• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Best Bass Player you've ever seen Live

#41
I've "heard" Geddy Lee with Rush and "caught" one of McCartney's tours and therefore consider myself lucky since they're my favorites. BUT... by virtue of being something like 15 feet away from him during his performance, I'd have to say the best I've actually "seen" is Mark King with Level 42.

I swear that when he was slapping and popping, it looked like he was poping the string about a foot off the fingerboard!
 
#42
Jason Carota said:
- Richard Bona

- Some guy named Stew McKinsey
Click to expand...
:eek: :eek: :eek:

yikes and thank you! that has got to be the first time those 2 names have appeared on the same page!

:p

for me there were (and are) many...

Jaco on his final tour (still one of the most lethal groovers ever!)
Roberto Vally with Leisuremania and then Spyro Gyra
Curtis Robinson, Jr. with Les McCann (never seen a slapper like him before or since)
Steuart Liebig in BLOC and solo, one of my heroes
Michael Manring on his first solo tour
Jonas Helborg on the duet tour with McLaughlin
Louis Johnson when he just showed up to jam at M.I.
Yves Carbonne, another hero
Greg Campbell
Bill Dickens playing a simple groove at NAMM, after hours... WOW!
Laurence Cottle
Scott Pazera
Buddy Pearson
Trip Wamsley
Steve Lawson without his looper... oh, my!
Janek Gwizdala
Marcus at this past NAMM show, just grooving on a 12 bar... what a lesson in taste!
Byron Santo
Scott Hubbell
Al Caldwell
Garry Goodman
Jauqo III-X

man, the list gets longer by the year! I have got to stop seeing live performances... after I finally catch Percy Jones!!

:D
 
#43
Stewmc5222 said:
:eek: :eek: :eek:

yikes and thank you! that has got to be the first time those 2 names have appeared on the same page!

:p

for me there were (and are) many...

Jaco on his final tour (still one of the most lethal groovers ever!)
Roberto Vally with Leisuremania and then Spyro Gyra
Curtis Robinson, Jr. with Les McCann (never seen a slapper like him before or since)
Steuart Liebig in BLOC and solo, one of my heroes
Michael Manring on his first solo tour
Jonas Helborg on the duet tour with McLaughlin
Louis Johnson when he just showed up to jam at M.I.
Yves Carbonne, another hero
Greg Campbell
Bill Dickens playing a simple groove at NAMM, after hours... WOW!
Laurence Cottle
Scott Pazera
Buddy Pearson
Trip Wamsley
Steve Lawson without his looper... oh, my!
Janek Gwizdala
Marcus at this past NAMM show, just grooving on a 12 bar... what a lesson in taste!
Byron Santo
Scott Hubbell
Al Caldwell
Garry Goodman
Jauqo III-X

man, the list gets longer by the year! I have got to stop seeing live performances... after I finally catch Percy Jones!!

:D
Click to expand...

Hey Stew!!

Great list there!!!

Thanks for the reminder about Manring, saw im twice, once at a clinic at the Guitar Center in Boston (he was SICK man, as in creative!) and the second in a trio with Vic Stevens and guitarist Scott McGill. I LOVED Manring and Stevens but good 'ol Scott with his non-stop Holdsworth on an overdose of speed AND acid drove me out the door after 3 songs.

You might want to check Percy Jones's website for Tunnels tour dates:

Invalid Link Removed
 
#47
Dominique Di Piazza
Like JMX I saw him with John McLaughlin and Trilok Gurtu. Most in the audience were there to check out John, but were blown away by Dominique (and Trilok as well). It was like an alien had come to earth to show us how the bass is played on their planet.

Victor Wooten
Seen him a couple of times with the Flecktones, dazzling and over the top, but so darn funky. Always sticks around after the show to talk and shake hands with fellow bass players, very nice guy.

Michael Manring
Solo gig in Amsterdam for about 50 people. Shook his hand before the concert, of was it after, I was so shell-shocked I can't even remember. One of the first times that he performed his composition for 3 basses (simultaneously!) in public. Apart from that nothing freaky, a very fluent composer with an incredible technique. Changed his tunings in between songs (while talking to the audience), I finally realized why I couldn't play along with his CD's.
 
#48
d'oh! can't believe I forgot some of these monsters...

Jake Kot
Edo Castro
Jake Wolf

and my road trip partner and roommate for the recent Lodo madness, Jean Baudin!!

I was also really impressed by Darren Michaels. aside from being a great cat, I really dig his approach to solo performance. he's got killin' chops but he is a master of restraint. a great lesson to learn!

:D
 
#50
I've seen lots of players over the years but there are a few that stand out:

John Patitucci - First time I ever saw someone play a six string and solo like that (1986).

Will Lee - I've sat in the audience twice for the Letterman show and Will just killed each time. His tone and sense of groove, fingerstyle, slapping, etc are phenomenal.

Christian McBride - My wife was in her senior year at the same Performing Arts High School in Philly as Christian Mcbride when we first started dating. I accompanied her to one of the schools talent shows and watched Christian tear it up on electric and upright with a drummer and pianist (Joey DiFrancesco, the hammond B3 player). Even at a young age you could tell the guy was going somewhere.
 
#52
hey guys,
i'd have to say oteil with the peacemakers. they are based out of b'ham al, and i know all the musicians and take lessons from oteil. so me and my drummer buddy got to hang behind the stage while they where playing and oteil would turn to use every time he would play a fill.....:p :hyper: :D WORD!!
if yall haven't seen oteil...you don't know what your missing.
:bassist:
 
#53
I've been lucky to grow up in NYC and see all the big bands and lots of great players over the years, but I'd put Andy West right at the top. Tied for 2nd would be maybe 10 other guys ;)
But Andy, playing by himself with a drum machine, was the best I've seen.
 
#54
Psychosis said:
Best bass player I've seen live are probably Steve Harris and an unknown bass player from sweden, who played on a pub last month in Pietarsaari. He had such a nice tone coming from his Fodera and SWR stack. He really grooved.
Click to expand...

Do you know his name `? or what band he played with ?
Maybe ive heard of him ..
 
#55
For me it's 2 bassists!

Marcus Miller
I already knew what he could do but to hear him live is what blew me away! The strength and clarity was amazing!

Scott Ambush
If you don't know who he is, you better get to know him. Dude can hang with any bassist out there and he does some amazing ish!! Some of the stuff he comes up with is freaky to say the least! Amazing player! He plays for Spyro Gyra (a contemporary jazz band).
 
#57
Greg Lake with ELP, very underrated IMHO.

Victor with Bela and with his brothers (actually, his bass tech played some was pretty damn good, too).

Chris Squire with YES.

Stefan Lessard of DMB. When they let him loose, he is awesome.

Phil Lesh.

Stanley Clark @ the Hollywood Bowl
 
#59
In what sense? Technical brilliance? Sheer chops? Artistic vision? What? It's such a vague and subjective question...

But...in terms of the qualities that I value and admire, Michael Manring is above and beyond practically everyone I've ever heard - or seen - live. And that includes Stanley Clarke, Chris Squire, Bunny Brunel, John Entwistle, Tony Levin, Greg Lake, Geddy Lee, Will Lee, Billy Sheehan, Victor Wooten, John Patitucci, Oteil Burbridge, John Myung, and a number of other top-echelon players...

Manring simply makes some of the most beautiful, amazing and inspired music - with technical fluency that can execute practically anything that comes into his mind. He's just one of the best ever...

MM
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back