Your Favorite Fretless Electric Recordings

Pino Palladino is very good with Paul Young or on numerous sessions, like with the Christians etc. etc.

Mick Karn is an interesting player to listen to as he doesn't sound anything like other fretless players - with Japan, David Sylviain or solos albums.

There are loads of others - Marcus Miller can play decent fretless and Christian McBride plays fretless electric sometimes.

 

You should give Manring's "Thonk" a go. Some truly great fretless work there!

 

Pino Palladino, esp. on Give Blood (Pete Townshend's White City album)

Percy Jones - Solo, Brand X

Vic Wooten - Solo, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones

Sean Malone - Solo, Death, Cynic, Aghora, Gordian Knot

More later

 

Michael Manring's "Drastic Measures" is out of print, but if you can somehow get ahold of it or borrow it from someone, definitely do it. That's my favorite fretless stuff on record. "Thonk" and "The Book of Flame" are great, too.

 

I second the vote for "Drastic Measures". Manring's a technical monster, but there's a lot of beautiful, lyrical fretless on this album in addition to the chopsfest. "Oyazumi Nasai" is one of the best duets I think I've heard in any genre of music.

Tony Levin's "Waters of Eden" and Jimmy Haslip's "Red Heat" also come to mind as examples of good fretless playing. The Levin recording is sort of poppy-new agey, whereas Haslip's is in a Latin vein.

If you want something less traditional, Tribal Tech's recordings are a good bet. Some of the improvisation is pretty out there, but Gary Willis can play up a storm on fretless.

 

Jaco Pastorius - Continuum
Pink Floyd - Hey You
Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al

 

Breathing and Babushka by Kate Bush. (with John Giblin on bass)

Also, I have a live record from Brand X, with Percy Jones...nice, really nice basswork, but the compositions aren't that great.

 

Don't forget 6 string fretless players like Steve Lawson and Steve Bailey. Lawson is very melodic. So is Mark Egan. My favourite fretless player is still Jaco.

 

"Manifest Destiny" by Jamiroquai is a pretty one, too. Stu Zender plays a fretless Alembic on this one. Give it a listen, great tune to play as well.

 

Manring's Drastic Measures.

I also like Pino's work on Paul Young's Tear Your Playhouse Down.

 

that is such a great bassline...so simple and melodic...i love it...

also, is donna lee (JP) played on a fretless???

 

Yes

 

thought so...

I would also reccomend some tunes off Ten (Pearl Jam) Especially Even Flow, Alive and Oceans...and Rats off Versus...

he may not be a virtuoso, but just listen to Oceans...the vocal melody was based on the bassline

 

Try some Catch22, they sound pretty much like jazz except with punk lyrics. The bass player only uses a fretless

 

I'm with Bruce on this one. Here's a couple to look for.....
Pino Palladino on Gary Numan's "I, Assassin"...and
Mick Karn's 'Collector's Edition".

 

Mick Karn, David Torn, Terry Bozzio, "Polytown"

Jimmy Haslip, "Arc", as well as a whole bunch of the later Yellowjackets stuff, from about "Greenhouse" on

Paul Simon, "Graceland," with Bakhiti Khumalo

About anything Pino Palladino plays fretless on

And I won't even get into Jaco, because that should be a given

 

Almost any Rolling Stones studio album. Bill Wyman almost always played a fretless Framus in the studio.

I got totally sick of that "hey I'm playing fretless" sound about a month after I got my first fretless bass.

More guys who don't make it so obvious the frets are gone: Boz with Bad Company, Rick Danko with the Band, Sting with the Police.

 

For me, the best fretless sound out there is found on Lou Reed's "New Sensations" album. The bassist is Fernando Saunders. Check out the sound on the title track and on "Turn to Me". The bass is featured on most of the songs and it's really tasty stuff.

 

There are many fretless players with outstanding tunes. There is, of course, Alain Caron. There are, however, many more not-so-well-known bassists that are very gifted. If you click on my "Jazz Bass Plus" mp3 station below, you'll find the likes of Woody Lingle, who many may know of. Also on that station, look for the tune "Aldebaran" by Romlet (bassist Romolo Amici of Italy). And there are many more 'unknowns' that are superb bassists.