Double Bass Somebody gets us!

[oren]

Here’s a lovely paragraph on the role of jazz bass, from Marc Myers in his intro to Part 4 of his lengthy interview with Bill Crow (find at [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] )

Most non-musicians think all jazz bass players are fundamentally alike. They believe they aren't there for us but simply to keep time for the band, the way an unseen transmission is essential for a car. As one person who isn't a bass fan told me some years ago, "There's a reason they stand in the back, behind the piano." To be fair, they are indeed there to keep time for the band, like a human metronome. And in many cases, they do stand in the back or off to the side. But how exactly they keep time—for the band and for us—is where their art thrives. What performing musicians listen for is time as well as swing and edge. In other words, buoyancy. It's hard to explain, but a great bassist will cause the other musicians to levitate, spiritually. The bass is the horse the other musicians ride, depending on the style of music being played. Jazz musicians feel those notes in their spines and when they're solid and strong, those notes give the music lift. And without the bass, music would not be complete, like food without salt or flavor. The bass is essential, and your ear would miss it.

 

[jimmyb]

Highly recommend Bill Crow book
https://www.amazon.com/Birdland-Bro...&dplnkId=a261421c-8a21-4d0c-87d7-05e540df1f10

 

[Don C]

Here's a great documentary on Bill Crows life in music

 

[Paul New]

He had me going and had to blow it with the s word.

 

[marcox]

He had me going and had to blow it with the s word.

Looking at the quote from Bill and trying to figure which S-word got you: swing, spiritually, spine, solid, strong?

 

[Jason Sypher]

Good bass players completely change the molecules in a room. They raise the levels but also the stakes! They encourage risk and expansion. They leave no excuse why you shouldn’t try that thing you’ve been working on, go for that note, reply to something heard or implied. They can recast a narrative, flip a story, reveal, expose. A good bass player changes the room.

 

[J R Knots]

"A good bassist determines the direction of any band." - Ron Carter

 

[DrCannabass]

I disagree that we are there to keep time for the band. Time is everybody's responsibility, not just the bass player's. I'm not a human metronome, neither is the drummer.

 

[John Sprague]

I agree. As a drummer, I think the time agreement is made by everyone in the first two or three beats. It might be more accurate to say the rhythm section carries the burden of providing the pulse more than the other players.

 

[Paul New]

Looking at the quote from Bill and trying to figure which S-word got you: swing, spiritually, spine, solid, strong?

salt

 

[Jason Sypher]

I agree. As a drummer, I think the time agreement is made by everyone in the first two or three beats. It might be more accurate to say the rhythm section carries the burden of providing the pulse more than the other players.

Playing music in New Orleans taught me something very important though I’m not sure I can articulate it as well as I’d like. We start off any group playing and quickly establish out time, our band beat, our pulse. But with each song we would consciously try to stretch the parameters of that beat, collectively. We would try to make that beat as wide and plastic as we possibly could, stretching that once static measurement, one-two-three-four, like saltwater taffy. Phrases would seemingly hang out in the air and snap back into order at the last possible millisecond. The whole band would slowly massage the beat into something so loose it would become a three dimension thing. It was almost like you couldn’t fail, you could play anything and it would work. I realized I was doing this in a top notch Irish session the other night in NYC. These players are monsters, hard driving players. Each pass of the tune I’d take it a little more out, a little more syncopated, just testing to find what the tune could take, what these players would push against, and it was cathartic. The more I stretched that 9/8 into different sub figures the better they played. It was something I look for all the time. If the players are there it can be transformative.