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Multi-instrumentalist bassists

#43
bigdaddybass12 said:
I would love the opportunity to play bass for a jazz group
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My friend, it is the most liberating and exciting thing when you can do it. I am one of the only non-ironic lovers of contemporary jazz I know (my wife calls it "elevator music"), but for some reason, I'm a huge fan, and playing bass in that genre to me is more fun than any other. Only thing that gets close to it for me is yacht rock, but that's hard to do because finding singers who can pull it off is insanely difficult.

Boney (his name is actually James Oppenheim) was the one who turned me on to the genre, in about '95 or '96. Remember when cable TV offered radio stations at the high end of their channel lists? I stumbled on the "Smooth Jazz" station one day and I heard stuff like Norman Brown, Rippingtons, Jeff Lorber Fusion, Spyro Gyra, etc. and the rest is history. It's my favorite genre for listening and playing, and I'm not talking casual fan either; like it's pretty bad lol. I actually grew up around Grover Washington Jr. and Bob James records, so the fact that 20+ years after I connected the dots and "came back home" is no surprise (I started playing bass in classic rock around '88, then grunge hit when I was in college, so I spent some time in that stuff first). Funny too, because I still buy their physical product (CDs) and do my best to attend shows and what not. Haven't been on a Dave Koz Cruise yet, but it's on the bucket list.
 
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#44
Bass-ball said:
My friend, it is the most liberating and exciting thing when you can do it. I am one of the only non-ironic lovers of contemporary jazz I know (my wife calls it "elevator music"), but for some reason, I'm a huge fan, and playing bass in that genre to me is more fun than any other. Only thing that gets close to it for me is yacht rock, but that's hard to do because finding singers who can pull it off is insanely difficult.

Boney (his name is actually James Oppenheim) was the one who turned me on to the genre, in about '95 or '96. Remember when cable TV offered radio stations at the high end of their channel lists? I stumbled on the "Smooth Jazz" station one day and I heard stuff like Norman Brown, Rippingtons, Jeff Lorber Fusion, Spyro Gyra, etc. and the rest is history. It's my favorite genre for listening and playing, and I'm not talking casual fan either; like it's pretty bad lol. I actually grew up around Grover Washington Jr. and Bob James records, so the fact that 20+ years after I connected the dots and "came back home" is no surprise (I started playing bass in classic rock around '88, then grunge hit when I was in college, so I spent some time in that stuff first). Funny too, because I still buy their physical product (CDs) and do my best to attend shows and what not. Haven't been on a Dave Koz Cruise yet, but it's on the bucket list.
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yes! I bet is really great experience ! I am a few years older than you but loved Grover Washington, George benson Spyra gyra, all the early 'modern' jazz. Listen to pandora smooth jazz. I don't live in a jazz area. No one plays it nearby. There is a jazz foundation in a nearby town, its kinda a jam, at some snobby restaurant. it is usually music majors, or smart @&$ with a Doctorate in music, playing $5000 basses. I haven't even tried it. Give me some smoky jazz beer joint with people who appreciate talent who does not have Dr or professor before their name!
Do you like 480 east? It's a little fusion jazz. Listen to waterline
 
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#47
bigdaddybass12 said:
yes! I bet is really great experience ! I am a few years older than you but loved Grover Washington, George benson Spyra gyra, all the early 'modern' jazz. Listen to pandora smooth jazz. I don't live in a jazz area. No one plays it nearby. There is a jazz foundation in a nearby town, its kinda a jam, at some snobby restaurant. it is usually music majors, or smart @&$ with a Doctorate in music, playing $5000 basses. I haven't even tried it. Give me some smoky jazz beer joint with people who appreciate talent who does not have Dr or professor before their name!
Do you like 480 east? It's a little fusion jazz. Listen to waterline
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Similar situation. Currently it's all "virtual band" right now. Not nearly as fun as live, but it's something. So live stuff is out. And I moved during COVID to an area where everyone either wants bassists for "pop-punk" or metal, neither of which I have any interest in playing.

Oh boy, do I love Four80East. Discovered them with the "Roll On" album, which is a bit more electronic than their other stuff, but the grooves in it are so good. They remind me of 3rd Force a bit sometimes. And that whole "En Route" album that has Waterline on it is killer. The bassline in that song is a great exercise in resting and mute control. Love it.

Oh, George Benson is great. Used to cover "Affirmation" a lot. His Breezin' album is one of my all-time favorites.

What's also funny to me is how a lot of beginners fetishize slapping like it's the quintessential bass playing skill. So when I say online that "there's a TON of slapping in my genre" they're always super intrigued, and then I link to them like a random Norman Brown or Spyro Gyra song that has a few pops and slaps, I can only imagine their look of disappointment when it isn't some sort of Primus or Rage Against the Machine sound-alike. So yeah, the smooth jazz genre has something for everyone, and none of it is done in any sort of excess or show off manner.

Anyway, happy to know there's another contempo geek in here. There are dozens of us! Dozens, I tell you! ;-)
 
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#49
Ye
Levent said:
I recently read here that ''bass is a function, not an instrument'', and those are seperate bass instruments :roflmao:
I don't concur but It helps inflate my CV.:cool:
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Yeah, I was viewed as a traitor back when I dabbled with synth bass in the 80's, like it wasn't legit or an unworthy substitute. I suspected that attitude was denial of the future of music, or a level of curmudgeonism, but keys, regardless of what range you're playing in, definitely is another instrument, as is upright.
 
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#50
Mark King of Level 42. Bass was actually his third or fourth instrument. He started as a drummer at nine, and took up guitar at eleven, and was apparently good at both. Phil Gould says King was a better drummer at 15 than he was. He only started playing bass because he said he played it to get a music store job when he moved to London. He played drums and guitar on The Official Secrets Act, the second album by Robin Scott's M project.

Jerome Harris, who early in his career played bass for Sonny Rollins, then in the late '80s and early '90s played guitar for Rollins.
 
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#51
Michedelic said:
Ye

Yeah, I was viewed as a traitor back when I dabbled with synth bass in the 80's, like it wasn't legit or an unworthy substitute. I suspected that attitude was denial of the future of music, or a level of curmudgeonism, but keys, regardless of what range you're playing in, definitely is another instrument, as is upright.
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Yeah, look at now, many "modern" players have a Novation front of their bass rig, It's same function, different flavours imho.
 
#53
tim gueguen said:
Jerome Harris, who early in his career played bass for Sonny Rollins, then in the late '80s and early '90s played guitar for Rollins.
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Great player too, brilliantly creative without being in the "Hey Look At Me, Check Out This Flashy Trick!" camp. Harris doesn't get enough love on TB.


Has anyone mentioned Tony Levin in this thread yet? He plays electric bass and upright bass, but also Chapman Stick and keyboards. SOMETIMES ALL AT THE SAME TIME! I saw King Crimson's Three Of A Perfect Pair tour circa 1985 and for one tune ("Dig Me") Tony would play the verses on Stick, the choruses on bass, and this weird transitional figure that appears at the start of each verse on a keyboard synthesizer. Oh yeah, plus he sang on the choruses. He looked like Dick Van Dyke in the Mary Poppins movie with the Stick and the bass both strapped on and the keys on a stand in front.

And didn't he also play tuba on Peter Gabriel's first album?
 
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