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Double Bass Why did Steve Swallow switch?

#81
I never quite understood why it is ok for some jazz cats to continue playing and sounding like 1940...while in modern art or modern philosophy repeating a 2-year-old movement or trend gets you laughed out of the business. Sure, you need to know the roots of jazz, but why is it ok to actively TRY to sound like the 1940's?

Using the argument that has been brought up once or twice in this thread about how 'double bass' is really the legit way to go and electric bass is not a valid choice..? Well...

You know who is really way too modern and forward-thinking for me? People who play those new-fangled pianofortes. I think they should be banished. Any real jazzer knows that harpsichord is where it's at. And drum set? Yikes! Where is the timpano? And the turkish crash cymbals and the tablas? Don't even get me started on saxophone...I mean, really!! - Bach never wrote anything for SAXOPHONE...can't be a valid instrument for musical expression.

So by now I guess you realize that I happen to play jazz on the electric bass (primarily). I play upright when the spirit moves me. I play acoustic electric when I am hearing that texture and mood for a particular musical moment. Now if I could just get the harpsichord in the trunk of my Jetta..
 
#83
There was a good article/interview in bassplayer magazine:
http://www.bassplayer.com/article/double-life/Apr-06/19720

"You have an unusual electric technique, playing with a copper pick over the end of the fingerboard. How did this evolve?

When I first began playing electric I used my fingers. Even as an acoustic player, I was one of the last of the guys who played with their middle finger doubled over their index finger. I pulled the string as hard as I could, with gut strings, no amp, and very high action. That’s what I believed in, even though players were just beginning to use steel strings, lower their action, and use pickups. I resisted all of those things. When I switched to electric I realized that I needed to revise my technique completely. In my left hand it meant using all four fingers, rather than the three I had used because of my background in the classic Simandl method on the acoustic. It was absurd not to take advantage of the electric’s shorter scale and not use all four fingers. I also knew I couldn’t play the electric with just one right-hand finger, as it was absurdly forceful. For the first year or so of my electric playing, I tried using two fingers, but I wasn’t getting the sound I wanted. Admittedly, it was in part because of my choice of instrument and amp: I was playing a Gibson EB-2 through an Ampeg B-15. It was just so fat and warm. I was getting an agreeably dark and woolly sound, but I was suffering from lack of clarity.

When I was with Gary Burton’s band, I was merely trying to get competent on the electric. At the time, Jerry Hahn was the guitar player, and he has a wicked sense of humor. I’d often go practice after gigs, and he’d roam the hotel corridors until he found my room and heard me practicing. Night after night, there’d be a knock at my door. He’d say, “That sounds pretty good,” and then he’d whip out his pick and play some blisteringly fast and clearly articulated stuff. He’d say, “Hey, this little thing is pretty fun!” and hand it back to me. Meanwhile I’m playing like “Do Re Mi,” plodding through this basic stuff. His demonstration of the possibilities of the pick had the decisive effect of pushing me into pick playing. I’ve had the extreme good fortune of having played with a series of great guitar players, beginning first and foremost with Jim Hall. And they all played with a pick. It occurred to me that if Jim Hall could get this beautiful legato phrasing with a pick, so could I, an octave down. Just because it was a hard, blunt object didn’t necessarily mean that the notes had to have a violent attack and a staccato quality.

I didn’t take up the electric in order to be a rock & roll or R&B bassist. I had no desire to change the idiom I was playing. I was still trying to sound like Percy Heath. What was difficult, as much as the purely physical aspects, was persuading other jazz musicians that there was a place for the electric bass in jazz music. That’s still an ongoing mission. I lost some good playing friends, but I found some new ones, too."
 
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#85
Yep - Steve Swallow has certainly developed a unique approach and a unique voice over the years. I was hoping to find some good info on a hidden jem of an album or a random overheard Steve Swallow quote - but I was bummed to see the usual (negative) jazz electric bass comments placed throughout the somewhat dated thread.

Now that I got that off my chest...

If someone did get to this thread looking for the hip Swallow album to snag up - I vote for 'Shinola', with Scofield. 'Dr. Jackle' gets me every time...great time and a good vibe.

For the more adventurous, check out his work with Deidre Rodman - 'Lullaby of the Grandmothers' is a nice piano/bass duo that could pass for a Hindemith cello piece at times...hip stuff.
 
#86
Man this is a stale debate....I guess that whatever the purists think- Methany, Chris Potter, scads of others hear the individuality, melodic and harmonic depth, compositional prowess etc. that Swallow brings to the table. I think those have a hang-up about the instrument he plays, maybe aren't listening.... True, some,like Jarret have "voted with their feet", that's fine, plenty have voted yes.
JS
 
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#87
Regarding SS gems; "Real Book" is cool.... Tom Harrell, Joe Lovano, Mulgrew Miller, and Jack De Johnette.

I've always really loved the duo album with Gary Burton entitled "Hotel Hello". It's beautifully recorded, so you can hear what SS is up to very clearly, and it just has a great vibe (no pun intended) from top to bottom.

I dunno, there's a bunch of great ones. No DB snobbery from my end. One of the great composers in jazz, IMHO.

PS.... I've always been intrigued by Swallow's song titles.... but my favorite is probably "I Fall Asleep Too Easily" :D
 
#88
FullertonJazz said:
I never quite understood why it is ok for some jazz cats to continue playing and sounding like 1940...while in modern art or modern philosophy repeating a 2-year-old movement or trend gets you laughed out of the business. Sure, you need to know the roots of jazz, but why is it ok to actively TRY to sound like the 1940's?
Click to expand...

It's because music playing is an art. Frankly, most people can give a damn whether people are shunted out of business or made into a rock star. Most people are in the music business for enjoyment, which is what mainstream society fails to understand. Unfortunately, this world is run by money and power, and nothing else.

--Arojekt.
 
#89
His upright playing was amazing, but he did make a lot of good lps before switching. I like what he does with bass guitar. His new cd "So There" with Robert Creely reading his poems, Steve Kuhn on piano and a string quartet is really beautiful. Creely was one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and Swallow's music is beautiful. He really has his sound together, he sounds great with the acoustic musicians. He was very good double bassist but what he has done for the BG stands out more in a way.

It is a pretty tall order to find fault with his musicianship and body of work. The stuff with the Jimmy Guiffire trio alone, both on upright and bass guitar is enough to prove his greatness.
 
#90
released september 2007

41BOQvCL9hL._SS400_.jpg
 
#91
buddyro57 said:
I think those have a hang-up about the instrument he plays, maybe aren't listening....
Click to expand...
I have listened many times - very carefully - and this is the problem! :hmm:

So -while I appreciate he is a great musician - I just don't like his tone! It sounds "metallic and electronic" to me- as opposed to "acoustic and organic" which I like!

It is personal preference - there is nothing anybody can say to make me like it!

It's like saying - you must like Broccoli as it is good for you!

Well...if you don't like the taste - you don't like the taste!

If you don't like his tone, you don't like his tone...
 
#99
Well Well , hello Y'all :-)

I was told a very different story , but as i can't find anything about it. So, I really doubt it's true, nevertheless, absolutely possible!

A very high levelled electric bassplayer, here in Belgium, who made the same switch (allthough, he has a really different sound and style) Told me-after i asked why he made that choice-that it was because of the same reason Steve Swallow did: He suffered from tendinitis in his right hand, and whenever he played his double bass, or the electric with his fingers instead of a pic, he would, after only half an hour, not be able to play for several weeks...
Greetz, Luc
 

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