Lemme take a stab at it.....
back when I was just starting on the bass (after years of trumet and classical piano training), I had it in my head that there was more to this instrument than what people were showing/telling me. To me there was this deep and poignant sound which demonstrated possibilities far beyond the simple root-note pumping I was being told, at that time, was bass playing.
Then someone loaned me that very Airplane album, "Bless It's Pointed lLttle Head"...as well a "Crown Of Creation" and that first, eponymous Hot Tuna album. And, there it was, as if the heavens had opened up! Yes, an epiphany of sorts.
Suddenly, I knew what "bass-playing" really was.
In a brief description, which is difficult with a style as deep and as well formed as Casady's, Jack's playing puts the bass upfront, yet not in a "solo" context; rather on par with the other instruments. In fact, his lines engage in a musical dialouge with the other instruments, while never upstaging them. Unlike some bassists who's lines seem to poke around here and there without ever really getting anyplace, or having much direction (or much to say), Casady's lines always get right to the heart of the matter (and always in the most original, clever and wholly musical ways), develop along the manner of well formed melodies, ebb and flow with dynamics, tension and release, and always seem to know precisely where to go and when (the man has some incredible musical radar!). Root note pedals, suspensions (even suspensions as pedal tones), counter melodies, high register runs, chordal injections, harmony and unsion melodic development,masterful right and left hand dynamics,an uncanny an unflinching ability to groove as deep and as hard as anyone ever has, and an intensity of being "in the moment"...and tone from above! These are all sigantures of the "Casady Sound".
All these things are why AJ is so deeply moved by Casady's playing.
The man is also one of the deepest, and most profound "students" of bass tone ever. A pioneer of both bass amplification, bass overdrive (his verastone overdrive tone is still a standard by which many OD's are measured) and active electronics (his experiments, with Mr. Turner and Wickersham led to the development of active electronics and the Alembic bass....of which #0001 he was the owner of. Wel, when you think of "modern bass tone", Mr Casady pretty much invented it......or at very least had a considerable hand in that development!
I should point out that Casady mostly did, and still does, play fingerstyle (even in the pick-happy 60s he was using fingers). He has one of the greatest command and knowledge of right hand dynamics of any bassist alive. In the late 80s he did a brief stint using thumbpicks while playing with the band SVT, but has never been much of a flatpick user. His 60s tone with the Jefferson Airplane was considerably brighter than many of his contemporaries (starting with Fender Jazz basses..then to Guild Starfires with heavily modified active electronics then to the very first Alembic), yet always maintained a full bottom (there is a sort of famous story of him going to the Alembic "factory" and being shown a 60,000 watt amp they had on loan from the Air Force to do sub sonic testing with..Jack quickly quipped "that'll handle my lows, now what are gonna get to run the highs...") He was also one of the first to really use amp overdrive as a tone control (controlled thru right hand dynamics)..perhaps this is where the confusion over "pick-work" comes from.
I had the privilage of meeting him once, and (besides all of the above) he is a very kind, warm and generous man...who quite freely shared his vast knowledge of bass and music.
I have a few "bass heroes"; players who's music and playing has so deeply inspired me...it is, believe it or not a short list (there is a long list of musicians, but a fairly short list of bassists). Jack Casady is right up there. And...his name is on my bass, too.
Max
