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Double Bass Gary Peacock info?

#21
you can definitely hear the change in garys playing & sound from the mitchell / ayler days to his work w/ keith & jack.
possibly due to a different bass & strings than he uses now, different time & place, different mindset...the whole psychological thing.

i love the guy & the more i catch his homespun dvd...there's something else to try. his approach to the physical aspect, has my interest now, along with his take on key / tone centers, such as "all the things you are". i wish he would have gotten into "thumb position" even a little bit, & maybe a little less on "solfegio". but it is what it is.

the jarrett trio dvd's (& cd's) are obviously a revealing testament of gary's playing...but on a number of the songs,
it's like the engineers at the live venues & at ECM forgot about him...which is friggin unbelieveable.
 
#22
part of the difference between they way GP sounds w/ Ayler and Jarrett is down to who he's playing with. OBviously he has also developed a lot during that time, but if you listen to recent recordings of him with Paul Bley or Marilyn Crispell they have much more in common with the Ayler stuff.
I often think its a bit of a shame how safe GP and JdJ play in the Jarrett trio, although its still great playing... there are moments when KJ clearly cuts GP off mid-solo as well.

ps: welcome back Paul!
 
#23
oliebrice said:
part of the difference between they way GP sounds w/ Ayler and Jarrett is down to who he's playing with. OBviously he has also developed a lot during that time, but if you listen to recent recordings of him with Paul Bley or Marilyn Crispell they have much more in common with the Ayler stuff.
I often think its a bit of a shame how safe GP and JdJ play in the Jarrett trio, although its still great playing... there are moments when KJ clearly cuts GP off mid-solo as well.

ps: welcome back Paul!
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Thanks Olie:)
 
#24
olie...i cant recall keith cutting gary on either the "open theater" or "orchard hall" concert dvd's, or the live "blue note" cd's. of course they're all from early to mid 90's, which may explain it.

possibly you're citing more recent concerts, since gary has dealt with his cancer. maybe there are nites that are more difficult for him & all 3 cats do what they have to do. i dont know them personally, but cant imagine keith cutting anyone.
just my opinion olie...i'm not cuttin you, believe me.


paul...you mention comparisons with scotty, which i also agree. do you think gary was more comparable to scotty 40 years ago...or more so today? and in what ways do they compare?
 
#25
bruce malcolm said:
olie...i cant recall keith cutting gary on either the "open theater" or "orchard hall" concert dvd's, or the live "blue note" cd's. of course they're all from early to mid 90's, which may explain it.

possibly you're citing more recent concerts, since gary has dealt with his cancer. maybe there are nites that are more difficult for him & all 3 cats do what they have to do. i dont know them personally, but cant imagine keith cutting anyone.
just my opinion olie...i'm not cuttin you, believe me.


paul...you mention comparisons with scotty, which i also agree. do you think gary was more comparable to scotty 40 years ago...or more so today? and in what ways do they compare?
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Even when Gary played with Bill, he was playing much more over the bar lines than Scott, if you remember Bruce. He always had an affinity to do that. I had problems listening to some of his solos just because of that...once I understood over the bar playing, and displacement it was no problem....very exciting. There's that great tape out of Bill on Marian McPartlands Piano Jazz program from public radio where Bill explains displacement on All Of You. I'm assuming you're all familiar with this...if not, it would make a great topic.
I think Gary can be compared to Scott mainly for his right hand, two fingered plucking style. Although Gary never played in the thumb positions as much as Scott, this is a technique they both learned from Red Mitchell while studying with him.
Mainy great bassists can be tracked back to Red either by direct study, or just as an infuence....many TBers just aren't aware of the huge scope of influence Red provided for jazz Bassists! SORRY. I promise not to go off on Red, but listen closely to Don Thomson sometime.
 
#26
re Jarrett interrupting one of Gary Peacock's solos, one example that comes to mind is 'Chelsea Bridge' on 'Whisper Not'.

re Red Mitchell's influence: Paul, have you heard the Lee Konitz album 'Its You'? Beautiful trio record with Ron McClure and Billy Hart, but theres one track (I can't remember which one now, maybe 'Angel Eyes'?) where Ron McClure sounds exactly like Red, to my ears at least...
 
#27
oliebrice said:
re Jarrett interrupting one of Gary Peacock's solos, one example that comes to mind is 'Chelsea Bridge' on 'Whisper Not'.

re Red Mitchell's influence: Paul, have you heard the Lee Konitz album 'Its You'? Beautiful trio record with Ron McClure and Billy Hart, but theres one track (I can't remember which one now, maybe 'Angel Eyes'?) where Ron McClure sounds exactly like Red, to my ears at least...
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Yea Olie....I haven't heard that one, but I read an interview with Ron once where he said Red was directly responsible for a huge amount of his playing....something in the 90% area!
Good point man!
The planet is crawling with Red inspired bassists and some don't even know it!
 
#28
paul...i've never heard those terms "over the bar" & "displacement", but in the context of gary, scotty, bill evans & yourself, i think i know what you're talkin about.

but you're right, it probably deserves it's own thread...so i'll probably kick it if no one else does.

do you know how long gary was with bill evans?
what was the reason for their split?
this must be when you took over the evans bass chair? />)
 
#29
paul...i kicked that "over the bar" thread in the "jazz technique" forum...fyi.

i've always thought scotty (w/ evans), tends to play more notes in his solos than gary, which i'm sure is a different thing than "otb".

but i've nothing with gary & bill evans to check out, only gary w/ keith & jack. so any gary w/ bill evans cd recommendations are appreciated.

i agree, scotty plays more thumb than gary...but to me gary is a bit more melodic. of course he's had 40+ years experience at it.
 
#31
Talking with him in the alley after sound check at a gig of his I lit last summer I found out he's vehemently opposed to wiping the strings off. He figures wiping them grinds lots of gunk into the string negating the benefits of removing any filth. I pointed out that slacking them would squeeze some gunk out when the string relaxed and he thought that was a very good idea. Then I made the mistake of suggesting wiping them down when they were slack and he sez, "WIPE THEM?" and I get the "weren't you listening to what I just got done saying boy?" glare. The man certainly is very passionate.
 
#32
jbonny said:
Talking with him in the alley after sound check at a gig of his I lit last summer I found out he's vehemently opposed to wiping the strings off. He figures wiping them grinds lots of gunk into the string negating the benefits of removing any filth. I pointed out that slacking them would squeeze some gunk out when the string relaxed and he thought that was a very good idea. Then I made the mistake of suggesting wiping them down when they were slack and he sez, "WIPE THEM?" and I get the "weren't you listening to what I just got done saying boy?" glare. The man certainly is very passionate.
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We all get older....
 
#34
paul...i checked amazon for the spin on the bill evans trio 65 cd...& found that gary played on...trio 64. i believe israels is on trio 65.

ed i'm @ david gages sat & would like to pick up a copy. is that publication sold on the street at newstands, at jazz clubs or subscription?
 
#38
bruce malcolm said:
ed i'm @ david gages sat & would like to pick up a copy. is that publication sold on the street at newstands, at jazz clubs or subscription?
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It's FREE and you can pick it up at most jazz clubs, some record stores. It's also available as a pdf download at their website.
 
#40
dylanjohnson said:
i may have mentioned this before, but a drummer friend of mine from the LA area played a gig with Red and Gary switching between piano and bass (probably in the late 50s?). Wow!
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I did something on a lower scale with Red back in the 60's. We were both playing jazz cello and one night when I was in L.A. We did a Red playing bass, cello and piano, and me playing cello and bass. What an experience! He was using a 5 stringer....just before the 5th tuning switch.
 

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