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Pastorius / Wooten

#4
jeff schmidt said:
Hmmm. Not exactly one of Wooten's finer moments.

Sounds and looks like the first time he tried to sight read the song.

Great tone though! :bassist:

It is an excellent example of how the notes on the page are only a guide - the "music" comes from the player.

Vic's version completely lacked Jaco's soul.

A few notes too. But mostly the soul thing. :smug:
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But don't you think that's sort of a natural occurance when you compare the person playing the piece they wrote and the person playing a cover of it?

I enjoyed how Vic made it look like he was just playing root-5s. :D
 
#7
jeff schmidt said:
Hmmm. Not exactly one of Wooten's finer moments.

Sounds and looks like the first time he tried to sight read the song.

Great tone though! :bassist:

It is an excellent example of how the notes on the page are only a guide - the "music" comes from the player.

Vic's version completely lacked Jaco's soul.

A few notes too. But mostly the soul thing. :smug:
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

sounded pretty dead on to me. that piece doesnt exactly ooze soul no matter who plays it. now jacos slower harmonic littered pieces can be very soulful, but teen town? thats like saying a 13 year old girl singing britney spears in a talent show "lacked the soul of the original artist"
 
#9
jeff schmidt said:
It is an excellent example of how the notes on the page are only a guide - the "music" comes from the player.

Vic's version completely lacked Jaco's soul.

A few notes too. But mostly the soul thing. :smug:
Click to expand...
I can't stream the Real Audio here at work, but I have heard Wooten's version of Teen Town on the Word Of Mouth Revisited disc. I thought Victor did a good job with the melody with some his quirks that he added. I didn't care for the triplet slapping stuff in the solo though, which I understand that Wooten reluctantly added because they (producer and band) asked him to. I'm not sure how Victor could have added Jaco's "soul" to the rendition though. Maybe the producer asked him to leave that out. Hmmm....
 
#11
jeff schmidt said:
I know it's a matter of opinion - but IMHO those bends were crutches.

No offense to anyone here really - but I think everyone could benefit from another solid listen to the original Jaco version - there is TONS of soul - and subtetly and nuance that Wooten completely missed or chose not to include and in it's place he thru in what are (IMHO) obnoxious tricks like those bends.

But then again - I could be right. :smug:

Seriously though - all the littles nuances that made Jaco Jaco - are missing from the piece. That's all I'm really saying.

Wootenistas - chill! :D
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And then should vic record it with every single nuance and whatever, people'd say "man, he just played it like jaco played it, he needs to do something fresh with it"

I prefer the original to this by far, but, wooten still had some fun with it, did some neat stuff, and at the end of the day, I haven't listened to that album in many months.
 
#12
Like previously stated, the paper is only there as some sort of guide. Vic,s good but not that good (he's not known for reading written parts, meaning dots, rests and rythms)!!
Now Abe Laborial or Neil Stubenhaus are real deal real readers who just might pull it off.

Peace

KT
 
#14
Wow! I have to say I flat out agree with Jeff, 100%. There is a command, a presence that Jaco has, that for some reason Vic falls flat on. To be perfectly honest, I might think that a Talkbass amateur player had played that version, not a virtuoso, supremely talented bassist like Wooten. While one recording does not make or break anyone's career ever, I feel that Jeff's assessments are quite astute.
 
#15
Hey, at least Vic gave it a whirl.
If you guys really want to hear a smokin' cover of Teen Town you gotta check out Uncle Sammy! This little known, now defunct band out of Boston were all Berklee grads and they absolutely ruled that tune. You can find some of their shows on the Live Music Archive. IMO Brian O'Connell plays it better than Vic - no joke, and Tom Arey on the skins is quite impressive. I believe they sent a recording to the Pastorius family and got the go ahead to cover it. O'Connell is currently gigging with the Gordon Stone Band (not a bad step up) - he's got monster chops and is a very talented slapper as well - look to see this guys name a lot in the future.
 
#18
IMO the biggest difference is in the dynamics. Jaco has a greater dynamic range then Vic (in this particular case) and I think thats the reason some have said Vics take lacks the feeling that Jaco had on the original.
 
#20
as for the wooten take on teen town, i dont think its that bad. i dont find the original to be that much of a masterpiece to begin with. if joe zawinul decided he was only going to use one jaco piece on heavy weather i would take havona over teen town all day long.

teen town is to bass geeks what giant steps is for tenor players. you learn it to say you can play it even though they arent that compostionally amazing.
 

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