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Double Bass Marc Johnson

msw

msw

Aug 21, 2003
322
314
69
Massachusetts
#1
I just returned from hearing Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson and Joey Barron at Lincoln Center. They are there through Sunday. They are doing a tribute to the late Bill Evans and some Brazilian music as well. I can only say that I was astounded by all of them!
 
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#3
I saw the same trio at Newport over the summer. They were in one of the small stages, not the big stage. They were one of the best performances of the whole weekend. Marc's playing is phenomenal.

I got a chance to chat with Marc after the show. Nice guy and great player.

At the time, he had one of his Juzeks on consignment at Gage's shop in NY.

There are two on Gage's website for sale, I wonder if one is Marc's?
 
#5
I just got back from hearing Marc Johnson with Eliane Elias and Adam Nussbaum at Yoshi's. Excellent show. Marc sounded great as always and he played an absolutely gorgeous arco solo on Desafinado. They also played a heartbreakingly beautiful unrecorded Bill Evans tune. Apparently, Bill gave Marc a cassette of some new tunes he was working on the week before he died. I believe Eliane said the tape was left unplayed until recently. She transcribed one of the tunes and wrote lyrics and sang it this evening--very emotional moment.






bob
 
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#6
I saw the trio (this time with Billy Hart on drums) last night at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles. Simply phenomenal! Ditto the arco solo on Desifinado - sublime!

For those interested, Marc was playing the Kolstein travel bass with an Avalon U5 preamp and then through the house GK amp. Last year (when I saw him there with John Abercrombie), he was playing what looked like a significantly modified Eminence through the same setup.

I would kill to play with a drummer as tasteful and sensitive as Billy Hart but I would love to hear a whole set of Marc without a drummer sometime. His time, intonation, articulaton, and solo ideas are among the best ever. What a player!

Tonight is their last night (3/22). I would highly recommend seeing them.

Tom
 
#8
clink said:
http://www.shermusic.com/cncpbass.htm
I just got this book yesterday and highly recommend it. With two companion CD's of Marc playing the ideas in the book, it is a lot to work on. I will be busy with this for quite some time. Yes, his intonation, ideas and chops are special.
Click to expand...


Great book. I've been using it for the better part of 5 years and I've still only worked through about 1/3 of the stuff in it.
 
#10
bassphase said:
I just got back from hearing Marc Johnson with Eliane Elias and Adam Nussbaum at Yoshi's. Excellent show. Marc sounded great as always and he played an absolutely gorgeous arco solo on Desafinado. They also played a heartbreakingly beautiful unrecorded Bill Evans tune. Apparently, Bill gave Marc a cassette of some new tunes he was working on the week before he died. I believe Eliane said the tape was left unplayed until recently. She transcribed one of the tunes and wrote lyrics and sang it this evening--very emotional moment.
Click to expand...
Marc and his wife Eliane have a CD out that is a tribute to Bill Evans. It's called Something For You. The CD contains two pieces that they worked up based on material from the practice cassette w/ Evans that you mentioned, and one track from the cassette itself.

Courtesy of Barry Kolstein, Marc actually played Scott LaFaro's bass on one or more of the tracks. It was the first time since Scott's death that the bass has been used for a recording.

I learned all this from the April 2008 edition of Bass Player magazine.
 
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#15
sean_on_bass said:
Click to expand...


There ya go!

I'm no expert but what I learned over the years is that in old-school Brazilian music the dotted quarter & eighth pattern -- bum, bah-bum, bah-bum -- is in the bass drum. The bass part is half notes, with the occasional fill of bum bah-bum used intentionally. And that first tune is a top example of how well that works.

Try it. Things just fall into place.
 
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#16
Sam Sherry said:
There ya go!

I'm no expert but what I learned over the years is that in old-school Brazilian music the dotted quarter & eighth pattern -- bum, bah-bum, bah-bum -- is in the bass drum. The bass part is half notes, with the occasional fill of bum bah-bum used intentionally. And that first tune is a top example of how well that works.

Try it. Things just fall into place.
Click to expand...
I’ve always found that by playing the first half note short and the second half note longer and accented (mirroring the high and low-pitched surdo) it provides a nice “lift” to the groove.
 
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#19
Sam Sherry said:
There ya go!

I'm no expert but what I learned over the years is that in old-school Brazilian music the dotted quarter & eighth pattern -- bum, bah-bum, bah-bum -- is in the bass drum. The bass part is half notes, with the occasional fill of bum bah-bum used intentionally. And that first tune is a top example of how well that works.

Try it. Things just fall into place.
Click to expand...
I was taught this by drummer Jimmy Madison on a gig at the Playboy Club in NYC (70's?).
I believe he accredited Harvey Schwartz as his source.
 
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