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Vail Johnson

#41
I love that too...makes me miss the Arsenio Hall show!

I still have the Kenny G live CD with Midnight Motion on it, which I used to listen to pretty incessantly. One lick in the solo reminds me a lot of "Be Yourself" by Cameo.

BTW, Nice to see you here, Vail!
 
#42
Hey everybody! Greetings from China. We'll be in the Far East for another couple weeks, then back at it in the states for the summer. I'm hitting the funk button harder for my new CD,as it seems that's what people would like to hear. Good to get feedback from all of you.
 
#44
vail_bass said:
Hey everybody! Greetings from China. We'll be in the Far East for another couple weeks, then back at it in the states for the summer. I'm hitting the funk button harder for my new CD,as it seems that's what people would like to hear. Good to get feedback from all of you.
Click to expand...
Yes! Bring on the funk! Funk music in general needs to make a huge comeback! :hyper:
 
#48
vail_bass said:
Man, you guys are rough! :-)
Seriously, that mullet was nearly 20 years ago. I'm just glad that there isn't any footage of me moon- walking in spandex bike shorts!!
There are current videos out there for your viewing (dis) pleasure.
Always fun to hear what fellow bassists are thinking. It's a nice contrast to the adulation of the mindless public.
Here's the update, I still wear sweat bands because otherwise I sweat all over my basses.
My hair is longer at the moment because my wife thinks I'm too scary looking with the buzz cut!
I still enjoy the pentatonic scale, though sometimes play a few of those 'jazz' notes in- between.
Touring like mad at the moment; still with Kenny G. It's been a fantastic gig for 22 years now.
Latest (2006) CD 'Underground' available from my website ( vailjohnson.net); no vocals, lots of bass!! Maybe you guys will give me some straight feedback?
Working on the new CD, probably done by summer '08.
Always smiling when I play; still can't believe I get paid for goofing off :-)
Click to expand...

Hey Vail... I was in your opening act when you guys played Maui a coupla months ago ... Gypsy Pacific, I was playing upright. I remember looking at your basses onstage during soundcheck and thinking "Whoa... blast from the past!" :D I used to have a fretted version of that Kramer "pickle fork" bass, it was pretty decent.
 
#50
This is my one beef with Arsenio hall. If Arsenio simply gave Carter the gig, Carter would've used it as the basis for a career as an LA studio guy, and never joined DMB. DMB would've subsequently found the terrible drummer they deserved and all would have been fine. But it was not to be. ):
 
#51
ZenderBender said:
This is my one beef with Arsenio hall. If Arsenio simply gave Carter the gig, Carter would've used it as the basis for a career as an LA studio guy, and never joined DMB. DMB would've subsequently found the terrible drummer they deserved and all would have been fine. But it was not to be. ):
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a really big if and a bit of a stretch.
 
#52
It's not really much of a beef though. I don't truly blame Arsenio as he didn't know any better. It's actually a kind of joke-grade beef. But I am confident that he would have been in better company if he had avoided DMB. If Arsenio had accepted him, he probably wouldn't be playing with DMB.


But let's just create a little scenario. Let's just suppose that Carter had a terrible falling-out with Dave, and moved to either LA or NYC. Can you imagine how many producers would be kneeling at his doorstep begging him to play on their records?


The best possible result I could think of would be him playing with Fagen & Becker. He would be so killer on a Steely Dan album.
 
#53
;)
ZenderBender said:
It's not really much of a beef though. I don't truly blame Arsenio as he didn't know any better. It's actually a kind of joke-grade beef. But I am confident that he would have been in better company if he had avoided DMB. If Arsenio had accepted him, he probably wouldn't be playing with DMB.


But let's just create a little scenario. Let's just suppose that Carter had a terrible falling-out with Dave, and moved to either LA or NYC. Can you imagine how many producers would be kneeling at his doorstep begging him to play on their records?
Click to expand...

I think Carter is way happier with his paycheck with DMB than if he was a studio cat. Love or hate Dave Mathews, he made the whole band equal partners[very rare] therefor millionaires many, many times over, far more than Carter would make as a studio cat, even at triple scale.;)
 
#56
Caught Kenny G at the Hampton Jazz Festival last night! He and the band put on one hellova show! Vail got his spotlight solo and killed it as usual! Kenny's percussionist is one bad@$$ of a musician! Vail played his usual Kubicki and what looked like a custom Kramer through a nice GK rig. They had the best sound of the evening. Every instrument was clear and defined. Kem & Jill Scott's sound sounded like a wall of sound. Kem's band is kick@ass, though! His bassist played a Ken Smith 6 into an Eden rig (2 4x10's, World Tour head?). Jill Scott's bassist played what looked like an R bass or F bass single cut. I couldn't tell what rig he was using but he was a young cat! I got to go backstage and meet Vail and take a picture. Really cool guy! You can tell he has a ton of fun playing!

Thanks, Vail!!
 
#57
That young cat you're referring to that played with Jill Scott is my boy Dwayne Wright-the son of gospel artist Timothy Wright.He's a beast on bass.

I believe that was Al Turner with Kem. I wasn't at the show but the Ken Smith bass and Eden rig gave it away as he is endorsed by both. Also he's been playing with Kem for quite some time.
 
#58
vail_bass said:
yep, still playing the Kubickis. Haven't played another bass that has the same set of qualities for me.
The Kubickis are a quirky breed. There are so many easy ways to make it sound 'funny'. Lots of EQ range and the tone switch conspire to create that situation.
Takes some time to really get a feel for what it can do, in my opinion.
I loved it from the first minute I played it at Phils shop in Santa Barbara back in '86, though.
Still do; I feel I can do different things on each bass I have; the Kubickis are really great for soloing; my '62 P bass is awesome for 'groove'. I still play the old Kramer fretless, though nature is slowly 're-claiming' it!
FYI, there are even 'funnier' videos of me if you search on youtube. ;-) The mullet got bigger by the time I started playing on Arsenio Hall Show.
Click to expand...



Vail, glad you stopped by, since you're here, I gotta ask: Don`t black people love bass???

Hahaha, Arsenio cracks me up. Though a lot of the music you're involved with isn't my bag, I dig your playing for sure. And don't let these cats fool you, I've seen some of the "show us your old gig photo" threads, some of the pictures of the guys here on Talkbass, and they totally put your mullet to shame. :D

Very cool of you to stop by.
 
#59
Basseroni said:
That young cat you're referring to that played with Jill Scott is my boy Dwayne Wright-the son of gospel artist Timothy Wright.He's a beast on bass.

I believe that was Al Turner with Kem. I wasn't at the show but the Ken Smith bass and Eden rig gave it away as he is endorsed by both. Also he's been playing with Kem for quite some time.
Click to expand...
Seems he had quite a few 'vets' hangin' with him. He had, IIRC, David McMurray playing sax! And a 'Sugar Bear' on guitar! Really good band!
 
#60
vail_bass said:
Man, you guys are rough! :-)
Seriously, that mullet was nearly 20 years ago. I'm just glad that there isn't any footage of me moon- walking in spandex bike shorts!!
There are current videos out there for your viewing (dis) pleasure.
Always fun to hear what fellow bassists are thinking. It's a nice contrast to the adulation of the mindless public.
Here's the update, I still wear sweat bands because otherwise I sweat all over my basses.
My hair is longer at the moment because my wife thinks I'm too scary looking with the buzz cut!
I still enjoy the pentatonic scale, though sometimes play a few of those 'jazz' notes in- between.
Touring like mad at the moment; still with Kenny G. It's been a fantastic gig for 22 years now.
Latest (2006) CD 'Underground' available from my website ( vailjohnson.net); no vocals, lots of bass!! Maybe you guys will give me some straight feedback?
Working on the new CD, probably done by summer '08.
Always smiling when I play; still can't believe I get paid for goofing off :-)
Click to expand...
LOL! I love this...if ever there was a lesson in not judging a book by its cover, it's this reply. It reminds me of when Ryan Phillippe was on Howard Stern, and after the interview, a caller says to Ryan, "I used to think you were a douchebag but you're actually a pretty cool guy."

So in that spirit, Vail, I used to think you were a douchebag but you're actually a pretty cool guy ;)

Just kidding...please don't kill me!
 

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