How does he do this?????

[damonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mike Arnopol

After our concert I went to see Brad Meldhau play a solo concert. Stanley and Jean Luc Ponty were standing in front of me and talking and joking very loudly. People all around were asking them to keep it down which just made them talk louder. I finally tapped Stanley on the shoulder ( he didn't know I was there) . He turned around and gowered at me but then realized that I was the guy he had just heard. I said " could you guys keep it down a little?" He said "sorry man" and then they split. I have no patience nor respect for that king of behavior.

Personally, I would far prefer eavesdropping on Stanley Clarke and Jean Luc Ponty's conversation than hearing Meldhau play!

[BigOldHarry]

While I quite liked this solo, I get the whole knock on Stanley - I grew weary of his "show over flow" approach years ago - but the funny thing with him is that he *can* play beautifully, he just often chooses to be flashy rather than fine. It's his choice, his life - so it's on him, not me. Either way, it's hard to knock him for being inventive - that he certainly is. Maybe it's that he has rid himself of all his Thetans, I dunno - but he can play.

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by Mike Arnopol

And he plays that ass-backward cha cha cha based stuff on sambas and it somehow works.
I have to say that I thought that this was how Brazilian grooves were played until I started playing with Brazilians who severely chastised me. I'm super into Brazilian playing and feel that I know it very well.

The Brazilians I've seen playing samba play a steady two, no flash, no syncopation. I watched Nilson Matta play almost an entire set in two and he swung the living hell out of the place.

[Eric Swanson]

What does impress me about this clip is his relaxed, freedom of movement. He is certainly not afraid to move. Whether I would want to play those notes or not is another subject that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

One of the things I appreciate about great slap players, on EB or DB for that matter, is that they remind me to move freely; relaxed movement equals relaxed sound. The pitch drumming tends to bring that out.

When I was a kid I hung out with some talented young EB players who were way into slap (c'mon, it was the '70's). They helped me stay loose, as I fretted over playing other kinds of music.

I try to get something from every player I hear and see. What I got from this clip is a reminder to let my movement be held back by the bass' resistance.

[jimmyjam]

NHOP ought to rate a mention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI-1sq5dFD4 His lines are awesome, and he burns nearly everyone. Chops are a curse, 'cos the audiences always want to hear them...

[chicagodoubler]

Mike is soooo right as usual... esp on the not-quite-Brazilian lines Stanley lays down in the Chick rhythm section with Airto. An old bandmate was a former writing partner of Ivan Lins. He would use Stanley's playing on Light as a Feather as an example of how not to rock a "samba." Not that Mike and I and many of the rest of us "blowin changes" guys didn't spend countless hours learning those lines. Stanley's solo on Spain is... well, it *is*

NHOP, God bless him, was a sweetheart of a guy, and one of those extremely rare instances of flash and substance alongside Patittuci, Matthew Garrison, etc... Anyone who criticizes the Viking's tone never had the chance to hear it up close. He was such a blessing to the instrument and is sorely missed.

I guess this conversation has to bring up Christian McBride, who manages to effortlessly kill it all, and have picture perfect tone. No flamenco strumming but WOW just try to rip some of his solos. I'll see you in the ER.

[lhoward]

Originally Posted by jimmyjam

NHOP ought to rate a mention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI-1sq5dFD4 His lines are awesome, and he burns nearly everyone. Chops are a curse, 'cos the audiences always want to hear them...

When I saw this video the first time, I felt like 'Oh man, wow. Why do I even try!' He was definitely a fine player. I was always amazed whenever I heard him. Years ago, I read somewhere when Ray Brown, at some point, recommended NHOP to Oscar as being one of the very few bassists who could keep up with him. The DVD of the Oscar Peterson Trio (Ray Brown and NHOP, no drums) that came out a few years ago really showcased the differences in their styles. It was a very pleasant experience to see/hear that video of those two top-shelf bassists working together with my favorite pianist. Life IS good!

I regret that I never had the opportunity to see NHOP live. He passed way too early. So did Joe Pass IMO.

Lloyd Howard

[lhoward]

I guess I should have put this in my earlier post. Besides being an amazing player, Stanley Clarke is also a good showman. I've only seen him once at The Tralf in Buffalo, NY about four or five years ago. I gotta say it was the best performance I've been to at a small venue. He played both double bass and electric bass guitar, and he knew how to work the crowd - gave 'em what they wanted. The audience was so wired up, one of the more memorable things that happened was that there was a middle-aged, white guy, a little on the heavy side, who started break-dancing in front of the bandstand. What did Stanley do? Why, he came over and asked/signaled for the crowd to move back and give the guy some room so he could continue break-dancing . . . on a carpeted floor for three or four minutes. SC won my vote on that one. But his playing, while I probably wouldn't be tempted to play in his style, was just great. Just as good on upright as on electric and he played some very interesting lines. Too bad that show wasn't recorded. Although I watched everything he did, it was more to absorb what I was hearing. A most enjoyable night.

Lloyd Howard

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by lhoward

... one of the more memorable things that happened was that there was a middle-aged, white guy, a little on the heavy side, who started break-dancing in front of the bandstand. What did Stanley do? Why, he came over and asked/signaled for the crowd to move back and give the guy some room so he could continue break-dancing . . . on a carpeted floor for three or four minutes. SC won my vote on that one. Lloyd Howard

So What?! Buddy Rich did the same thing, many times......................... . . . . .not

[arseniotall]

haters... lol

[MR PC]

Originally Posted by Don Higdon

The Brazilians I've seen playing samba play a steady two, no flash, no syncopation. I watched Nilson Matta play almost an entire set in two and he swung the living hell out of the place.

pasted here from an interview with Keter.........speaking on the arrival of samba to the US record biz

Bossa Nova Blues?


Betts was supposed to do an album as a leader in 1957, however. “A guy who owned a big book store here on Connecticut Avenue offered me to do one; he was going to back me on it. Just when I was getting ready to do it, Charlie Byrd said, ‘Well, give me that date, and I’ll get you another one.’ So I gave him that date, and that’s when we did [Byrd’s] Blues for Night People. That was the first [date]; I never got another one.”

Another record that Betts contributed to is 1962’s Jazz Samba, the smash album by Stan Getz with Charlie Byrd that ignited the bossa nova jazz craze in the States. Legend has it that Byrd, on a tour of South America for the U.S. State Department in 1961, heard bossa nova, brought some tapes back and eventually played them for Getz, who was a Verve recording artist. The saxophonist then convinced producer Creed Taylor to let Getz, Byrd and crew record the music for Verve.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Betts says. “When we went down for the State tour we heard [bossa nova] in Brazil at a judge’s house. And Buddy Deppenschmidt, the drummer, and I went out the next day and bought two albums apiece of that. When we got back we started playing it, Gilberto and Jobim, and we started talking to Charlie—‘Charlie, why don’t we play these?’ After about six or seven months of talking to him we started playing a little bit of it. Then Stan came in one night and heard it, he sat in, and so forth, and he said, ‘We should record this.’ Charlie’s company, which was Riverside, didn’t want to record it, and they said, ‘No, we don’t think it will be nothing.’

It’s a revelation to hear that it was Betts and Deppenschmidt who brought bossa nova music back to the States, and to jazz—not Byrd. I press Betts, against his will, for more details.

“Leave it,” he states, not bitterly. “There are people who know, but just leave it alone. Just leave it. It’s not a sore point because life goes on. What’s past is past. I have no regrets.”