Just saw him Saturday with Vital Information. Needless to say, what a band! Baron was using a '77 or '78 Jazz bass, natural, maple neck, seemed all stock minus a older version of a Hipshot detuner, straight to an SWR 350X head. He used the built octaver in the amp in a solo. Great sound; inspiring performance. Baron is an unsung hero. Just a great all-around old-school jazz-funk guy with all the soul, funkyness, but finesse you can want. And Steve Smith's playing ain't too shabby either! What a treat. For those that don't know who this cat is: http://vitalinformation.com/vital/b_baron.html
Your right about him being underrated, I just picked up the new Vital Information album[Vitalization], and he just kills on it! Great groove, great soloing, I love his playing!
Just saw Vital Information at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, OR last night (Monday). Two words: freakin' awesome. Baron didn't seem to have a cab on stage at all. I think he was running direct from a DI. At one point he reached down to adjust something and the angle of his hand leads me to belive it must have been DI. Natural Finish 70s Jazz with flats? What do you think Lefty? Baron is an awesome bassist one of the best I've seen. They were the opening act for..... Herbie Hancock. Herbie's bassist was Nathan East. I got there early and who was standing out front talking with a security person but Nathan. I hollered hello and he smiled and nodded. My wife wouldn't let me go shake his hand. Great performance marred only slightly by Herbies iMac crash while dueling with Nathan who was playing through his Akai Deep Impact. Herbie uses the iMac for soft synth sounds. Nathan had two Yamaha six strings and played through two Aguilar 4 x 10s. His pedal board had three pedals but the only one I know for sure was the Akai. Nathan did some awesome vocals and some scatting to a couple of numbers. Really great to see him in live. Both band's drummers were killer. Vinnie Colaiuta and Steve Smith are as good as it gets. Great evening with two all-star bands and the temperature was perfect.
Wow! You got the whole enchilada there. . . Nice bill. I have to admit Nathan East is a bit more "smooth jazz" that I can usually take, but monster player nevertheless. I was wondering about Baron's strings. . . They looked like flats, but they had a nice snap to them when slapping (or thumpin' and pluckin', should I say. . . ) Must be brite flats, or chromes, etc. But nice sound. Sounds jut like my '82 Jazz. I had a gig right after I went to see Vital, and I brought my '82 Jazz that night and was doing Baron impersonations all night long. I got an authograph CD from Smith. Man, Vinnie Colaiuta and Herbie Hancock. . . just wow.
Baron bends the daylight out of his strings. I mean he pushes them all over the place and at times leaves them pushed and continues to play. I have an image stabilized 18 X 50 set of binos that I take to concerts. I can read the writing on LCDs in racked gear. It was quite an evening on the Britt hill. http://www.brittfest.org
Baron gets it done. I love VI and I've seen them three times live here in Indianapolis. Every time is just too good. Baron... he makes it look so easy. Great player.
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