Jeff Berlin and Victor Wooten jamming together!

Baryonyx · #1 06-06-2007, 09:30 AM

Absolutely marvellous! Talk about two legends coming together!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQON9fHPJsk

DWBass · #2 06-06-2007, 01:22 PM

I'm not taking anything away from Jeff Berlin but the dude has NO FUNK & NO SOUL!! Really good player and is good at what he does but I just can't get into him! Now, Victa......................

Victa gave him a good solid basis and chord progression and Jeff still played some bad notes and resorted to shredding. I guess I'm one of the few cats who ain't feeling what Jeff's giving! Sorry, just my humble opinion!

Steve Clark · #3 06-06-2007, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWBass

I'm not taking anything away from Jeff Berlin but the dude has NO FUNK & NO SOUL!! Really good player and is good at what he does but I just can't get into him! Now, Victa......................

Victa gave him a good solid basis and chord progression and Jeff still played some bad notes and resorted to shredding. I guess I'm one of the few cats who ain't feeling what Jeff's giving! Sorry, just my humble opinion!

Actually I don't think you would be the only one. I do agree. Now about that metronome issue.

Aint got no groove if you aint got no pocket.

Love Vic hanging on that first note for a long time. I do like some of Jeff licks but I love the feel of Vic playing overall. Either way I'd like to hear the way they hear.

scottice · #4 06-06-2007, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWBass

I guess I'm one of the few cats who ain't feeling what Jeff's giving! Sorry, just my humble opinion!

+1
Not many white guys over 40 who have the funk.

gkbass13 · #5 06-06-2007, 02:10 PM

another +1 to not really digging jeff, or much that he has done really...just because you can spit out notes at a rate that jaco did dosnt make you jaco.i still respect him a great deal, but think he is a bit overhyped as a player.

on the other hand i was really glad to see a youtube clip that showed vic's fingerstyle playing, soloing and grooving to hellp expemplify that he isnt just a slapper and tapper.

GeezerFleaWoote · #6 06-06-2007, 02:18 PM

Hey! One of my first posts here.

Anyways, I was there for that preformance. It was at the Clearwater Sam Ash Player's School of Music. Jeff Berlin was really tense the whole time, and wasn't that great. Victor was really nice, though. We all ended up jamming and playing his bass. It was awesome!

Craig Garfinkel · #7 06-06-2007, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottice

+1
Not many white guys over 40 who have the funk.

Racist, ageist, and total ********.

scottice · #8 06-06-2007, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Garfinkel

Racist, ageist, and total ********.

Oh well... I'm a 36 YO white guy that grew up with hip-hop, so I'm speaking from experience.
And I did say "NOT MANY".
Take it as you will.

XavierG · #9 06-06-2007, 02:42 PM

Good stuff!

Having watched that piece, I later found this one with Jeff & Laurence Cottle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtTMWXBqnvs&NR=1

Not bad for 2 "over the hill" white guys!

Craig Garfinkel · #10 06-06-2007, 02:50 PM

I'm a 47 year old white guy that grew up with funk. There are many, many, many over 40 non-African American bass players, male and female, that can bring the funk all day long, myself included. You are not speaking from experience, as you identify yourself as a "certified nOOb".

Sorry man, but your statement was silly at best, racist at worst.

Must I really list all the cats that blow that **** apart?

T-MOST · #11 06-06-2007, 02:55 PM

Didn't you hear? White dudes are the "new" black dudes!

scottice · #12 06-06-2007, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Garfinkel

I'm a 47 year old white guy that grew up with funk. There are many, many, many over 40 non-African American bass players, male and female, that can bring the funk all day long, myself included. You are not speaking from experience, as you identify yourself as a "certified nOOb".

Sorry man, but your statement was silly at best, racist at worst.

Must I really list all the cats that blow that **** apart?

Fair enough. Silly it was. Racist it was not, and I'm sorry you took it that way. Was not intended as a slam.

Noob at the bass I am... but not new at the rhythm.

Congratulations to you for having the funk! Wish there were more out there.

According to GeezerFleaWoote "Jeff Berlin was really tense the whole time, and wasn't that great."

Interesting:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/563
and a classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh3AuXv2dX8

Baryonyx · #13 06-06-2007, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottice

+1
Not many white guys over 40 who have the funk.

Woah, chill pal! I'm seeing a whole lot of Jeff Berlin on the net and selling records and not a whole lot of Scottice!

I really dig this video. It's not the best form ever for Jeff, but he is excellent as usually. I love his right hand technique, he is so fluent and his phrasing is excellent. Calling what he is doing "shredding" may be a bit off...

But it's great to see two players of such caliber coming together and making great music. I mean, technically, these two are right at the top, and thankfully this is matched by the fact that they're both so musically aware. I much prefer this video to the Berlin/Jaco one...it was a bit sad to see Jaco struggling while Jeff unintentionally skins him!

scottice · #14 06-06-2007, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Woah, chill pal! I'm seeing a whole lot of Jeff Berlin on the net and selling records and not a whole lot of Scottice!

You just wait bucko! Someday....

Eublet · #15 06-06-2007, 03:30 PM

They have different styles. Victor isn't as melodic as Jeff IMO. Jeff weaves melody inside and outside in very cool ways, and seems to have an endless vocabulary. Victor's approach to me always seems to be either: A)very rehearsed or rehashed, or B) very structured. I LOVE watching him play, but I also really like the way Jeff seems to have no inhibitions regarding his notes or phrasings. It really seems like he's trying to come up with new stuff on the fly, and that to me is very cool

Just some perceptions IMO.

Baryonyx · #16 06-06-2007, 03:37 PM

yeah, I don't think Jeff has ever played Tears in Heaven the same way twice! Jeff does seem to have an affinity for endlessly morphing phrasing. I've never heard anyone play the bass like Jeff, he just has such an unconventional way of looking at the notes he's playing and the way they come out...sometimes in short, clipped phrases, sometimes in long, seemingly endless strings of notes...marvellous!

The again, I've never seen two bassists who polarize opinion more than Vic and Jeff. They probably laugh about it behind our backs!

Is there gonna be anyone in this thread apart from me who likes Vic and Jeff?

Eublet · #17 06-06-2007, 03:45 PM

I like them both, yet grow weary of them in large doses. It's just my personal taste. But I can sit and watch Oteil play all night long. It's all a matter of how the notes speak to the listener. I just ignore anyone that wants to show disrespect to either of them. They are both monster players in their own right.

west*coast*bass · #18 06-06-2007, 04:52 PM

I think Jeff Berlin is a phenomenal player and the way he phrases his passages is very interesting. There are 2 things I don't like about his playing...

First, his tone is just odd to me. He seems to really enjoy the midrange burpiness and punches it out there like nobody's business. I really find his overall bass tone to be distracting.

The second thing I don't like is his body language while playing. He seems a bit like Herman Munster when he plays...he has this strange way of swooning back and forth and doing this weird "bend at the knees thing" that makes it seem like he is trying to force emotion out of his playing rather than being natural. And can he get rid of the fu*&ing fanny pack???

Other than that, he has monster chops and his right and left hand are amazing.

Craig Garfinkel · #19 06-06-2007, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottice

Fair enough. Silly it was. Racist it was not, and I'm sorry you took it that way. Was not intended as a slam.

Noob at the bass I am... but not new at the rhythm.

Congratulations to you for having the funk! Wish there were more out there.

According to GeezerFleaWoote "Jeff Berlin was really tense the whole time, and wasn't that great."

Interesting:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/563
and a classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh3AuXv2dX8

Okay...I'm chill now Scott...sorry I took such immediate offense. I'm going to read that article in depth later, but what I glanced over was indeed very, very interesting.

And the video is one of the funniest things I've seen in quite awhile. The best humor is rooted in the truth, and there's no denying the truth of that!

Welcome to the bass. I assume you're coming to us from the drummer side of things? If so you're starting with an excellent advantage.

scottice · #20 06-06-2007, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by west*coast*bass

The second thing I don't like is his body language while playing. He seems a bit like Herman Munster when he plays...he has this strange way of swooning back and forth and doing this weird "bend at the knees thing" that makes it seem like he is trying to force emotion out of his playing rather than being natural.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Garfinkel

Welcome to the bass. I assume you're coming to us from the drummer side of things? If so you're starting with an excellent advantage.

Little bit of drumming, but not alot. What I find strange is a natural metronome skill. I do practice with a metronome and find my timing is pretty damned good for a noob. I chalk it up to growing up with hip-hop. Let's see if it stays that way with 8th and 16th notes. LOL

Back to Vic and Jeff. I really wish I was there. I saw Vic last month here in Portland and was blown away. Jeff was here for Bx3 tour but I missed it.