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Andrew Gouche w/ Chaka Khan

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It's all about the groove!
Feb 25, 2005
3,988
618
47
Ann Arbor, MI
jasonphelpsbass.com
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: MTD Basses, La Bella Strings, and 64 Audio IEMs
#1
Last night on the BET Awards, Gouche was the bass player/music director for the Chaka Khan tribute. (He's also touring with Chaka right now.) It was one of the best bass performances I've seen on TV watching it live!

On stage performing you had Chaka, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Yolanda Adams, India Arie, and more...but the whole time I was just listening to Gouche killing it on bass!

I'm sure that it's on YouTube, I'll try to post a link when I get of of work...
 
#2
You've got better eyes than me, I couldn't tell who was on bass, but it looked like he might have been band director also given some of his hand signals. Maybe having Andre Gouche on bass was what allowed Yolanda Adams to sing "Sweet Thing!" :eek: That's a pretty horny song for a gospel singer.:hiding:
 
#3
Dr. Cheese said:
You've got better eyes than me, I couldn't tell who was on bass,
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the first couple songs i was squinting as hard as i could to see who it was because they had no stage lights on him - but i was pretty sure it was gouche by the playing and since he's touring with chaka. then i finally saw a shot where you could clearly see him with his mtd 635 grooving hard as heck. also on his myspace page everyone there is giving him props for the performance...

Link Removed


Dr. Cheese said:
Maybe having Andre Gouche on bass was what allowed Yolanda Adams to sing "Sweet Thing!" :eek: That's a pretty horny song for a gospel singer.:hiding:
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lol!!! i was thinking the same thing!
 
#6
You can hear Andrew on almost all of the Gospel Music Workshop of Amrerica cd's, as well as the old LA Mass Choir cds. I believe he has his own cd coming out soon though...here is his website -

http://www.prayzeconnection.com/

and here is his myspace page which has clips -

Link Removed
 
#10
Quite a different take on Gouche on the BET awards on other websites. They are saying he over played, stepped on the singers vocals. Others in the band not happy with Gouche's overplaying. Prince asked Gouche to stay in the pocket and Gouche ignored him. I hope some YouTube show up to see what the story is for myself, appears no middle ground people either loved Gouche's playing or hated it.
 
#11
i finally found a link...



as far as gouche overplaying, he's chaka's music director on her tour so i would trust him on what she wants played over the other artists that were just there for the tribute...
 
#15
DWBass said:
Well, I gotta say he was quite the 'busy' one! IMHO, he was overplaying big time! Not the right place or time for it but that's just my opinion! Geez, you got Yolanda Adams, India.Irie and Chaka Khan up there! I thought Melvin Davis was Chaka's regular bassist?
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Hummmmm,well first Melvin Davis has not been with chaka for a few years now but having been on the same gig with that version of the band Melvin sounded amazing on that gig.I had read on some other forums that gouche was overplaying so now that i got a chance to check it out i'll say this;he was playing a lot but if you know his playing that's the way he play's. Andre gouche is the prototypical high energy gospel player,lot's of note's and accent's. It was very noticeable in "tell me somthin good",he filled up every open space on that one,but chaka dig's it and that all that matters right?
 
#16
As a bass player, I liked his style.. As a listener, I found it distracting..

As a producer, I wished he had played more for the song. He wasn't the star. It was a shade beyond the "team player" ethos.

I used to play the L.A. Mass Choir stuff around '90, I loved it..

He definitely overplayed.;)

As a bassist you're supposed to make everybody comfortable, ESPECIALLY IF THE ARTIST IS PRINCE. I suspect he got away with that due to his position as MD, and Prince's love and respect for Chaka.

"sometimes a session (or gig), can be a lesson in politics and human agendas.":)
 
#17
willgroove2 said:
Hummmmm,well first Melvin Davis has not been with chaka for a few years now but having been on the same gig with that version of the band Melvin sounded amazing on that gig.I had read on some other forums that gouche was overplaying so now that i got a chance to check it out i'll say this;he was playing a lot but if you know his playing that's the way he play's. Andre gouche is the prototypical high energy gospel player,lot's of note's and accent's. It was very noticeable in "tell me somthin good",he filled up every open space on that one,but chaka dig's it and that all that matters right?
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Well, if Chaka digs it, that's fine but what about the other singers...............and Prince? I will say, he's a damn fine bassist (way better than I'll ever be) but there's times where you have to lay back, lock in with the drummer and play for the song and not for yourself! Just my opinion and my experience of playing for over 30 years!
 
#18
DWBass said:
Well, if Chaka digs it, that's fine but what about the other singers...............and Prince? I will say, he's a damn fine bassist (way better than I'll ever be) but there's times where you have to lay back, lock in with the drummer and play for the song and not for yourself! Just my opinion and my experience of playing for over 30 years!
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Oh i'm with you on that,and i KNOW that prince likes a pocket player. maybe he just got hyped up because of the situation
 
#19
i know i'm biased because i'm a big fan of gouche's...he's one of my biggest influences! i can definitely see how one would call his performance overplaying if you aren't familiar with his work or background.

the thing is - everything he did is exactly what he does! the licks inbetween the spaces of the vocals, switching up the original bassline, starting a bar on a note other than the root, thats all classic gouche. he's an innovator with all of that...its his style of playing. if someone hires gouche for a gig, its because thats what they want. you wouldn't hire victor wooten for a gig and then get upset because he plays a wooten lick - its what he does. andrew gouche came up in the black church, where showmanship is really a strong part of the repetoire, esp. for bassplayers and drummers. if you aren't too familiar with this, you may think that the playing is stepping on the vocals, but alot of singers in that genre love that call and response interaction with the band, where different instruments may fill in some gaps in the song.

also, i'd have to side with him over prince because its his gig. essentially, prince and stevie were just sitting in with chaka's band, and gouche is the musical director. he most likely put together that entire medley, and then the other artists that were in the tribute just came to the last rehearsal to fit in where needed. (okay prince, you play a solo here...stevie you're gonna sing this verse, etc.) so i don't think its prince's place to expect gouche to change up his style of playing on his own gig. if prince had hired him it would be a different story altogether.

once again, i know i'm biased, i know andrew and he's a not just a great player, but a great person. i just wanted to give a bit of context to his playing...
 
#20
Oh, now I gotta disagree with you on the hiring thing! If I'm hiring somebody, I'm still gonna ask that person to play a certain way based on 'my' gig! If that means, tone it down, lay back, play pocket groove, then that's what I'd expect! Now if it's Chaka's band, and that's what she' wants' from her bass player, then it's cool! I wouldn't care who the bassist is! Wooten often is hired to play support and he does not go off on his 'Wootenisms'! I can vouch for that! That goes for Marcus Miller and Oteil Burbridge and many other high ranking bassists!

I agree though, that a lot of gospel bassists are very busy! Very busy!! I'm just not convinced that works with pop/top40 music.
 

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