stanley clarkes double bass

[joeyzaza]

does he play on a 3/4?

[jimmyduded]

yes

[bassist1962]

Stanley's main upright is a 120-year old German flatback acoustic, which sports a Fishman BP-100-bridge mounted pickup and Thomas-Spirocore Welch strings. He uses a French bow.

[Will and Matt]

Stanley is the man

[Uncletoad]

He sounds like a twinkie.

I'll take Ray Brown any day.

[dblbss]

[quote=Uncletoad;5531778]He sounds like a twinkie.

I'll take Ray Brown any day.[/QUI


Right on !

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

He sounds like a twinkie.

I'll take Ray Brown any day.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=JresbcJ54CI

[jrlynch]

listen to sc's work with gato barbieri back when ...

gotta admit that i'm not terribly happy with his current direction, but he can play.

jeff.

[Carl Johnson]

Saw Stan a couple months ago. He plays an upright as if it is a long scale electric. That said, he's a bad ass with whatever he does. Hardly a twinky, I'm sure even Ray had a 'Return to forever' LP in his collection.

[Uncletoad]

Originally Posted by Carl Johnson

Saw Stan a couple months ago. He plays an upright as if it is a long scale electric. That said, he's a bad ass with whatever he does. Hardly a twinky, I'm sure even Ray had a 'Return to forever' LP in his collection.

He's a total bad ass. Plays stupidly well.

He SOUNDS like a twinkie. I like my bass tone with some meat. That thin and fast thing does nothing for me.

I never like NHOP's tone either for the same reason.

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

He rarely sounds like a bass player to me. I like NHOP, Gomez and others because they have pushed the limits of what a bass can do, but when the music calls for it, they return to a supporting role. Their tone is also not AS thin as his. With Stanley, it's too much. Being ABLE to do something isn't always a REASON to do it.

[CamMcIntyre]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

He's a total bad ass. Plays stupidly well.

He SOUNDS like a twinkie. I like my bass tone with some meat. That thin and fast thing does nothing for me.

I never like NHOP's tone either for the same reason.

My thoughts nearly verbatim. I love his playing-note choice, phrasing, but his sound-not so much. Same thing applies to NHOP to me.

Yes, i too am a Ray Brown devotee.

[Jake deVilliers]

I'm with Phil - tone comes first for me, whatever the instrument.

I saw NHOP with Oscar three times and still hated his sound. I never got to see Ray.

[Eli_Upright12]

has anyone else heard
NHOP with Archie Shepp, doing duo versions of Bird tunes. NHOP's tone phrasing and everything are damn near perfect. some of the best bass bass playing I have ever heard, the speed, tone and everything it was all there.

[oldfretless]

Check out "Standards", w/Ndugu & Patrice Rushen. Being able to do something is the reason you do it.

[bassist1962]

Everyone told me to check out Stanley, and Alembic, when I started playing. I never cared much for his style, or sound. I agree it is too thin, and coming frome a BG perspective I slightly prefer JoHn Entwistle's Alembic sound, but, same thing there, I feel that it is too thin sounding.

From the DB perspective, I have seen the videos of Stanley that are going around, and I have to agree that a lot of times there is no reason, except to say 'look what I can do!'. I love Danny Thompson's playing, but again, too thin sounding on occassion.

[Eric Swanson]

As a current amateur (and former pro) player, I am grateful for any pro's commitment and work, regardless of output.

For me, Stanley Clarke's work in the first, self-titled, "Return to Forever" album (the one before "Light as a Feather") came out, remains his most compelling...he was still so clearly influenced by the NY sound/scene at the time.

He has kept his strings so low, for decades, that his sound has been thin. The choice he made to get greater speed...

Regardless of sound, I think that his accomplishments are important because, like others, he raised some expectations for technical facility. That said, many pizz players, in my mind, are sort of just revisiting and redefining well-worn territory, regardless of sound/style, IMHO.

I am most blown away, still, by my fomer teacher, Terry Plumeri, who can solo beautifully (and has been doing it for decades), with similar facility, arco. Not just playing licks, but generating original musical ideas on the fly. He is one of the few bassists who really transcends our instrument and sound like a horn or a voice, not a bass player, IMHO.

Similarly, George Mraz and Eddie Gomez, invent new real musical ideas as they play, even though their approach may be less revolutionary. All of these players use more of the 20th century chromatic vocabulary than do most bop-based players.

When I listen to Miles Davis or John Coltrane, I don't hear a horn, I hear a musical mind speaking. Similarly, I am less interested in how quickly someone can play the bass, or how many hours they practiced licks, or even their sound. First and foremost, I am most compelled by hearing a clear voice coming through the instrument. I want to hear the player's musical mind, unfettered by whatever instrument they have chosen to play.

Dear God, Ray Brown is a master of our instrument and of traditional bass playing! He reset the limits of skill, art, and craft. It is a very different thing altogether from what Stanley Clarke is doing, though, isn't it?

Bless them all for giving us so much music!

[Roger Davis]

Eric's points are well made. If I could play a tenth as well as Ray Brown I'd be a happy man.

I wonder if in a few years' time people will get fed up with all the tricksy stuff and go back to appreciating a well played driving bass with a full tone, playing the right lines, roots that enhance the harmonic feel and adding value to the group rather than dominating it. Solos, yes, but in proportion.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I love the excitement that the bass playing on "Light as a Feather" generates - so the tunes are so "light" and sunny - but the bass drives the sound in the solos to new "plateaus" ... I can't imagine that album with any other bass player now..?

[Sam Sherry]

The thing that I dig the most about Stan Clarke's playing is the joy he brings to it.