• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Worlds Longest Bass Solo attempt

#8
Hope you're tuning in to Clayton's solo. Its pretty mesmerising at times!

And Brian Ritchie is seated behind the player.

clay.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: John Chambliss
#14
Don, he's not raising money for himself. He is raising money to help finance an experimental music festival in Sydney, to pay venues and musicians and publicity etc, as there is no other funding available for it. What's obnoxious in that?

Perhaps experimental improvised performance is not your "thing", but there are plenty of people who ARE into it. Give the guy credit for dedication to a cause, at least.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Marial and oliebrice
#16
Matthew Tucker said:
Perhaps experimental improvised performance is not your "thing", but there are plenty of people who ARE into it. Give the guy credit for dedication to a cause, at least.
Click to expand...

Hi Matthew,
I am just judging the actual "performance" as a stand-alone piece, as an observer or receptor of "art". If the guy was raising money to cure Cancer, I would not like this stunt any better. I try and separate the "explanation" behind the art from the "art" itself - but that is me. (Tom Wolf's book "The Painted Word", explores this issue, that has become rampant in the visual Art World.) So, If Hitler had painted beautiful paintings, should our response to his art be tempered by his other horrible actions? I've spoken with former members of Ray Charles' band, who say he was a pretty nasty person. Should this diminish my opinion of his music? (I try not to think of his personal shortcomings when listening to his beautiful music.)
Yes - this type of improvised performance is not my "thing", but when someone presents a work of art to he world, I believe that there is an implicit agreement that the listener/viewer/observer will experience some sort of honest "reaction", positive/negative/(or a mix of both). I am just completing the transaction between artist and recipient, and, yes, I'm not always as polite as some people. (This is one of MY many "personal shortcomings", perhaps?!)
I've had my say, and maybe it's time I shut up...
Thank You for your time and civility. I appreciate both.
G'day, Mate?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Lee Moses, GuilhermeBMotta and Oddly
#18
I am no fan of crowdfunding, but Clayton is a great player raising money for a festival that will pay lots of other musicians.
Don's ignorance (special emphasis on the "ignor" part) is par for the course with straight ahead musicians. It explains many of the details beyond pure pitch he misses when discussing music.
Free musicians are more often than not well aware of traditional jazz history. No less a figure than David Holland was in on the ground floor of this type of improvising:

Holland talked at length at a workshop I was at about how this sort of playing informs the nuance of his current work.
There is so much traditional jazz has to learn from this music if only more people had open ears.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Bassist4Eris, oliebrice and Matthew Tucker

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back