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Stanley Clarke bummed me out last night

insain

insain

Apr 21, 2008
82
6
Nashville
#1
Let me start by saying I consider Stanley a legend and one of the founding fathers of modern electric bass as a player and also as a bandleader and composer, but I saw his show in Nashville last night and it was disappointing from this fans perspective. First, he played upright the whole show! he strapped on his Alembic for the encore which was a 5 minute School Days theme with some solos in it. Then he quit.
I have looked forward to this for a year since they announced the show and bought two the day they went on sale for $100ea. My seats were first floor balcony dead level center. He had a sweet looking rig and i knew he we smoke because everyone i see here takes it up a notch the same way they do in LA or NYC because they have a lot of industry folks and peers in the room. His band was great, but none of them knocked me out as unique in any way, yet they all took breaks two to three times as long as SC. He did a really nice solo piece on the upright. Listen, the guys blows on an upright, and for the first 45 min i thought how cool this is that he is spending half the show on the "acoustic" part of the set. We needed a bathroom break and I figure he's got 5min on upright then the Electric set starts and we get in your face Funk freak-out Fusion Super bad SC? The usher says he got 10 min left in the show! What?! So we get to some seats and get the short encore. The place was packed, the audience was great and responded the whole time. I don't get it. Am I missing something?
 
#4
Me too. No one is worth that much but......was the music any good? Was it well played by the band? Maybe you looked forward to a Stanley Clarke chop-laden performance and this was more of a jazz or classical show, in which probably disappointed you. I know it would disappoint me if I wanted to hear something and heard something else.
 
#7
The music was very good, but not close to the leader-board of shows i have seen, if that makes sense. You have a great point about expectations. I should have researched what his others fans are saying about the current tour. Point well taken-
 
#8
Stanley seems to love playing the upright now - that's his passion. That is (I would imagine) what he wants to share when he plays music, and how he expresses himself.
It's a bummer when an artist's choices run counter to a fan's expectations, but regardless, you get to see a master at work, playing the music he is choosing to share.
 
#10
Not all the tickets were 100 dollars, some were as cheap as 40. i almost went to this show, too bad it was a bummer :( you seriously need to come down to MTSU and here the Nashville Jazz Orchastra tonight, that concert is gonna be KILLER! the whole festival is phenominal (been down here all day), and that concert is really is really gonna top it off! And the tickets are only 15 dollars :)
 
#12
You would have been really upset if had played the piano the whole time (he is an excellent piano player).

Reminds me of a George Duke concert he did in Chicago a few years ago.

1000's of fans showed up and he did classical music only.

There was almost a riot.

GD response: I can play anything I want.

Of course that's only true to certain extent.
Playing classical music is not how he sold millions of records.
 
#14
Hey man! I was 10 feet from the stage last night at that concert. At first I was a little dissapointed, but then I realized after talking to the people at my table that they bought the " Jazz series " tickets and they have never heard of Stanley Clarke. It was a symphony/ jazz showcase not a typical setting or club. But with that said it was still great to see him live. And also the reason the encore of School days was short is because the keys were having technical issues, the drum monitor went out, and apparently they didn't sound check prior to the show. I am friends with some guy's from S.I.R sound that supplied the stage gear and was told they got the Rider, set it up, and it didn't get touched till the encore. So truly bad planning on all parts.
 
#16
An all-upright show would not be what I woud expect, and like you, I would be dissapointed.

But, maybe my expectations would be unfounded because I'm not in "in the loop". Has Stanley stated in interviews, ads, etc that upright shows is what he now does? Or, does he still play the electric in clubs, etc? In other words, maybe we are "supposed to know this" already.

Side story 1: I saw Stanley Clarke play back in about 1979. everything about the show was great - performance, mix, acoustics, support act. He played one, maybe two songs on the upright.

Side story 2: About expectations, George Duke, and so on: My brother-in-law saw Dylan on tour a few years back. Apparently, he played piano all night. Not bad - just a "hmmm" moment.

Side story 3: topic = "I can play what I want". On a PBS documentary about Neil Young, a band member related a story about a show in England (I think). Neil performed his whole new album straight through (I think it was not even released yet). The audience was bored and perturbed. They were shouting "Southern Man", or whatever. Finally, for the last song of the night, he announced "Here's one you've all heard before". Then the band proceeded to play their first number of the night again.
 
#17
I have had the pleasure of seeing some legends since moving to Nashville 4 yrs ago. They all played more of a mix of material from their catalog. It's SC's show, I get that, I'm just checking my thoughts against those of my fellow bassists.
 
#19
Wow, I personally would love to see Stanley Clarke do an acoustic show, not only because I play upright myself. Theres no doubt that Stanley rips on the electric, but maybe its just a preference, but I really enjoy his upright playing. Theres more to playing and just ripping fast licks in a solo for a couple minutes strait, but when it comes to upright, you hear some of Stanley's more melodic soloing. And Stanley can really speak on the upright too.
 
#20
insain said:
I have had the pleasure of seeing some legends since moving to Nashville 4 yrs ago. They all played more of a mix of material from their catalog. It's SC's show, I get that, I'm just checking my thoughts against those of my fellow bassists.
Click to expand...

I saw Stanley at Jazz Alley in Seattle a couple of years ago. It was roughly 50/50 BG and URB. Another TBer went a day or two later and said the show was completely different than the one I saw. I would personally happily pay much more for an all-upright performance, but his encore at the show I saw was a 20 minute duo jam with Dennis Chambers and Stanley covering all the old fusion territory including School Days, Lopsy Lu, etc.

But anyway, it really pays these days to suss what kind of show you're going to get before you pony big money. Sorry you didn't get what you wanted!
 

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