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Upright Bassists

Thunderthumbs73

Thunderthumbs73

May 5, 2008
4,290
1,489
#1
Any upright bassists you like and/or find influential?

I'm listening to Milt Hinton on NPR, and learning a bit about him. Very interesting. He is a very rhythmic player with the slapping and some of you slap-oriented folks on the electric bass might find him of interest, as I have.
 
#2
Definitely!
Ray Brown, Ron Carter, & Richard Davis were a big influence for me in the '70s.
Recently, it's Dave Holland, William Parker, & Andy Gonzalez.

I have always maintained that I play an 'acoustic' instrument that's plugged in. ;)

...and, no doubt, "The Mule" is great!
 
#4
Ray Brown made a huge impact on me when I was very young. His playing was like a heartbeat. I think he may still be the bassist I most admire.

Sometime later, George Mraz blew me away. Again, a very steady player, but his sense of melody is what really caught my ear. He is one of the most "musical" bassists I know.

Lately, I find myself reading about and listening to Gary Peacock a lot. Here's a guy who can play everything from the straightest standards to the wildest free blowing, and he always sounds exceptional doing it; not just playing well and tastefully, but adventurously. He has a lot of interesting things to say about his philosophy of playing and music as well.

I'm primarily an electric player, but these three have been/are a continuous source of inspiration for me; probably more than any electric bassists I can think of.

/rick
 
#6
All of the players mentioned and Charlie Haden, NHOP and Palle Danielsson.
Palle played one of my favorite bass solos is on a Keith Jarret's My Song recording of a tune "Country", the solos just floats and reaches an emotional peak that I am always striving toward.
Slam Stewart & Major 'The Mule' Holley are influential as bassists that scat with their bowed bass lines, if you can find a copy of Shut Yo' Mouth grab it an awesome example of bass as a lead instrument and funny as heck, my favorite blue day cd, it always gets a smile.
The Judge is the man not only for his wonderful playing but also for the example of how to "BE" THE bass player.
 
#7
Thunderthumbs73 said:
Any upright bassists you like and/or find influential?
Click to expand...

Heh...I mostly play EUB these days, so Eberhard Weber, David Friesen and Glen Moore all get lots of my attention. Moore plays mostly acoustic (extremely well I might add), but at the last few Oregon shows I saw he was using his EUBs more and more.

Plenty of AUB players I listen to a lot too, such as:

Paul Chambers
Charlie Mingus
Charlie Haden
Dave Holland
Ray Brown
Percy Heath
Stanley Clarke
Cecil McBee
Rufus Reid
Scott LaFaro
Eddie Gomez

...and everyone else mentioned so far in this thread.
 
#14
A shout out for Marcus Shelby...Bass Player recently did an article on him & so I picked up Harriet Tubman & i'Port Chicago. Extremely well-written & well-played Big Band stuff.
 
#15
JimK said:
A shout out for Marcus Shelby...Bass Player recently did an article on him & so I picked up Harriet Tubman & i'Port Chicago. Extremely well-written & well-played Big Band stuff.
Click to expand...

I picked up Harriet Tubman and find myself listening to it all the time. Turning me on to Marcus Shelby just paid for my subscription for some time to come...
 
#20
Also too many to mention, I play upright mostly. Some of my faves (some alive, some dead) in the Roots music genre:

Ernie Newton - Hank William's Drifting Cowboys
Lightning Chance - " "
Kevin Smith - High Noon, Dwight Yoakum
Beau Sample - Modern Sounds, Joel Paterson
Jake Erwin - Hot Club of Cowtown, many others
Slam Stewart & Milt Hinton of course...
Jonny Ray Bartel - The Knitters

so many more...........
 

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