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Thoughts on Pino Palladino

#23
TJH3113 said:
Does anyone besides myself ever question his decision to give up that voice and resign himself to sounding like "just another bassist"?
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I think it was brilliant. He is and was a session guy. He needs to be versatile. The worst thing he could have done was to be typecast as "that fretless guy".

And I say this as a 100% fretless player where Pino's work was part in helping to form my decision to be one. The guy is genius, but times have moved on and so have styles, and what he did back in the late 80s/early 90s isn't really something anyone wants anymore. He's giving his "customers" what they want.
 
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#24
TJH3113 said:
In the 80's and beyond, Pino had an instantly recognizable voice via his fretless work with Paul Young, David Gilmour, Don Henley, Pete Townsend, Melissa Etheridge, Elton John... Does anyone besides myself ever question his decision to give up that voice and resign himself to sounding like "just another bassist"? Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning his obvious talent, just his decision.
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It seems to me that you're (unintentionally) cherry picking completely different examples. Pino is a session guy and "hired gun" that plays completely different styles for completely different people. When he is hired to play "Pino Palladino fretless," he does that. When he is hired to play more generic bass tones and lines, he does that. To my understanding he still does some of both, but it might be that people are calling less for his distinctive fretless work than before. I doubt it has much to do with him giving up his voice. Regarding the Who, like other employers, my guess is that the tone and style are dictated mainly by what the Who wants to hear from him.

P.S. I'm also with the other posters who have commented that his melodic fretless work has only ever been one part of his playing. His deeper groove work with D'Angelo and others is just as distinctive as his fretless playing.
 
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#25
MonetBass said:
When I saw him with the Who three years ago, the mix was pretty good and I could hear Pino fine. Obviously he was playing a fretted (Fender Jag!) bass, so he didn't have his signature tone going on. But then that wouldn't work with the Who, would it?
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Was it this Jag? ;)

 
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#26
Let me preface this by saying I recognize Pino is a big boy and can do whatever he wants to do, but selfishly speaking, I miss that voice of his and I hear nobody who plays in that fashion now. In the 80s a song would come on the radio and no matter the artist, I could always tell when it was he playing. I would love to hear that singular style again.

I'm sure Bo Jackson could have played Center and well too, but I'm glad he played a position that let his special abilities be seen by all.

In any case, Pino's a superior player in any style and I look forward to hearing from him for years to come.
 
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#29
kjones said:
Let me preface this by saying I recognize Pino is a big boy and can do whatever he wants to do, but selfishly speaking, I miss that voice of his and I hear nobody who plays in that fashion now. In the 80s a song would come on the radio and no matter the artist, I could always tell when it was he playing. I would love to hear that singular style again.
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This is essentially what I was driving at. I think you put it much better than I did though.
 
#30
I like Pino as a session bassist and I also agree with some who say The Who is the wrong gig for him, which brings up the whole other topic of "is The Who really still The Who with just Daltrey & Townshend?" I won't get into all that but, I will say I think it was really cool of Pino to honor John Entwistle and all the great bass lines he created in his lifetime by filling in for him after his death during his last tour. I think that should have been it though, staying with Daltrey & Townshend all these years later just doesn't seem right. Honestly, I'd almost rather see him hook up with John Mayer's trio again if it was an all instrumental situation (I can't stand his singing but they could seriously jam).
 
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#34
kjones said:
Let me preface this by saying I recognize Pino is a big boy and can do whatever he wants to do, but selfishly speaking, I miss that voice of his and I hear nobody who plays in that fashion now. In the 80s a song would come on the radio and no matter the artist, I could always tell when it was he playing. I would love to hear that singular style again.

I'm sure Bo Jackson could have played Center and well too, but I'm glad he played a position that let his special abilities be seen by all.
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He still plays the fretless Stingray with PSP, NIN, and others - and you can tell it's him even if he's playing through a synth. Fretless EB today is icing on the cake, not the meat loaf as in the 1980s - aside: think Jaco had no effect? I had a session a few weeks back that was evenly split between fretted, fretless, and DB.

kjones said:
In any case, Pino's a superior player in any style and I look forward to hearing from him for years to come.
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+1 If I listen closely I can always pick Pino out regardless of style and instrument. There's no one who plays fills like that.
 
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#36
TJH3113 said:
This is great. Phillippe Saisse is awesome, I saw him a few months ago playing with Al Di Meola.
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A quick aside:

I bought a PSP digital release about 6 years ago, and had some problem with it, so I emailed the customer service address.

The reply and solution was from Phillippe! Nice guy too.
 
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#37
I think "presence on stage" is often overlooked. Pino is a quiet guy and I've never seen him "moving" too much on stage except for those 80's video when he was young and energetic :) some musicians continue to be "present on stage" till the end of their career, because it IS the band's image. Pino comes from a different background - he's one of the best session bass players ever! He pretty much never been a part of a band in sense of being founding member/songwriter. Basically if you're a session bass player who got hired to play with an artist, you don't want to be a distraction. I think his relationships with The Who are strictly business. He will never be able to replace Entwistle, so he's just doing his job :) I personally consider him the best bass player alive. His work with John Mayer and D'angelo is what makes him so special in my eyes.
 
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