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03-26-2008, 12:26 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Pacific Northwest USA | | | Vail Johnson
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Can't explain... love to listen, hate to watch. Regardless...
Wish I could play like that.
(solo after 4:30) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMn-DRfrcc4 
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Dig contemporary jazz. My latest favorite: artist- Frank Gambale, disc- Best of Smooth Jazz, song- Nunzio's Near
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03-26-2008, 07:19 AM
|  | GOLD Supporting Member | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Sheboygan, WI | | He plays beautifully.
You know, the sad thing is, I remember thinking how lame this music was when it came out back in the day. It was a total 'dumbing down' of the whole 'post fusion pop/jazz/funk' thing that started with the Yellow Jackets, David Sanborn and others.
Now, compared to the absolutely HORRIBLE stuff that passes for 'smooth jazz' today, Kenny G. actually sounds like he has some game....... 
This is not a good thing  |
03-26-2008, 08:31 AM
|  | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Hmmmmm...I watched this and immediately thought : "Mullet!!"
I don't know - I don't really like music like that - no real content apart from "showing off" and I though the bass tone was thin and weedy...?
Vail Johnson could probably "whup my ass" in so many ways .... 
But that doesn't mean I have to like what he plays!! 
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
Charles Mingus |
03-26-2008, 08:38 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada | | Quote:
Originally Posted by KJung  Kenny G. actually sounds like he has some game....... | Quick- somebody use this as their signature and shame him! 
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Dynamics? I'm playing as loud as I can!
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03-26-2008, 08:40 AM
| | GOLD Supporting Member | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Sheboygan, WI | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bass Boy Quick- somebody use this as their signature and shame him! | DOH! |
03-26-2008, 08:41 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada | | Quote:
Originally Posted by KJung DOH! | He.. he..he
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Dynamics? I'm playing as loud as I can!
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03-26-2008, 08:44 AM
| | GOLD Supporting Member | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Sheboygan, WI | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bass Boy He.. he..he | |
03-26-2008, 08:47 AM
| | | | Very nice!! By the way...
That's Bruce Carter on drums. He was in a band back in the day named Pleasure; we bass players know Pleasure through the song "Glide"!
KT |
03-26-2008, 08:50 AM
| | | | At the risk of sounding like a heretic-
...the very early Jeff Lorber Fusion albums w/ Kenny Gorelick are OK (as far as late '70s/early '80s Fusion goes).
Bassist Danny Wilson & drummer Dennis Bradford bring it.
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No Leo Fender & I'm a drummer...
"2 through 10" Learn it-Know it-Live it
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03-26-2008, 09:23 AM
|  | The Funkfather
Endorsing Artist: Kohlman Bassworks | | Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia | | | Killer bassist. I have all his cd's and they all kill! My problem was his stage persona. The wife beaters and wrist bands were so played out as is the short mullet thing he's got going. I know it's an old vid but he ran amock with that style. He's also a stage hog drawing attention away from the 'star'. Why is the bassist stationed in the middle of the stage? |
03-26-2008, 09:32 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JimK At the risk of sounding like a heretic-
...the very early Jeff Lorber Fusion albums w/ Kenny Gorelick are OK (as far as late '70s/early '80s Fusion goes).
Bassist Danny Wilson & drummer Dennis Bradford bring it. | As I have mentioned before this mostly passed us by in the UK...so I watched this clip for historical interest!
What do you think of the clip linked in the OP?
To me it is like "the worst of Level 42" - so at least they had some tunes and catchy riffs!!
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
Charles Mingus |
03-26-2008, 09:37 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Newfoundland | | Quote:
Originally Posted by DWBass Why is the bassist stationed in the middle of the stage? | I guess Kenny G is the only one around that know's how important the bass player is
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03-26-2008, 11:02 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield What do you think of the clip linked in the OP? | Can't see the clip HERE.
IIRC, VJ is a chops-heavy meister...IIRC, he sounded OK on the Live album by Kenny G (at the least, a 'real' player/bassist was used on Kenny G's tours).
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No Leo Fender & I'm a drummer...
"2 through 10" Learn it-Know it-Live it
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03-26-2008, 11:05 AM
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Originally Posted by DWBass The wife beaters and wrist bands were so played out ... | Oh, ****! Look at my picture...when playing outside on hot Summer daze, I may even use a wrist band up on my right forearm.
Whadda dork, huh? 
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No Leo Fender & I'm a drummer...
"2 through 10" Learn it-Know it-Live it
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03-26-2008, 11:10 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JimK Oh, ****! Look at my picture...when playing outside on hot Summer daze, I may even use a wrist band up on my right forearm.
Whadda dork, huh? |
I think it's only in combination with the Mullet!!
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
Charles Mingus |
03-26-2008, 11:32 AM
| | | | I dunno bout the rest of you, but i´m 31, i didn´t know what a friggin´bass was until the day my uncle played this record for me. I remember asking him what was that wonderfully sounding instrument (at the beggining of VJ´s solo) and when the guy began to slap silly that Kubicki, i knew right there and then what instrument i wanted to play. OK OK OK he looks awfully silly in the video but c´mon, can he play or what?
(Strangely enough...i haven't slapped a single note in the last 6 or 7 years, BTW)
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βΘИΞКЯŲŜĦÏИĞ® #40 - Mark Wilson Fail Club #P-Bass or J-Bass?
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03-26-2008, 11:34 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | | | The boink-y tone only a Kubicki can give you!
Johnson has chops, can groove and knows how to entertain an audience, but I'm usually underwhelmed when I hear him play. It seems he's relying on a lot of pentatonic/blues licks, then gets to some sub-Stu Hamm/Vic Wooten type show-off stuff to "entertain" the audience. Nothing real memorable.
I guess he played with Herbie Hancock. Wonder what it sounded like.
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Last edited by Alan Vorse : 03-26-2008 at 02:32 PM.
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03-26-2008, 11:54 AM
| | The Funkfather
Endorsing Artist: Kohlman Bassworks | | Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JimK Oh, ****! Look at my picture...when playing outside on hot Summer daze, I may even use a wrist band up on my right forearm.
Whadda dork, huh? | I meant to say 'in relation to that gig', he was pretty under-dressed for the occasion. I guess he's playing the part of 'bad boy' bassist! |
03-26-2008, 06:57 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NJ via NYC | | | I saw this show at Radio City Music Hall when it toured back around '87-88. It was one of the best Smooth Jazz shows I've ever seen. Vail was on fire.
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Last edited by T-MOST : 03-26-2008 at 07:02 PM.
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03-27-2008, 07:22 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Marathon Man | | | Vail is a monster no doubt. I stumbled across him when I had a Kubicki and was looking for more records where I could hear them being used. I ended up buying "Terminator" and "Says Who" by Vail.
Both records have some highlights and some catchy tunes, but a lot of it is generic and not very good at all. The one thing that is consistently pretty darn good though is the bass playing and the bass tone (when he uses his Kubicki!). Each album has a "show off" track of him jamming with some percussion that are pretty entertaining, and overall, Vail has some pretty cool stuff that is worth hearing.
I can't check the video at the moment though, as I'm at uni and don't have my headphones! | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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