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Etienne Mbappe
- Thread starter Daniel L.
- Start date
peteroberts said:
i played a few months ago on the north sea jazz festival in south africa and sc was there with a young basplayer called hughes sabal-lecco,so i suppose its family from armand
For those of you in Europe who want to hear exciting african bass players, and maybe also TB'ers further away who never seem able to get rid of all those frequent flyer points, you can hear Richard Bona, Linley Marthe and Manou Gallo play at the European Bass Day on November 28 in Viersen, Germany.
No, I'm not in the organizing committee, I would just hate to see you miss this spectacle because nobody told you.
More info: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Grtz, steven
No, I'm not in the organizing committee, I would just hate to see you miss this spectacle because nobody told you.
More info: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Grtz, steven
yea im here. he plays a lot with chic hot in the Chino club and does the jams in the base sale sometimes, in fact i saw him the other day, i always go and say hello to him, he's very approachable!
also michael Alibo was in the audience and i talked for awhile with him ,he's one of the cats!
I had the pleausure of seeing Etienne Mbappé live in concert yesterday. Outdoor and full tropical heat. He played with gloves and had monster sound and had monster chops.
Now, playing with gloves, the thing I heard, was that string gliss - the breathing extraneous finger noise that comes from when changing chords quickly up and and down along the neck - were absolutely non present, but yet all of the crisp attack. He played with much treble setting on amp.
See, the fretting hand does nothing, because, it's fret wire that does it, what's pressing it down is of insignificance. On double stops, and when dampening and shortening certain notes, they "stopped" sooner, with no side effects, just like a piano string damper that is made of wool.
The playing, picking hand it's what's all about. The sound did became softer, but anyway more articulated, because there's no extraneous finger noise at all from picking hand at all. I do think it removes that skin-to-string feel, which can take a while to adapt to. But, in and on the hands of Etienne Mbappe its makes all sense in the world.
I'll bet as well, that the idea came from cold outdoor gigs, and eventually turned into something viable, and long term musical idea. In the end, I think strings will last longer due to no finger "dust" or sweat abrasive will stick to the strings. Also, one advantage is, that if your hands become sweaty, I think the sweat will stay inside the gloves, and not act as lubricant on the strings, whats happen inside the glove you can just ignore, and continure playing. The cloth, wool will absorb it and not let it sip through the outside.
They ought to make some thin Gore Tech glove, or nano tech glove that would be suitable for bassplaying. That both keeps hands warm and are resistant to sweat and moves any sweat away from the fingers and not let it stick on outside of the glove to sweat down the strings. Then you have same attack, grip and feel on the strings, regardless of sweating or not.
But check out Etienne Mbappe, anyway, in spite of him playing with gloves or not! He's way cool! Cool tone, cool grooves, and good tunes. He sings in Duoala language though, which can be hard to grasp for anyone not from Cameroon
/Mats
Now, playing with gloves, the thing I heard, was that string gliss - the breathing extraneous finger noise that comes from when changing chords quickly up and and down along the neck - were absolutely non present, but yet all of the crisp attack. He played with much treble setting on amp.
See, the fretting hand does nothing, because, it's fret wire that does it, what's pressing it down is of insignificance. On double stops, and when dampening and shortening certain notes, they "stopped" sooner, with no side effects, just like a piano string damper that is made of wool.
The playing, picking hand it's what's all about. The sound did became softer, but anyway more articulated, because there's no extraneous finger noise at all from picking hand at all. I do think it removes that skin-to-string feel, which can take a while to adapt to. But, in and on the hands of Etienne Mbappe its makes all sense in the world.
I'll bet as well, that the idea came from cold outdoor gigs, and eventually turned into something viable, and long term musical idea. In the end, I think strings will last longer due to no finger "dust" or sweat abrasive will stick to the strings. Also, one advantage is, that if your hands become sweaty, I think the sweat will stay inside the gloves, and not act as lubricant on the strings, whats happen inside the glove you can just ignore, and continure playing. The cloth, wool will absorb it and not let it sip through the outside.
They ought to make some thin Gore Tech glove, or nano tech glove that would be suitable for bassplaying. That both keeps hands warm and are resistant to sweat and moves any sweat away from the fingers and not let it stick on outside of the glove to sweat down the strings. Then you have same attack, grip and feel on the strings, regardless of sweating or not.
But check out Etienne Mbappe, anyway, in spite of him playing with gloves or not! He's way cool! Cool tone, cool grooves, and good tunes. He sings in Duoala language though, which can be hard to grasp for anyone not from Cameroon
/Mats
I guess that makes sense...there must be an interview somewhere where he talks about the gloves.
And now Mbappé is with McLaughlin...sweet!
I guess that makes sense...there must be an interview somewhere where he talks about the gloves.
And now Mbappé is with McLaughlin...sweet!
OMG! He's with John now?? Wow man, great for him!!!! I'm very happy to hear that.
I watched a live in studio clip at abstractlogix of him with John from John's new album. I generally really like mbappe but his playing seemed off. He would play a buch of runs and then it seemed like he was searching for the one and would wait for it until he found it. Kind of weird and uncomfortable to watch.
i think i might have liked to hear john play the line while etienne was blowing. might have been more coherent?
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
im looking forward more to the other label release. lenny whites new disc sounds like a throwback to venusian summer or astral pirates.
Ok, I see....I wouldn't take too much from that video. They're just having fun playing on the repeating bass figure. They're all just trading solos and having a good time...that's all I see.
Joe, I love Lenny White. What a great drummer. Be sure to check out any Geri Allen album with Lenny White. Great stuff. I have to say though, on that site I'm really anticipating the Chris Potter/Jason Moran/Paul Motion album....that should be deep for sure.
I guess it's nice to see John use a bass player like Etienne. I love that he's used such soloistic players in the past, and I love those players (listening to Dominique on Que Alegria changed my life, as did Matt G on the first album of John's he was on). I guess it's just cool to see John choose a more "groove" oriented player. I like all of the above but it changes the music a bit to choose Etienne. It's just a cool choice. Maybe he'll just start going through all of Joe Zawinul's ex bass players....that wouldn't be a bad idea at all! Calling Linley Marthe!!!
Joe, I love Lenny White. What a great drummer. Be sure to check out any Geri Allen album with Lenny White. Great stuff. I have to say though, on that site I'm really anticipating the Chris Potter/Jason Moran/Paul Motion album....that should be deep for sure.
I guess it's nice to see John use a bass player like Etienne. I love that he's used such soloistic players in the past, and I love those players (listening to Dominique on Que Alegria changed my life, as did Matt G on the first album of John's he was on). I guess it's just cool to see John choose a more "groove" oriented player. I like all of the above but it changes the music a bit to choose Etienne. It's just a cool choice. Maybe he'll just start going through all of Joe Zawinul's ex bass players....that wouldn't be a bad idea at all! Calling Linley Marthe!!!
It would be cool if JM embraces some of the African rhythms if that group stays put for a bit. Nguyen Le does a fantastic job of blending jazz fusion and ethnic musics together as done with Ultramarine and Etienne.
emjazz; I saw Linley w/Zawinul right when he took Etiennes spot. He was grooving BIG all night, conversational but really locking down. I had no idea he had all those crazy chops until his solo. I believe it was his first time in the US also! If you haven't heard Mokhtar Sambas "Dounia", it's a beautiful disc and Linley plays some great stuff on it as does Michel Alibo.
emjazz; I saw Linley w/Zawinul right when he took Etiennes spot. He was grooving BIG all night, conversational but really locking down. I had no idea he had all those crazy chops until his solo. I believe it was his first time in the US also! If you haven't heard Mokhtar Sambas "Dounia", it's a beautiful disc and Linley plays some great stuff on it as does Michel Alibo.
+1 all around man! Linley is the guy that EVERYONE should be talking about. It's the African cats that are doing some deep, deep stuff. I agree, I'd love to see some of that tradition brought into John's music. That would be something. That with John's background in Indian music would be lethal.
Thanks for the heads up on that album. I'll check it out for sure....ooh, and Micel Alibo is a killer also!
...oh, and Nguyen Le deserves another mention...damn!
How about Karim Ziad huh??!!! Phew....what a drummer!!! Was he with Joe when you saw them?
Wow, thanks for the heads up on that one! I just downloaded it from E-music, sounds great and what a bass-lineup!
You bet, I love turning people on to this stuff and I agree it's some of the deeper stuff goin down. African rhythms and the jazzier side of harmony!
I wish it had been Karim as I really dig his records but it was Nathaniel Townsley, IIRC, not that he's any slouch.
Jerry, glad you snagged it and like it! Whenever that disc ends up in my car it's usually there for a few weeks!
Another newish disc I'm way into is Meddy Gerville's "Fo kronm la vi", which has some AMAZING Alibo on it.
Just picked up John McLaughlin's "To the One" album. Just transferring it to my iPod now as I listen to the first track. Etienne is a fine bass player indeed! It's great that JM seems to always brings "new" talent to his projects. (Although I know Etienne isn't "new" but it's my first time hearing him on an album... And I'm also aware of the "rift" between JMc and HF, but I just wanted to sing my praises to Etienne here.) Regardless of whether McLaughlin's music is your cup of tea or not, IMO, I always think his music is of a very high caliber and quality, and it always gives a lot of room for bassists to shine.
Anyway, time for me to stop typing and go check out the rest of the album!
Anyway, time for me to stop typing and go check out the rest of the album!
"LOL!! BTW, who did play bass for Jean Luc Ponty? He too was a bad man! IIRC, I think he was an African bassist as well."
That's Guy Nsange. Terrific musician. You can find him on some JLP records, Youtube, etc.
That's Guy Nsange. Terrific musician. You can find him on some JLP records, Youtube, etc.
