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Earliest Ever Footage of Slap Bass


Bean9seventy

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36 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

The late John McKenzie was another UK bass player who slapped and popped in the (late) 70s - with Steve Hillage and Annette Peacock.

He was a fabulous all-round player/musician... 

You're right - I saw him with Hillage (may have been Gong) - prog with a groove funk bass player - fabulous!! Very hippy also. 

@Bean9seventy is quite right that this style of playing influenced very widely - even pure show biz orchestras started to have funk bass players - you were as likely to hear it on The Two Ronnies as anywhere else!

Ive said this before here, but if you turned up to an audition in the early 80s (unless it was punk or maybe ska), if you couldn't slap you'd probably not get the job 😬

But to quote Marcus Miller in his interview with @Silvia Bluejay and @Happy Jack in those days you needed to be able to hold down a groove as well if not better than the next guy to get the job - perhaps doesn't seem to be as important these days 🤔

Edited by drTStingray
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21 hours ago, drTStingray said:

Now then, @Bean9seventy if you think I'm too hippy and non-street (though I will admit to having played slap bass in the street at least once or twice) you'll definitely think these two Brits were far too hippy (they certainly had long hair) but Neil Murray, in his pre Whitesnake days with one of the Canterbury sound bands with Dave Stewart, played a whole section of slap bass on a recorded piece, and I saw Alan Spenner play a sort of slap bass short solo with Kokomo..... Alan Gorrie also played some with the Average White Band (but he is Scottish.....) 😏 - more so in the 80s though (for instance Sweet and Sour; Into the Night).  

I agree with you regarding Larry Graham - his slap bass was not really that well known until Graham Central Station. 

larry graham was not as well known in the 1970s as the colleges & teachers have their pupils to believe ,,

tho after 1980 & 1990 graham was rightly known , thanks to disco going viral , thanks 

oh & yes AWB & (their bass players) were in the frame that much i can tell you ,, possibly The Real Thing , 1976 -1978 ,, pro bands gave "some" support to the upper moving brit funk bands ,, again thanks

 

Edited by Bean9seventy
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6 hours ago, fleabag said:

Bean,,,  is,,,  English ,,, your ,,, first ,,, language ,,,,,,,  ????????

Asking,,,, for,,,,a,,,, friend,,,,

is ,, my language ,, 1st ,, engligh ~~ nah ,, i used to be posh in the 1970s ,, until i got into drum programming means you could probably map my text & earn money ,, converting it to a type beat ,, sorry about it guys ,, such is drum machines 

 

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20 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Or, it takes 10 years to learn to do it. 👍

no not really if you are keen just a few mont

 

20 hours ago, drTStingray said:

You're right - I saw him with Hillage (may have been Gong) - prog with a groove funk bass player - fabulous!! Very hippy also. 

@Bean9seventy is quite right that this style of playing influenced very widely - even pure show biz orchestras started to have funk bass players - you were as likely to hear it on The Two Ronnies as anywhere else!

Ive said this before here, but if you turned up to an audition in the early 80s (unless it was punk or maybe ska), if you couldn't slap you'd probably not get the job 😬

But to quote Marcus Miller in his interview with @Silvia Bluejay and @Happy Jack in those days you needed to be able to hold down a groove as well if not better than the next guy to get the job - perhaps doesn't seem to be as important these days 🤔

the topic matter ,, all we say is ,,  disco bass went viral , & then they all found out about larry graham

as for marcus miller ? he don't feature much in this blog as stated earlier ,, the main man for the 1st round of UK funk bass players circa 1976 was Robert Pops Popswell ,, marcus had yet to be discovered ,, before level 42 before marcus 

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On 03/04/2021 at 17:21, Doddy said:

What the hell are you on about dude?

Calling Jaco a failed disco player, and bringing Janek in to it for no reason? Both these guys are killer players and irrelevant to your discussion. Just because their influences and styles are more from the Jazz world doesn't mean you should talk about them in a derogatory way in a thread about slap bass. 

As far as I'm concerned you've just invalidated your own discussion.

find me the jaco studio 54 tune ,,, ?? good question ,, the failed disco player is our nick name for jaco lol ,,  i am sure there are others you guys find more fitting ; D

you get a guy who is a good fighter you call him , lil shy boy

you get a guy 6ft 8 ,, you call him little john

you get jaco,,, you call him the beginner bass player lol failed , useless ,, lol 

Edited by Bean9seventy
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10 minutes ago, Bean9seventy said:

no not really if you are keen just a few months

I'm not that keen. More like 10 - 20 years for me.

12 minutes ago, Bean9seventy said:

level 42

Did you know - Penthouse and Pavement (with the amazing John Wilson on bass),  came out before Level 42's first album.

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 The Olympic Runners were a decent (mid 70's onwards) UK Disco band. They had a bit of success State side as well.

Delisle Harper was a good Bassist. He did a bit with Gonzalez (and a few others).

He was also a good arranger as well. Although composed by 'Biddu', Delisle arranged the Strings and Brass on this Film track theme (as well as playing Bass).

Delisle and his Drummer sidekick, Glen LeFleur, were quite an demand studio session team during the 70's.

 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

I'm not that keen. More like 10 - 20 years for me.

Did you know - Penthouse and Pavement (with the amazing John Wilson on bass),  came out before Level 42's first album.

nothing here ,, unless i hear the song perhaps see images ,, tell me about them ??

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1 minute ago, lowdown said:

 

 The Olympic Runners were a decent (mid 70's onwards) UK Disco band. They had a bit of success State side as well.

Delisle Harper was a good Bassist. He did a bit with Gonzalez (and a few others).

He was also a good arranger as well. Although composed by 'Biddu', Delisle arranged the Strings and Brass on this Film track theme (as well as playing Bass).

Delisle and his Drummer sidekick, Glen LeFleur, were quite an demand studio session team during the 70's.

 

 

 

 

yeah ,, we knew the band a bit ,, i mean i was on stage with them so (not as a bass player),, everything in brit funk was happening , Heatwave AWB ,, few others guiding a pot of younger unsigned bassists & co who became brit funk ,, i was one of those bass 5 or 6 players as mentioned in an earlier post,

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2 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

 

heaven 17 ,, yes people i knew knew that band ,, those guys were into steve strange ,,

soul boys who wanted more ,, ABC were too bubble gum ,, 

true, heaven 17 band may have had an early bass player , who i would be told of if i didn't know ,,  yes its possible i know of the bass player / herd of ,,

but again if the bass player was not in our circle , then no ,, its tight ,, thanks 

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58 minutes ago, Bean9seventy said:

find me the jaco studio 54 tune ,,, ?? good question ,, the failed disco player is our nick name for jaco lol ,,  i am sure there are others you guys find more fitting ; D

Irrelevant.

Show me a jazz/fusion tune with Larry Graham?   Would you call Larry a failed jazz player? Of course you wouldn't. 

It's a useless equivalency. Jaco didn't do the disco thing, and Larry didn't play fusion or write big band arrangements.

Dude, I'm not ragging on you. I liked your initial topic, but somewhere along the line you've gone in to a strange place where you're slagging off Jaco and Janek for not playing disco.

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10 hours ago, Doddy said:

Irrelevant.

Show me a jazz/fusion tune with Larry Graham?   Would you call Larry a failed jazz player? Of course you wouldn't. 

It's a useless equivalency. Jaco didn't do the disco thing, and Larry didn't play fusion or write big band arrangements.

Dude, I'm not ragging on you. I liked your initial topic, but somewhere along the line you've gone in to a strange place where you're slagging off Jaco and Janek for not playing disco.

I could never like Jaco, because he didn't play metal!

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11 hours ago, Doddy said:

Irrelevant.

It's a useless equivalency. Jaco didn't do the disco thing.......

Jaco was very R and B (which is where funk and disco bass had its roots) - but River People has a disco style octaved bass part with hi hat sixteenths - pure disco!!

Jaco appeared to be into sequencer style lines - also appeared in River People. Even Teen Town could be considered a sequencer-style line. 

The real big break for 'disco' was Saturday Night Fever - not only the singles and album but the film - but it was around in R and B style bands before that. An early example being Love Hangover, Diana Ross (octaved bass part; hi hat sixteenths). 

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50 minutes ago, prowla said:

I could never like Jaco, because he didn't play metal!

you win the argument little john ,, good job i never had a strange nick name for level42 ;D ,, i keep forgetting people today can be easily offended even by their own shadow ,,

it would be really nice tho if jaco was still in the building ,,, & with my self saying hey you ?? jaco ?? you managed to do them Disco octaves yet :D thanks

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18 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

Jaco was very R and B (which is where funk and disco bass had its roots) - but River People has a disco style octaved bass part with hi hat sixteenths - pure disco!!

Jaco appeared to be into sequencer style lines - also appeared in River People. Even Teen Town could be considered a sequencer-style line. 

The real big break for 'disco' was Saturday Night Fever - not only the singles and album but the film - but it was around in R and B style bands before that. An early example being Love Hangover, Diana Ross (octaved bass part; hi hat sixteenths). 

teen town could even be based on otis redding sitting on the dock of the bay if you walk the notes that way ,, yes i agree , jaco picks up at RnB ,, yet he knew some of the disco guys ,,

looks guys / i aint making no bones here ,, i know mike edmonds he knows i would never say a bad note on jaco ,, its just i have the most out landish nickname for jaco

saturday night fever went viral almost the same way bruce lee went viral in enter the dragon ,, thanks  

Edited by Bean9seventy
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21 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

Jaco was very R and B (which is where funk and disco bass had its roots) - but River People has a disco style octaved bass part with hi hat sixteenths - pure disco!!

Jaco appeared to be into sequencer style lines - also appeared in River People. Even Teen Town could be considered a sequencer-style line. 

I'm not arguing there.  I know Jaco was heavily influenced by soul and R&B. What I meant is you'd never call Jaco a 'disco player'- he wasn't doing those kind of sessions. River People had that influence, but it's not going to get confused with The Hustle.  

My whole point is that bringing Jaco in to a discussion about slapping and disco is completely pointless, in the same way you wouldn't really talk about Larry Graham in a discussion about fusion (even though there may be some influence there).

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31 minutes ago, Bean9seventy said:

you win the argument little john ,, good job i never had a strange nick name for level42 ;D ,, i keep forgetting people today can be easily offended even by their own shadow ,,

it would be really nice tho if jaco was still in the building ,,, & with my self saying hey you ?? jaco ?? you managed to do them Disco octaves yet :D thanks

didn't know I was arguing,,, big willy,,, "Beat It" was about the closest jacko got to metal.

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