Bilbo's Transcription Archive

[Bilbo]

Another bucket list transcription - this is the complete John Patitucci bass part for the opening 'Prologue' on Dave Grusin's 'West Side Story' album. Highly, highly recommended. I hope to get the whole album down if I can and the recordings allow - I have loved this album since I first heard it in the 1990s.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/prologue-to-west-side-story-dave-grusin/

[Bilbo]

Another simple transcription but not as easy to play as it looks due to the push and pull of the pulse. This one is all about the tone and the ensemble playing. Steve Rodby's bass part to the tune 'Letter From Home' from the 1989 Pat Metheny Group album of the same name.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/letter-from-home-pat-metheny-group/

[Bilbo]

Another Metheny ballad (great tunes for beginner reading practice), this is the bass part to 'Don't Forget (Renato's Theme)' from the 1995 Pat Metheny soundtrack to the Italian film 'Passaggio Per Li Paradiso'. The discographies say that Metheny played everything on this recording. The tone isn't strong enough for Rodby and he is not credited anywhere so I can only assume it is, as they say, Metheny himself.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/dont-forget-renatos-theme-pat-metheny/

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 16:37 by Bilbo

[Bilbo]

Another Metheny ballad for beginner readers, this is the tune 'Wasn't Always Easy' from the 1990 Gary Burton/Pat Metheny 'Reunion' CD. A fairly easy read but some ledger line nonsense (just a hint, they are all tenths).

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/wasnt-always-easy-gary-burton-pat-metheny/

Edited yesterday at 11:16 by Bilbo

[Bilbo]

Another easy one in the main but there is a stunning little solo in the middle that requires a huge amount of sensitivity and concentration - don't be deceived by what you think you are hearing, this is tricky stuff. This is a Faberge egg of a performance from Steve Swallow on the 1987 Carla Bley album 'Septet'. The tune is called 'Lawns'.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/lawns-carla-bley-septet/

[Bilbo]

A horn part to have a crack at. I actually did this transcription in the late 1980s on paper and found it this morning when looking for something else. It was all wrong but, hell, I was new to transcribing back then and there was no slowing things down on computers in those days. I have corrected my original errors this morning and put in into Sibelius and here it is. A great exercise and a way of really getting a sense of what Marsalis is doing to the melody. There is one tough passage that you will struggle with but, if you are inclined, it is worth spending some time of these kinds of things as it gives you a lot of insight into what is going on with these kinds of soloists.

 

The head and trumpet solo on Gershwin's 'A Foggy Day (in London Town)' from the 1987 Wynton Marsalis album, 'Standard Time Vol. 1'.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/a-foggy-day-wynton-marsalis-trumpet-solo/

[Bilbo]

Steve Rodby's complete bass part for the tune 'Every Summer Night' from the 1989 Pat Metheny Group album, 'Letter From Home'. A nice chart evidencing Rodby's profound musicality.

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/every-summer-night-pat-metheny-group/

Edited yesterday at 11:17 by Bilbo

[Bilbo]

Another special request, this is the complete John Mole performance of the tune 'Castles' from the 1977 Colosseum II album, 'Wardance'. Standard Rock-ballad fare but a lovely tune (I love these ballads Gary Moore wrote during this period - much better that that Blues stuff he gravitated towards later in his career. I guess he had to go where the money was, like most of us).

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/castles-colosseum-ii/

[Bilbo]

Another Bob Mintzer chart, this is the complete Will Lee bass performance of the Wayne Shorter tune 'Elegant People' from the 2015 Mintzer Big Band recording, 'Get It'. Lot of gaps between the notes so a challenging read until you 'get it' (see what I did there?). PS that's 600 charts up there now!

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/elegant-people-bob-mintzer-big-band/

Edited 2 hours ago by Bilbo

[peteb]

On 18/05/2025 at 18:31, Bilbo said:

Another special request, this is the complete John Mole performance of the tune 'Castles' from the 1977 Colosseum II album, 'Wardance'. Standard Rock-ballad fare but a lovely tune (I love these ballads Gary Moore wrote during this period - much better that that Blues stuff he gravitated towards later in his career. I guess he had to go where the money was, like most of us).

 

https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/castles-colosseum-ii/

 

To be fair, I don't think that Gazza was purely motivated by money when he started down the blues route (at least initially). Some of his best stuff came from working in that genre (at least to me), although he did start to sound that he was going through the motions later on. To me, his big problem was that he was overly mercurial and consequently changing to the extent that he was neither one thing or the other. I liked many things he did throughout his career, but when I bought one album of his, then the chances always were that I wouldn't like the next one enough to buy it.  At least his vocals kinda worked with the blues material. 

 

I used to have the Wardance album on vinyl many years ago. I will have to listen to it again on YouTube or whatever at some point. The trouble with a song like that is, as nice as the playing is, it really exposes the weaknesses in his voice - Steve Perry he was not...!  

 

Edited 27 minutes ago by peteb

[Bilbo]

He certainly ain't.