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Double Bass Double bass in neo-soul?

#2
No, but you've got me listening to neo-soul now! I certainly think it would work.

My first thought, when (before I searched on and listened to neo-soul) I saw your post, was the James Hunter Six, but that's more Northern Soul, less electric/R&B sounding.

Blaze the trail, it should fit. I've certainly played things that sounded a bit like that on gigs or at jam sessions, but just didn't know that it was a genre until today.
 
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#11
BobbyT said:
If you haven’t already, check out Derrick Hodge—he’s a monster on both upright and electric. Also happens to be a tremendous producer, music director, composer, etc.
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A couple of years ago I saw DH with Robert Glasper (playing mostly upright). Two nights later I was at a Maxwell show and I thought, “Man, that bassist looks familiar”. It was DH again (on electric). He was great in both settings.
 
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#13
I don't think we should leave Tribe out of this discussion. Ron Carter actually went into the studio and recorded the bassline for "Verses from the Abstract" from "Low End Theory." Q-Tip gives him a shout out at the end!


Here's his recollection of working with Tribe, after some initial reservations about working in Hip Hop.


A separate Ron bassline is sampled on "Electric Relaxation." This track is absolutely essential and the video always makes me miss NYC.


You can really hear the bass on the instrumental.
 
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#15
bass12 said:
By “neo-soul” are you referring specifically to the period between roughly 1993 and 2000 or do you mean anything that fits the general aesthetic...
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I'm thinking about the general aesthetic. I've always listened to a bunch of original soul, and some neo-soul.

But I'm also thinking about neo-er, like neo-neo-soul from the last ten years. Where I live in New Zealand, it feels like there is a developing neo-soul scene. The musicians who are coming out of the university with jazz degrees seem to be doing a lot of neo-soul influenced work in their own projects. Neo-soul plus hip-hop plus R&B plus electronic plus jazz. Its a great sound, an I love listening to it. And there's a scene here. And to the extent that all music is local and collaborative, I want to find my way further into the sound, and what I can do with double bass.

And more generally, there seems to be a new-neo-soul thing happening that I'm noticing on youtube especially (probably not new, just that I'm noticing it now).
 
#16
Anthony White said:
I'm thinking about the general aesthetic. I've always listened to a bunch of original soul, and some neo-soul.

But I'm also thinking about neo-er, like neo-neo-soul from the last ten years. Where I live in New Zealand, it feels like there is a developing neo-soul scene. The musicians who are coming out of the university with jazz degrees seem to be doing a lot of neo-soul influenced work in their own projects. Neo-soul plus hip-hop plus R&B plus electronic plus jazz. Its a great sound, an I love listening to it. And there's a scene here. And to the extent that all music is local and collaborative, I want to find my way further into the sound, and what I can do with double bass.

And more generally, there seems to be a new-neo-soul thing happening that I'm noticing on youtube especially (probably not new, just that I'm noticing it now).
Click to expand...
Most “new-soul” from the ‘90s featured electric bass. Upright was more likely to be used only on the occasional track.

Not neo-soul but you might find Medeski, Martin & Wood interesting. Outside’s “The Rough And The Smooth” album has upright on many of the tracks. Beady Bell has some cool stuff with upright. Further left field you could check out Red Snapper.
 
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#17
Anthony White said:
I'm thinking about the general aesthetic. I've always listened to a bunch of original soul, and some neo-soul.

But I'm also thinking about neo-er, like neo-neo-soul from the last ten years. Where I live in New Zealand, it feels like there is a developing neo-soul scene. The musicians who are coming out of the university with jazz degrees seem to be doing a lot of neo-soul influenced work in their own projects. Neo-soul plus hip-hop plus R&B plus electronic plus jazz. Its a great sound, an I love listening to it. And there's a scene here. And to the extent that all music is local and collaborative, I want to find my way further into the sound, and what I can do with double bass.

And more generally, there seems to be a new-neo-soul thing happening that I'm noticing on youtube especially (probably not new, just that I'm noticing it now).
Click to expand...

I have seen some of the same...folks playing stuff in what they refer to as a neo-soul style which ultimately is a throwback to a collection of music released by folks like D'angelo, Erykah Badu, Maxwell, Questlove, etc about 20 years ago. It's characterized by a sort of hip-hop/soul fusion and the bass tends to be played way behind the beat.

Ironically i am not hearing a ton of new music directly steeped in that style, but more of a fusion of that feel into something new. I am seeing alot of younger folks posting videos on youtube though, more so directly lifting that style. What you are talking about seems to be what i have seen called Dilla-jazz, which is essentially the Robert Glasper/Chris Dave thing using the beats and feel originating from J-Dilla and fusing it with instrumental jazz/funk. They tend to be playing in a way that is influenced by sample based hip-hop.
 
#18
It is a mildly interesting rhythm in the context of pop music. In jazz it amounts to boxed in feel light years behind Maz Roach and Elvin Jones! Much less Rashid Ali, Ronald Shannon Jackson or Milford Graves.
Nothing "new" about it. I think people need to play the music they feel they need to play, and people need to listen to what they want.
What is new, or innovative, that is another thing.

sean_on_bass said:
Ironically i am not hearing a ton of new music directly steeped in that style, but more of a fusion of that feel into something new. I am seeing alot of younger folks posting videos on youtube though, more so directly lifting that style. What you are talking about seems to be what i have seen called Dilla-jazz, which is essentially the Robert Glasper/Chris Dave thing using the beats and feel originating from J-Dilla and fusing it with instrumental jazz/funk. They tend to be playing in a way that is influenced by sample based hip-hop.
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#19
damonsmith said:
It is a mildly interesting rhythm in the context of pop music. In jazz it amounts to boxed in feel light years behind Maz Roach and Elvin Jones! Much less Rashid Ali, Ronald Shannon Jackson or Milford Graves.
Nothing "new" about it. I think people need to play the music they feel they need to play, and people need to listen to what they want.
What is new, or innovative, that is another thing.
Click to expand...

Dude, you rehash 1960s out jazz for a living. Some perspective, please.
 
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#20
Genre labels are always tricky. I didn't know what "neo-soul" was, but I listened to a few of the clips posted and I get it.

Find people who want to play music like that and offer to play bass with them. You don't have to have a good example of someone doing it on doublebass if you can't find one, just bring your voice to it and see if it resonates.
 

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