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11-10-2008, 12:50 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Philadelphia PA | | | Remind me to never read an Anthony Jackson interview again
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I do love his playing, but good God, could the man be any more pompous? The new BP has him on the cover talking about not just how he invented 5 and 6 strings...but how everybody he went to tried to stop him. I swear, it reads like an overblown Ayn Rand biography. He used to have a column in BP back in its earliest days that I remember liking, more than a little bit because he was an iconoclast. But in the last few things of his I've read he sounds like a stone crank.
Good player though.
JAM
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11-10-2008, 01:02 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Monterey County, CA | | | You know he talks like that because he DID invent the concept of the 6 string bass as we know it, right? Just like if you ever read an interview with Stanley Clark and he 'seems pompous' because he talks about how he invented the piccolo bass. And if you ever hear anyone talking up Carl Thompson because he built the first actual physical basses using these concepts. There's a REASON Anthony Jackson talks like that, and it is because he DID come up with the idea, he WAS the only one who thought it was a good idea for a long time, and he DID face a lot of ridicule about it. Hell, 6+ string basses still get a lot of crap even here on Talkbass about not being 'real basses', so how do you think non-bass players react to them? Personally, I'm not a fan of the high C string, but it has its uses, obviously, or there would be no market for extended range basses.
tl;dr: OP suffers from lack of perspective, which is understandable because not everyone is a nerd who wants to know the history of their instrument. |
11-10-2008, 01:14 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: NJ/NYC | | | why u gotta bring Ayn Rand into this?!
but i agree that Anthony Jackson is too pompous for his own good.
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11-10-2008, 01:17 PM
|  | Cogito Ergo Idiot | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: SF Bay Area, CA | | I absolutely love Anthony Jackson's playing...if possible even some of his more recent stuff (Rob Whitlock, Fahir Atokoglu...) than his immense catalog of years gone by. It is not always easy to hear/read him communicate without the instrument in his hands, however.  |
11-10-2008, 01:18 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado | | Pompous, sure, but remember that AJ is one of the original champions of the electric bass As A Legitimate Instrument, and what he has to say has weight and merit.
We'd all do well to remember that people are the way they are for a reason, and that reason is RARELY just to piss you off. 
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11-10-2008, 01:19 PM
|  | (aka Greg Harman) | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Dunbar, West Virginia | | | Is this kinda like Al Gore inventing the internet? Inquiring minds want to know.
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11-10-2008, 01:19 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado | | | No, he really did invent the concept. This is not revisionist history.
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THUS ENDETH THIS THREAD. <-- So sayeth Fretlessman71, a.k.a. "Thread Killer" http://www.michaelolsononline.comCongratulations - you found the secret message!Colorado Club #6 |
11-10-2008, 01:20 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: I been everywhere, man... | | | Anthony Jackson is a brilliant communicator on bass and with the written word. FWIW, he speaks in the same eloquent manner IRL. Jackson takes his life's work and his music very seriously - he's not half-hearted about this stuff, and it shows.
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11-10-2008, 01:20 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Philadelphia PA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocketpriest  You know he talks like that because he DID invent the concept of the 6 string bass as we know it, right? | Inventing something doesn't make you pompous--it just makes you an inventor. There are some who are actually capable of humility.
I don't know the man personally at all, so I won't speculate as to what it is that does make him pompous. But I also will refrain from reading his ruthless self-promotion in the future as well. Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocketpriest tl;dr: OP suffers from lack of perspective, which is understandable because not everyone is a nerd who wants to know the history of their instrument. | Thank you for diagnosing my shortcomings! Next time I feel an opinion coming on I'll run it by you first to make sure it isn't just my lack of perspective showing. 
JAM
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11-10-2008, 01:29 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Michael I don't know the man personally at all, so I won't speculate as to what it is that does make him pompous. But I also will refrain from reading his ruthless self-promotion in the future as well. | Scene: Jeff's house
Doorbell rings, Jeff rises to answer.
JEFF: Yes?
ANTHONY: Hello Mr. Michael. My name is Anthony Jackson, although I'd be rather surprised and somewhat hurt if I didn't believe you already knew that. I've taken the time to visit you today because I believe you're doing the world - yours and mine - a great disservice by failing to read the prose in future issues of Bass Player Magazine written by Yours Truly. I feel that- SLAM! Jeff closes the door on ANTHONY, walks away pinching himself, and settles down in a bubblebath in the living room watching the TV as it walks around the room placing various objects inside it and pretending they're "on TV".
The clouds envelop the room, the harp music plays, JEFF begins to wake from the dream... 
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11-10-2008, 01:30 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Gladstone, QLD, Australia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by etoncrow Is this kinda like Al Gore inventing the internet? Inquiring minds want to know. | hmmm....I was going to say, I thought it was AL GORE who invented the 6-string bass  |
11-10-2008, 01:31 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado | | Quote:
Originally Posted by PilbaraBass hmmm....I was going to say, I thought it was AL GORE who invented the 6-string bass | If he did, wouldn't he have to play in an AlGoreRhythm section?
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11-10-2008, 01:35 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Herndon, VA - NoVa | | | I thought that Anthony Jackson was pompous when I first read articles and interviews with him, but when I saw him at "Blues Alley" in Washington DC, my attitude changed. He seems to be an incredibly shy and humble individual who is VERY aware of his talent, and I don't mean that in an arrogant way. Being aware of your talent, doesn't mean you're a pompous jerk, it means that you'll be willing to speak of it in a very frank manner. The man's playing is AMAZING, and is truly a testament of why he sought out the extended range bass as we know it. He uses EVERY part of the gorgeous instruments that he plays...
Just my thoughts.
.
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11-10-2008, 01:37 PM
| | (aka Greg Harman) | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Dunbar, West Virginia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by fretlessman71 |
Very, very good. Excellent even. Tip of the hat.
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11-10-2008, 01:39 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Jersey Shore, USA | | A quote from another bass player (Jaco, to be precise): "It ain't bragging if you can back it up!"
AJ can back it up.
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11-10-2008, 01:39 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Gladstone, QLD, Australia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by fretlessman71 | ohhhhh.... 
By the way...According to Rev. Jeremiah Wright...Al Gore invented Carbon Dioxide to keep people of color from owning and driving cars..."He LIED!!!!"
(well, not true...but it could happen... ) |
11-10-2008, 01:41 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Monterey County, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Michael Inventing something doesn't make you pompous--it just makes you an inventor.
Thank you for diagnosing my shortcomings! Next time I feel an opinion coming on I'll run it by you first to make sure it isn't just my lack of perspective showing.
JAM | Well, seeing as how I am the ultimate arbiter of correct opinions this is exactly what you should do, and you're really the last person to get on the bandwagon, since the entire rest of the world consults me first anyway  . For what it's worth, I did consider editing that out immediately after I posted it.
Good job on not quoting the bit where I explained why Anthony acts the way he does, though. Did you miss the bit about ridicule and the whole "ERB's aren't 'real' basses" thing? I'm sure part of it is just the way he is as a person, but you try inventing something, using it, proving time and again that it is a useful and good concept, even having many others embrace it only to show up to 30 years of gigs with it and have every guitar player/drummer/other bass player/engineer/soundman sneer at you and your 'guitar envy' or your non-'real' bass. See if you don't get tired of taking that crap and don't develop an attitude. He's tired of taking endless abuse for an idea which is good and has merit. Can you blame him?
Last edited by Rocketpriest : 11-10-2008 at 01:44 PM.
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11-10-2008, 01:48 PM
| | Notes we play > Gear we play them on | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Wisconsin | | | Dear everyone,
Al Gore never claimed to invent the internet - take a moment to read up on his statements. For a frame of reference, the interview in question happened in 1999. Al Gore jokes are officially "old" now.
It's time to let it go.
Thank you,
SuperDuck |
11-10-2008, 01:49 PM
|  | Moderator
Endorsing Artist: Martin Keith Guitars Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Long Island, NY | | Haven't seen that article, but anything I've seen from AJ makes me think he's a nice and gracious guy! Quote:
Originally Posted by Buskman A quote from another bass player (Jaco, to be precise): "It ain't bragging if you can back it up!"
AJ can back it up. | Actually, that is pretty much the definition of bragging. If you can't back it up, it's called lying. |
11-10-2008, 01:51 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Philadelphia PA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocketpriest Good job on not quoting the bit where I explained why Anthony acts the way he does, though. | I reserve the right to trim the quoted thread, particularly when my response to it would be the same as my response to the part I left intact. Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocketpriest Did you miss the bit about ridicule and the whole "ERB's aren't 'real' basses"? | Yeah, you know, that Anthony Jackson was among the first champions of the newfangled "electric bass" is a story I've often heard...FROM ANTHONY JACKSON. Man, worrying that much about how history will remember you is like laughing at your own joke. Again, I'm not questioning the man's playing, or that he invented notes below E. I just wish he would let other people do the revering. Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocketpriest I'm sure part of it is just the way he is as a person, but you try inventing something, using it, proving time and again that it is a useful and good concept, even having many others embrace it only to show up to 30 years of gigs with it and have every guitar player/drummer/other bass player/engineer/soundman sneer at you and your 'guitar envy' or your non-'real' bass. See if you don't get tired of taking that crap and don't develop an attitude. He's tired of taking endless abuse for an idea which is good and has merit. Can you blame him? | Les Paul seemed to pull it off OK. Although to be fair, ol' Les invented sunshine if you take him at his word over the years.
JAM
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