This video gives a nice view of his hands while playing.
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Stanley Clarke: Lopsy Lu
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
This video gives a nice view of his hands while playing.
I remember when his self-titled LP came out in 1974 and I heard Lopsy Lu for the first time. I played that thing over and over again, trying to figure out what he was doing.
Listening to that track, I thought "I recognize that song" even though I don't have his debut album. He essentially reworked it for his If This Bass Could Only Talk album:
Great song. I actually learned to play the main line of the song (none of the solos). I was a huge Stanley Clarke fan. I have all his records including his soundtrack work. He had a lot of influence in my playing.
I had this album. Liked it at the time, but man, it has not aged well in terms of the sounds/production.
I remember that period as well, mind blown! Bill Connors playing on that album is also great, very overlooked when people talk about fusion guitarist. Such great feel + chops!
What a stellar band Chick, Corea, Jean Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham and Stanley, WOW!
Stanley was, is and always be my favorite inspiration as a player on every level.
Stanley was, is and always be my favorite inspiration as a player on every level.
My high school chemistry teacher turned me on to that record in the early 80s. Truly a watershed moment for me.
Ah yes, the good old days, when fusion monsters roamed the Earth.
There is no way earth anyone could play that fast and be tense.
They could get away with it being way more tense than they are. For me, it's a reflection of a point in history where people had more time to think. No hurry, no rush, it's ok to be in the present. I miss it.
Your listening list must not very long if you are limiting yourself like that! The playing on this album was world-class.
I shook Stanley's hand once. My hand was nowhere to be seen...
This is for the young bloods that might be unfamiliar with unapologetic fusion. Tony Williams and Connors kill on this. A ebb and flow masterpiece! Some my.favorite fusion guitar ever, listen how Connors builds his solo. P.s that album was engineered by Ken Scott, one of the best in rock and Jazz, I wish albums sounded this good now.
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I was lucky to see Stanley as a young, hard working, fast rising upright bass player on the Northeast Corridor scene in the early 70's.
His approach was full and rich, with ample embellishments, but nothing superfluous. His walking was sublime.
And physically, this was a cat who looked created and ordained to be on this earth to play the double bass.
I had long been mesmerized by Ron Carter's hands, and Stanley's were (are) at least their equal. They belonged on that instrument.
I understand why Stanley became interested in electric bass. He got to see Colin Hodgkinson night after night with the opening act Back Door during a two week Return To Forever run at Ronnie Scott's (with Flora, Airto, Farrell). A fair amount of what Stanley did on electric early on comes from Colin.
You want to be a star, make more money, have a solo career in the music of that time period, you play electric bass. Understandable.
This is pre-Jaco, so a virtuoso like Stanley had no guideposts to mark the path. He, Alphonso Johnson, Anthony Jackson and others had to chart their own courses.
But...I am not a big fan of Stanley's electric work. The brittle, twig snapping tone, the shallow, uninteresting tunes, the flurries of meaningless showy notes, and the sight of him playing a short scale Alembic about three sizes too small for him, with those huge hands making him look like a mantis securing its prey. I was a big fusion fan, listened to his records as soon as they came out, and just could not get with the concept.
My favorite Stanley electric work was when he played a Ric on Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, the first electric RTF record. The bass looked more appropriate for him, and he was still primarily being a bass player, not lurking as a chops monster waiting for his turn to explode. He got a unique rubbery sound out of the Ric - in fact, I was stunned when I found out that it WAS a Ric.
Stanley was never held back by my indifference to what he was doing. His early electric work is dearly loved by many. Each pair of ears to its own.
His approach was full and rich, with ample embellishments, but nothing superfluous. His walking was sublime.
And physically, this was a cat who looked created and ordained to be on this earth to play the double bass.
I had long been mesmerized by Ron Carter's hands, and Stanley's were (are) at least their equal. They belonged on that instrument.
I understand why Stanley became interested in electric bass. He got to see Colin Hodgkinson night after night with the opening act Back Door during a two week Return To Forever run at Ronnie Scott's (with Flora, Airto, Farrell). A fair amount of what Stanley did on electric early on comes from Colin.
You want to be a star, make more money, have a solo career in the music of that time period, you play electric bass. Understandable.
This is pre-Jaco, so a virtuoso like Stanley had no guideposts to mark the path. He, Alphonso Johnson, Anthony Jackson and others had to chart their own courses.
But...I am not a big fan of Stanley's electric work. The brittle, twig snapping tone, the shallow, uninteresting tunes, the flurries of meaningless showy notes, and the sight of him playing a short scale Alembic about three sizes too small for him, with those huge hands making him look like a mantis securing its prey. I was a big fusion fan, listened to his records as soon as they came out, and just could not get with the concept.
My favorite Stanley electric work was when he played a Ric on Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, the first electric RTF record. The bass looked more appropriate for him, and he was still primarily being a bass player, not lurking as a chops monster waiting for his turn to explode. He got a unique rubbery sound out of the Ric - in fact, I was stunned when I found out that it WAS a Ric.
Stanley was never held back by my indifference to what he was doing. His early electric work is dearly loved by many. Each pair of ears to its own.
Stanley's and Jaco's solo album's had a big impact on my development. Miroslav's also.
