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Will Lee

#41
I wasn't too familar with Will's work, but I've had the opportunity to hear him live about 15 times in the past few months down at the Bitter End in NYC. He's got a steady Monday night gig with guitarist Oz Noy, and I see these guys as I wait for the jam session hosted afterwards by Richie Canata.

I only knew of Will from the Letterman show, so I figured he was a great cover band guy, and probably had magic ears as well as prodigious reading skills. All that's true, but what I've experienced is that Will can sight read rather complicated music, he can groove, jam, solo with the best of them, and that he has an uncanny musical sense of what fits the song. He was also willing to spend a few minutes helping me sort out my amp on the stage, when I asked him for a little help based on his experience at that venue- he's still a guy who puts his trousers on one leg at a time.

A shining example of what a bass player can be.
 
#42
MNAirHead said:
I'd MUCH rather have one of my students listen to him Randy Jackson, or Lee Sklar than Geddy, Les, Marcus, etc.

Tim
Click to expand...

+1

cire113 said:
WILL LEE IS FREAKIN A BASS MONSTER
Click to expand...

+1

CDweller said:
I figured he was a great cover band guy, and probably had magic ears as well as prodigious reading skills. All that's true, but what I've experienced is that Will can sight read rather complicated music, he can groove, jam, solo with the best of them, and that he has an uncanny musical sense of what fits the song. He was also willing to spend a few minutes helping me sort out my amp on the stage, when I asked him for a little help based on his experience at that venue-

A shining example of what a bass player can be.
Click to expand...

whew..


Too bad that by search (title) this forum with keyword: "Will Lee" don't give me many results except this thread (at least until page 12 of the search result - I'm too lazy to continue)...
and so many Geddy Lee,..and Sadowsky Will Lee bass for sale :D

I wished I'll found much more good thread about Will Lee here..

Will Lee is THE Bassist I listen to since I was a little kid.
 
#43
For you Will Lee fans with a Netflix subscription, there is a DVD called Joe Cool live, it's from around 1985 so it's a little vintage, but great stuff anyway. Lots of Uncle Will screen time.:bassist:
 
#45
plangentmusic said:
Okay, get ready to flame.

I think WIll Lee is the consummate pro. Solid player. Good time, good skill, good ears, good feel. Sings well too.

However...

I don't think he does anything that a few thousand other guys do as well. And I'm not just talking about chops.

The guy's done hundreds of records but I can't think of one track that is anything special. (Copying McCartney's lines doesn't count).

He's a real good player who got off on the right foot , made the right contacts and parlayed it into amazing career. It is't ALL luck. But it is in part.





At least, that's how I see it. :hiding:
Click to expand...

Just forward to about 5:30 and I hope your opinion would change......
A few THOUSAND other guys?????
I'd like to find a few other players who can just play "Some Skunk Funk" period.
It goes from monster bop unison lines to hard groovy R&B all in one tune.
And Will NEVER loses a beat.

Some Skunk Funk is your one tune.
That and Copacabana with Barry Manilow....:hiding:

He pretty much was the bass player for all the Brecker Bros. discs in the 70's/80's.
 
#47
Will Lee - Bass - :bassist:

Deodato - Speak Low - First Cuckoo
YouTube - Deodato - speak low

Deodato - Funk Yourself - First Cuckoo
YouTube - DEODATO "funk yourself"

Deodato - Shazam - Knights of Fantasy
YouTube - Shazam By Deodato 1979
Bass Solo @ 3:56, which you might wanna fast forward to unless you're into pulsating disco drum percussion...which is cool

Bob James - Storm King - Three
YouTube - Bob James Storm King

Bob James - Westchester Lady - Three
YouTube - Bob James - Westchester Lady

*Gary King also plays bass on Bob James' Three, gotta throw him some bass love; like Will Lee, Gary was a workhorse on many a great recordings*
:)
 
#48
I think there is a very important point, hiding in this post. That there are many, varied, essential and important skills, that are required to be a successful professional musician, that have nothing to do with musical ability.

So Mr. Lee is undoubtably a great musician, with a tons of talent in all things musical, like maybe 1000 other folks might have in NYC. But if you take his talent, and drop it inside an A-hole, or a dullard, or an egotistical nitwit, or any other kind of unpleasant interpersonal vessel, you get a different outcome.


plangentmusic said:
Okay, get ready to flame.

I think WIll Lee is the consummate pro. Solid player. Good time, good skill, good ears, good feel. Sings well too.

However...

I don't think he does anything that a few thousand other guys do as well. And I'm not just talking about chops.

The guy's done hundreds of records but I can't think of one track that is anything special. (Copying McCartney's lines doesn't count).

He's a real good player who got off on the right foot , made the right contacts and parlayed it into amazing career. It is't ALL luck. But it is in part.





At least, that's how I see it. :hiding:
Click to expand...
 
#49
As someone playing on the NYC scene (not quite as prolifically as Will Lee, mind you), it's tough to NOT see instances of Will Lee gigging around town. And he's at it again tonight with Terry Silverlight, Barry Miles & Dave Mann at one of NYC's more storied venues, and he's got a theater gig with the Fab Faux this weekend in North Jersey.

I get a sense that Will would probably cast himself in a role much like that of Chuck Rainey. A guy whose playing is there to suit the song. He's got the chops when he needs them, but has the taste to know when to hold back.

And after this past weekend, I can't even THINK of saying a bad word about him. My band had a gig at NYC's The Bitter End this past saturday night in a pretty prime slot. And I was already a little nervous that Will Lee might have set the bass bar a little high earlier in the week, since he had played 4 nights with guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson on that very stage. Fast-forward to my own gig, I arrived early with my bass & amp, in the knowledge that the club had an older Hartke 4x10 cab. Not my favorite piece of house gear on the NYC club scene, but the sound at The Bitter End is better than most.

What do I find when I get onstage and begin setting up? A much newer Hartke 4x10 cab much like this one:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The sound man let me know who the kind donor of this new piece of house bass gear was: none other than Will Lee! He had brought it in for his gigs with Eric Johnson, and since he had some spare gear and saw the need at the club, he generously donated the new(er) cabinet to The Bitter End. It certainly got me even more excited for a gig that was important to my band. And how did it sound? In short it sounded great, and we played a great set. Thank you Will Lee!
 
#52
OK, here's some Uncle Will-singin' and playin' through 4 decades:
The 70s
YouTube - The Brecker Brothers-Some Skunk Funk
The 80s
YouTube - DA ALLEY WAY KOOL
The 90s
YouTube - Will Lee "Georgie Porgy" (Will sings on this one, too)
The 00s
YouTube - Oz Noy, Will Lee, Dave Weckl LIVE In NYC FPE-TV
OK, that's 4 decades-you tell me. Is he any good?
Bear in mind that he's also a top call studio vocalist and makes about 50% of his income from that as well.
Here's his credits list from allmusic.com:
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/will-lee-p97319/credits
 
#53
jbybj said:
I think there is a very important point, hiding in this post. That there are many, varied, essential and important skills, that are required to be a successful professional musician, that have nothing to do with musical ability.

So Mr. Lee is undoubtably a great musician, with a tons of talent in all things musical, like maybe 1000 other folks might have in NYC. But if you take his talent, and drop it inside an A-hole, or a dullard, or an egotistical nitwit, or any other kind of unpleasant interpersonal vessel, you get a different outcome.
Click to expand...

Amen!
 
#54
ShoeManiac said:
As someone playing on the NYC scene (not quite as prolifically as Will Lee, mind you), it's tough to NOT see instances of Will Lee gigging around town. And he's at it again tonight with Terry Silverlight, Barry Miles & Dave Mann at one of NYC's more storied venues, and he's got a theater gig with the Fab Faux this weekend in North Jersey.

I get a sense that Will would probably cast himself in a role much like that of Chuck Rainey. A guy whose playing is there to suit the song. He's got the chops when he needs them, but has the taste to know when to hold back.

And after this past weekend, I can't even THINK of saying a bad word about him. My band had a gig at NYC's The Bitter End this past saturday night in a pretty prime slot. And I was already a little nervous that Will Lee might have set the bass bar a little high earlier in the week, since he had played 4 nights with guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson on that very stage. Fast-forward to my own gig, I arrived early with my bass & amp, in the knowledge that the club had an older Hartke 4x10 cab. Not my favorite piece of house gear on the NYC club scene, but the sound at The Bitter End is better than most.

What do I find when I get onstage and begin setting up? A much newer Hartke 4x10 cab much like this one:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The sound man let me know who the kind donor of this new piece of house bass gear was: none other than Will Lee! He had brought it in for his gigs with Eric Johnson, and since he had some spare gear and saw the need at the club, he generously donated the new(er) cabinet to The Bitter End. It certainly got me even more excited for a gig that was important to my band. And how did it sound? In short it sounded great, and we played a great set. Thank you Will Lee!
Click to expand...

Great story! Not only a great player but seems like a nice guy too...
 
#55
I know I'm almost a year late on this, but...
plangentmusic said:
Okay, get ready to flame.

I think WIll Lee is the consummate pro. Solid player. Good time, good skill, good ears, good feel. Sings well too.

However...

I don't think he does anything that a few thousand other guys do as well. And I'm not just talking about chops.

The guy's done hundreds of records but I can't think of one track that is anything special. (Copying McCartney's lines doesn't count).

He's a real good player who got off on the right foot , made the right contacts and parlayed it into amazing career. It is't ALL luck. But it is in part.





At least, that's how I see it. :hiding:
Click to expand...

This is exactly what you get the $$$ to do. It took me years to learn this lesson. You can be Jaco incarnate and nobody will hire you because you're too much of a show off. I'm 32 and I just came off a ten year blacklist at one theater gig because
I was young and stupid back then and played way more than I should have. I'm super lucky the current artistic director worked with me on Cotton Patch Gospel and gave me a call to play Eddie in Pump Boys and Dinnettes. Face it: bass is in the bullpen, and how you pitch is situational.
 
#56
VJP said:
I love Will as much as anyone, but this track is Neil Jason (who I also love as much as anyone :D ) at least according to this Invalid Link Removed and my ears.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that up VJP, I may have misread the liner notes and just suspected it was Will. Definitely props to Neil Jason for his contributions in the Bass World. I'm sure Neil and Will have probably filled in for each other on many a gigs/recording seshs.
@ Shoemaniac ... very cool story
 
#57
It may not be what he does, but what he doesn't do. I've been listening to him for years and he doesn't mess up. It always has the right feel, a good tone and the right notes. Every time. With any instrument there's the easy 80% and the hard 20%. In our case, yes many of the people on the board could cop his part. The hard 20% is pocket, color, nuance and consistency. Get back to me when you feel like you've got that final 20% completely under control. I know I don't.
 
#59
MNAirHead said:
I know this will get me flamed..

I'd MUCH rather have one of my students listen to him Randy Jackson, or Lee Sklar than Geddy, Les, Marcus, etc.

Most of who folks swoon on this board are players with a band built around them... these guys really don't make the reality cut.

Tim
Click to expand...

Actually I agree to a point. And this is getting off topic a bit.
Geddy Lee (no relation to Will ;) ) is a great example of a progressive rock player.
And Marcus in his Luther Vandross and Miles days is text book of what needs to be done in those styles as well.

I'm kinda done with the youtube videos of guys who sound like Marcus and Victor- be it 12 or 50 years old. If you sound like a version of those guys (good or bad....yawn.
Let me here YOU.

BUT!!!!! Great players such as Will have not only developed a strong voice of their own, they also know how to be as generic as hell to fit in ANY situation.
Again I reference the countless players who CAN'T do that.

<insert horn blowing for a second>....I'm certainly not the best player around.
Not by a long shot.
But I've been told countless times on how they saw me with a country band one night and an R&B band another and a jazz one someplace else.
My "working" band we go from Prince to Lady Antebellem to Muse.
And because of the strengths of the guys and myself to understand a good portion of each style, and have spent time playing each as well, we can authentically pull off each one.

It's a "lesson" I've gleened from players like Will Lee, Lee Sklar etc....

I'd say IMO/IME that 3/4 of the players out there (especially in Detroit- it's higher) could care less about being a "BASS PLAYER" and want to be an "R&B bass player", or "Jazz" or whatever.
A VERY comon attitude (again, rampant here in the D) is if you're not playing R&B/Jazz, you're not really up to snuff.
And that is a resounding feel in a lot of TB threads as well.

Will Lee is a flat out perfect example of what IMO, every bass player should strive to be FIRST. Then fall into where you think you need to be.

Ok, my rant is over!!! LOL!!! :D
 
#60
"Let me hear YOU."

Amen. That's a lesson it took me nearly 30 years to learn. I spent nearly twenty years trying to be other bass players and most of another fifteen or so (playing rather intermittently) trying to figure out what my own voice was. Finally I just let whatever sounded/felt good to me come out on the instrument. My influences are still there - whose aren't -and they can be heard, but now it's in the context of what bandmates and others tell me is a distinct voice rather than a pale copy of someone else.

And the most important lesson I learned is:

Serve the song first.

A slick little technique-showcasing filigree in an open space is cool. It is not cool when the singer/featured soloist is stepping out or when it wanders away from the groove.

And Will serves the song as well as anyone who has ever picked up a bass guitar.
 

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