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Props to Alex Blake

RNG1

RNG1

Mar 1, 2015
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#1
Hey guys, caught a rediculously great gig last night of some serious seasoned world class players. If not familiar with Alex Blake, he played with a friend of mine Bill Ware (rediculously great vibes player) with the quartet version of the Puppeteers. The lineup is just so good. Alex is a unique bass player on both upright and electric. His discography is no joke from Dizzy Gillespie to Billy Cobham like 40 years worth of seriousness.
His style is very unique and to try to describe I’d say a cross of Stanley Clarke injected with a flamenco strum kind of technique he utilizes fairly often. Lots of finger popped melody playing (ala Stanley/Marcus). Killed it on both electric and upright. Band was so in the zone and although everyone was so deep in their individual places they breathed as one unit. Super inspired after this gig.
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#5
Yeah,great player,very underrated! He played on my favorite Billy Cobham recording,”a funky thide of sings”,and on Lenny White’s “adventures of astral pirates” (this one is full of great basslines)! I remember he was one of the first players to endorse Ibanez basses...is he still playing them?
 
#6
Phat Nick said:
Yeah,great player,very underrated! He played on my favorite Billy Cobham recording,”a funky thide of sings”,and on Lenny White’s “adventures of astral pirates” (this one is full of great basslines)! I remember he was one of the first players to endorse Ibanez basses...is he still playing them?
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He has a great command of the instrument in his own real style. Especially in this Puppeteers setting where he doesn’t need to conform at all. That was the real thing I enjoyed so much about the gig was that it felt like really these guys could go so deep into their own individualized thing with this material that they’re doing now. If you search you might be able to find this newest CD, it’s their own label kind of thing. I’m going to see Bill today I’ll ask where people can get it.

Oh to answer your question, I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of base that was you can zoom in on the top picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was some kind of custom Ibanez but he had a clip on tuner over the top so I couldn’t really tell and I didn’t think to look closer when I was talking with him afterwards. It was definitely a neck through body I noticed that and obviously it’s a PJ. I would not be surprised if it’s the same thing he’s used for the last 3-4 decades. He doesn’t come across as a guy that has new GAS syndrome that’s for sure.
 
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#7
RNG1 said:
He has a great command of the instrument in his own real style. Especially in this Puppeteers setting where he doesn’t need to conform at all. That was the real thing I enjoyed so much about the gig was that it felt like really these guys could go so deep into their own individualized thing with this material that they’re doing now. If you search you might be able to find this newest CD, it’s their own label kind of thing. I’m going to see Bill today I’ll ask where people can get it.

Oh to answer your question, I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of base that was you can zoom in on the top picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was some kind of custom Ibanez but he had a clip on tuner over the top so I couldn’t really tell and I didn’t think to look closer when I was talking with him afterwards. It was definitely a neck through body I noticed that and obviously it’s a PJ. I would not be surprised if it’s the same thing he’s used for the last 3-4 decades. He doesn’t come across as a guy that has new GAS syndrome that’s for sure.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion,I’ll definitely look for this album! Yep,looking closely at the pic seems an Ibanez with a PJ configuration...
 
#9
I actually got the cd today, it was cool to hear this music after seeing them. Unique for me in that i hadn’t heard it prior to the gig. Usually it’s the opposite, you’ve heard the cd then you see it live and you are already familiar. They played every song on the cd except for I think 2 and they made enough of an impression on me that while listening to it while driving today that I remembered them from only hearing them once at the gig.
Anyway something that I thought was unique to the live performance is Alex’s “singing” along with his soloing. But it is interesting that he actually does this on a few of the songs on the cd. I like the entire album but the 3rd track is killer in particular. I heard it today and remembered it from the gig. He starts his solo with some kind of octave pedal and then just really does some classy stuff.
 
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