Anthony Jackson

[JimK]

Teach me thy ways O Master!

You either have it...or you don't.
Brad reminds me of a good friend here...he cleans out a widow's garage & ends up a pristine Vox bass amp (made in the UK, IIRC) + an early Fender Jaquar guitar.
It started while he was in high school, too...some schmuck didn't like "the look" of his white/blonde Fender Bassman amp & Bassman cab, so my friend trades him a POS guitar & $100 for the set. I hate him!

 

[JimK]

In all seriousness, I've found AJ to be a true original and an uncompromising artist even while playing more commercially oriented music at times.

And besides, how many bassists cite influences as far flung as Jack Cassidy...

Jackson's "uncompromising" costs him a lotta gigs, too (what I read in his interviews)...it used to drive me nutz to NOT see his name on many albums where he should have been the 1st & last called to play a bass part.
That uncompromising attitude is one of the reasons I like him.

In my youth, I was uncompromising (in '78, on my very FIRST recording gig, I was asked to play with a pick because it would make the engineer 'happy'. Well, I don't play with a pick so I packed up my **** & was almost out the door before the engineer said "...let's try one without the pick").
Nowadaze, I sometimes pretty much bend over backwards. I hate that!

The Jamerson influence is a given...I was surprised when he mentioned the Jefferson Airplane's Cassisdy as an influence (& Jack Bruce is mentioned as "not an influence").

 

[Brad Maestas]

I'm bummed to hear that AJ's health has not been so good. I just hope that he can take steps to improve it. He should be 57 this year. That is definitely not too old to make meaningful changes that could improve the quality of his life.

Well right on that one. I'm not sure what has been haunting him/keeping him from preserving and prolonging his life. I know that his weight has kept him from doing a great many things, including getting more exercise. It's a vicious cycle.

When I ran sound for Oscar Peterson in 2004, he already had a hard time getting around but on top of that, had just suffered a stroke. He was quite old but still made a go of it and did the best he could. AJ's almost to that point already (pre-stroke, of course) but he's much, much younger. It is sad and I hope he takes care of himself. I wonder who's close enough to him to give him encouragement in this area. I know it's got to be a sensitive subject for him but you gotta face the facts (music?) and keep at it!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Well right on that one. I'm not sure what has been haunting him/keeping him from preserving and prolonging his life. I know that his weight has kept him from doing a great many things, including getting more exercise. It's a vicious cycle.

When I ran sound for Oscar Peterson in 2004, he already had a hard time getting around but on top of that, had just suffered a stroke. He was quite old but still made a go of it and did the best he could. AJ's almost to that point already (pre-stroke, of course) but he's much, much younger. It is sad and I hope he takes care of himself. I wonder who's close enough to him to give him encouragement in this area. I know it's got to be a sensitive subject for him but you gotta face the facts (music?) and keep at it!

I get the feeling that AJ neglected almost everything else to become the monster musician he is. The irony is that if he doesn't take care of the only body he will ever have, all of the great music in his head will stop much sooner than it has to.

 

[cnltb]

Well right on that one. I'm not sure what has been haunting him/keeping him from preserving and prolonging his life. I know that his weight has kept him from doing a great many things, including getting more exercise. It's a vicious cycle.

When I ran sound for Oscar Peterson in 2004, he already had a hard time getting around but on top of that, had just suffered a stroke. He was quite old but still made a go of it and did the best he could. AJ's almost to that point already (pre-stroke, of course) but he's much, much younger. It is sad and I hope he takes care of himself. I wonder who's close enough to him to give him encouragement in this area. I know it's got to be a sensitive subject for him but you gotta face the facts (music?) and keep at it!

Did he not have a stroke too - about ten years ago?
Or something on those lines.
when I saw him play last year he did not look healthy at all and seemed to struggle for every move he made.(every move aside the playing)
I guess something like that is a "job" for a wife, or family.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I've found those comments on slapping quite interesting.
Who decides what the music calls for - usually the client, and if they had not wanted slapping on their records, I guess they could have told the bassist not to.

It might help to look at his comments in context, particularly "when" he made them. Slap was exploding on the scen and some people slapped likethey'd lost ther damn minds. That's what he was talking about. If you've never heard groove-killing slap you probably won't get what he was talking about. Screw the chord content... there were people who would put thesame pentatonic runs over any and everything, pretty much "I'm played 'em, so they must ift!".

Who decides? The listener... and his comments came from listening. I've heard good slap and I've heard really bad, musically clueless slap... he was talking about the bad slap.

The bandwagon thing of course is always "one of those".
Maybe AJ is simply not very good at it...??

I doubt it had anything to do with him being good at it or not.

As to soloing...I like certain bass solos, but have met many bassists who simply thought soloing not to be "their strong point", I would not be surprised if AJ was one of them at heart-I personally have found his solos at least inappropriate for the music at times.To me they often sound more like "another part of a composition" than a solo on a given form ( not sure if I myselve understand what I am trying to say...). They are always interesting though.

I think him taking a solo as another movement to a piece is cool. Beats the hell out of most of the bass solos I've heard, which usually end up being about licks.

Besides, a solo is usually looked upon as your time to shine and I've always preferred the Jamerson method, where he usually didn't play a repetitive line and had the free to put his mark on a song from within the main structure of the song. AJ's from the same vein IMO. I tend to do that myself.

And a solo for the solos sake can be an annoyance on any instrument I think.
I guess it's down to taste.
Most musicians I know, including fellow bassists are influenced by many genres of music, and names like Messiaen and Jamerson, Casady, or any other musician ,group etc from any genre, would not be uncommonly found in the same sentence.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Teach me thy ways O Master!

If you're really interested it's easy but the main thing you have to do is time-consuming: become extremely familiar with what you're interested in. A good deal is only a good deal if you know what a good deal is. Is a Polytone MiniBrute III a good deal for under $100? A Bag End S15-D? A Roland Jazz Chorus $120 for $60. I bought an oak framed LCD display from Goodwill that was marked at $20 because they thought it was a mirror. They couldn't believe it when I hooked the "mirror" up to a laptop to test it. .

I'm familiar with most of the electronics, cars and bass gear that's come out in the last 50 or so years, so when I see a rare stereo receiver going cheap, I know what it should go for, know what the resale market is for it, know the reliability and popularity of the product and whether it'll work in a situation for me. In particular I keep an eye out for high end gear I wasn't willing to spend the money on when it was new. My daily driver is a very clean and pretty rare BMW Z3 Coupe... that I got for less than a third of what it went for new.

One thing that is nicer nowadays is the fact that you can carry a web-browsing device with you and tap into the available expertise if you see something with promise. I relied on magazines and conversations with a handful of like-minded individuals for the bulk of my knowledge.

Once you know what you're looking at, you need to have the funds to make the purchase. That typically just requires financial restraint. Was my Bag End purchase worth more to me than Starbucks and some smokes for a few days? Heck yeah (I don't smoke or drink coffee).

There is a downside to this... it can be addictive. My wife picked up the bug and she too is a crazy deal magnet... things like 30gb Zunes for $60 seem to follow her home on a regular basis. The disposable income goes alot farther when you know what you're into.

 

[Brad Maestas]

If you've never heard groove-killing slap you probably won't get what he was talking about. Screw the chord content... there were people who would put the same pentatonic runs over any and everything, pretty much "I'm played 'em, so they must fit!".

So true. As with pentatonic, I can't count how many times I've heard bassists unintentionally use the major third in a minor key or the dominant 7th over maj7 chords. You can usually tell when it's intentional or not. Dissonance can be made to work, of course and it's the intention that makes all the difference in my mind.

I reckon muscle memory (and its control), the time period and the player's vocabulary are certainly all major factors in it. When I was a house bassist for an open mic in the Midwest, I met a lot of bassists who would step on a song and not even realize it. One guy would regularly use the main bass line from "The Chicken" for any key or style, so long as it was the right tempo, thereby playing major over minor or minor over major for several songs in a row and be totally oblivious. The dominant 7th convention is also still alive and well and although I don't think it'll ever attain the same glory it experienced in former decades, it will continue to be a staple of the bassist's diet!

 

[Angus]

VintageBTLover has it down (the list on the first page, that is).

I want to re-emphasize his work with Bireli Lagrene and Michel Camilo. Killer.

I have the same reservations about some of his playing as Brad's, but if you put any player under a microscope you can find plenty of that, especially when you look at the guys who play so much music. From a macroscopic view, a lot of the music from the groups he plays in is great- often better than when they play with other bassists.

 

[jerry]

To me they often sound more like "another part of a composition" than a solo on a given form ( not sure if I myselve understand what I am trying to say...). They are always interesting though.

When I first started going to see Steve Gadd play around NYC in the mid-70's, the thing I noticed was you could still hear the song as he did his solos, I think thats a big plus in a solo!

 

[cnltb]

When I first started going to see Steve Gadd play around NYC in the mid-70's, the thing I noticed was you could still hear the song as he did his solos, I think thats a big plus in a solo!

Exactly!!
I really like his style of soloing in some contexts.
Just not in all.
I agree that one should view those ,as any comments in the context in which they were made, but I still found them a little indiscriminate.
As to who decides.... my point is that it is mostly about taste.
I do agree with most points he is making it is maybe the tone in which they are made, that does not resonate with me.

 

[pmaraziti]

Given the health issues, it might be a negative answer, but is there any plan for Anthony Jackson to tour, especially in Europe ?

Tx !

 

[wilser]

...My daily driver is a very clean and pretty rare BMW Z3 Coupe... that I got for less than a third of what it went for new.
.....

dammit I love that car!

 

[Brad Johnson]

dammit I love that car!

Me too. So much so that yesterday I took it out just to spray it off at the nearby self service wash because my wife playfully taunted me about a little dirt on the back bumper while sitting in the garage.

I got it cleaned off but didn't dry it off. So of course driving the one mile back home I got behind a van that couldn't stay off the shoulder and kept a nice cloud of salt/dust flying for about half the trip. Car looks like crap... should've just waited but it's so fun to drive if it's not snowing I'm in it.

Still can't believe the deal I got on it.

 

[cnltb]

I hear that there are three albums with Buddy Rich...any one know what all three are called? I think that "tuff dude" was released under another name...very live life at buddy's place" , but what are the others...?

 

[Brad Maestas]

I mentioned one earlier with Rich and Lionel Hampton called "Transition."

The A side (tracks 1-4) features George Duvivier on double bass and side B (tracks 5-6) features Bob Cranshaw and AJ on electric basses, AJ being featured as 'bass soloist.' The rest of the lineup on this record is fabulous. Jack Wilkins, Sal Nistico, Kenny Barron, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson...

PM me if you'd like more info and a taste of the music!

 

[cnltb]

I mentioned one earlier with Rich and Lionel Hampton called "Transition."

The A side (tracks 1-4) features George Duvivier on double bass and side B (tracks 5-6) features Bob Cranshaw and AJ on electric basses, AJ being featured as 'bass soloist.' The rest of the lineup on this record is fabulous. Jack Wilkins, Sal Nistico, Kenny Barron, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson...

PM me if you'd like more info and a taste of the music!

That's very kind of you!
Thanks!!
I did read your earlier post, but was told that there are more.
Have you heard "Hamp's Blues" ?
Another interesting one.

 

[cnltb]

I just found out that mike stern is going out in 2008 including europe with the same band as last year (Weckl, Jackson, Francheschini, Stern).
I am very tempted to go see the gig in cologne/germany...hhmmm

 

[20db pad]

I'm not 100% sure this is AJ, but the timeline is right about when he was on the Buddy Rich band. There are some face shots, but the video quality is low and it's hard to make out facial features.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eZDfszYfbxs&feature=related

 

[Brad Maestas]

Yep, that's AJ all right. Nice catch on the vid!