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Andrew Gouche w/ Chaka Khan

#21
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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Exactly,and b4 she had Gouche,she was using Sharay Reed who was about as notey as Gouche,but to me Gouche is notey in a good way, I rember getting a chance to see Chuck Rainey with Areatha Franklin, ( When I was a helluva lot younger) and he was notey also but it still kicked ass,and if you thought that was notey,you should of check Gouche out when he was palying with Gladys Knight,but with all that being said if you go to Myspace.com and enter his name in the search box you will see his list of people who he's played with or against ( depending on what side of the fence you're on) and a picture of all his basses in front of a real real nice 745i BMW....I guest in Gouches' case a lot of notes brought him a lot coin
 
#22
DWBass said:
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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,but I have to go back what Vision stated she ( Chaka) hired him because of the way he plays,and lately from seeing a lot of current R&B acts such as Jahiem,Beyonce, Anthony Hamilton,Carl Thomas(who won't use anything but church musicians if he had his way) and etc. alot of these acts are using these Musicians out of the Church,especially the one's that have the urban type gospel background,and most of these bass players that I've seen with these acts, all play with ALOT !!!! of energy. I like both the Pocket and the Energy. :)
 
#23
Well, Jamie Foxx's bassist had THE best tone out of the whole bunch at the awards, catch the reruns on BET and tell me I'm wrong:spit: .

Hey, Beyonce's band kicked major a** AND they were all girls, including a tight horn section!:D The bass plyer was playing a silver metallic Modulus Flea signature, she banged it hard too!!
 
#24
Lo end PUNCH said:
Well, Jamie Foxx's bassist had THE best tone out of the whole bunch at the awards, catch the reruns on BET and tell me I'm wrong:spit: .

Hey, Beyonce's band kicked A** and they wre all girls!:D The bass plyer was playing a silver metallic Modulus Flea signature, she banged it hard too!!
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That would be the great MC Divinity! Link Removed
 
#25
I think there is a very fine line between playing a lot and playing too much,as I have worked as a producer the last few years that fact has became much clearer to me.For me as a player in my youth I never met a note i didn't want to play but listening to a few live shows cured that (and getting fired helped too) Some bassist are notey;that's their thing love it or leave it,gouche fall's into that category someone like pino palladino,for example, would be the opposite,both great players, but very different approaches. One of the thing's I do lately is play bass on track's sent to me over the Internet.In many cases i have never met the people I'm working with personally and i end up "producing" myself. in the beginning of doing this i have sent tracks back for a listen and gotten comments like "love the tone but maybe a few less notes" and made fixes accordingly taking out half of what i played originally. on the other hand i have played live with people who want you putting in as much extra as you can
 
#26
hands5 said:
,but I have to go back what Vision stated she ( Chaka) hired him because of the way he plays,and lately from seeing a lot of current R&B acts such as Jahiem,Beyonce, Anthony Hamilton,Carl Thomas(who won't use anything but church musicians if he had his way) and etc. alot of these acts are using these Musicians out of the Church,especially the one's that have the urban type gospel background,and most of these bass players that I've seen with these acts, all play with ALOT !!!! of energy. I like both the Pocket and the Energy. :)
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there are some significant other reasons $$$$$ :hiding: why these act's use musicians from the church
 
#27
Gospel is serious pocket music and involves a lot of skill and groove ability. I've always said that Gospel music is the hardest to play because it usually requires everything you know and have learned as a bassist. I grew up trained in gospel, its a venue thats gonna pull what you are out of ya.:smug:
 
#28
I agree that anyone who hires a name bassist like Andre gouche has to expect him use his style on the gig. He is a known quantity with a following of his own, anyone who gets him should expect him to assert his identity. I love Prince, but I respect a session man who has enough stature to ignore Prince!:eek:

That said, I think any player should know where he is playing. In a showcase featuring legendary players, the bassist should give them the space to shine since they are the stars. I haven't heard the piece yet; if I radically change my opinion after listening, I will post again.
 
#31
I listened to the clip again (I have to admit that when I saw it live, I was focusing on the stars and barely noticed the bass), and by my standards Gouche overplayed. That said, everything he played fit and was musical. He did not disturb the groove, IMO. Although he did not play what I would play, I admire the fact that this bassist had the backbone to say, "I am the director of this band, and I am playing my style." I know a star like Prince expects things his way, but he was the guest in this band, Gouche is not his sideman (woman, sorry Rhonda!) There is no reason why others cannot follow the bass sometimes!:bassist:
 
#32
man he played great, i would not knock him for that, i dont think that he played way to much either, and he didnt fill every space, just most of them :D

but like has been said before its nice to have a guy on the gig with all the energy, and if he played something wrong you would of known it, he just played busy.


Dave
 
#33
vision said:
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...
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Cheers dude..I must say I love his playing but to be honest I gotta agree with the "overplaying" comments...now, personally I love it (it's not often us bassists are heard actually "leading" the band)..his playing is great but as a previous poster said it gets a bit distracting after a while (in an overall band context..its a bit "in your face")...although having said that he plays exactly the same way I would expect a top of his game Gospel bassist to play.

(of course whether this is right for the "song" is a debate for another day :) )
 
#34
Everything Gouche played was musical and sounded great- I would much rather listen to an active bassline that keeps things interesting than one that just sits in the background. There's ten million albums out there with "good" music- throwing in that tasteful exertion of musical abilities makes the music stand out.
 

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