Bass Virtuosos: are they on the dark side?

[aviarybassist]

Ahoy,
I'm just wondering if anybody would like to wax lyrical about some of their fave 'bassist' albums?
I'm curious because, i struggle to really enjoy a lot of 'Bassist' albums. IMHO much of it is about technique and little of it is about good music. Call me a bass judas but i'd rather hear moonlight sonato on solo piano than played as a tapping showcase on a bass.
OR
indeed i'd rather hear a crusty old long forgotten gospel singer have a blast at Amazing Grace than watch victor wooten play a pinched harmonic and funky midi sounding slap version.

Hendrix solo version of the star bangled banner is great, lots of feeling and you never end up thinking it's just a showcase for his technique, stu hamms version, apart from sounding like a cheap keyboard set on synth bass, just seems like a bunch of techniques strung together over the course of a tune.

There are notable exceptions to my general dislike of bassist oriented music, for instance Jaco's first album i could listen to till the cows come home. I think it's lyrical, it has intriguing textures and sounds, compared to a lot of other 'fusion' records of the same period i think it's aged well and doesn't sound overly dated.

I think however that even though it's a great record the template it set out has been abused by many modern bass vituosos.

Don't get me wrong i see the importance of what virtuosos do. Blame my girlfriend for this analogy but i recently saw the film 'The Devil Wears Prada': in one scene the central character (wearing a blue sweater) gets torn to shreds (figuratively speaking) by the editor of Vogue magazine for saying that she doesn't see why high fashion is so important.
The affronted editor points out that the central character wouldn't even be wearing her cerulean blue sweater if so and so famous designer hadn't done a cerulean blue collection 10 years ago which influenced other designers to use the colour in their collections, until eventually that particular shade of blue was available in high street stores collections and finally in bargain bins and so on.

Essentially even if you claim to not be interested in being a bass virtuoso some aspect of your playing that you take for granted may well have come from an innovation that Stanley Clarke, or Victor Wooten or Stu Hamm etc made. Some tiny lick you use do go from verse to chorus in your (insert genre) band may well just be a watered down version of some technique that a virtuoso developed on a 'Bassist' album that you may never have even heard.

That's why virtuosos do good work, without Larry graham we might never have slap bass as a technique in our musical arsenal (i personally never play slap, but that's a different story!).
However more often than not i just feel that virtuoso bassists use their tunes in order to showcase their talents rather than using their talents to showcase their tunes, if that makes any sense.

So sorry to ramble a bit but to return to my original query, can anyone point me in the direction of 'Bassist' albums that they believe are not just about showcasing unearthly Bass technique.

I'm not looking to try and cut people down, i'm genuinely interested. My instincts have always kept me away from indulging in that kind of music too much so i'm familiar with it only in passing. And am willing to see the other side of the argument if you can show me some damned good music.

Happy to just see links to tunes too, they don't have to be albums. Here's some bass i think shows vituosity but is at the same time selfless, in that it's all about the tune, never about the technique!
YouTube - Good By Porkpie Hat- Dave Holland Solo

For the record i'm a mediocre bassist at best (typical for people who aren't that good to have a go at people much better than them eh? but i do love bass and nothing pleases me more than stumbling on a tasty bassline in a record i'm listening to. Funk and soul (pre 1973 please) is what i dig the most.

[natw42]

Good music is good music.

Virtuosity for the sake of virtuosity is musical masturbation.

Some people know how to use their virtuosity to make good music, and these are the people who challenge and change what we perceive as music to be.

IMO of course

[queevil]

I can't think of a simple answer to your question, so here goes. Some people are technically good at things. Others are artistically good at things. But there are a handful of people in the world that are good at both in any given pursuit. In other words, they combine the art of something and the science of something to great effect.

I guess a non-musical example that comes to mind would be Steve Jobs. His creations, at least in my humble opinion, are the product of a very artful yet scientific mind. Even as I type this on my Mac I'll admit that it doesn't do what it does the best but, it still does what it does (compute) very well. And the design is really awesome. You also see excellent blends of art and science in architecture.

So, and again this is only my opinion, the people who are the very best at what they do, maybe the best 5%, are the ones who are both technically and artistically inclined. I believe that this can and often does apply to music and is also what makes a virtuoso.

It would be ridiculous of me to say that Steve Jobs is the best designer of technology in the world as well as it would for me to say that Michael Manring is the best bassist in the world. However, they're both very technical and artistic and happen to be near or at the top of the pack in their chosen professions.

Go to youtube and type in "slap bass" or "bass tapping" or "bass solo". You'll find scores of bass players whose ability will make your jaw drop. Then after a few minutes you'll pick it up off the floor and realize that much of it gets boring pretty quick because it's all style and no substance. All technnique and no art.

I used Michael Manring as an example because I believe that he is not only very technical but also very MUSICAL. To me that's the most important thing. I haven't come to a point in my playing where I can combine the best of both worlds and I may never but, I'll have fun trying until I can't physically play anymore.

I hope this has given you some insight.

[Voorhees73]

I find that guitars players are far more excepting of a player with feel, Angus young, Pete Townsend , neil young these are all respected guitarist that are not technical wizards. Bassist on the other hand seem to be focused more on technique than feel which I don't understand, I honestly think that we are the most snooty of musicians, I mean look no further than the fingers vs pick debate, to me it's just preferences but alot of bassists dont respect pick players. Can anyone imagine a guitar player or drummer getting bent out of shape about a fellow musicians style?