The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution

[Jake Reber]

Anyone who is a fan a Zappa and plays upright has to know of this song off of "Sleep Dirt." Is it Patrick O'Hearn? I can only seem to find credits for bass guitarists on the album. O'Hearn is the only bassist I've ever heard solo with Zappa, so he is my natural choice, but I'm not sure if he plays upright or not.

But in other news, Holy Doghouse chops, Batman - that's a groovin cut and a hell of an upright solo! It almost sounds like Bromberg or Patitucci....I can't even think of another Zappa recording with upright on it whatsoever.

[Marcus Johnson]

Yes, that's him. Plays his ass off on that track.

[bassist14]

i am listening to it right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD1RSRxfgIU

from his website http://www.patrickohearn.com/bio.htm:
"With Zappa, he shifted away from acoustic bass to exclusively electric bass guitar"

hm.
okay.
hm.

[Marcus Johnson]

I asked my friend Emil Richards, who played mallets and percussion on several of Frank Zappa albums and tours, the same thing.... he told me it was Patrick. That album was never supposed to be released. Great stuff on there.

[Jake deVilliers]

That's damn good! Thanks Jake

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

I asked my friend Emil Richards, who played mallets and percussion on several of Frank Zappa albums and tours, the same thing.... he told me it was Patrick. That album was never supposed to be released. Great stuff on there.

So, that's what happened to Emil...he's over there. Never met him, but always held him in high regard.

[MR PC]

Originally Posted by bassist14

i am listening to it right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD1RSRxfgIU

from his website http://www.patrickohearn.com/bio.htm:
"With Zappa, he shifted away from acoustic bass to exclusively electric bass guitar"

hm.
okay.
hm.

Well, I can understand why he switched......it sounds like he has roller skates on his left hand, at least on this recording. I saw him play with Mark Murphy at the Russian River Jazz Festival. Mark turned around, threw his towel at Pat and said: "TAKE IT, bass player!". O'Hearn proceeded to use his half full Heineken bottle as a slide for part of his fretless bass solo. Pretty crazy stuff. I think Bill Takas was playing fretless bass with Bob Dorough at that festival as well.

Frank Zappa, do read his autobiography if you can.

[78bass]

Nothing new to add.
Sounds like Pat.
One of my all time FZ favorites.

[Andrew Jones]

" My Fingers Got Stuck"

[Chris Fitzgerald]

To the person who decided to share their righteous indignation with the rest of us: please leave the moderating to the moderators. Gosh bless you, and have a lovely Thanksgiving.

[Jeremy Allen]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

So, that's what happened to Emil...he's over there. Never met him, but always held him in high regard.

I thought he was still in LA, but I could be wrong. He comes here to Nowhere-ville every couple of years and we do some concerts--I call him "The Energizer Bunny of the Vibraphone." It's something to see!

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

To the person who decided to share their righteous indignation with the rest of us: please leave the moderating to the moderators. Gosh bless you, and have a lovely Thanksgiving.

****.

[Marcus Johnson]

Emil is still in LA. He still records on every soundtrack known to man, and rents world percussion instruments from his vast collection. He comes to Maui fairly often.

He is one of the greatest dudes on the planet, funny as hell. He'll be at some insane tempo, everybody taking choruses, and the last solo is of course the bass solo. So, you're four choruses into it, playing everything you can think of, and he'll turn around and say "C'mon, mother*******.... play somethin'!" With a smile on his face, of course.

One time, he literally played a set of vibes to pieces on the bandstand.... the thing just fell apart. So he turns around and hands me one of the metal bars, saying "You need an "A"?

You should meet him some time, PW, you would dig him.

PS.... Jake, sorry for the derail, I got off an an Emil Richards tangent. Emil's one of the few humans that can handle those mallet parts. I like that tune... that crazy 12 string weird tuning breakdown right before the bass solo is classic Zappa.

[MR PC]

Gosh, Good Golly Miss Molly. That's what I say when someone sneezes.

Regarding the FZ track. I can understand why it wasn't released right away. Some times FZ could get pretty mean and ugly being derivative of pop music styles that other people, less endowed with technical information, enjoyed. IMHO

Read the book.

[Jake Reber]

No worries about getting off-topic, I am actually surprised I don't know this cat. When did he play with Zappa? I only previously knew of Ruth and Ed Mann.

[Marcus Johnson]

Started in '77.... he was also on "Lumpy Gravy" so he goes way back. He da man. I love that guy.

The last few times I played with him, he played marimbas instead of vibes, which I think sounds really cool. Here's a link.....

www.emilrichards.com

[Marc Piane]

I love that track. Pat kills.

Zappa.

I have an unhealthy love for his music and life.

I did several papers on him in college including an semester long independent study of several of his orchestral works.

I have a framed picture hanging above my desk right next to the psalm for jazz bassists.

My daughter's birthday is Dec 21 just like his. I claim jokingly to have planned it that way.

He had an amazing ability to not only hire amazing players but write parts for them that highlighted what they were best at.

Mark my words... he will be in the music history books of the next generation.

[Tanglehead]

I've been lucky enough to play lots of Zappa music, even touring with Ike Willis on several occasions doing exclusively Zappa material, but playing The Ocean on DB has been one of my dreams. I still call Blessed Relief on jazz gigs when I'm leading and know I can get away with it, but that's the only Zappa I've had the opportunity to play on DB.

Pat's a great bass player; a great musician - and happens to hail from my neck of the woods in the Pacific NW. I've recorded a couple times with his brother, Rob, as well.

Certainly not to everybody's tastes, but I concur with Marc that Zappa was ahead of his time, and his music will continue to be discovered by fans allied to nearly every genre; that his legacy will grow as time marches on. There are many great books on Zappa - if you're a serious reader, I'd suggest Ben Watson's The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. While pedantic, there's a fairly even perspective of his contribution to music along with some of the demons that people point to as if they were acceptable arguments against the validity of his music. To me, these are completely different areas of concern.

For now, though, I'm going back to playing jazz, orchestral and latin music on my DB - until I get a chance to tackle The Ocean .... with an ensemble. (Pat's solo tour de force Lobster Girl, too, if possible...)

[MR PC]

Nice bass, Pat!

http://www.patrickohearn.com/news.htm

[Barron]

HOLY ****.


What an awesome composition by Zappa and performance by O'Hearn!


*blown away*