Oldest electric bass recording currently available?

onestring · #1 07-01-2010, 11:11 AM

There's lots of threads on "oldest bass" on these here forums, but I'm wondering what the oldest recordings of electric bass are that I can easily get my hands on.

Monk Montgomery, Bill Black, any genre is good. But what I really want are recommendations for specific albums/songs from the earliest days of the electric bass. Pre-1955 anyone?

Bonus points for oldest YouTube video with an electric bass!

Duplo42 · #2 07-01-2010, 11:14 AM

Kudos for intriguing question, i wanna know/hear it also. I bet its country record? Did Les Paul use bass guitar?

blr2 · #3 07-01-2010, 11:21 AM

Could it be something recorded by Shifty Henry?

pjchappy · #4 07-01-2010, 11:40 AM

While not the earliest, here's a video from '58 of a P-Bass/Tele bass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xadOvwqJkBE

And from 1956: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sdEd...1&feature=fvwp

This may help give you ideas on who to search for:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bass

Paul

onestring · #5 07-01-2010, 11:53 AM

That 1956 Lionel Hampton clip IS AMAZING!

This is an era that is mysterious and new to me. It seems like a weird, exciting, and obscure time in music. Post-big band, pre-rock and roll, a lot of hybridization going on, the technological changes in amplification and recording, small combo jazz, hillbilly boogie, the Fender bass...

MORE!

Deathblade Eric · #6 07-01-2010, 12:02 PM

Reading some stuff on Paul & Bud Tutmarc, it seems that some Hawaiian music could take the prize - especially from a guy called Sol Hoopii.

Another contender could be Carl Thompson's father, James B. Thomson...

Quote:

An ill-fated recording session in 1942 initially inspired James to build an electric bass. Apparently he had a difficult time miking the acoustic upright and wanted to record the bass direct. His electric 4-string blossomed from a broken Kay arch-top guitar; he carved a solid block to fit the inside of the box, which would help to support the pickup and thick strings. The area of the strings directly above the Thompson dual-coil pickup was painted with a conductive coating and wrapped with steel wire to generate signals in the coils. It was a success, and James used this bass on many home recordings; Carl himself played it when he was 12. Although Carl still has many of those early recordings...

Above taken from: http://mog.com/RGM/blog/134039

Anyone got a hotline to Carl Thompson?

Pete.

onestring · #7 07-01-2010, 02:44 PM

Amazing. Note to Carl: If these recordings exist they are historically important and should be in the Smithsonian (and online)!

I have a bunch of Sol Hoopii (I'm a steel player too) but it is all from the 20s/30s. There are some very early 1950s recordings of him (I believe his very last) duetting with one of the Tutmarcs (who also played Hawaiian steel) that appear on eBay on cassette from time to time. I wonder if those have some electric bass on them...

Of course Leo's first big success with instruments were his amazing Dual Pro and Stringmaster steel guitars played by all the big Western Swing bands in the 1940s. The Tutmarcs made steels too, which makes it even more likely that Fender would have been aware of the Serenader...

onestring · #8 07-01-2010, 02:53 PM

Here's a picture that I hadn't seen before of a Serenader bass:

http://www.budtutmarc.com/photogallery/
(Flash gallery... go to "Middle Years" then photo #3)

jonotronic · #9 07-01-2010, 02:58 PM

The Day the Earth Stood still - the 1951 version, not the remake!

Features an electric bass in the very mysterious soundtrack in with the theremins. Must surely be one of the oldest recordings of an electric bass as we know it!

onestring · #10 04-21-2011, 08:02 AM

Late followup/update: So far Day The Earth Stood Still holds the title for earliest recording (thanks for that, it is a crazy record!). The movie came out in the summer of 1951.

Right now this is the oldest video I have found of a P bass in action:
The Treniers - Rockin' Is Our Business 1953

At first I thought the date must be wrong because it sounded a couple of years too modern, but I learned more about The Treniers and they had been performing that song since the 1940s.

I'm still looking for even earlier video if anybody has any ideas...

bigtexashonk · #11 04-21-2011, 08:35 AM

Probably country or hillbilly. My Dad was the 2nd Fender dealer in Texas and said those were the only musicians who bought the early basses/amps. Nobody ever thought they would become as valuable as they are today. He used to buy 1954 Strats in the case for $99 dealer cost. Wish he would have bought 10 and stored them!

PhiDeck · #12 10-19-2011, 05:34 PM

Album: "Lionel Hampton in Paris" (1953), with Monk Montgomery on Fender Precision.
Lionel Hampton In Paris LP

Read this and the next page:
The Bass Book: A Complete ... - Tony Bacon, Barry Moorhouse - Google Books

Steve Boisen · #13 11-24-2011, 09:27 AM

I've always suspected that Big Mama Thronton's original version of "Hound Dog" (recorded on 8/13/52) featured an electric bass. The instrumentation is pretty sparse and the bass sounds to me like an Precision with flats and mute as opposed to an upright bass. The bassist on the recording was Albert Winston and I can't find much information about him, although he did record with other blues artists. Composers Lieber & Stoller were at the recording session and they have written a lot about how it transpired, but no info on what kind of bass was used.

If it's a Fender I think it may qualify as one of the earliest recordings of an electric bass and perhaps the first one to become a hit. Give it a listen and tell me what you think: Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog. Notice how the bassist keeps playing at the end of the recording after the guitar and drums have stopped and everyone starts howling.

- Steve