Recent content by Sam Sherry

As far as I can tell, vast portions of human scholarship in general and the internet in particular are devoted to drawing gigantic distinctions between things which are almost indistinguishable. For example, around here that might look something like, "My bass totally opened up when I...

Although I am not a veteran, I always recognize that your service made it possible for me to make a different choice. We might disagree about some things but I respect you both and thank you for your service.

What I LOVE about this clip is how Joe Cohn does NOT comp four-to-the-floor. He's doing his job and letting the bass player do the bass player's job. Such a simple concept yet all too infrequently spotted in the wild!

Wise choice! Search around the DB side for "Gary Karr technique" or "Karr fingering" or "vomit" (no, I am not kidding -- "vomit") and you will see that different people take different approaches to technique. Stick to it, maestro -- it's so worth the work!

See you and raise:

Huy, forgive them. They don't know what they don't know.

If you, a topnotch player, think it's worth it then it must be worth it. You know what you're doing. I have to learn from that by taking it at face value and pondering on how that would and does work. But a beautiful bass sound inspires me. It's never irrelevant to me. And no-one has ever...

I when I was a young player in Hartford, Connecticut in the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a Sunday night session at the 880 Club on Maple Avenue. The house bassist was Joe Fonda. Joe was always gracious and supportive; he slid me some of the very first jazz gigs I ever played. At that...

Easy to say but not easy to accomplish!

Have you ever read Ray Padget's Pledging My Time? 40+ musicians describe their experiences in Bob Dylan's bands, generally concurring that he is one of the great bandleaders of our age. Julian Lage only plays by choice. If he concludes that his time is well spent heading out with Zimmy I...

Yes! I studied with Michael Moore from 1978-1984 or so. He is such a patient person, a generous educator and a blazing bassist. No-one has influenced my playing more thoroughly, even though I can barely see his dust far ahead. People who walked into Michael and Anita's music studio were...

No, it's like the notion that this will make it hard for you in many musical situations: but this will help you wherever you want to go: @Chris Fitzgerald said it better but a picture is still worth a dozen words

Sorry Ed. I was responding to Francis' post about his situation. Although that topic is relevant to me and Francis (and perhaps to others) you are correct that its direct correlation to your situation is negligible. Please accept my apology for my role in the distraction.

I play in Portland Jazz Orchestra, which is almost entirely current or retired music teacher / professors. I refer to it as, "Sixteen people with music degrees and me." It's a nice regional band, boosted up a step or two because half a dozen current or former members are nationally-published...

One of the many things I respect about Chick Corea is how he kept working on his tunes -- even his masterworks -- long after most people would consider them 'finished.' He had many versions of "Spain." I really like this one -- there's a lot to learn from the piece as it sits, and even more...