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Double Bass "Finding 1st & 2nd Fret"

#41
Lookie here.
This music (all of it) is about emotion. Humor is an emotion. Use it or not. The giants of jazz that I've run into throughout the years are/were pretty funny people. It does come out in their work, along with the other emotions.
I love it all.
Laughing, IMO, is one of the great feelings in life. To me it ranks right up there with a Bill Evans ballad, or a tragic reading by Lady Day.
As usual, choose your poison. Or, as Victor Wooten would say, Not.

PS. Speaking of "Victor's", remember Victor Borge?
 
#45
I 'spose we should go to PM's with this, but what the hell....
Do you call Mozart and Liszt "the unfortunate(s)"? Victor Borge is laughing AT Them. (and the opera). We're laughing (I hope) at him laughing AT all of it.
Who really are the "unfortunate"? How do you know? In what way(s) are they "unfortunate"?
I'm really laughing right now. :hyper:
If Miranda, Austin and Ryan could see this ****, I'd like to think they might laugh AT both of us. The joke's on us. (or not). Unless you consider us fortunate.
 
#46
I think Paul wrapped it up nicely above, but as the thread starter I'd like to comment on the moral aspects, too:

In fact I hesitated for a while before hitting 'post' for the reason mentioned by Bruce. However, I justified my action (that was intended as an inside TB joke, like "DBs do have frets after all, and here's how to find them") by thinking of the saying (dunno the English wording but you know what I mean): He who enters a game must be prepared to face the consequences.

Ryan pretends to be an expert -- my guess is that he knows he isn't --and as such he must be prepared to back it up or to take the criticism, laughs and all. In the unlikely case he doesn't know he sucks at DB, well, we'd not doing him any good by saying "Hey man, great playing", so even here spontaneous laughs are not out of line IMHO. It's not like we're laughing at a five year old or a handicapped person. Supposedly someone threw a cymbal at Charlie Parker when he was starting out...
 
#47
I figured there's a certain amount of good sense and taste in terms of laughing with/at. It depends on who is doing the laughing, and who is being laughed at. As musicians, I feel we are free to laugh at ANY musician....we are all musicians.
Might I demonstrate? Thank you very much........
I worked a few years with the comedian Pete Barbutti. He tells this story:
He had just finished having dinner with George Shearing. (blind) They were coming out to get a cab in front of a big hotel in Vegas. Pete spotted Ray Charles (blind) with his manager out front. Pete says to George "There's Ray". George says to Pete: "Lead me up right behind him, as close as we can get."
They move up behind Ray, and George cups both his hands over Ray's eyes and says "Guess who?". Ray went into hysterics laughing, as did the people standing around.
Would it be funny if a sighted person tried to pull this off?
I think not.

I hoped this stuff would be obvious in this thread.
 
#51
Paul Warburton said:
Lookie here.
This music (all of it) is about emotion. Humor is an emotion. Use it or not. The giants of jazz that I've run into throughout the years are/were pretty funny people. It does come out in their work, along with the other emotions.
I love it all.
Laughing, IMO, is one of the great feelings in life. To me it ranks right up there with a Bill Evans ballad, or a tragic reading by Lady Day.
Click to expand...


Sometimes you hear something, or a freind is talking to you, or you are reading a post from the resident sage, and suddenly it becomes clear just how close we all are to eachother and just how much we can share. It is......:hyper: :)
 
#52
I agree with everything Paul has said and most of the Jazz pros I've met over here are very funny and have a great sense of humour! :) And this is definitely part of their creativity and comes out on the bandstand.

But if they came across people who are deluded about their own abilities, I don't think they would make them the butt of their humour - they would rather try and sort them out and put them on the right path to become better musicians - although that may be because I have met these players in the context of teaching/tutoring....?

Maybe when they get together with other Jazz pros in the pub when nobody else is around - they mercilessly make fun of me!! :p
 
#53
Bruce Lindfield said:
But if they came across people who are deluded about their own abilities, I don't think they would make them the butt of their humour - they would rather try and sort them out and put them on the right path to become better musicians - although that may be because I have met these players in the context of teaching/tutoring....?
Click to expand...

That's nice, Bruce I dig it.
Here's another spin on your teaching friends trying to help the "deluded". You've heard these types of stories about the old days of BeBop on 52nd St. in NYC; Bird, Diz and the other greats of that time. Kind of the opposite of your friends who seem to be so nice and patient with the "deluded".
I told this story here a while back, so forgive my repeating.
One of my mentors here in the
Denver area was a BeBop master player/restaurant owner named Ray Iverson. Ray was a self-taught (like I am) multi-instrumentalist; alto, tenor, bari, flute, vibes, bass and drums. To this day, he was one of the funniest people I've ever come across...think Victor Borge + Lennie Bruce.
I was about 16 and one of the "deluded" in terms of BeBop. I had good chops (too good, really). The Thunderbird Restaurant, atop Look Out Mountain, west of Denver was his school room for many successful jazz players. Here is one of his teaching techniques....one night, after an inspirational set (to me) I wandered into the men's room for a leak. Ray was at the communal latrine, pretty well loaded, doing his thing. I pulled up next to him waiting for a nice compliment (On my playing, On my playing! :eek:) His words: "What the **** do you think you're doing out there, you ***-hole???!!! That was the most jive-ass **** I've EVER heard!
I left in tears. He was my hero. BUT, it also awoke another emotion in me. I wanted to show him something. (I know, I already did in the bathroom. :eek:) I went home and practiced with records for two weeks...mainly with Ray Brown for time playing.
I came back up and played. It was really good. My payback and compliment from Ray was, when he went into the bathroom behind the bass, a hearty goose up my *** and a warm ;). I was in.
Ray was my father, in terms of music and humor. A bit rough around the edges, but it takes all kinds.
 
#54
Different times!

I've read a lot about how the generation of Jazz Greats learned the hard way on the bandstand and maybe in the latrines! ;)

Whereas today's aspiring players can't get the gigs, but have access to huge amounts of formal Jazz education!! :eyebrow:

The latter might be easier on the student's sensibilities, but probably doesn't have the same "Iimpact".....? :p
 
#55
I decided to revive this thread because I inadvertently encountered another "expert" from the village on youtube and it really upset me. Don't get me wrong, it's good for a laugh, but the problem is that there are enthusiastic beginners watching these videos and giving them credence. It's really kind of sad but I guess that's one of the negatives of instant information via the web - tons of disinformation!

Anyway, I still laughed my a$$ off after watching the first and second fret guy....!
 
#56
Thanks for bumping this thing, Pete.

I'm assuming you have all heard the news....Miranda is a complete put-on.......Invalid Link Removed

Joke's on us, fellas. She's doing Birdland and Small's while we sit here like a buncha dorks letting her put us on.
I think she and Hans Groiner should do a world wide tour together. Colleen and Larry rule!

EDIT: "Ha ha ha..I knew she could sing"...says that one responder on that page. Yeah, right.
 
#57
Paul Warburton said:
Thanks for bumping this thing, Pete.

I'm assuming you have all heard the news....Miranda is a complete put-on.......Invalid Link Removed

Joke's on us, fellas. She's doing Birdland and Small's while we sit here like a buncha dorks letting her put us on.
I think she and Hans Groiner should do a world wide tour together. Colleen and Larry rule!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I figured that about her. But those villagers are another story....
 
#58
I've yet to see a video from expert village that I haven't thought should have a "WARNING: COMPLETE AMATEUR! DO NOT TAKE SERIOUSLY!" at the beginning.

My favorite is still the electric bass guy, who looks stoned as hell, teaching that after putting on new strings you should pick up the bass BY THE STRINGS and shake it around to break them in... I mean... no words can describe such stupidity.
 
#59
Gawd said:
I've yet to see a video from expert village that I haven't thought should have a "WARNING: COMPLETE AMATEUR! DO NOT TAKE SERIOUSLY!" at the beginning.

My favorite is still the electric bass guy, who looks stoned as hell, teaching that after putting on new strings you should pick up the bass BY THE STRINGS and shake it around to break them in... I mean... no words can describe such stupidity.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? Do these people actually play instruments?
 

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