Recommendations on Anthony Jackson

[jimmysquid]

Greetings bottom-enders,

I recently heard the Ojay's "For the Love of Money" for the first time and was blown away by Anthony Jackson's super cool line. I was wondering if anybody could recommend some other AJ to check out. I know his stuff on Steely Dan's Gaucho and with his own group Eyewitness. Bassists always mention his playing with Chaka Khan/Rufus but I don't know what tracks in particular to look for. Anyone?

[Blackbird]

You can also check some of Al DiMeola's stuff, although I find that the bass is pretty low in the mix. Another musician who employs AJ's talents is pianist Michael Camilo. Finally, for some live AJ, you should check out Michel Petrucianni's Live in Tokyo cd, which features Michel, AJ and Steve Gadd. It's a trio recording, so the bass is pretty easy to hear. It even has an AJ solo, which is a rare thing!

Will C.

------------------
I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard working guy.
-BW

[hogani]

How about his live version of "The Big Skeeta, Hoy, Hoy!"?

[jerry]

anthony's work with the two khans..chaka and
steve are excellent! he also did an excellent
album with roland vazquez called further dance, that was recorded live in the studio
with two mikes and has awesome sound. hell
anything with anthony on it, is the "****"!
one of the deepest cats to ever pick up a bass!

------------------
aloha, jerry

[Brad Johnson]

Chaka's "What Cha Gonna Do For Me" album is killer AJ in a Pop/R&B vein with Steve Ferrone. Some nice keyboard bass by Greg P. too.

Michel Camilo's trio work with AJ and Dave Weckl: I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. I'm not too crazy about Weckl (though he is an excellent drummer)but I really like the results of this pairing. Too bad Michel is such a timid pianist

The works with Steve Khan is excellent, AJ makes some moves that still have me scratching my head

He's on a few hundred other recordings.

[JimK]

My fav AJ stuff is from the Eyewitness era-
the debut album, CASA LOCO, BLADES, etc.
Lately, Khan began releasing the stuff under his own name...IF you can find Khan's CROSSINGS cd, go for it!

As mentioned, Michel("the timid one")Camillo's RENDEVOUZ & ONCE MORE, ONCE are pretty happenin'(RENDEVOUZ is a trio outing).

Donald Fagan's THE NIGHTFLY has a couple cool AJ tracks...
DiMieola's CASINO, ELEGANT GYPSY, LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN, etc

I think the latest thing I've picked up is TRIO LIVE IN TOKYO w/ AJ, Gadd, & Michel P on piano; more in a straightahead vibe than the previous stuff.

[Brad Johnson]

Steve Khan plays some chords against AJ's basslines that are flat-out beautiful. I'm getting misty...

[jerry]

me and jim k were just e-mailing each other
about how nice it is for steve khan to just
play part of the chord, and let's anthony
finish it for him. if i had to have only one
anthony jackson record, it would be one of the steve khan ones.


------------------
aloha, jerry

[JimK]

Hard to believe Khan didn't begin playing guitar until he was, like, 19! By his mid-20s, he was in The Brecker Brothers Band, too; must be nice!
I've been wanting to pick up his book, CHORD KHANCEPTS. Khan really lays off the two bottom strings(E & A)...really frees up AJ to do his thing.
Check out www.stevekhan.com
Pretty cool site!

[jerry]

some of the stuff Steve Khan did with Will
Lee is pretty hip too! aloha,jerry

[Brad Johnson]

Trivia question. Who's Steve's father?

[JimK]

Songsmith Sammy Cahn(of course)
On a couple of those Khan solo discs(the ones with AJ/Dennis Chambers &/or Ron Carter/Al Foster...Steve tackles a couple of his dad's tunes).

True story-
Around Jan '99, I finally get on the Internet(at work...ssshhh), surf around, & find a site called Jazz Central Station. JCS WAS a site similiar to this; lotta opinions, discourse, DISScussions, & CHARACTERS!.
Someone asks about Khan's solo albums from the '70s; I happen to own both THE BLUE MAN and TIGHTROPE. I respond with "...they're good, but, at times, the rhythm section gets kinda 'disco-fied'".

Later in the day, there's an e-mail in my box from...yep, Steve Khan! I S*** my pants.
He sez, while a couple of the tunes "sucked" & were commercial sell-outs(his word, not mine!), Disco was so prevalent that, yeah, the guys(Gadd, Will Lee, & AJ) were into some of those rhythms. He did mention, in his opinion, most of the tunes still stand up well today. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded & speechless; damn, I felt like a turd-boy.
BTW, if you do have CROSSINGS, Steve let me in on something about the liner notes(they pertain to his dad's passing)...the facts are kinda reversed.

[Brad Johnson]

I bought those albums back then, too. They did have their disco moments.

Not pertaining to them, but isn't it odd when you check out something from back then that's grooving and then they break into the little 4 step chromatic walk with octaves

[JimK]

Brad-
Yeah, I'm thinking about "Some Punk Funk"
/GgEeFfF#f#/GgEeCcBbbb/...

For something a little fun-
Take a line like that(straight 1/8's)& displace the phrase by an 1/8 note; so...
/.GgEeFfF#/f#GgEeCcBb/bb......./etc
Program your drum machine to play a simple 1&3/2&4 backbeat...

[jerry]

but you have to admit,if you had to have disco, what better group to give it to you than the breckers and their seventies cronies
i.e. will lee/steve gadd/steve khan ect.
jim...city suite from arrows,was pretty cool
old steve khan/will lee.

------------------
aloha, jerry

[Brad Johnson]

I know, jerry, I just can't get past that "Instant Cheese" feeling when I revisit some of the old stuff But you're right, who better...

[Scottzo]

He is just great with Michael Camillo(piano) and Dave Weckel.
Stunning stuff. I strongly suggest any of the 3-4 albums the trio has done.

[jimmysquid]

I haven't had a chance to post back on this. Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions of what to check out for AJ.

Looks like I have a bunch of CD's to get-which is of course a good thing.