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07-15-2010, 12:14 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Tampa | | | Great jazz bassists from Philly - a ton of them
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I was thinking about this after reading something in another thread (and after having thought about this for a while).
How many great jazz bassists - upright, electric, or doublers -- were born and/or raised in Philadelphia (or nearby)?
My quick list: - Christian McBride
- Percy Heath (born in North Carolina but raised in Philly)
- Stanley Clarke
- Victor Bailey
- Alphonso Johnson
- Jamaladeen Tacuma
- Jaco (born in Norristown, a Philly suburb, but obviously raised in FL)
- Art Davis
- Jimmy Garrison (born in Miami, raised in Philly)
Reggie Workman
Any other major jazz bass talents who should be on this list?
Qs for those with long experience or deep knowledge of the Philly scene: What contributed to this phenomenon? And are younger bassists there aware of the tradition of great jazz bassists hailing from their city? |
07-15-2010, 01:45 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cambridge, MA | | | I think Jymie Merritt was from Phillie.
bigtiny |
07-15-2010, 01:53 PM
|  | The Funkfather
Endorsing Artist: Kohlman Bassworks | | Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia | | | Gerald Veasley |
07-15-2010, 07:03 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: West Chester, PA | | | |
07-15-2010, 07:15 PM
| | | | Kim Clarke (as far as I know, no relation to Stanley) |
07-15-2010, 09:14 PM
| | The Funkfather
Endorsing Artist: Kohlman Bassworks | | Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by dougjwray  Kim Clarke (as far as I know, no relation to Stanley) | Kim regularly hangs at spots all over NYC. I met her when I last went home to visit and hung out with a fellow TB'r (pyrohr). I met her at a spot called Cafe Oasis! She's from NY by the way. Not a Philly girl! Quote:
Born: November 14, 1954
New York's own Kim Clarke is a multifaceted bassist, composer, website developer and educator. She performs alternately on the Acoustic Bass, Electric Upright and four and five-stringed Electric Bass Guitar as the situation demands. Her electric Bass playing has been described as soulful, funky, rich, tight and she has been touted internationally as “the only well-know woman bassist in Jazz -of her generation”.
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Last edited by DWBass : 07-15-2010 at 09:17 PM.
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07-15-2010, 09:24 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Philadelphia, PA | | | As a younger bassist from philadelphia, I can say that there is definitely ENORMOUS competition for regional/city/pennsylvania state jazz bands, much more so than what i gather from out of state friends. We also have in Germantown (a huge urban music section) the Settlement Music School, which is (from what I understand) a widely regarded multi-level teaching and performing center. How much those two facets have played out in the careers of, say, Stanley Clarke, I am not sure. But I know that there's alot of ambition for jazz in 'us kids' from philly
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by DZ6292358 16 years playing bass and i have never lubed my nuts. I never knew you could/should.. | |
07-16-2010, 05:54 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by DWBass Kim regularly hangs at spots all over NYC. I met her when I last went home to visit and hung out with a fellow TB'r (pyrohr). I met her at a spot called Cafe Oasis! She's from NY by the way. Not a Philly girl! | Okay, my mistake. I don't know why I thought she was from Philly.
Anyway, she's excellent. |
07-16-2010, 08:54 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cambridge, MA | | | I posted on another thread that my 10th grade band director played bass for Duke Ellington for six years, a man named John Lamb. I don't know if John is originally from Philly, but he lived there after he left the Ellington band. I know he taught at what I think he called The Philadelphia Academy of Music (don't hold me to that, it was a LONG time ago that he told me this) where two of his students were Stanley Clarke and John Lee.
I remember once during the 70s, Return to Forever were playing at the Mahaffey theater (it was called Bayfront Center then) in St. Pete, Fl and Stanley Clarke was beginning a solo piece when he broke a string on his bass. "Does anyone know how to play one of these with a broken string?" he facetiously asked the audience "I do" came a shouted reply. Soon, there was John walking up the aisle to the stage and a duet followed....great stuff!
Also, it's not just bass players from Philly. I've read in biographies of Dizzy Gillespie and others that Philly was a hotbed of musical talent (Heath bros., Coltrane, etc.) in the old days. It was one of the places that a lot of blacks migrated to from the South for work and the place just seemed to breed musical talent and activity....
bigtiny |
07-16-2010, 09:27 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Tampa | | Quote:
Originally Posted by picnic01 | I knew there'd be some kind of list like this somewhere on them there Internets! Cool. Looks to be complete. |
07-16-2010, 09:29 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Tampa | | John is still active in the Tampa Bay area.
GREAT story about John at Stanley's show. I'd never heard that. I'll have to ask him about that some day. Quote:
Originally Posted by bigtiny I posted on another thread that my 10th grade band director played bass for Duke Ellington for six years, a man named John Lamb. I don't know if John is originally from Philly, but he lived there after he left the Ellington band. I know he taught at what I think he called The Philadelphia Academy of Music (don't hold me to that, it was a LONG time ago that he told me this) where two of his students were Stanley Clarke and John Lee.
I remember once during the 70s, Return to Forever were playing at the Mahaffey theater (it was called Bayfront Center then) in St. Pete, Fl and Stanley Clarke was beginning a solo piece when he broke a string on his bass. "Does anyone know how to play one of these with a broken string?" he facetiously asked the audience "I do" came a shouted reply. Soon, there was John walking up the aisle to the stage and a duet followed....great stuff!
Also, it's not just bass players from Philly. I've read in biographies of Dizzy Gillespie and others that Philly was a hotbed of musical talent (Heath bros., Coltrane, etc.) in the old days. It was one of the places that a lot of blacks migrated to from the South for work and the place just seemed to breed musical talent and activity....
bigtiny | |
07-16-2010, 12:09 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cambridge, MA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Tampabass John is still active in the Tampa Bay area.
GREAT story about John at Stanley's show. I'd never heard that. I'll have to ask him about that some day. | yeah John's cool. He knows me as a trumpet player (actually so do you.....Amandla Tunesmith, SHIM =:-) ).....
bigtiny |
07-16-2010, 12:11 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Tampa | | | hey, I know you, K. Cool "seeing" you here.
Are you doing a bunch of tpt playing in the Boston area? |
07-16-2010, 03:27 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cambridge, MA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Tampabass hey, I know you, K. Cool "seeing" you here.
Are you doing a bunch of tpt playing in the Boston area? | No I've retired the horn and am playing (or trying to play) the bass. Lessons, practice, etc. It's an interesting thing to do at 52....
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