Stuart Zender

He's pretty much the man. I've heard a few different reasons for his departure, but I don't know if I'd qualify them as "trivial." The way that band was/is set up, it was inevitable that it was going to be the Jay Kay show.

 

I wouldn't want to be in a band with Jay Kay either.

 

He's doing alright in my book, when Adele's first album came out I picked it up because Zender was on it, she ended up doing pretty good.

 

I like his work on traveling without moving.

 

He's one of my favorites. Probably not my biggest influence, but he's up there.

 

From what I can gather, the OP is saying that the number of notes played = the amount of talent someone possesses. It really bothers me when people say or think this, as it's absolutely ludicrous. To me, it takes as much talent and energy, and maybe more so, to make people dance to and appreciate a song within the limitations of playing a few repeating notes, as opposed to playing all over the place. What Mr. Zender is doing is playing for the song, which is why, IMO, he's so highly regarded, and why he manages to stay busy (read: working and getting paid). Nothing happened to him, he's smart, and he's staying relevant, even if it means his slap chops are on the shelf for a bit. We could all stand to learn something from him.

 

For all the Zender fans, they finally released the transcriptions to a bunch of Jamiroquai songs. There's about a dozen free ones and the others are a pound and a half.

This may be old news at this point, but it made my day. I've been waiting years for these to come back out!

The Bassment | Bass Guitar Transcriptions in Standard Notation & TAB




Thanks for the thread. It made me search for the transcriptions again.


Michael

 

Great link!!! I have been looking for these for a long time! Do you happen to know how accurate they are?

...also sweet TB handle and pic!!! Phish was my favorite band growing up and still in top 2-3 for me now! They are definitely a major influence on me musically!

Hopefully I can catch them at the AL stop this summer!

 

The site said they are reproduction from the Zender transcription book that is now out of print. The publisher has been telling me for years that they're going to reprint the books, but I gave up on that about three years ago. I'm surprised they finally made them available.

There are transcriptions for other Jamiroquai songs that don't have Zender on bass and I'm not sure how accurate they are, but the ones I've gone over look about right to me.


Thanks for the Phish props! I'm hoping to catch them this summer too, but with a new baby and the fact they're not playing too close to home, I'll probably miss them.


Michael

 

COOL! I will definitely download a few of them tonight and start wood shedding them!

Yeah I can see how a new baby could halt travel plans to see shows! luckily I live in Nashville and they are playing just a few hours away! I haven't seen them live Alpine's three day stand before the hiatus!

 

His playing on those first few Jamiroquai albums killed me, and still does. There's just so much soul and groove, particularly on a song like "Use the Force," which feels very live and in-the-moment. I always go back to that stuff for inspiration.

 

One of my top-10 music mysteries is that why aren't there more Jamiroquai style bands: original clever music that is fun to play and people like to dance to. Sounds like a win-win for me. Anyway, any bass player that has played or is playing in Jamiroquai is lucky, kind of like being part of a Frank Zappa configuration.

 

I don't listen to too much 1990s music, but I do enjoy Jamiroquai's first three albums almost entirely because of Stuart Zender. I don't really like the type of music that the band plays but Zender's basslines tend to be pretty darned creative IMO. His best playing is probably on their first album.

I came to know about him because I own a Warwick bass and they send me a catalogue every year. This past year, it had Stuart Zender posing with his signature bass. I happen to LOVE P-J pickup configuration so I got to researching him and eventually bought the third Jamiroquai album.

It had a few great tunes and lots of bad ones but Zender's tasteful playing stood out throughout. I generally cringe at slap and pop, and not for a anti-funk bias (in fact I love old funk like Parliament), but even most of Zender's slapping was "tolerable" (I didn't LIKE it though haha).

Such a shame the band changed directions. I have their fourth album and it just isn't the same. It is more disco-eque and the basslines are less interesting.

 

wanna know why he left the band ? Just read...

 

Which Adele tracks is he on?

 

I know Simon, the guy who runs the site, and did the transcriptions. He's a fantastic player, the transcriptions are 100% accurate.

 

I agree. That said, it's a bit of a letdown to see the funk phenom reduced to a sideman and shoved into the "must sound like Pino" box.

 

Thanks!!! I am definitely going to download a few tonight and get to work learning some extra funky licks!