Okay, how about most versitile bassist?

I would have to say three players, P-nut, Les Claypool and Dorian 27.

 

who else?!?!

Jaco Pastorius

 

Anthony Jackson.
Close 2nd is Will Lee.

 

What about TL? jaco was pretty versatile too.

 

Tony Levin...Jeff Ament...Les Claypool...Chuck Rayney...myself (hey, how many people do you know that have three gigs in one day, classic rock, punk/ska and Chasidic Pop???)

 

Tony Levin is my personal favorite....but I have to also mention Jeff Berlin.

 

I'd have to also go with Vic (Wooten & Bailey), Les Claypool, and Otiel Burbridge.

 

Manring

 

Rock, blues, big band, punk, jazz, punk jazz... he is versatile alright, and gets my vote too. But a lot of the modern players like John Pattitucci, Victor Wooten etc. all cross boundaries into classical music and other genres. Some like Michael Manring don't fit into a genre.

 

I thought the question was "most diverse"? How the heck can you say Dorian 27? The guy plays in one band in one style!

I'd go with Tony Levin and Chuck Rainey amongst the previously mentioned. Levin has done everything from folkie singer/songwriters to prog rock and fusion, while Rainey has done jazz, soul, rock and roll, etc. But what would you expect, these guys were studio cats for years and had to be able to adapt.

I'd also toss in string bassist Richard Davis, who has played classical, jazz and rock over the years.

Honorable mention to Jack Bruce who has managed to work in blues, rock, jazz and Latin contexts.

 

Good picks,(Tony Levin too!!) I would add Bill Dickens and Marcus Miller (one look at these guys studio credits convinced me.)

 

Jerry Scheff. He's recorded for people as Diverse as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and The Doors, in styles fom Jazz to Blues, Rock, Folk, Country, etc.
Great versatile player!
Jim

 

We know Jaco and Prince was/is great composers, writers, arrangers, producers, and played about 8 intruments each...........VERY WELL! Marcus produces, writes, arranges, and plays a pretty mean clarinet too. Who else goes into this catagory? I'm not talking about bassists that also play guitar, I'm talking about bassists who are the TOTAL package. I'd have to give Lenny Kravitz a shout, too. Also, an excuse to post a picture of one of my bass heroes!

 

I think you could put Mingus into that catagory, um...Les Claypool, man I'm going blank here....let me get back to you on this!

 

i was waiting for that...

 

In the category of one-person bands, I'd also include Sting, Mark King, Sean Ono Lennon, Me'shell N'degeocello and Sheryl Crow. King and Lennon deserve special mention; they're the only bassists I know besides Prince and Kravitz that play drums (decently).

 

Believe it, or not, Bootsy played drums on Parliament/Funkadelic's biggest hits.

 

...actually, there's quite a few bassists out there that started as drummers-


Others that play drums & bass(at least as well as Prince & Kravitz) -
Jaco
Oteil Burbridge
Charlie Drayton
Paul McCartney(ya don't think that was Ringo on the late Beatles' stuff...or do you?).

Most(if not all)of the Latin-influenced bassists are "percussion"-first kinda guys, too.

 

I couldnt help myself