Oldest recorded bass guitar solo?

[Dr. Cheese]

Well if you want to include pre electric bass, you've got to go back a lot earlier than the 50's.
30's for sure, Jimmy Blanton.
There were guys before him, but he really developed "virtuoso" breaks vs more standard feeling stuff.

Jimmy Blanton actually discovered at a club about 15 minutes from where I live in Brooklyn, Illinois. It was the Harlem Club, which was once the largest Black nightclub in the Midwest. Unfortunately, it is now gone, and the space is parking lot for a strip club.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

It's in the back of my mind now and hopefully it will fall into my lap while researching something else which happens so often as I'm sure you know being a historian I believe?

Often coolest stuff is found looking for something else.

 

[GretschWretch]

Those are pretty cool! I did not think I would see the earliest TV solo on a Gibson EBO..

Violin shape. It's an EB.

 

[Ric5]

this one goes back to the mid 50s

(1432) Natalie Cole - Fever (LIVE 2009) - YouTube

 

[bobyoung53]

Earliest bass solo in a top 40 pop song (probably):

I haven't heard this tune since probably when it was a new AM radio hit and definitely never heard it in "exciting stereophonic sound" before. Some of these old tunes sound amazing when cleaned up. Even a lot of the 50's tunes recorded in real hi fidelity sound great on modern equipment when cleaned up. My Generation by the Who was a couple of years before this one but this is a real solo though on top of the band playing, not very common especially in pop music.

 

[GretschWretch]

I haven't heard this tune since probably when it was a new AM radio hit and definitely never heard it in "exciting stereophonic sound" before. Some of these old tunes sound amazing when cleaned up. Even a lot of the 50's tunes recorded in real hi fidelity sound great on modern equipment when cleaned up. My Generation by the Who was a couple of years before this one but this is a real solo though on top of the band playing, not very common especially in pop music.

And played, as I recall from a different video, on an Eko 990 violin bass.

 

[scrumpymike]

Thanks to the OP for such an interesting topic! Sorry can't add much as the first to appear on my radar screen was the already mentioned My Generation. Worth mentioning that Entwistle's contribution fit the song perfectly and wasn't long enough to bore the audience (though doubtless long enough to piss Daltry off).

 

[bobyoung53]

And played, as I recall from a different video, on an Eko 990 violin bass.

I think those are Eko 995's, I have an old beat one at home, it sounds good though, has good sounding pickups in it. This obviously isn't mine. I just looked up the 990 basses and they look just like those vox semi hollow basses who made them:

 

[getBAK]

I'm sure there's some recording of a Bass Balalaika in a Russian propaganda film from the 1920's

 

[Passinwind]

This has probably been asked before, but when was the oldest bass guitar solo recorded and who did it? I am guessing Monk Montgomery around 1952.

I'd guess it was probably someone using a Tutmarc Audiovox or Serenader several years earlier and any recording might be long gone. I know very little about the music the Tutmarcs made back then though. Perhaps @Bflat could provide a little insight, since he owns at least one and clearly has a passion for these instruments.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I'd guess it was probably someone using a Tutmarc Audiovox or Serenader several years earlier and any recording might be long gone. I know very little about the music the Tutmarcs made back then though. Perhaps @Bflat could provide a little insight, since he owns at least one and clearly has a passion for these instruments.

I would not count a recording we can no longer hear

 

[Passinwind]

I would not count a recording we can no longer hear

I might, assuming it's sufficiently well documented. It's not like any of us have ever heard Bach play, right?

It's a very interesting subject to me in any case!

 

[LHbassist]

Here's an actual solo, although it's from approximately 1957, and just a TV appearance...


Plus a little Dano action from '58....

I wonder if Felix Pappalardi ended up with that EB-1.

 

[dkelley]

It could be Shifty Henry:

Great vids, but no bass solos? Unless you were just sorta suggesting that somewhere maybe these guys have a recorded bass solo back then, but you couldn't find one?

 

[dkelley]

Here's an actual solo, although it's from approximately 1957, and just a TV appearance...


Plus a little Dano action from '58....

ok that larry collins vid was AWESOME!

 

[okabass]

Great thread!

 

[dkelley]

One of the earliest TV appearances with a few licks...

THE COOLEST VIDEO FOR BASSIST EVER!!! Hahahahahah!!!! ELECTRONIC BASS! That's soooo awesome and funny to see now!

EVERY bass player needs to see this.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Great vids, but no bass solos? Unless you were just sorta suggesting that somewhere maybe these guys have a recorded bass solo back then, but you couldn't find one?

Yes.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I might, assuming it's sufficiently well documented. It's not like any of us have ever heard Bach play, right?

It's a very interesting subject to me in any case!

That's a good point, but how would we know if it was a true solo or just a breakdown that featured the bass line without a transcription? I guess the transcription would be part of the good documentation?

 

[dkelley]

He actually handed it to Roy Johnson, first, as he was Lionel's bass player at the time. There was an article in the July 30, 1952, issue of Downbeat, which featured a story about it. Not sure exactly when Monk comes in to the picture, but it was probably soon after.

Maybe Roy said:

"NOT A CHANCE, LIONEL!"

...and was rapidly replaced by a new guy named Monk, with the specific job description of "Must enthusiastically embrace whatever crazy ideas Lionel presents."