RIP John Giblin

[Dr. Cheese]

I loved that album!

 

[brianrost]

First time I heard him was on John Martyn's album "Grace and Danger".



Phil Collins, drums
Max Middleton, keyboards

 

[m2k2p]

RIP John Giblin. Was just listening to this yesterday. I enjoyed Giblin's work in Kate Bush a lot too.

 

[roccobass]

This is my favorite Kate Bush song. When I first heard it, I didn’t know anything about her. All I heard was that soaring fretless. RIP JG.

 

[rtslinger]

Sad loved his work with Simple minds RIP

 

[dalkowski]

If took the time to read liner notes, I wouldn't have had to consult the interwebs to learn he played bass on Never For Ever, one of my very fave Kate Bush LPs. RIP.

 

[bmusic]

He was, for me, a big influence whose name I didn’t know until quite recently. I remember being moved by his playing on “The Lady in Red” before I knew what a fretless bass was, or that I wanted to play the bass. When I first started making music, he was in my ears all the time, on Face Value, Peter Gabriel III, Hounds of Love, Once Upon a Time.

Spinning Grace & Danger this morning for the first time and raising a glass (mug of coffee) to a master.

 

[59jazz]

Duncan Brown, The Wild Places

 

[BassyBill]

I was going to post “Wal To Wal” by John Giblin and Percy Jones.

I saw John live with Simple Minds in 1986 playing to a crowd of about 80,000 at Milton Keynes Bowl. One of the best gigs I’ve seen in my life - amazing musicianship from the whole band. Absolutely brilliant day. Thank you John, RIP.

 

[Sonicfrog]

So many great songs he made even better.

Dan Schwartz, another studio guy, just passed. This has been a hard year for bass players.

 

[Laurent]

Great bass player. Very musical and fluid on fretless.
He did a few recordings with drummer Simon Philips and the two together were magical.
As somebody else posted, his playing on John Martyn Grace and Danger was amazing.

 

[Phil-wholurks]

You won't believe this, but just this morning we heard some snippet of swoopy fretless bass in passing and I said to my partner, "that's the kind of sound that Kate Bush's bass player did in the 80's". I couldn't remember his name! And now here I find he just passed away. That's a huge shame. His sound was very influential for me when I started playing in the 80's. I'm going to have to play The Sensual World now, I think.

 

[jerry]

Great bass player. Very musical and fluid on fretless.
He did a few recordings with drummer Simon Philips and the two together were magical.
As somebody else posted, his playing on John Martyn Grace and Danger was amazing.

The John Martyn stuff is great!

 

[Relayer71]

So many great songs he made even better.

Dan Schwartz, another studio guy, just passed. This has been a hard year for bass players.

It's been a rough few years, especially with all the Prog Rock greats leaving us (add to that Gentle Giant's Ray Schulman recently). And I also only recently found out Midnight Oil's Bones Hillman died in 2020.

 

[Monkey]

I'm a huge Kate Bush fan and loved John's work with her, and with Peter Gabriel, as well. He was an amazing talent. My heart goes out to his family, Kate, and all who loved him.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

If took the time to read liner notes, I wouldn't have had to consult the interwebs to learn he played bass on Never For Ever, one of my very fave Kate Bush LPs. RIP.

For me, Babooshka was the first time I'd knowingly heard a fretless bass.

 

[Pauly 4001]

I've always loved this fretless performance (and song)

 

[Mildew Jones]

A very fine player, will be missed. I'm a deep track guy, I heard this stuff from being a used record store rat, saw Tony Hymas & Simon Phillips on it and knew it would be interesting.
I'm also a big fan of instrumentals...2 jackpots! Dig these, nice wide berth around the bass, leaving him to his frequencies, glorious fretless tone.

 

[Les Fret]

I am writing a workshop article for a printed bass magazine now and have compiled a Spotify playlist with John Giblin gems. It’s not not completely finished and I will add some songs in the next few days. Already 2,5 hours now. Which songs with cool bass lines that aren’t in there should be in there according to you? Let me know so I could add them.

Here is the link: John Giblin Basslines, Barend Tromp Favorites

 

[Bob_Ross]

A tasteful and talented journeyman who could make magic happen without ever calling undue attention to himself.

This was the first tune I heard him on 40-something years ago:


RIP