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jonas hellborg
- Thread starter johhn smith
- Start date
not exclusively, from what i have heard it is mostly fretted though there are some passages on icon that are fretless, but this was to play microtones rather that traditional fretless. i believe that he played more fretless earlier in his career.
"Elegant Punk" has his best fretless work on IMO. Pieces like "Reebop" have some truely beautiful, organic fretless parts in them. He also used his Wal double neck on the Mahavishnu records, and would often swap between necks mid song!
It could be a gimmick but IMO it definitely wasn't for him. If you watch him playing something like "Are you the one?" with John Mclaughlin, he really makes the most of having two necks!
yeah, but they are not exclusively fretless recordings and the duet stuff like are you the one and goodbye pork pie hat were never recorded. i do not have any of his solo recordings before 1994 or so ... they are difficult and expensive to find, though i would really like them, and all i have of mahavishnu with him is adventures in radioland. and i agree with you that he plays the doubleneck well but i still think it's gimmicky, it's the same as any double neck in my opinion, they're all kind of gimmicky or like john maclaughlins shakti guitar or pat metheny's 42 string mazur guitar. you watch these guys and 99 percent of the time they play 6 strings.
Of his earlier solo stuff, Elegant Punk is a must have, "Bass" is a weaker, band based recording (worth it for completionists like me though!) and "The Silent Life" is an interesting acoustic statement.
I agree about them being expensive though, Elegant Punk and Bass cost me £25 a piece!
I agree about them being expensive though, Elegant Punk and Bass cost me £25 a piece!
man i'd love to get a hold of elegant punk, i have heard that it is great, plus it's always interesting to hear where someone came from ... maybe i'll break down and buy it. thanks for the information.
Yeah, it is awesome, I have to say. Without a doubt, some of Jonas's deepest, most moving work, but also full of catchy tunes!
I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite..."Glad to be back from Paris", "Rosa", "It's the Pits (slight return)", "Wal", "Northpole English"...so many amazing songs!
I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite..."Glad to be back from Paris", "Rosa", "It's the Pits (slight return)", "Wal", "Northpole English"...so many amazing songs!
Cool, thanks Johhn.
my pleasure. i see you like kai eckhardt as well. i have him on a garaj mahal cd and i've heard that the cd mahavishnu live at the royal albert hall is supposed to be great. also have you checked out bass player tv at the bassplayer.com website. there is some good video of him there.
Do you mean the "Live at the Royal Festival Hall" cd by John McLaughlin? Kai plays on this and he is absolutely fantastic. Some of the best bass playing I've ever heard in my life. Incredibly fluid, powerful, melodic stuff, and some of John's absolute best playing as well (the first 3 minutes of Florianopolis are god-like).
That CD showed me that Kai was a monster and an awesome player. Previously I had only heard him on a Billy Cobham CD and on his solo record, both of which were awful records.
That CD showed me that Kai was a monster and an awesome player. Previously I had only heard him on a Billy Cobham CD and on his solo record, both of which were awful records.
yeah, you're right, that is the name. i haven't heard it, like i said the only kai i have is mondo garaj which is a garage mahal cd and i think he does 2 tracks on que allegria ( one for sure )both of which are great and i had heard that that cd " live at the royal festival hall " is supposed to be great. thanks for your feedback, have you seen his stuff at bassplayer tv? he is also a proponent of the konokol syllable style of rhythm ( same as hellborg and mclaughlin )
Yeah, I've watched a lot of his vids there. He is a really smart player, and if you watch some of the youtube videos of him playing in the McLaughlin trio you can see some amazing displays of chops in his slap solos.
When he was using that Schack double neck, that was beyond awesome!
When he was using that Schack double neck, that was beyond awesome!
Jonas is the man!
I think I have all of his albums that are available.
Great music, great ideas.
Gerry
I think I have all of his albums that are available.
Great music, great ideas.
Gerry
you convinced me, i ordered live at the royal festival hall yesterday so it'll be in by the end of the week.
yeah i have i think 10 cds and the dvd paris. i agree, i think he is a phenomenal player and i am surprised at his lack of recognition. i originally started this thread as i was surprised after reading a lot of " who influenced you " type threads and never seeing his name. there are a lot of cool interviews with him on the web as well.
these links are to anil prasad's innerviews which is a great page that i have been going to for years. good interviews and intelligent questions, he even has a new interview with marcus miller.
http://www.innerviews.org/inner/hellborg.html
http://www.innerviews.org/
My only gripe with the Paris dvd is that Jonas is terribly quiet on it! Damn mix job! 
Fans of Jonas should check out the playing he does on Public Image Ltd's "Compact Disc" record. He only did one track but he does a great job, and it's an absolutely awesome record to boot! "Rise" is one of my favourite songs of all time!
Fans of Jonas should check out the playing he does on Public Image Ltd's "Compact Disc" record. He only did one track but he does a great job, and it's an absolutely awesome record to boot! "Rise" is one of my favourite songs of all time!
My only gripe with the Paris dvd is that Jonas is terribly quiet on it! Damn mix job!
Fans of Jonas should check out the playing he does on Public Image Ltd's "Compact Disc" record. He only did one track but he does a great job, and it's an absolutely awesome record to boot! "Rise" is one of my favourite songs of all time!
my only gripe is that there is only one dvd available. i would like to see some of his other bands, ie. the personae band with jeff sipe and shawn lane or the kali's son band with selva and niladri kumar ...
rise is a great song ... what track did he play on, i knew he had played on a track but never knew what it was.
"Ease" is the PIL track he plays on.
If you're after more Hellborg dvd's check out some of the bootleg Shawn Lane dvds that his family sells. Not always excellent quality but hey, we make do!
And as for Mattias and the Art Metal Project, I didn't really dig him that much at first since his covers of Shawn and Jonas's tracks are pretty awful since he just can't touch Shawn's style but he really comes into his own on the Art Metal record.
If you're after more Hellborg dvd's check out some of the bootleg Shawn Lane dvds that his family sells. Not always excellent quality but hey, we make do!
And as for Mattias and the Art Metal Project, I didn't really dig him that much at first since his covers of Shawn and Jonas's tracks are pretty awful since he just can't touch Shawn's style but he really comes into his own on the Art Metal record.
