Hi.. I recently purchased an awsome cd called superbass 2 feat. Ray Brown and John Clayton. I was just wondering if you guys could recommend any other all bass jazz cd's that you've enjoyed??

This isn't a CD, but the BassDay '97 video with Micheal Moore and Rufus Reid is good listening as well as visually enjoyable.

Dave Holland did some ECM recordings with solo bass - One's All and Conference of Birds or something like that.

Other bass solo-y guys:

Rob Wasserman
Dave Friesen
Brian Bromberg
Eddie Gomez

And, uh, that's all I can think of right now.

There's also at least one Superbass TRIO CD with Brown, Clayton and Christian McBride.

I've heard of (not heard) a project that involved something like eight basses (NY Bass Choir), directed by Bill Lee, I think. Don't know if they recorded or not.

There's Hit It by The Neo-Bass Ensemble Featuring Lisle Atkinson. Eight bassists, I think. Not my favorite record, although I love hearing my man, Mr. Paul Brown, holding down the very bottom.

And of course, there's Vattel Cherry's Bassrespänse featuring TB's own David Kaczcorowski. Four very interesting players.

Well this is not a all-bass jazz CD...but it's one of my personal favorites for the great DB in it...

Check out Chick Corea's Return to Forever...

Originally posted by Christopher
Dave Holland did some ECM recordings with solo bass - One's All and Conference of Birds or something like that.
...

"Conference" is with the ensemble.

Solo, he's also done "Emerald Tears", which is one of my favorite albums. (And "Life Cycle", but that's solo cello.)

Other favorite bass solo albums: Miroslav Vitous' "Emergence", Barre Phillips' Call Me When You Get There and something of Eberhard Weber's I can't remember the name of. A friend of mine in Europe tells me I should listen to Anders Jormin's "Xieyi", which I haven't heard yet. All on ECM.

Where does one start? Try the following:

Barre Phillips - Acquarian Rain (ECM)
Barry Guy - Fizzles (Maya)
Barry Guy / Barre Phillips - Arco (Maya)
Joelle Leandre / William Parker - Contrabasses (Leo)
Joelle Leandre - No Comment (Red Toucan?)
John Lindberg - Luminosity: Homage to David Izenzon (Music and Arts)
Kent Kessler - Bull Fiddle (Okka)
Miroslav Vitous - Emergence (ECM)
Peter Kowald - Was Da Ist (FMP)
Peter Kowald - Bass Duets, w/ Barre Phillips, Barry Guy, Maarten Altena (FMP)

Kowald's solo 'Was Da Ist' is essential in my mind. What he manages to do on the bass solo is simply astounding. Also his duets with Phillips, Guy and Altena is incredible.

Leandre and Parker is also a great CD - a real showcase for comparing Euro and US styles. But that's a whole debate in and of itself.

Hope this helps.

If you're a member of Emusic.com you can pick up Lynn Seaton's "Solo Flights" there. Great disc, great player.

Rufus Reid and Michael Moore have at least two CDs out of their bass duo (I own one of them, forget the title!).

Not ALL bass but fun is "Shut Yo Mouth" by Slam Stewart and Major Holley on basses with piano and drum backup. Both solo with the bow while scatting along :cool:

There are a few Ray Brown "Superbass" titles, some have Christian McBride making it a bass trio (saw them live once, great show!).

Oooh, there's also a Cd called "Oscar Peterson and the bassists" which is a trio of Oscar, Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen and Ray Brown. Killer stuff!

Originally posted by mje


"Conference" is with the ensemble.

Solo, he's also done "Emerald Tears", which is one of my favorite albums

I saw Dave Holland play a solo piece as an encore to a concert with an orchestra where he played a piece written for him called Bass Explorations - sort of like a Jazz Double Bass concerto, based on Miles Davis' early electric period!!

But the solo piece was fantastic to watch and it was very tuneful - I would really like to get a copy - brought the house down!! :)

I was in Ray's Jazz shop in London yesterday and they had a copy of Emerald Tears and I am kicking myself for not buying it now!! I bought Extensions instead!



"something of Eberhard Weber's I can't remember the name of."

"Pendulum" - is solo bass?

Originally posted by Pacman
Oooh, there's also a Cd called "Oscar Peterson and the bassists" which is a trio of Oscar, Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen and Ray Brown. Killer stuff! Also at Emusic.com... that's added to my list of future things to download. Thanks for the heads up.

Wulf

Originally posted by Pacman
Oooh, there's also a Cd called "Oscar Peterson and the bassists" which is a trio of Oscar, Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen and Ray Brown. Killer stuff!

Is that the live at Montreux 1977 CD ? If so - I might well order it from Amazon!! :)

Originally posted by Pacman
Oooh, there's also a Cd called "Oscar Peterson and the bassists" which is a trio of Oscar, Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen and Ray Brown. Killer stuff!

I ordered this at the time you mentioned it and it came today - fantastic stuff! I like the approach - to be able to compare the styles of the two bass players.

What immediately strikes you are the technically brilliant NHOP solos - he plays solos that are faster and more intricate than a lot of horn players I know - and they still make sense in terms of outlining the chords and resolutions, being melodic etc.

As I listen more I'm also appreciating Ray Brown - certainly not phased by however many jaw-droping solos NHOP pulls off... anyway, I need to listen more - certainly a great recommendation - thanks!

I've got a copy of the Oscar Peterson recording from Ebay, that I'm (virtually) spinning as I type.

Very good stuff... but which bassist is which? I can distinguish between them and I think Ray Brown is on the left hand channel, with a fatter sound than NHOP on the right. However, I'd be grateful if someone could help me make sure I've got them the right way round :)

Cheers,

Wulf

Bruce, also check out "Chops", by Joe Pass and NHOP...

Originally posted by wulf
I've got a copy of the Oscar Peterson recording from Ebay, that I'm (virtually) spinning as I type.

Very good stuff... but which bassist is which? I can distinguish between them and I think Ray Brown is on the left hand channel, with a fatter sound than NHOP on the right. However, I'd be grateful if someone could help me make sure I've got them the right way round :)

Cheers,

Wulf

On my CD that's right - NHOP is on the right and is the one playing the fantastically fast (for DB) stuff !

My CD insert gives you details of each song and even tells you that on the last track they both play Ray Brown's bass as NHOPs stopped "functioning"!!

So it lists each track and says stuff like :

ORDER OF APPEARANCE OF THE BASSISTS
TEACH ME TONIGHT
rhythm 2 choruses - brown
rhythm 1 chorus - pedersen
solo 1 chorus - brown
solos1 chorus - pedersen
rhythm 16 bars - brown
rhythm 16 bars - brown
1st tag - pedersen
2ndtag - brown
last tag - pedersen

etc etc

Ah... the benefits of CD!! ;)

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield
Ah... the benefits of CD!! ;) Unless you can persuade some kind person to tell you what's going on and then it becomes just so much extra packaging :D

Seriously though, thanks for that - more than enough to make sure I learn more about the tone of each one. Once I've done that, I've got several Ray Brown recordings that I'll go back and compare it with.

I also look forward to giving another listen to the final track, to see if I can distinguish between the sound of the bassist and the sound of the bass!

Wulf

Originally posted by brianrost
Rufus Reid and Michael Moore have at least two CDs out of their bass duo (I own one of them, forget the title!).
The one I have is Doublebass Delights, on Double Time Records, DTRCD-117.
They filled Zinno's (in NYC; where else?)every Sunday night for four weeks.

Originally posted by Pacman
If you're a member of Emusic.com you can pick up Lynn Seaton's "Solo Flights" there. Great disc, great player. That's also a good album - I particularly enjoyed 'Ode to Jimi', which starts off with 'Purple Haze' arranged for solo double bass (all with a natural sound - no resort to distortions, delays and loops)! (haven't listened enough to recognise any other Jimi songs in there yet, although the title makes me suspect there are).

Cheers,

Wulf

Michael Formanek's - 'Am I Bothering You?' (Screwgun) is a cracker also.

I just got "Double Bass" by NHOP and Sam Jones, which also includes guitar and drum set, but the heads and solos are all bass.

Theres a great Barre Phillps album called 'For All It Is', with 4 (!) double basses; Barre Phillips, Barry Guy, J.-F. Jenny-Clark and Palle Danielsson, with Stu Martin on drums.
Its on Japo, I've got an old vinyl copy, don't know if its still in print.