Who are the new Bass Icons?

Personally, I can think of two.

Joe Dart
Thundercat

I don’t really watch YouTube bassists so I can’t comment on their future icon status.

 

I'm pretty fond of Kinga Glyk these days... Excellent player in her early 20's... so she has a long time to solidify herself as an icon.

 

I’ll add an up and comer to watch out for: Gabriel Severn

 

What about this boy?

 

Hadrien Feraud is setting insane benchmarks.

He’s not a “YouTube Star”, although he’s in a bunch of videos performing. He’s a working, gigging bassist.

 

I came across this YouTube account, "juliaplaysgroove", recently. IMHO she's crazy good.



I don't know about her "icon" status, but I know for certain I intend to learn a thing or two from her.

 

This is an interesting question. They are undeniably part of the new "face of the bass". Davie504, for example, has 6.5 million subscribers and a Chowny-Retrovibe signature bass (Davie504 signature bass). He must have made hundreds or thousands of people want to learn to play.

Now the problem with YouTube (and the Internet in general) is that it tends to make everyone uniform. All these young prodigies that we see everywhere are incredibly talented, but they all sound about the same and seem to copy each other.

 

Joe Dart and Thundercat for sure. But away from this board, even those two guys have narrow appeal.

Not sure the list will be super long. The bass is sitting way down in the mix these days in a lot of new music if there's bass guitar at all. And the current fashion in bass tone is mellow and low-key, making it hard for people to notice unless they know what they are listening to. Compared, for example, to the 80s when they were mixing the bass way out front and often with flashy basslines that ended up a main identity of the song.

Non bass player club-goers can sing you the bassline from "Bust a Move." When you do hear a killer bassline in a current radio song, most of the time it's a sample on a keyboard (Charlie Puth), or the artist is using an older, established session player (Dua Lipa).

There will always be incredible young players killing it in niche areas - but broad exposure for bass players is an uphill battle right now and the prognosis is not good. There are so few opportunities like the ones all the great band bass players had in the 70s and 80s.

Perhaps best to learn how to be a functioning, employable gig player. A guy like Justin Meldal-Johnsen (who is my age, not really young) might be a model of what a "bass icon" is now - he's on a zillion records, produces quite a bit, and is enough of a player to have a following among experts.

 

Tal Wilkenfeld would qualify.

 

Michael League, Tim Lefebvre, Rocco Palladino, Kaveh Rastegar, Esperanza Spalding.

 

Tim Lefebvre is 52 years old; I doubt he's going to reach icon status outside of musician circles.

All of those are world-class players. But known only to musicians. To be an icon, you have to be recognizable beyond your own professional circle (Jack Bruce, Entwistle, Flea, Geddy Lee) or else be at deified status within it (Jaco, Louis Johnson, Stanley Clarke).

In my opinion of course.

 

Maybe CoverSolutions, he's a bass player on youtube who is great. He can basically play anything you can think to ask him.

Daniel

 

Took a minute for someone to mention Michael League. I'd add Mononeon.

 

Mono Neon , Esperanza Spalding , Thundercat immediately come to mind.

 

After over two months, I guess I have to be the one to shout out...not flash, but all space, taste, and groove(and an icon for sure), Laura Lee(Ochoa)...


At the other end of the spectrum, KT Chang is an emerging force...

And nobody’s mention Julie yet? Really?

 

I am pretty young for this board (25) and here would be my picks:
-Joe Dart (Vulfpeck):
-Johny Chow (Stone Sour)
-Nolly GetGood (Periphery): one of the people who popularized Darkglass
-Davie504: Youtuber - not my type but still hugely influencial, probably the most known one outside music
-Thundercat
-Michael League (Snarky Puppy)
-Hendrik Linder (Dirty Loops)