The Bassist in Jean-Luc Ponty

[Hambone]

Originally Posted by Commreman

Ralphe Armstrong is da bomb! Enigmatic Ocean is still one of my favorite recordings of all time. I still have it on vinyl (am I dating myself???)

Yup and I'm right there with ya!

I thought the bassist on this latest tour was pretty good. Some tall guy named Clarke. Yeah, he could groove.

[Hambone]

Originally Posted by JAUQO III-X

even during that time he played Gibsons.

If you look at the performance shot on Enigmatic Oceans, he's playing a Gibson RD Artist bass. That's where that wild synthy type growl came from.

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by Hambone

If you look at the performance shot on Enigmatic Oceans, he's playing a Gibson RD Artist bass. That's where that wild synthy type growl came from.

And for a while he was one of the earliest users of the Gibson Vistory bass(he toured with a few victory basses).

Again he has been the only bass player to make me seriously think about playing Gibson basses

[PhR]

Originally Posted by JAUQO III-X

even during that time he played Gibsons.

He also used a fretless hybrid Fender (Jazz body/Precision neck) during his stint with Mahavishnu.

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by PhR

He also used a fretless hybrid Fender (Jazz body/Precision neck) during his stint with Mahavishnu.

Correct,I remember that Bass.

[Guiseppe]

I honestly hadn't seen this thread...I've really enjoyed JLP and his band for a long time; the bass lines have almost always been tasty.

It's just that I thought I was the only bass player who knew the secret...(sniff)

[jetsetvet]

I saw JLP play years ago, touring in support of the Cosmic Messenger album. Ralphe Armstrong blew me away that night and it wasn't too long after that I went and got my first bass (although there were a lot of other influences that led me toward that acquisition). He was playing both a black Ripper and a black G-3 that night as I remember (it was in 1978, and I did not play bass then, so I'm fuzzier on this than I wish I was ).

Check out the tune "Egocentric Molecules" on that album. The song is really a showcase of a super-grooving bass line.....the bass IS the tune.

[hands5]

Originally Posted by JimK

Ther'a Narada Michael Walden album called The Real Thing from the late '70s...Randy Jackson is lighting it up on a couple of those tunes(which, at the time, was considered danceable/Top-40).

I recall seeing/reading about Ralphe Armstrong in a '70s Guitar Player mag...IIRC, he was 19 when he played with Ponty; he was playing a Fender Jazz with a fretless P-neck. He also used a Maestro Brass Master pedal/effect.
You can catch a glimpse of Armstrong & Nathan Watts talking about Jamerson & "What's Going On" + Bob Babbitt & "Scorpio" in the SITSOM DVD.

When I saw Jean in 79 ( I was a 10th grader) he had Ralph Armstong who at the time was playing ( of all things) a Gibson Ripper running it thru the house and a cheap Flange pedal,and he played the **** out of it. Then in 82 I saw him again with Randy Jackson playing a Tobacco Sunburst Charvel Jazz copy, this was the Mystical Adventures tour

[hands5]

Originally Posted by Commreman

Ralphe Armstrong is da bomb! Enigmatic Ocean is still one of my favorite recordings of all time. I still have it on vinyl (am I dating myself???)

Great Album.

[RHFusillo]

This thread reminded me that I had not heard any of Ralphe Armstrong's playing in a long time. (I saw him in Standing in the Shadows of Motown, so I knew he was still kicking.) I just dowloaded some of James Carter's Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge. Ralphe plays bass on this, and sounds delightful.

[soniq]

I saw JLP at the Greek Theater in Berkeley in the early 80's and if I'm not mistaken Randy Jackson was playing bass at that concert.

[hands5]

Originally Posted by Arthur U. Poon

Ralphe Armstrong was my favorite. When I saw JLP live in 1980 or '81 Randy Jackson (of American Idol) was his bass player, and he was smokin' that night. I don't know if Randy played on any of JLP's recordings though.

Randy played on the Mystical Adventure lp,and my good friend Rayford Griffin was the drummer on that session also.

[jerry]

Originally Posted by hands5

Randy played on the Mystical Adventure lp,and my good friend Rayford Griffin was the drummer on that session also.

Rayford Griffin is awesome! More people should know about that cat!


........back to bassplayers

[Commreman]

Listen to Ralphe here in a late '70's concert with Jean Luc Ponty in Philadelphia:

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/d...0615-3202.html

Pay attention to the Enigmatic Ocean suite. Ralphe is magnificent!