Teachers: Recommend tracks demonstrating FEEL, TONE, RANGE, PRECISION, not Flash...

[brownroom]

Hello All

I'm a teacher at a music school with a "rock band camp" style program...groups of middle school and high school students learn to play/perform together, how to rehearse, etc. Its a great program at a great school.

One of the students who's 17 (not my private student), the bass player in a band, is pretty talented, and is currently totally into playing classical music on upright, and is really promising as a player. The band he's in learned Cissy Strut and Hottentot (scofield's agogo record), two straight up groove tunes where just layin' it down is the name of the game, not acrobatics or lead playing.

However, this student hasn't spent the time focusing on the subtleties of the bass player role in a band, such as the importance of articulation, tone, or the impact of note choice and register. After my trying to explain this he suggested I make him a CD of tunes that illustrated my points.

So the question to all you teachers and players is, which would you recommend???

Here are some that I've already chosen... (i realize that most will know who played on each track)

Chicken Grease - D'angelo (pino)
Don't stop till you get enough - MJ (louis johnson)
I keep forgettin' - michael macdonald (louis johnson)
dr. funkenstein - parliament (bootsy)
hey girl - donny hathaway (willy weeks)
palm grease - Herbie (paul jackson)
whats goin on - Marvin Gaye (jamerson)
vultures - John Mayer (pino)
king cockroach - electric band (patittuci) kind of a guilty pleasure
sour girl - stone temple pilots (robert deleo)
doctor my eyes - Jackson Browne (sklar)

Please, some more suggestions!!!

[TheBasicBassist]

What about Taxman by The Beatles?

[brownroom]

Holy Crap... I just checked out your profile. PETER PRISCO! I took some lessons with him last year. Amazing dude. Hit me up sometime if you've got gigs in the city.

And thanks for the input!

[NickBass81]

Any tune by the Police...Sting plays great basslines with a lot of pauses and sometimes odd meters...any tune by Toto: Mike Porcaro is simply a master in laying it down with amazing taste and groove(he and also David Hungate before him)...any old Motown hit (with Jamerson, Duck Dunn or Willie Weeks)...if you wanna really challenge him harmonically and also technically without jumping into the "wank zone" I'll suggest you to try some Steely Dan (maybe "Peg" or "Kid Charlemagne" both featuring Chuck Rainey)...I see you chose one track from the "If that's what it takes" album by Mike Mcdonald...great choice, add more!!
How about some basslines by Earth Wind And Fire?
I teach, as you, and I see many students who are technically gifted but lack of groove and harmonic knowledge, so these are some of the tracks I choose to work on...usually it goes on well!
"Got The Match" should make the wanna break their instruments, Patitucci's solo and bassilnes on that one are stunning!!

[foq1978]

How about Dusty Springfield's "Son of A Preacher Man", bass by Tommy Cogbill? You can listen to it here:
http://hearthebass.blogspot.com/2009...echer-man.html