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Funkiest non-Black bassists :)

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#141
point taken! Thanks...I may just have an idealistic thing in my head about race and music...white funker, black rocker, asian jazz, whatever...I just feel it really doesn't matter at all, so why ask about what color someone is, or what color they sound like.

and as far as me "getting out..." I do get out, and play music professionally with all sorts of different colored people!
 
#143
bassguy74 said:
Who would you say is the funkiest White bass player you have met? I am hoping the subject doesn't touch anyone's tender spots considering how I worded it (which btw was totally "innocent" as it were!) Someone who you would guess was a Black bassist w/o seeing them, but who turned out to be White, Latin, Indian, East Indian, Middle Eastern, etc.
Click to expand...

I think this is a silly question. It presumes you have to grow up with African American culture or have high melanin in order to be funky.

On the flipside there are a lot of black guys playing heavy metal. Phil Lynott anyone? Heck the seminal hardcore punk band of all time, Bad Brains, all black rasta dudes from DC.

but heck, funkiest non-afro-american on bass?

Mick Karn. I believe he is Cypriot/British.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35trBS-LWok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp-qt5gRqA4

Full disclosure; I am a mostly white guy who grew up in a black neighborhood, going to black schools and churches in New Orleans. So I guess I should be effortlessly funky right?
 
#145
drasticDUB said:
..I may just have an idealistic thing in my head about race and music...white funker,...
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I read several (too numerous to mention) examples above :cool:

drasticDUB said:
...black rocker, ...
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Darius Rucker, Lenny Kravitz, etc. :cool:

drasticDUB said:
asian jazz, whatever...I just feel it really doesn't matter at all, so why ask about what color someone is, or what color they sound like.

and as far as me "getting out..." I do get out, and play music professionally with all sorts of different colored people!
Click to expand...

Asian jazz... ooooohhhh, I must recommend some Jeff Kashiwa (probably my all-time favorite artist :cool:)
 
#148
Kwesi said:
I'm sure you read the first post but let me summarize it for you; he's asking, plain and simple, who are some funky, non-black bassists? That's it. No plot by the KKK. No underlying agenda. Just a question! He did not say nor did he imply (at least to me), in any way, shape or form, that black people are inherently funkier by default.
Click to expand...

I think the problem lies in the fact that he didn't just ask that- I doubt it would draw much controversy if he did. It's this portion of his question that is troublesome:

bassguy74 said:
Someone who you would guess was a Black bassist w/o seeing them, but who turned out to be White, Latin, Indian, East Indian, Middle Eastern, etc.
Click to expand...

There's just a whole lot of bad presumption in that statement. A similar example would be the fact that there are more doctorates handed out to whites in the US than blacks every year. That fact would not take away from the offense some might take if someone asked, "did you ever make an appointment with a qualified doctor, and then they turned out to be black?" It's unfair to both sides of the issue. I wouldn't take issue with the thread if not for that last part.
 
#149
JAUQO III-X said:
Some of the names mentioned in this thread are not funky at all.

Maybe some just needs a hero for their race.

I think some of the names mentioned are mentioned simply because the player(s) just happens to be white.

A token of sorts.
Click to expand...

+1, some people even get slapping confused with being funky.
 
#150
Bryan R. Tyler said:
I think the problem lies in the fact that he didn't just ask that- I doubt it would draw much controversy if he did. It's this portion of his question that is troublesome:



There's just a whole lot of bad presumption in that statement. A similar example would be the fact that there are more doctorates handed out to whites in the US than blacks every year. That fact would not take away from the offense some might take if someone asked, "did you ever make an appointment with a qualified doctor, and then they turned out to be black?" It's unfair to both sides of the issue. I wouldn't take issue with the thread if not for that last part.
Click to expand...

+1,That is exactly the issue I was trying to point out and I was going to say the same thing with the same analogy . Thank you Bryan for clarifying the point so well.
 
#151
Bryan R. Tyler said:
I think the problem lies in the fact that he didn't just ask that- I doubt it would draw much controversy if he did. It's this portion of his question that is troublesome:



There's just a whole lot of bad presumption in that statement. A similar example would be the fact that there are more doctorates handed out to whites in the US than blacks every year. That fact would not take away from the offense some might take if someone asked, "did you ever make an appointment with a qualified doctor, and then they turned out to be black?" It's unfair to both sides of the issue. I wouldn't take issue with the thread if not for that last part.
Click to expand...

some people are just a bit more inherently racist than others, but I'm not quite ready to believe that the OP is causing any real harm here. I can't personally say I've NEVER made racial assumptions about a musical group I've heard. However, the thread may actually be one of the most pointless I've ever seen here, maybe on par with "bassists who wear hats."
 
#152
Ok I think some people are totally confused about funky.
Funky means it can be danced to, bares a passing resemblance to the sex act, and is above all, derivative of James Brown.
If someone invented a time machine and went back and killed JB's mom before he was born, there would never had been funk.

A lot of these guys play way too fast to be funky.
Les Claypool? Mark King? If it's too fast to shake your ass to, then it is certainly not funky.
I don't hear any sweeps or arpeggiatted nonsense in "Cissy Strut" or 'Hot Pants".
Another example, Flea on the first couple of RHCP records, funky. Later stuff, not so much.


As far as race/not race. I am really not sure which is worse. People that are unintentionally racist or people that call everything racist. Just because someone doesn't intend to stereotype people, they still do it. To a large part people have preconceived notions based on race. They get this crap from movie and TV mostly. What do you see in movies and tv over and over? White guys ridiculed for attempting to play black music. Black guys are mostly portrayed as thugs, rappers or athletes. Then there are the movies with Queen Latifah or Eddie Murphy doing "white people stuff". The plot line is all about racial harmony and cant we all just get along despite our differences. But the subtext is that white and black people are different.
So people have these silly ideas about black people, chinese people. mexicans etc. Doesnt mean they think they are inferior or hate them. I got relatives that say dumb stuff like "Mexicans carry knives". I have to remind them that I am a quarter mexican and I dont have a knife (ok just a little one). Then they fall over themselves apologizing. Few people intend to be racist, it just happens by accident.
Then there are the PC types that call you racist if you dont like rap, or if you dont like a particular black person.
Or they analyze your words for clues to your real meaning. they misquote you to make you sound racist when really you were just quoting your favorite hip-hop bands?
Is it racist when asian kids use the N-word?
Like my African American friend Mel. Played bass in a couple bands. Very un-funky. Strictly new wave/gothy stuff. So not what you would expect of a black person right?
Yeah, well she is a white girl from Johannesburg South Africa. Lives in America now.
African-American.
 
#153
Calaverasgrande said:
Ok I think some people are totally confused about funky.
Funky means it can be danced to, bares a passing resemblance to the sex act, and is above all, derivative of James Brown.
If someone invented a time machine and went back and killed JB's mom before he was born, there would never had been funk.

A lot of these guys play way too fast to be funky.
Les Claypool? Mark King? If it's too fast to shake your ass to, then it is certainly not funky.
I don't hear any sweeps or arpeggiatted nonsense in "Cissy Strut" or 'Hot Pants".
Another example, Flea on the first couple of RHCP records, funky. Later stuff, not so much.
Click to expand...

Based on your last two posts I think you're the one who's confused about funky as well as a handful of other posters in this thread. If you think Victor Wooten isn't funky then you clearly haven't listened to enough of him. Check it:

Calaverasgrande said:
As far as race/not race. I am really not sure which is worse. People that are unintentionally racist or people that call everything racist. Just because someone doesn't intend to stereotype people, they still do it. To a large part people have preconceived notions based on race. They get this crap from movie and TV mostly. What do you see in movies and tv over and over? White guys ridiculed for attempting to play black music. Black guys are mostly portrayed as thugs, rappers or athletes. Then there are the movies with Queen Latifah or Eddie Murphy doing "white people stuff". The plot line is all about racial harmony and cant we all just get along despite our differences. But the subtext is that white and black people are different.
So people have these silly ideas about black people, chinese people. mexicans etc. Doesnt mean they think they are inferior or hate them. I got relatives that say dumb stuff like "Mexicans carry knives". I have to remind them that I am a quarter mexican and I dont have a knife (ok just a little one). Then they fall over themselves apologizing. Few people intend to be racist, it just happens by accident.
Then there are the PC types that call you racist if you dont like rap, or if you dont like a particular black person.
Or they analyze your words for clues to your real meaning. they misquote you to make you sound racist when really you were just quoting your favorite hip-hop bands?
Is it racist when asian kids use the N-word?
Like my African American friend Mel. Played bass in a couple bands. Very un-funky. Strictly new wave/gothy stuff. So not what you would expect of a black person right?
Yeah, well she is a white girl from Johannesburg South Africa. Lives in America now.
African-American.
Click to expand...

I think this is bringing up A LOT of stuff that is only attached to this thread and it's topic by strands. IMO, this is very much the wrong place for that.
 
#154
Bryan R. Tyler said:
There's just a whole lot of bad presumption in that statement. A similar example would be the fact that there are more doctorates handed out to whites in the US than blacks every year. That fact would not take away from the offense some might take if someone asked, "did you ever make an appointment with a qualified doctor, and then they turned out to be black?" It's unfair to both sides of the issue. I wouldn't take issue with the thread if not for that last part.
Click to expand...

Ok, yeah. I can see where you're coming from. At the same time I don't think you can really fault someone for closely associating funk with Black people even now, especially if that person happen to come from a non-Black created music background. Also, should he actually believe that black people are naturally funkier, I don't think it's so much of a bad presumption so much as a simply incorrect one. I'm just arguing semantics here but in your example with the doctor the person who thought this would be assuming that seeing an educated black person was unexpected while in the case of music, presuming one to be "un-funky" isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a different thing.

I do see now, how the OP might have worded his first post better though, thanks.
 
#155
This is a really dumb question, on many levels.

It might possibly once have been the case that only black people "played funky". But I can't imagine that lasted for very long. Music has always been a mixture, in the US, in UK, Europe, Asia - Everywhere!!

Nowadays, decades after the inception of Funk, it's an international thing, that goes across many cultures, with TV and internet, that music belongs to everyone, the color thing has GONE.

Black people: why are you so funky? why are you so good at rap? why are you so soulful / good at running / great sense of rhythm / teeth so white?

:rollno:

I mean, c'mon.. its just sooooooooo stupid to say or ask these things.

Get with the times people.

:eyebrow:
 
#157
Kwesi said:
Based on your last two posts I think you're the one who's confused about funky as well as a handful of other posters in this thread. If you think Victor Wooten isn't funky then you clearly haven't listened to enough of him. Check it:
You gotta respect any hip hop act with a tuba!

Speaking of colorblindness, I used to do sound for a hiphop act that was a white guy and a black guy. We would always run into ignorant attitudes. No matter that the white guy was the most talented one and al the beats were done by the palest most gothy looking dude you ever met!
Silly.
Music is notes not colors.
Click to expand...
 
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