Double Bass The record that did it ... (DB forum thread)

[lrhbass]

Miles- Four and More....

 

[MrSidecar]

Electric: Weather Report - Night Passage. Made me, literally the same day I first heard it, take the bus to the nearest city with a decent buy-sell-trade and sell off my guitar gear to afford a (albeit poopy) Jazz Bass copy. I was 14.

Double bass: Tough one. I started because I borrowed a fantastic bass from my first teacher, and I fell in love. But The first record that I came across that wowed me was Conference Of The Birds by Dave Holland. All the great older-school walking stuff came a little later.

Best
Sidecar

 

[oldNewbie]

This One's for Blanton - Ray Brown/Duke

 

[Selim]

This One's for Blanton - Ray Brown/Duke

Amazing record.

 

[SVT4001]

EB- Permanent Waves
DB- Kind of Blue

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I played EB for 25 years before I got my DB, so I can't pinpoint anything specific that got me into bass (I was 9 years old...).

However, I credit John Scofield's Groove Elation with Dennis Irwin as being one of the seminal records that pushed me over the edge when I finally had the money to get my first DB. There were MANY other records and players, as well, (I'd been listening to and studying jazz for a good 15 years prior to DB), but Groove Elation finally did it.

 

[dhm]

Bird playing "White Christmas" and "Ornette" with Mr. LaFaro!

 

[oliebrice]

I was born at the start of the 80s and have parents who'd been very much into all of the British folk revival guys. So the first records that made me aware of the double bass as a kid all had Danny Thompson on them. He's still one of my major influences, for his tone and feel especially. I remember we borrowed an LP of Bert Jansch's Avocet from the library (and taping it, inevitably) and I was particularly struck by the bass on that. Going back and listening to that record, it still stands up IMO, and his bass solo on this track (from about 4 minutes in) gets surprisingly wigged out given the mellow feel of the record.

I'm about the same age as you and my parent's had similar interests - Danny Thompson on the first Pentangle album is the earliest double bass memory for me, closely followed by Danny on Solid Air:



My parents were also big John Surman fans, which also sent me in the right direction with Barre Phillips on 'Mountainscapes' and Gary Peacock on 'Adventure Playground'

My fate was sealed when an uncle gave me a cassette with Ornette's 'Change of the Century' (Charlie Haden) and Ayler's 'Hilversum session' (Peacock again)

 

[baileyboy]

What was the first record that moved you onto the bass?

Rush's "Moving Pictures".

 

[Martin Beer]

My parents were also big John Surman fans, which also sent me in the right direction with Barre Phillips on 'Mountainscapes' and Gary Peacock on 'Adventure Playground'

I think I first heard John Surman on John Mclaughlin's Extrapolation. I still love that record, Brian Odgers' bass and all. Strange that most of Odgers work after that was electric bass.

 

[Michael Karn]

My parents were also big John Surman fans

I wonder how many times that sentence has been spoken? Pretty cool though...

 

[Selim]

I think I first heard John Surman on John Mclaughlin's Extrapolation. I still love that record, Brian Odgers' bass and all. Strange that most of Odgers work after that was electric bass.

+1. I have a soft spot for that record, which I remember encountering after Tony Williams Lifetime/Mahavishnu.

 

[Reiska]

I knew that I wanted to learn to play bass, but this got me to the steep end of all of it and made me borrow a DB:

 

[tonequixote]

EB: Fragile - Yes ( Chris Squire )

DB: Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Russell Malone

 

[Max George]

For me, it was hearing Danny Thompson's recordings with the Blind Boys of Alabama. Still gets me to this day.

Was this the British Danny Thompson, who is my favorite?? Would love to hear these!

 

[jasonrp]

For the DB it was the stray cats....yeah I know but it was the early 90's and that was the first band I heard that got me thinking about an upright. I didn't actually start playing one until last year (some 20 years later) Now, I hear songs and try to see if they could be turned into rockabilly style. I'll start humming a walking line and see if it fits.

 

[Max George]

For me, it was hearing Danny Thompson's recordings with the Blind Boys of Alabama. Still gets me to this day.

Danny's playing is so good, his sound fills up the bottom of these records far better than a BG.

 

[sean_on_bass]

Stanley Clarke in Return to Forever and Chris Wood in Medeski, Martin, & Wood really put the double bass on the map as a "thing" for me. But what really got me to want to play the instrument were various classic jazz recordings by Miles Davis and Bill Evans. Alot of Grant Green was being spun too. The sound is what brought me to it. I wanted that sound and the only way to get it was to put down my electric bass and pickup the double bass.

 

[lurk]

I was already playing bass when i heard this, but the amount of inspiration i got (still get) from Sam Jones on this tune really kickstarted my drive to be a full time bass player. In particular when the ensemble comes in around 4:43

Man, I've gotta hear Louis Hayes in person next chance I can....

 

[tmntfan]

the thing that got me to play DB was seeing a Klezmer band live (beyond the pale, out of Toronto Canada)
What really got me into jazz was listening to Mingus Ah Um, Sunday at the VV - Bill Evans, and cheap CD of Monk tunes I picked up some.
listened to pretty much those 3 on repeat for a summer.