Favorite Recorded Jazz Bass Solos
I’m soliciting suggestions for an upcoming “Dozens” piece that I’m writing for jazz.com. What are your favorite recorded jazz bass solos of all time? Please leave a comment or drop me an email if you’d like to suggest a favorite track. Thanks.
BTW, if you haven’t visited the site yet, it is a lot of fun to read through their interviews and track reviews.
Current bassists under consideration:
Jimmy Blanton
Charles Mingus
Ray Brown
Red Mitchell
Scott LaFaro
Charlie Haden
Christian McBride
Eddie Gomez
George Mraz
Oscar Pettiford
Dave Holland
Michael Moore
When Size Really Does Matter
This is a post from contributor Bill Harrison. Bill owns and operates the play-along jazz tracks company playjazznow.com , and he maintains a blog called Jazz Underneath. You can read all doublebassblog.org contributions from Bill here.
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Among the many fascinating questions I get asked while wheeling my bass to gigs or waiting for parking lot elevators is: “Hey, is that a full size cello?” I have a variety of responses, depending upon my mood. If I’m in curmudgeon mode or in a hurry I’ll simply nod enthusiastically and move on. But sometimes I will take the time to explain that the instrument I am lugging is, in fact, a bass, not a cello and that it is not, in fact, “full size”. The bass I normally play has a string length of about 41″, which I believe makes it a 3/4 size. I rarely get this far with my explanation, however, as the inquirer usually loses interest after the heartbreaking news that they can’t tell a bass from a cello.
Since there are so many variations in the size, shape, tuning and other esoterica about our wily instrument, I’m not sure I can even define “full size”. I think a double bass has to have a 44″ mensure to be considered a 4/4 size. During my career I have owned two basses that were around 43″, which I guess made them 7/8 size, but I’m far from certain. What I do know is that, no matter what you hear on the street, the size of your bass really does matter, baby.
First, an admission: I have a rather small hand. I probably shouldn’t be a bass player for that reason alone (no snickering from those of you who know my playing, please…). Years ago, a wise teacher admonished me that I would never be able to out-muscle the bass; I’d always have to out-think it. I have always been jealous of the pornstar-like paws of bassists like Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius. But we make do with what we have, right?
Walking Bass Lines with Bill Harrison – Major Triads
Doublebassblog.org contributor Bill Harrison recently put out a new video demonstrating major triad fingerings on the double bass. Bill has made several instructional videos for jazz bassists in the past, and they are definitely worth checking out. Bill is the founder of PlayJazzNow.com, a company that specializes in downloadable play-along tracks for jazz musicians. Be sure to check out his blog Jazz Underneath for more information on his activities, and check out all of his doublebassblog.org contributions here.
Jazz Bassist/Composers
My extensive research into the area of influential and prolific jazz composers who happen to be bass players has been something of a bust. Much as I wanted to shill for my fellow low note creators, the sad truth is that there are not enough outstanding musicians who fit the description to warrant a full length article. I had hoped to write something for the new and quite good online journal Bass Musician Magazine, but there is barely enough material for a decent blog post. So, here goes:
It will come as no surprise that the first and most outstanding jazz bassist/composer was, of course, Charles Mingus. He really has no peer in terms of output, passion, skill, stylistic advancement and influence. A quick glance at his catalog of compositions will give you a good overview of the breadth of this man’s work. From simple blues based compositions like Haitian Fight Song and Better Git Hit In Your Soul to the massive and flawed Epitaph, his oeuvre is impressive – almost overwhelming.
Mingus aspired to be the Duke Ellington of his generation, though he also venerated Thelonius Monk and Charlie Parker. I’m guessing that his most played composition is the memorial he wrote for Lester Young, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, which is essentially a re-harmonized blues melody. The tune is rightfully well known and often recorded; it is hauntingly beautiful.
Next I have to go with the man who put the fretless bass guitar on the map and wrote a handful of great and often performed tunes, Jaco Pastorius. Jaco’s output as a composer doesn’t come close to the scope and influence of Mingus but some of his tunes have become fusion (for lack of a more appropriate term) icons. Such compositions as Three Views of A Secret, Teen Town, Havona, Punk Jazz, River People, Barbary Coast, Continuum and Portrait of Tracy leave no doubt as to the writing talent Jaco possessed. Unfortunately he did not live long enough to see that talent fully realized.
Dave Holland has produced a great deal of music, primarily suiting his purpose to have the tunes serve as springboards for improvisation. He has written a number of compositions arising from his interest in odd meters and has also stretched the limits of harmony, often juxtaposing “tunes” and free improvisation. A friend of mine said that his historic early recording Conference of The Birds sounded like TV themes interspersed with free blowing. That’s awfully dismissive, but some of the tunes do sound a little immature. Fortunately, he had the likes of Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton there to push the improvisational envelope. Many of his recordings have been without chording instruments, which reminds me of Mingus’s piano-less quartet recordings of the early 1960’s. [The presence of Eric Dolphy on the seminal recordings of Fables of Faubus and What Love, among other tunes, certainly helped make those sessions as close to masterpieces as there are in jazz.]
Holland has garnered many accolades in the past couple of decades for his work as a bassist and bandleader. Some of the inherent value of his groups is due to the quality of his writing, which has greatly matured over the years. He has borrowed a strategy from the Ellington (and Mingus) play book, namely, writing compositions specifically for the individual players in his groups. Like his early mentor Miles Davis, Holland has fostered the careers of many younger players, providing them a movable workshop not only for their playing but for their tunes as well.
The only other bassist/composer I have found to be a potential rival for these masters will come as a surprise to many of you. I first heard Ben Allison’s music in connection with the NPR show On The Media. After doing some investigating I discovered that Allison had been writing, performing and generating considerable buzz with his semi-cooperative band Medicine Wheel for a number of years. His writing is eclectic and fresh sounding, incorporating a lot of non-jazz elements like pop and world music textures. I can’t give you a good thumbnail description of his compositions – there are a lot of them, spanning a good half dozen or so CDs. What I’ve heard I think is well worth checking out.
I realize that this list may be somewhat controversial. I’ve left out a lot of the usual (and some unusual) suspects. Many bass players have written some good tunes. My short list of these players includes Steve Swallow, Gary Willis, Gary Peacock, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, George Mraz, Miroslav Vitous, Michael Manring, Oscar Pettiford, Scott LaFaro, Eddie Gomez, John Patitucci, Eberhard Weber, David Friesen, William Parker, Avishai Cohen, Drew Gress. I’m sure I’ve left out some worthy names, including your personal favorite…
But none of these players’ work as yet comes up to the standard set by Mingus, Pastorius and Holland. Perhaps several of them will emerge as truly seminal, outstanding composers. That remains to be seen, or, rather, heard.
As always, your comments are welcome.
10,000 Hours
This is a post by Bill Harrison – playjazznow.com
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I’ve been immersed in a fascinating book called This Is Your Brain On Music. The author, Daniel J. Levitin, is a musician/recording engineer/producer turned neuroscientist. Despite the unfortunate title, the book is a serious exploration of the connections between music (from both a listening and playing perspective) and the brain.
The chapter that most interests me discusses the venerable talent vs. hard work dichotomy. When it comes to developing true expertise as a musician, is it innate, genetic predisposition that matters most? Or is it what Artur Rubinstein referred to as “sitting power?”
The strongest evidence for the talent position is that some people simply acquire musical skills more rapidly than others. The evidence against that talent account – or rather, in favor of the view that practice makes perfect – comes from research on how much training the experts or high achievement people actually do. …experts in music require lengthy periods of instruction and practice in order to acquire the skills necessary to truly excel. In several studies, the very best conservatory students were found to have practiced the most, sometimes twice as much as those who weren’t judged as good. (p. 196)
The emerging conclusion is that experts in many fields (sports, literature, composition, performance of every kind) need about 10,000 hours of practice time to achieve world-class levels of proficiency. 10,000 hours is the equivalent of 3 hours a day, seven days a week, for a period of 10 years. These studies do not address the differences in the efficacy of practicing for different people (which is known to vary widely). But when we’re discussing performers on the level of Michael Jordan or Philip Roth or Yo Yo Ma, there apparently have not been cases where truly world class expertise was developed in less time.
According to Levitin, who runs the intriguing sounding Laboratory for Musical Perception, Cognition and Expertise at McGill University, this 10,000 hour theory is consistent with what science knows about how the brain learns. The genetic components for musical expertise are also crucial. Such things as physical size may determine that one is more suited for the double bass instead of the piccolo, for instance. Other relevant genetically linked physical traits include manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, and memory. Determination, self-confidence and patience are certainly requirements for becoming a highly skilled musician; those traits are inherent as well.
Levitin has a broad range of musical taste and knowledge, which helps make the book approachable, whether you’re a baroque purist, a mainstream jazz aficionado or a Joni Mitchell fan. For the scientifically savvy there’s also a certain amount of detail regarding areas of the brain that are engaged when we listen to or perform music.
Finally, Levitin writes with passion about the emotional content of musical performance. He notes that “so much of the research on musical expertise has looked for accomplishment in the wrong place, in the facility of the fingers rather than the expressiveness of emotion.”(p. 208) Since we go to music (as well as other forms of art) to be moved emotionally, it seems that being an expert musician ought to include the performer’s ability (or lack thereof) to communicate with listeners in a meaningful way. Quantifying these skills is, alas, no easy task. But Levitin and his colleagues around the world are focusing some of their attention on these more mysterious matters. It may be just a matter of time before science is able to pinpoint the areas of the brain responsible for musical expression, sensitivity and communicative ability.
Meanwhile, it’s back to the woodshed. At this point I think I’ve got about 7,529 hours to go.
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