What is the biggest complement

[jtlownds]

you have ever received on your playing? We all like to get our egos stroked, and we have all received complements on our playing, from time to time. I thought this might make an interesting thread. I'm looking for the ones that stood out the most, or meant the most to you. I'll start with mine, which is not about my bass playing. I was a trumpet player for years, as well as guitar and bass.

Back in 1956, I was in the Air Force. My first duty station, out of school, was Stewart AFB in Newburgh, NY. I was only on the base for about 2 weeks, when I discovered that the band barracks was the second building over from mine. As I walked by, they had a jam session going, a dixieland group (my first love). It was a beautiful summer Sunday morning, and all the windows were open (no air conditioning back then), so you could hear them loud and clear. I went back to my barracks, and listened for a while. Then I got my old cornet out of its case and went out on the fire escape, and joined them from a distance. I wound up trading fours with them for the next half hour to 45 minutes. It got to be lunch time, so I put the horn away, and went to the mess hall. Didn't hear any more music the rest of the day. The next morning I went on duty at 8:00 AM (I was a meteorologist). When I walked into the weather station, the Captain told me that the Colonel wanted to see me at headquarters as soon as I came in. With a little trepidation, I walked over to headquarters and reported, as ordered. The Colonel waved a piece of paper in front of me and explained that he had just received a formal request from the band commander, that I be immediately transfered to the band. He also stated that I was in a critical career field, and that the request was denied. I was completely dumbfounded. I never met any of the guys in the band, and to this day, have no idea how they found out who I was.

That was over 50 years ago, but it's still the biggest complement I have ever received on my playing. It sure beats some drunk exclaiming "that's the best f*****g music I ever heard".

[Don Higdon]

I'll take this to my grave:
40+ years ago, I was working a duo in a supper club with guitarist-vocalist Eddie Hazell, and Teddy Wilson came in to see us. (If you're young, think Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, and on and on.) He had worked opposite Eddie in several clubs. Teddy and his wife danced up a storm, and quietly got up to leave during our last set. Then I heard a voice. Teddy was behind me, inches away, quietly saying "Don't know how you can swing so hard with no drummer."

[Sam Sherry]

Somebody once said that even though I wasn't as good as I thought I was, at least I was better than they thought I would be.

Seriously though, Jim. People say anything sometimes. At this point I've heard everything nice and nasty and I take it all with a grain of salt. The only compliments that mean anything to me are, "That really meant something to me," "Let's play some more" and "I'd like to play one of your tunes." The rest is just bull**** (unless it's Teddy Wilson saying, "Damn!").

[Marcus Johnson]

"I love what you're trying to do"
-Mike Buono

But seriously, there are two that I remember, both from hardcore jazz pianists (both women, too, oddly enough)...

I was doing my first show with Joanne Brackeen, sweating bullets, and between tunes she picked up the mike and said to the sound guy, "could you please bring the bass down in the mix?", which he did. She put the mike back, and then after a minute, picked it back up and said to the audience, "Don't get me wrong... I love Marcus Johnson". I had to really appreciate that, from a person who doesn't hand out complements freely.

The other came from local legend Betty Loo Taylor, a great player. A few guys had said to watch out for her, because she eats bassists alive. So, again with the sweating bullets on the first set with her. I just kept my ears and eyes wide open and hoped for the best. I tried to get a read on how I was doing, but she never said a word to me, just sat there behind those glasses, smoking cigarettes and playing her a$$ off. We finished up and she came over to me. The only thing she said to me was "You make that bass sing". I'll never forget that.

[Wilbyman]

"That's the most fun I've ever had playing Blue Bossa!"

or like Sam sez "stick around a little and play next set".

I wonder what it would be like to be Bromberg or McBride or somebody and get "holy crap!" and "you're the man, dog!!!" all the time...

[Chris Fitzgerald]

The best compliments of all are when you get a chance to play with a touring artist you really respect and admire, and they (or their agent) call you personally to book you for the next time said artist comes through town. No fancy words are needed.

[jtlownds]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

The best compliments of all are when you get a chance to play with a touring artist you really respect and admire, and they (or their agent) call you personally to book you for the next time said artist comes through town. No fancy words are needed.

+1. When they put their money where their mouth is, then it's a complement to take seriously.

[gottawalk]

Sorry, it's not about an upright, but one of the last times I did some studio work I was using my fretless bass which I had been playing for about a year. The engineer was doing a sound check and I was just playing around, and later he told me my intonation was so good he thought that I was using a fretted bass. Can't complain about that!

[M Ramsey]

This past October in Nashville, during the International Bluegrass Music Association's trade show (IBMA), I got mine.

Beth Lawrence is a wonderful bluegrass bassist who hails from Wisconsin. I met her through my son and I've told her that she could be my oldest daughter (she likes that). Anyway, she was in a jam with Ron Block (banjo player for Alison Krauss) Clay Hess (guitarist for Mountain Heart) and Sierra Hull (wonderful young mandolinst) and Beth turns to me and says, "here YOU play bass!" I said "nope, this is your jam."

Then she says, "Yep, you take over because I like to hear YOU play." I took is as a very big compliment, coming from her, since she has played all over the country and is recognized by most folks in the bluegrass community for her tasteful chops.

[fingers]

"Man, you groove!"

[MingusAmongUs]

I don't have much of this to share but I recently saw an unlikely TV show where they stuck Maya Angelou and Dave Chappelle in a house and just let them talk on camera. It was really powerful and awe-inspiring, more than anything else just to see Chappelle step out of his comedian role and into that of "thinking person".

But anyway, the point is, Ms. Angelou had a statement that unfortunately I can't repeat verbatim but it went something like this:

If you take the praise, the kudos, the "you're the man, dog"s, then you must also take the other stuff, the bad, the ugly, the insults. She chooses to take neither.

Good stuff. I think the show is called Iconoclasts, and if you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it (this particular episode at least).

[jtlownds]

[quote=MingusAmongUs;4872128]If you take the praise, the kudos, the "you're the man, dog"s, then you must also take the other stuff, the bad, the ugly, the insults. She chooses to take neither.

The above statement reminds me of the worst gig I ever had. I used to work with a tenor player who had a severe drinking problem. Even when he was totally smacked, he was still better than most of the reed men that I knew. He booked a gig at a country club, and showed up half whacked. Half way thru the first set, he went over the edge, and played the worst S**t I ever heard. He spent most of the 4th (last) set passed out in the men's room. I was absolutely furious. While I was loading out, 2 couples exited the club and informed me that we were the worst "piece of s**t" band that they had ever heard. I agreed with them, and apologized for the tenor player. I never accepted another gig with the tenor player since. I do accept the bad, ugly and the insults along with the good.

[Uncletoad]

After the gig. The hottest wench in the place says "nice ass, what are you doing after you pack up?".

Never happens.

[MingusAmongUs]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

After the gig. The hottest wench in the place says "nice ass, what are you doing after you pack up?".

Never happens.

Hahah, you're killing me.
But *that* reminds of a guy I used to play with all the time. He played some guitar but mostly bamboo flutes, native American, Indian, Asian, shakuhachi, that sort of thing. Every gig we did together, without exception, the craziest, drunkest, most psychotic woman in the place would always gravitate to him and frequently harass him, practically stalk him until he either ran out the door or someone was able to forcibly eject the girl. It was the weirdest thing. He's moved away now and I don't think he's playing out much but I wonder if he still has this problem.

[SteveC]

Originally Posted by Don Higdon

I'll take this to my grave:
40+ years ago, I was working a duo in a supper club with guitarist-vocalist Eddie Hazell, and Teddy Wilson came in to see us. (If you're young, think Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, and on and on.) He had worked opposite Eddie in several clubs. Teddy and his wife danced up a storm, and quietly got up to leave during our last set. Then I heard a voice. Teddy was behind me, inches away, quietly saying "Don't know how you can swing so hard with no drummer."

That was mine, too. I wasn't told by Teddy Wilson, but I did have someone say the same thing to me.

[fingers]

Toady. Awesome.

Reminds me of when I was on tour in Spain I saw the Bobby Durham Trio on an off night. He had Jackie Terrason on piano and Pierre Boussaquet on bass. Killin show. Pierre was awesome and was glad to let me talk his ear off all night. After the last set I went up to him and began to drool bass nerd stuff again. He just held up his hand and said "Enough about bass, time for girls." and headed off into the crowd.

[Marcus Johnson]

Hehe.. that reminds me of a post-gig party, when I cornered John Lee and blabbed bass talk for too long. Finally, he pointed at my wife, who is a blonde ultrababe, and said "you better go hang out with her... before I do!"

Before that same gig, I literally ran smack dab into Dizzy Gillespie, and did the same thing, just total motormouth idiocy, how much I loved him, how much his music meant to me, on and on, ad nauseum. Poor guy. He just stood there with a little half smile, saying nothing until I finally ran out of steam. When I finally shut up, he deadpanned; "So where's the food?" Brought my a$$ right back down to earth, and we both cracked up. I then escorted him into the hotel restaurant, and it was great fun watching every head swivel around in Diz' direction.

I don't know why I was such a motormouth that night. Chemical imbalance, probably.

[jtlownds]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

After the gig. The hottest wench in the place says "nice ass, what are you doing after you pack up?".

Never happens.

I have actually had that happen in the past a few times. But, now that I'm over 70, it hasn't happened in a long long time.