Some tasty Joe Pass with my mentor, Red Mitchell.
IMO, Red could bring out the best in everybody.
IMO, Red could bring out the best in everybody.
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Double Bass Joe 'N Red.
- Thread starter Paul Warburton
- Start date
I didn't know a lot about Red before I started posting here and heard Paul talking about him but I've come to really dig what he does a lot. He seems to have found a great balance between that high speed, amped sound while retaining a great swinging feel. I wish he was still around to see.
Have you checked out Red's older stuff with guts in 4ths, Flanning? 50's & 60's. Then the steel string stuff in 4ths after that......all before he went with the amp and 5th tuning. Highly recommended.
Who was he playing with back then (I don't know if he was recording with his own group by that point)? I'd love to hear some of what he did before he started in with the amp. He makes the over-the-fingerboard stuff sound great but it's definitely not my own playstyle.
Easier to say who he didn't play and record with. From Billie Holliday on down down the line.
Google and Search my Red Threads here at TB.
And www.redmitchell.com
Holy Hell PDub. I'm not sure where to start. Time to make a trip to Portland and it's record stores for an exploratory mission.
I suggest you start with Red's site. There's two long interviews with a young lady where Red gives his history and the actual history of the bass in jazz. He's is one of our major contributers in this music although having not gotten much credit for it because of the years he spent as The MGM Movie Orchestra's Principal bassist and the fact that he chose to move to Sweden to devote his time to playing jazz.
The music player up in the home page's right hand corner has some of his first quintet's stuff and if you scroll down to the bottom of the player by using the little block at the top to "You'd be so nice to come home to" you can hear him playing some funky jazz cello tuned in 4ths with Jim Hall, Frank Strazzeri, Frank Butler and Jimmy Bond on bass from the 60's. I played some jazz cello and bass with Red one night in Hollywood when I was a kid. He was a fabulous pianist, poet and singer of political type material as well as a great humorist.
Thanks for your interest.....
The music player up in the home page's right hand corner has some of his first quintet's stuff and if you scroll down to the bottom of the player by using the little block at the top to "You'd be so nice to come home to" you can hear him playing some funky jazz cello tuned in 4ths with Jim Hall, Frank Strazzeri, Frank Butler and Jimmy Bond on bass from the 60's. I played some jazz cello and bass with Red one night in Hollywood when I was a kid. He was a fabulous pianist, poet and singer of political type material as well as a great humorist.
Thanks for your interest.....
Also, the video clips on youtube and his site with Bill Mays, Clark Terry, Zoot Simms, Jim Hall and Chet Baker. (Red plays piano on the Chet clip).
The clips from The International Society of Bassists on his site are great too. His wife, Diane, camera pans his audience that is filled with the most important classical bassists of the time. Paul Ellison, Gary Karr and Rabbath to name a few.
The clips from The International Society of Bassists on his site are great too. His wife, Diane, camera pans his audience that is filled with the most important classical bassists of the time. Paul Ellison, Gary Karr and Rabbath to name a few.
So I've just spent a couple hours listening to Red the website and youtube, etc (yea I didn't even realize it had been that long) and the thing that seems to stand out the most to me is that he seems to be able to find a way to fit his own personal style directly into the style of whoever he's playing with. The stylistic differences in his playing are really HUGE between something like 'Have You Met Miss Jones' (with Joe Pass it sounds like) and 'Osaka Express' (Jim Hall?) but you can still immediately tell it's Red. Maybe it was the years of studio playing but he's so great at making the take sound like a cohesive idea between the players.
Yeah, Flanning, true.
Nobody in this thread but us because I do so much Red touting, mainly to younger players who aren't aware of his work, here that most of the guys have read it before and most of the stronger jazz bassists here are Red fans as well.
In terms of his rhythm section work I prefer the older 50's and 60's 4ths tuning stuff. I grew up on the Hampton Hawes Trio records on the old Contemporary record label. His lines on those records are just beautiful. His solo work has always been the most lyrical and horn-like of any bassist. Jim Hall said he was on the level of Lester Young's tenor solos.
When he went to the 5ths tuning he hardly played with drummers anymore because he was able to sometimes comp with double and triple stops behind the soloist more like a guitarist than a bassist. Also his sound became so long that it always didn't lend itself to Ray Brown style section playing. His use of slurs, glissandi and triplets in the left hand in his solo work immediately identifies his playing both on the earlier stuff and the most current before his death. One of Red's most vocal fans was his close friend, Charlie Mingus. He was also teacher and mentor to Scott LaFaro, Charlie Haden and Gary Peacock just to name a few.
You're welcome to PM me if you'd like any more info.
Again, thanks for your interest.
Nobody in this thread but us because I do so much Red touting, mainly to younger players who aren't aware of his work, here that most of the guys have read it before and most of the stronger jazz bassists here are Red fans as well.
In terms of his rhythm section work I prefer the older 50's and 60's 4ths tuning stuff. I grew up on the Hampton Hawes Trio records on the old Contemporary record label. His lines on those records are just beautiful. His solo work has always been the most lyrical and horn-like of any bassist. Jim Hall said he was on the level of Lester Young's tenor solos.
When he went to the 5ths tuning he hardly played with drummers anymore because he was able to sometimes comp with double and triple stops behind the soloist more like a guitarist than a bassist. Also his sound became so long that it always didn't lend itself to Ray Brown style section playing. His use of slurs, glissandi and triplets in the left hand in his solo work immediately identifies his playing both on the earlier stuff and the most current before his death. One of Red's most vocal fans was his close friend, Charlie Mingus. He was also teacher and mentor to Scott LaFaro, Charlie Haden and Gary Peacock just to name a few.
You're welcome to PM me if you'd like any more info.
Again, thanks for your interest.
Paul, it is always interesting to read about Red Mitchell, even if some of this isnt breaking news, it is good to have a reminder from time to time!
I'm gonna go listen to some red right now!
I'm gonna go listen to some red right now!
I KNEW you'd at least be lurking, Chris. 
5ths tuners can smell out this ****. You're the only one around any more, no?
5ths tuners can smell out this ****. You're the only one around any more, no?
Yea, I've been lurking. If the topic is about 5ths I'll chime in, but when it's about Red usually I sit back and listen and learn.
I should probably start a thread for a 5ths roll call just to see who else on the board is playing this way, I know there are still a few out there....
I should probably start a thread for a 5ths roll call just to see who else on the board is playing this way, I know there are still a few out there....
You should do that, Chris. I think we have a coupla classical guys in 5th here. Drop me a link in case I don't see it if you do do that voodoo that you do.
I'm tagging along, I just have nothing to contribute 
I'm soaking up all this Red info, its new to me. I'm totally tripping out over his use of double and triple stops while 'comping'.
I'm soaking up all this Red info, its new to me. I'm totally tripping out over his use of double and triple stops while 'comping'.
I'm tagging along, I just have nothing to contribute
I'm soaking up all this Red info, its new to me. I'm totally tripping out over his use of double and triple stops while 'comping'.
Not true, Man. Your contribution is Bumping this thread which, in turn, turns more members of the board onto to Red.
Thanks.
Maybe this is a bit OT, but, since you're at it, besides listening to Red, pay attention to Joe as well: too many people only know about the up-tempo virtuoso Pass, and there's much more about his playing, as this track demonstrates, a complete guitar artist, a class only a few others belong to. Red was in proper company!
I sure do agree with that, Fabian. It seems that most clips of Joe on the Tube are all about "chops". (that one side with Niels is titled thus, even). And the stuff with O.P., as well.
He was a real swinger and very musical as well. IMO, those fast Donna Lee kinda stuff are are more about muscle memory than about being truly musical.
He was a real swinger and very musical as well. IMO, those fast Donna Lee kinda stuff are are more about muscle memory than about being truly musical.
