venue with lots of seperate rooms & soundstages. Couldn't really tell how many people were there becuase of this but felt similar to UK. Off to the gig soon featuring Juan Alderete, Alphonso Johnson Quartet & Bootsy's all star band - followed by some sort of monster bass jam with a guest list that is just insane. . . Will post more tomorrow Edited October 24, 2010 by molan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 Jammy bugger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeBrownBass Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 [quote name='Pete Academy' post='998691' date='Oct 24 2010, 11:03 AM']Jammy bugger.[/quote] +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorick Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 Hard life, eh???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 Just so as you know, it isn't the same following Ampeg's tweets on Twitter about this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risingson Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 I'm hankering after a B-15 for in the studio, was not aware Ampeg were bringing out a re-release, it's the only product I've ever liked from them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 [quote name='J.R.Bass' post='998696' date='Oct 24 2010, 11:07 AM']+1 [/quote] This Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platypus Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 We gotta see that pic of you and Bootsy..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 As you won't have seen it, your day just got even better Barrie - Arsenal beat Citeh 3-0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 Just woken up & time to report back from last night's gig First up was Juan Alderete's Big Sir - other than knowing JA was in the Mars Volta I really didn't know much about him. He was a late stand-in for Andrew Gouche who couldn't make it for some reason. I have to say that I really liked them and JA's fretless P bass sounded amazing. Kind of electronica stuff with some really hypnotic bass lines and a very ethereal female singer. Unsurprisingly it was a very 'bass-friendly' mix and the sound all round was excellent. He went down 'ok' with the crowd but they weren't raving. Mind you, he was on pretty early and there seemed to be a big VIP room upstairs so I'm sure a lot of people were just ligging at the bar. Whilst standing & watching I looked up at one point and I had Victor Wooten standing about 2 foot away on one side and Daryl Jones right next to me on the other! In fact I noticed DJ seemed to be down in the main area for most of the evening watching the music. Divinity Roxx was all over the place as well & dashing down the front to take photos etc. like an excited fan. I realise she's one of the younger people there but she's played on some pretty big stages with Beyonce and it was cool to see her just being one of the audience. Next up was the Alphonso Johnson quartet with the amazing Ndugu Chancler on drums. He went through a series of 'standards' swapping from upright to Modulus electric to Chapman Stick and back again etc. Very jazzy set with the highlight being Weather Report's Black Market. Very unassuming guy who didn't seem to want to be in the limelight at all. Whilst waiting for the wonderful Bootsy Collins to come on someone tapped me on the shoulder to get past - it was Verdine White, swiftly followed by Ready Freddie Washington! God knows how many top bass men were in the room or at the VIP bar. . . Victor Wooten introduced Bootsy and made a great speech about his past with James Brown and his contribution to funk as a whole. Bootzilla came on wearing what looked like a snakeskin full length coat dyed pale crimson with a mtching huge hat He was really quite humble and, in that amazing voice of his that just sounds so funky, he kept saying he really wasn't worthy of an award and that there were so many great players out there. Then the core band for the 'funk set' kicked off behind him, Wooten on bass (he can funk with the best of them!), Frankie 'Kash' Waddy on drums and DeWayne 'Blackbird' McKnight on guitar. Bootsy was great as a front man and soon had the place going crazy and singing along with classic P-Funk tunes. Divinity Roxx joined him for some rapping vocals and Verdine White appeared as well for a while. Bootsy got right down in the audience and leaped around like a man possessed and must have grabbed hold or sang along with just about every one of the people standing down the front (including me - I got one line of "we want the funk, gotta have that funk", lol). Slowly the stage behind him filled with a ludicrous array of 'funk' bass players - the 'star jam' session was loosely split into funk & jazz, not a lot of rockers to be seen From memory the line up went - Victor Wooten, Billy Sheehan, Verdine White, Nate Watts, Sekou Bunch, Ready Freddie Washington, Anthony Wellington, Brian Berg, Steve Bailey (who was kinda MD for the jam section), I think I've missed a couple but it was all a bit of a blur to be honest! The big shame was that Bootsy didn't actually play bass. He said he would only play his 'star' bass and didn't have it with him (must have pleased Warwick who had a major presence at the show & the gig and definitely had one of their Bootsy Signature basses with them!). He has a clinic this afternoon so maybe he'll play a little then Then we were treated to the Alphonso Johnson 'jazz' jam band with Ndugu taking over from Kash on drums, Alphonso appeared from the back of the room playing wirelessly & strolled throught he crowd - up on stage were: Jonathan Herrera, John B Williams, Matt Garrison, Adrien Feraud, Alex Al, Daryl Johnson, Bunny Brunel, Reggie Hamilton & Steve Bailey holding it all together. Again I've probably missed someone here This second set was a lot more organised (apparently the first set had some kind of loose organisation but Bootsy took everyone off on a tangent, lol). Some really fine playing from this team with Hadrien Feraud really standing out for me. I spotted a few 'faces' from the first set right down the front near me watching the jazz guys with Verdine White in particular giving it large for each of them. So, that's it for now, off to day 2 in a minute. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 Glad you're enjoying it...sounds amazing! PS. Avoid the 'multi-bass jam' thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 There is a massive thread on Talkbass about the B-15. Talks of it being $5000 and limited to 300. Its all point to point high quality USA built, but $5000?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamd Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 Wow, sounds amazing! Heard Doug Johns was playing a set too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 [quote name='grahamd' post='999222' date='Oct 24 2010, 06:56 PM']Wow, sounds amazing! Heard Doug Johns was playing a set too[/quote] I didn't see him but there was a lot going on so easy to miss people! Much quieter day today all round with a lot less people. However it seemed like a lot more 'players' were just strolling around and chatting to people. Vic Wooten was all over the place, Daryl Jones, Hadrien Feraud, Bunny Brunel, Steve Bailey etc. etc. Bootsy was back for an interview and was really entertaining and humble about his achievements. Talked a lot about just loving to play the bass and to be in a band feeding off other musicians. In fact this was a real theme of the event - quite a few people talking about either their favourite drummers or just the whole vibe of getting up and playing in a band for a living. After his session Bootsy wandered around, signing autographs & gettting his pic taken with anyone and everyone. Seemed in a great mood and just happy to chat with people. Alphonso Johnson was also interviewed and shared some fascinating stuff about his life and career in music. Again, such a humble guy and really happy to talk about anything. He also played for a while on a funky Washburn semi-acoustic, wish he'd played more really. I watched Wooten trying out a new Fodera Monarch for about 15-20 minutes. He was just sitting there putting it through his paces and was amazing to watch. He played some of his usual trick stuff but also just held a nice groove for a while. All this from a distance of about 3-4 feet away. Missed Alex Al when I went out to get some cash to fund purchases which was a shame. Anyway, all over now & heading home tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustaBass Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 [quote name='molan' post='999154' date='Oct 24 2010, 07:05 PM']Then the core band for the 'funk set' kicked off behind him, Wooten on bass (he can funk with the best of them!), Frankie 'Kash' Waddy on drums and DeWayne 'Blackbird' McKnight on guitar. Bootsy was great as a front man and soon had the place going crazy and singing along with classic P-Funk tunes. Divinity Roxx joined him for some rapping vocals and Verdine White appeared as well for a while. Bootsy got right down in the audience and leaped around like a man possessed and must have grabbed hold or sang along with just about every one of the people standing down the front (including me - I got one line of "we want the funk, gotta have that funk", lol).[/quote] Is this the bit...... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUbdafGyB90"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUbdafGyB90[/url] Where are you man.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 [quote name='JustaBass' post='999970' date='Oct 25 2010, 12:21 PM']Is this the bit...... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUbdafGyB90"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUbdafGyB90[/url] Where are you man.... [/quote] That's it! I'm in there somewhere, lol. Divinity Roxx got on my nerves a little when she was rapping, I heard her twice and it seemed she used pretty much the same patterns and words each time and was really repetitive - mostly seemed to consist of rhyming 'funky' with 'chunky'. Just shows how great Bootsy is at this sort of stuff as he changed things around and came across as completely spontaneous and was, at times, really funny as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.