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Most Transparent Bassist albums

Kwesi

Kwesi

Sep 19, 2007
8,150
161
35
USA; Mitchellville, Maryland
#1
In my experience, if a bassist makes a solo album (bassist name on the album or bassist as the lead composer/writer, not an album with only bass on it) you will know 100% that a bassist created that album. But, every once in a while an album will come out where you really wouldn't be able to tell if you hadn't seen the cover. I want to know what albums you guys think would fall into this category. Here are some of mine (links/clips appreciated):

Brian Bromberg - In the Spirit of Jobim

Tony Grey - Moving...

Tony Grey - Chasing Shadows
 
#3
+100 on Bona's records. Another one that comes to mind is "Resonator" by Tony Levin, the bass is prominent but serves well the songs without too much flashes (except for a couple of songs) and plus it's a vocal albums.
In the jazz/fusion field I'd say "Mariella's Dream" by Oscar Stagnaro, there is some virtuoso playing and bass solos but it's more an esemble playing affair than a solo bass album.
 
#4
Hehe, it's honest amazing that I don't own a Bona album yet. As much as I love his playing and general approach to music, the only CD I have with him on it has him backing Gil Goldenstein. There was one album of his that I searched high and low for only to find it for (Munia: The Tale Japanese Import Edition) that I just couldn't bring myself to buy when I found it for $40 :(. I really wanted it for Bona's take on Liberty City, lol. I'll pick up something of his soon for sure.

I have a feeling I'll be grabbing Mariella's Dream soon too. I love latin jazz fusion and at least from youtube and the itunes previews it sounds like a great album.
 
#5
Kwesi said:
Hehe, it's honest amazing that I don't own a Bona album yet. As much as I love his playing and general approach to music, the only CD I have with him on it has him backing Gil Goldenstein. There was one album of his that I searched high and low for only to find it for (Munia: The Tale Japanese Import Edition) that I just couldn't bring myself to buy when I found it for $40 :(. I really wanted it for Bona's take on Liberty City, lol. I'll pick up something of his soon for sure.

I have a feeling I'll be grabbing Mariella's Dream soon too. I love latin jazz fusion and at least from youtube and the itunes previews it sounds like a great album.
Click to expand...

Yeah, grab "Mariella.." it's a great album with amazing musicianship but not "wanking"...plus it has the best version of "Fall" I've heard until now (except the original of course)..
 
#7
MixBass said:
Richard Bona comes to mind. I know there was a touch of criticism early on because the bass players wanted to hear him solo and that wasn't the vibe. Beautiful records.
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+1 All the way. I don't dig Bona's over the top playing when he is a sideman (like with Stern or whatever). But his solo CD's are just amazing... beautiful music.

Some of the later John Patitucci CD's are similar... great writing more than lots of bass solo chops.

Also, while the bass does have a strong presence on her CD, Tal Wilkenfeld's solo CD is a step above the typical 'bass chops/professional practicer' type solo bass CD's.... great writing, and a focus on the ensemble and the tune.
 
#8
KJung said:
+1 All the way. I don't dig Bona's over the top playing when he is a sideman (like with Stern or whatever). But his solo CD's are just amazing... beautiful music.

Some of the later John Patitucci CD's are similar... great writing more than lots of bass solo chops.

Also, while the bass does have a strong presence on her CD, Tal Wilkenfeld's solo CD is a step above the typical 'bass chops/professional practicer' type solo bass CD's.... great writing, and a focus on the ensemble and the tune.
Click to expand...

Like Bona, I'm a huge fan of Patitucci here but I still have only managed to get his first album which I would've put on this list if not for "Growing" and one or two other tracks that were great (the whole album was) but were clearly for the bassists :). I was super close to putting Tal's CD on here too... not entirely sure why I didn't, lol. Like you said, it's very well written and is much more of a group showcase than one for a bassist. The fact that it's her first album makes it all the more surprising because so many bassists' first albums either turn out badly or are just far too bass-laden for their own and everyone else's good.
 
#9
Without a doubt, Reid Anderson's "Abolish Bad Architecture". If you're unfamiliar, he's the bass player from The Bad Plus, but this was recorded before any of the TBP stuff. Great jazz record, highly underrated and definitely not a bass-first record.
 
#10
Kwesi said:
Like Bona, I'm a huge fan of Patitucci here but I still have only managed to get his first album which I would've put on this list if not for "Growing" and one or two other tracks that were great (the whole album was) but were clearly for the bassists :). I was super close to putting Tal's CD on here too... not entirely sure why I didn't, lol. Like you said, it's very well written and is much more of a group showcase than one for a bassist. The fact that it's her first album makes it all the more surprising because so many bassists' first albums either turn out badly or are just far too bass-laden for their own and everyone else's good.
Click to expand...

I just picked up the relatively new Patitucci trio CD with Joe Lovano (I'm not sure I spelled that correctly... the post bop sax player). It's quite good and swingin'!
 
#11
KJung said:
Some of the later John Patitucci CD's are similar... great writing more than lots of bass solo chops.
Click to expand...

I agree.
His debut album, too, IMO. At that time, I was over bass-led albums...Patitucci's debut impressed me as "more about the band/tunes" than bass gymnastics.

Another cool one-
Soul Machine by Fima Ephron.

...and there's anything by Dave Holland, Ben Allison, Charles Fambrough, Avashai Cohen...Charles Mingus.
;)
 
#14
Lots a great examples out there. One other that springs to mind is Chris Squire's Fish out of Water. Was just listening to it the other day and I was reminded what a great piece of work it is. If that were the only thing Squire had ever done, I'd still be impressed with him.
 
#15
JimK said:
Another cool one-
Soul Machine by Fima Ephron.

...and there's anything by Dave Holland, Ben Allison, Charles Fambrough, Avashai Cohen...Charles Mingus.
;)
Click to expand...

I really dig Fima's latest 'City Quiet' too, also another nod for Avishai and Tal's CDs.
I'm late to the game with bassist Ben Allison, but I've been trying to catch up with his work too, this week I've really been digging his 'Think Free' CD.
 
#18
I guess we are talking about 'virtuoso' bassists' solo albums here and, IME, virtuosi can only go so far when it comes to creating transparent albums. But if not talking about such players, I'd include every Sting album on my list. If we're talking purely about 'legendary' level bassists, then maybe Holy Cow by Billy Sheehan would be my pick. It definitely has its bass moments but there are some really well composed songs too.
 

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