Double Bass Pre bebop bass solos?

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I have a great grad student who needs to transcribe a jazz bass solo from the pre bebop era. He's asking me for ideas, so I thought I would submit the question to the TB brain trust (brainfart trust?). Post your suggestions if you got 'em!

 

[HateyMcAmp]

Maybe you can recommend this compilation to him - https://www.amazon.com/How-Low-Can-You-Anthology/dp/B000JMKKFO . The recordings of Blanton with Ellington is another great place to start.

It features tons of early bass playing, and while pre-bop things tend to fall more into "breaks" than proper "solos" there's lots of good sonic information on how the bass sat in music those days. I'm assuming more melodic soloing happened on gigs, but due to recording technology they didn't make the wax.....

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

Jimmie Blanton is the first pre-bop bass soloist that comes to mind. The Duke Ellington recordings of Jack The Bear and Sepia Panorama have significant solo passages, the latter also exists in a few live versions. Two other big band-era bass solos can be found on Woody Herman's Woodchopper's Ball and Bob Crosby's Air Mail Special.

Oscar Pettiford's first recorded solo was on a 1943 Coleman Hawkins record, but would that be considered pre-bebop?

- Steve

 

[shwashwa]

I would say the Jimmy Blanton Duo stuff with Duke. That stuff is phenomenal but a lot of it has been transcribed already

 

[Michael Karn]

I think this is generally credited as the first recorded bass solo, i think Israel was 16 when he did it

Here's the intro



Here's the whole thing

 

[Michael Karn]

There's Milt Hinton with Cab Calloway, Plucking the Bass, but that's a slap thing, maybe not what your looking for

 

[HateyMcAmp]

Check this one out.....not sure what year but it sounds pretty "pre-bop" overall to my ears. Walter Page takes a walking solo over sparse piano accompaniment, which was common for the time and a very effective solo strategy for trad jazz, as opposed to trying to cop a horn vibe IMO.



Here's one of Louis Vola doing a duet with Django. A lot of slap and chord tones, but thems was the times.....



And one more of Louis Vola with Django, taking more of a walking solo.

Hope these help a little bit!

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

I think this is generally credited as the first recorded bass solo

I've always though that the first recorded bass solo was Steve Brown's slap feature on the 1926 Jean Goldkette recording of Dinah.



There are also bass solo passages on Duke Ellington records (featuring Wellman Braud) as early as 1927.

- Steve

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

There are also pre-bop arco solos. Nearly every Slim & Slam record features Slam Stewart and there's some nice pizz and arco work on this Cab Calloway feature for Milt Hinton:



- Steve

 

[Feral Feline]

"Brainfart Thrust"

Blanton came first to mind, and yet I love all the other suggestions, too: Hinton, Stewart, Vola, Braud and I need to spend a lot more time with Page and Crosby as well. New find for me is Steve Brown, which is somewhat surprising since I'm into slap.

Sorry, nothing new to add, other than to say this thread is just what I needed for inspiration – thanks Chris, and merci beaucoup to everyone else for the suggestions and links...

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

New find for me is Steve Brown, which is somewhat surprising since I'm into slap.

You might enjoy this article. Steve Brown was a pioneer.

- Steve

 

[Adam Booker]

Grandpa Spells with John Lindsey on bass, or Bull Fiddle Blues with Bill Johnson vie for the title of first recorded bass solos. Heck, give me a minute and I can try to upload my DMA treatise. Mostly about Braud, but I include other goodies.

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

Grandpa Spells with John Lindsey on bass, or Bull Fiddle Blues with Bill Johnson vie for the title of first recorded bass solos. Heck, give me a minute and I can try to upload my DMA treatise. Mostly about Braud, but I include other goodies.

One of the problems with making a claim for first bass solo is determining what constitutes a "solo" vs. a "break". The Red Hot Pepper's 1926 version of Grandpa's Spells features two measures of John Lindsay's unaccompanied "walking" bass . The 1926 Jean Goldkette version of Dinah has a much longer (and louder) bass feature, but it can argued that Steve Brown is accompanying Don Murray's clarinet solo, or perhaps performing a duet.

None if this will help Chris decide what song to recommend to his grad student, but I find it interesting

- Steve

 

[Adam Booker]

One of the problems with making a claim for first bass solo is determining what constitutes a "solo" vs. a "break". The Red Hot Pepper's 1926 version of Grandpa's Spells features two one measures of John Lindsay's unaccompanied "walking" bass . The 1926 Jean Goldkette version of Dinah has a much longer (and louder) bass feature, but it can argued that Steve Brown is accompanying Don Murray's clarinet solo, or perhaps performing a duet.

None if this will help Chris decide what song to recommend to his grad student, but I find it interesting

- Steve

Agreed on all fronts. I tend to agree with Bull Fiddle Blues being a solo, albeit a walking one. Do we count Braud's solo breaks in Freeze and Melt?

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

Agreed on all fronts. I tend to agree with Bull Fiddle Blues being a solo, albeit a walking one. Do we count Braud's solo breaks in Freeze and Melt?

Yeah, Bull Fiddle Blues is a walking solo...precursor to Leroy Vinnegar. I think Freeze and Melt counts although this is a few years later. Mr. Braud gets extra points for using the bow and "crowding the microphone"

- Steve

 

[Don Kasper]

OT - Can "PreBop" now be a Thing?
Yea or Nay?

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

You guys are the best! I think the Blanton stuff will be just the ticket. I think I'll just send him a link to this thread.

I'm on my phone, but just pretend I hit "like" on every post.

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

OT - Can "PreBop" now be a Thing?
Yea or Nay?

When I played with Bria Skonberg that's exactly how she described her music.

- Steve

 

[Feral Feline]

You might enjoy this article. Steve Brown was a pioneer.

- Steve

Thanks for that!

Somebody posted a comment at the end of that article mentioning Pops Foster, how could I forget him? So I'll make PF my contribution to this thread.

Yeah baby! Bring slap back into the current Jazz lexicon...

 

[Huy Nguyen]

Don't forget the Basie bassists. Walter Page, Eddie Jones. Sublime for walking lines and simple solos.

Major Holley too.
Milt and Slam are my go-to.