Double Bass Recommendations of Free Jazz

[hsech]

Of course you can listen to others for inspiration - but the point is that you shouldn't do what somebody else did - it should be completely improvised with no prior collusion or preconception.

If you are playing in the style of somebody else - then it's not "Free Jazz".

As soon as you play something recognisable , then you aren't playing "Free"... ?

+1

 

[damonsmith]

+1

Looks like you have LOTS of experience with the music...
This music is always under attack by dumb assumptions from outsiders.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I am a big fan of Free Jazz and love the vast majority of what I have heard and the players I have met/seen play in the UK - but to be honest, your attitude in this thread is putting me off and if you play like you come across here, then I am not sure I would want to be involved.

 

[damonsmith]

I am a big fan of Free Jazz and love the vast majority of what I have heard and the players I have met/seen play in the UK - but to be honest, your attitude in this thread is putting me off and if you play like you come across here, then I am not sure I would want to be involved.

Well, dedicating your life to this music is clearly difficult, but not in the ways you would think. It is possible to work in the music, possible to tour and record, etc.
The difficulties lie in dealing with all these mis-conceptions.

I do love the UK scene, but there never seems to be any money there for people like me - Braxton and Cecil Taylor can get some funded gigs. So I tend to stick to Germany, Austria, Belgium, Sicily, Slovenia, Etc. The point being you won't have to worry about me getting over there!

 

[ejnachtrab]

Hey Damon, if you ever make it out to Detroit or Ann Arbor please let me know. I'd love to hear you and/or get a lesson.

 

[ctrlzjones]

"When the sun is out you don't see stars" is my favorite album of the CD age.

;-)

 

[jmpiwonka]

Or the most recent video of mine:

this was awesome.
almost immediately reminded me of some of the bass playing at the beginning of an AIR(Threadgill, Hopkins, McCall) recording from the late 70's that i misplaced a number of years ago...

 

[damonsmith]

this was awesome.
almost immediately reminded me of some of the bass playing at the beginning of an AIR(Threadgill, Hopkins, McCall) recording from the late 70's that i misplaced a number of years ago...

I love AIR, that trio is about as good as music gets!

 

[damonsmith]

I asked bobsacks for a lesson so I could learn how to "play" but no answer. It turns out I go back to the Bay Area in April to play with Roscoe Mitchell and record with the amazing UK guitarist Ray Russell.

 

[oliebrice]

You're playing with Roscoe Mitchell?! nice one! that should be quite an experience... I saw him do an astonishing trio gig in London a few years ago with John Edwards and Tony Marsh, think it was Tony's last ever gig. Overwhelming....

 

[damonsmith]

I just got that double LP!

 

[oliebrice]

It was an incredible gig. I used to play with Tony Marsh a lot for a while, and he was incredibly generous with him time and energy, despite having more than 4 decades more experience than me... beautiful drummer...

 

[damonsmith]

My favorite by him is the duo with Veryan Weston on organ. The old trio with Simon Picard and Paul Rogers on Intakt is great, too.

 

[oliebrice]

yeah, they're both great. The best Tony Marsh I ever heard was definitely live though, in trio with Evan parker and John Edwards. They played every mnth at the Vortex for years, and when I first moved to London I hardly missed a month in about 3 years.

Playing with Tony and Paul Dunmall was a real highlight too!

 

[Nathan Levine]

John Edwards!!!! Haven't seen him live in 10 years or so, but damn if he wasn't the finest free music bassist I've ever had the privilege to see or listen to. Loud as hell too.

 

[teleharmonium]

I asked bobsacks for a lesson so I could learn how to "play" but no answer. It turns out I go back to the Bay Area in April to play with Roscoe Mitchell and record with the amazing UK guitarist Ray Russell.

Cool. Looking forward to hearing what you do with Russell, he's an inspiration. (As is Mitchell of course but in my world that goes without saying.)

 

[lfmn16]

I think anonymous bashing is cowardly and has no place on the forum...

+1

There is no reason we can't voice our opinion that we don't like something without also making some kind of judgment about it. Just because something doesn't speak to you doesn't make it stupid or bad.