graham maby

Joe Nerve · #1 06-05-2003, 01:12 PM

listening to joe jackson live in NY.

i love, always have loved, graham's playing. technically he's no jaco, but he's totally in yer face, and seems to know just what to do and when to do it. great sound, tasteful licks... some of which i am about to steal....

JeremyBender · #2 06-05-2003, 01:14 PM

Yea man! Graham's always been one of my favorite players. His tone is too plectrum-ish though, but albums like I'm the Man and Look Sharp should be in most bass players collections. He does fingerstyle quite well though, as can be heard on albums like Jumpin Jive and Beat Crazy. Hes been a major influence on me for a lot of years now.

CtheOp · #3 06-05-2003, 01:20 PM

I totally agree. Maby isn't known for his speed or flash - but he has an incredible knack for using tasteful hooks, rhythms, and note selection that makes his bass lines really jump out at you.

He was featured in Bass Player magazine a while back. I still have that issue and the transcriptions of some of his tastier work are fun to work with (or steal).

I think Joe Jackson's songs are vastly improved by Maby's work. I'm wondering what other work Maby has done outside of Joe Jackson? Maybe I shouldn't be so lazy and just do some web searching myself.

**David Wilson** · #4 06-05-2003, 01:23 PM

He's great. I saw him with Joe Jackson at the Beacon the other year for the Night and Day II tour.

He was doing mostly fingerstyle that night, but I do love the aggressive tone on the early JJ stuff - Got the Time etc.

20db pad · #5 06-05-2003, 01:38 PM

The old Joe Jackson tune "You Can't get What You Want" caught my ear years ago when it first came out, along with GM's efforts with the where-is-he-now 80s chart-topper Henry Lee Summer.

He also worked with Natalie Merchant on her solo tour.

Philbiker · #6 06-05-2003, 02:35 PM

Maby is one of my bass heroes. He's fantastic.

Quote:

I think Joe Jackson's songs are vastly improved by Maby's work.

So does JJ.

corinpills · #7 06-05-2003, 04:21 PM

Love him! Interesting thig is that he's now more of a generic session guy. So people hire him bassed on his work with Joe Jackson with a pick and a super agressive tone, and he shows up with his 5 string and playes with his finger. It's always weird when players get so advanced that they lose touch with what they had going for them in their youth.

I'm kind of buddys with Al Kooper. He actually played at my wedding last year (and the last time he did a wedding, Paul Simon was on guitar and it was 1959, so I appreciated him doing it in a big way). He's known for his Hammond B-3 work, right? I mean, that's the deal, played on all those Dylan records. Well, you go to his house and he's got all sorts of Korg tritons, Digital Performer and modern gear. And you try to tell him" No, Al,Hammond B3 with a giant Leslie, you know? Wurlitzer electric piano, remember?" and he thinks you're talking caveman gibberish. He's thinking "Yeah, yeah, kid. I got all those sounds right here in this keyboard."

He played mega mondo Hammond at my wedding. It was killer diller.

mcbassdude · #8 06-05-2003, 04:29 PM

Graham is great and thank god he's no Jaco. I love Jaco, but I don't want to hear Jaco on a Joe Jackson record or a Led Zepplin record. Yeah it might be kinda fun at first, but I'm glad there are guy's out there who play that good ol' rock n' roll the way it's supposed to be.
Lobster's great but so are big greasy cheesburgers and Grahams playing is just that!
Peace

Richard Lindsey · #9 06-05-2003, 06:24 PM

Graham's a great player and a hell of a nice guy. He sometimes works with a friend of mine, whom I also work with. Here's a somewhat obscure tidbit: he did at least one tour singing backup and playing acoustic guitar with Marshall Crenshaw.

jerry · #10 06-05-2003, 09:56 PM

I've always dug Graham's playing! I saw him a few years back with Natalie Merchant, and his groove was flawless!

Mr. Gone · #11 06-06-2003, 08:41 AM

He's also done some cool stuff with They Might Be Giants.

Philbiker · #12 06-06-2003, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Here's a somewhat obscure tidbit: he did at least one tour singing backup and playing acoustic guitar with Marshall Crenshaw.

He played bass on the record "Mary Jean And Nine Others" for Crenshaw (who is one of the most brilliant pop songwriters ever BTW, one of the very few who can compare to the Joe Jacksons and Paul McCartneys of the world).

corinpills · #13 06-06-2003, 10:41 AM

One cool moment on joe's recent "reunion" tour with his original band was a solo piano rendition of "Mayor Of Simpleton" by XTC. Kind of a surprise, but a nice doff of the cap to contemporaries.

**David Wilson** · #14 06-06-2003, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by corinpills
"Mayor Of Simpleton" by XTC

To tangent slightly.... the XTC recording of this song has a fantastic bass line courtesy of Colin Moulding. Great bass player, great songwriter (though I think that one was an Andy Partridge song)

Richard Lindsey · #15 06-06-2003, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by davidmwilson

To tangent slightly.... the XTC recording of this song has a fantastic bass line courtesy of Colin Moulding. Great bass player, great songwriter (though I think that one was an Andy Partridge song)

I love Colin Moulding.

Philbiker · #16 06-06-2003, 12:24 PM

Not to sstray too much off topic, but Colin Moulding played bass on one of Sam Phillips' albums. I think he played on "Cruel Inventions". The bass on that album is unbelievable.

volker · #17 06-08-2003, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JeremyBender
...albums like I'm the Man and Look Sharp should be in most bass players collections...

..."Night And Day" is very good in that respect, too - personally I like JJ's early stuff a lot more than what he did afterwards. Especially his first band with Graham Maby on bass, Gary Sanford on guitar and Dave Houghton on drums absolutely rocked!

Philbiker · #18 06-09-2003, 11:46 AM

Volker, are you aware that the original Joe Jackson Band has re-united, and has an album entitled "Volume 4", currently available? It's really good and very much like the first few records.

I personally love almost all Joe Jackson. He is incredibly brilliant as a songwriter. His best work is the record "Heaven and Hell" from a few years ago. Buy it immediately. I also love "Night Music" and just about anything else....

The Mock Turtle Regulator · #19 06-09-2003, 01:07 PM

archive of the Graham Maby interview in Bass Player-
http://archive.bassplayer.com/z2000/0010/maby.shtml

I love the sound he got on JJ's Look sharp album- turns out it was Rotosound Tru Bass nylon flats on an Ibanez J copy.

corinpills · #20 06-09-2003, 01:09 PM

Wow, I would not have pegged that sound for flats. That's encouraging as I'm a big flatwound hound. Thanks for the link.