Etienne Mbappe

[klaus486]

So I just got home from seeing John Mclaughlin & the 4th Dimension. WOW! Etienne Mbappe played with gloves on all nite! That's right I said gloves! Full finger black fabricy stretchy lookin gloves! On both hands. Ummmmmm OK! It seemed to work well for him. He played a 5 string F bass all nite strung with what must be DR Neon orange strings. Bright! In color that is. I must say tho he suffered from what I call Leo's Razor ie;The farther you get from a Fender J/P bass the more inaudible you become! Super fat pillow lows + clacky highs & what I call "chopped up" mids = :^[ Except for when he took a solo which sounded good as the sound man turned him up! Hooray!
He was also the only person on stage with an amp. Ran an Eden rig looked like WT-800 maybe with 2 4x10 cabs which he proceeded to stand in front of all nite. Which leads me to my other nifty idea; The bigger your amp the less PA support you get! Which makes the band sound choppy. Mclaughlin was brilliant as expected but I gotta give uberprops to Mark Mondesir the drummer. WOW is all I can say. If they're coming near you go! It was worth every penny.

[RickC]

I saw Mclaughlin/Etienne a couple of weeks ago here in Boston, and my impression was the same as yours; not audible enough with the full band.

The gloves are to control sweating, which I guess he has a problem with. Suggested by his wife.

Btw, playing with gloves is interesting. I once smashed my fretting hand middle finger in a door the afternoon before a gig. It blew up to double size and I had to have it "popped" at the hospital. It hurt like hell and could barely take any pressure, so I got the idea to put a glove on that hand to try and ease that. Not only did it work (and I could play the gig) but the experience of having a gloved fret hand was unusual and strangely enjoyable. You should try it

/rick

[lowfreqgeek]

I saw them a week ago in Santa Fe, NM. Amazing show!

Etienne's bass tone was very good, actually. Could have used a little more mids, but in general, it was clear and distinct. He had the F-Bass w/Neon Pink strings. Eden amp with 2 Hartke 4x10 cabs. The concert was in a small, but very nice performing arts theater with excellent acoustics. I saw Richard Bona in the same room a few years ago and the acoustics were amazing then, too. I imagine some of the JM/4th Dimension stops are in less-appealing venues.

Great show, though! And Mark Mondesir was amazing. I wish I could hear more drummers like him.

[klaus486]

Ah....the old sweaty hands! I've seen enough instruments destroyed by the corrosive effects of some folx sweat to fully understand! Just couldn't imagine doing it myself. The show here was at the Aladdin Theater which has ok sound. Only the 3rd show I've seen there but I couldn't hear Tony Levin's bass when I saw Levin/Bozzio/Holdsworth/Mastelotto either. Maybe it is the venue. Etienne surely played fantastically!

[Bass_Thumper]

Originally Posted by lowfreqgeek

I saw them a week ago in Santa Fe, NM. Amazing show!

Etienne's bass tone was very good, actually. Could have used a little more mids, but in general, it was clear and distinct. He had the F-Bass w/Neon Pink strings. Eden amp with 2 Hartke 4x10 cabs. The concert was in a small, but very nice performing arts theater with excellent acoustics. I saw Richard Bona in the same room a few years ago and the acoustics were amazing then, too. I imagine some of the JM/4th Dimension stops are in less-appealing venues.

Great show, though! And Mark Mondesir was amazing. I wish I could hear more drummers like him.

Yep, the sound was good in Santa Fe for sure.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by RickC

the experience of having a gloved fret hand was unusual and strangely enjoyable.

I am reminded of a non-bass activity where I wound up wearing some black satin opera gloves, and "strangely enjoyable" doesn't begin to describe it!