All true.... Good words, Ed. That picture is a classic! My vision of amplification changed when I saw Ray Brown play once in a very small venue w/ his trio (Keezer, and Hutchinson, I think). They were playing some blues and a ballad and his sound was perfect... I was in front of the PA, just hearing stage sound. You could tell he was just using the amp for very slight monitoring.
Then they played an uptempo tune.... I think it may have been Milestones or something. Keezer went into burning Herbie mode and he and Hutchinson completely blew him out w/ volume. Ray just kept playing like it was no big deal, relaxed etc. and I am sure he couldn't really hear himself. There was still presence, however. Those guys pulled the volume back quickly and it was still intense. He controlled the volume of the band ultimately, which was a real lesson to me.
After studying w/ Dennis and checking him out all over town, I understood better how important this is and how much you can accomplish with minimal amplification. My goal is to play with good players who listen, know my instrument so I can stay in tune when people are too loud, and hold as strong as I can when things get out of control. The more I turn up, the band just tends to sound worse. I just try to use the amp for a little monitoring and bloom to my sound when needed.
There will always be situation where you need more, IE large ensemble work, the gigs with bashers (to pay the bills), etc. Or just different types of music.
There are a couple of guys on the board here who I went to school with who got to study w/ Dennis (Pete Coco, Phil Rowan) shortly before he passed and they both seem to have taken his lessons in sound into their own playing. Very cool stuff.
On topic, I remember reading that the rock guy who produced the Bad Plus' first album used a sansamp on the bass for grit or something. I remember liking the bass sound on the record.
Then they played an uptempo tune.... I think it may have been Milestones or something. Keezer went into burning Herbie mode and he and Hutchinson completely blew him out w/ volume. Ray just kept playing like it was no big deal, relaxed etc. and I am sure he couldn't really hear himself. There was still presence, however. Those guys pulled the volume back quickly and it was still intense. He controlled the volume of the band ultimately, which was a real lesson to me.
After studying w/ Dennis and checking him out all over town, I understood better how important this is and how much you can accomplish with minimal amplification. My goal is to play with good players who listen, know my instrument so I can stay in tune when people are too loud, and hold as strong as I can when things get out of control. The more I turn up, the band just tends to sound worse. I just try to use the amp for a little monitoring and bloom to my sound when needed.
There will always be situation where you need more, IE large ensemble work, the gigs with bashers (to pay the bills), etc. Or just different types of music.
There are a couple of guys on the board here who I went to school with who got to study w/ Dennis (Pete Coco, Phil Rowan) shortly before he passed and they both seem to have taken his lessons in sound into their own playing. Very cool stuff.
On topic, I remember reading that the rock guy who produced the Bad Plus' first album used a sansamp on the bass for grit or something. I remember liking the bass sound on the record.
