Greatest Bass Playing...(acoustic/electric)

[Syan25]

HAHA - I see what you mean!
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…was looking for something else and came across this…is it just me, or is there sort of a resemblance between Jack and Beck Hansen?
 

 
 

 

[Syan25]

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Some solo bass performances I return to from time to time:

1. Miroslav Vitous - Emergence - A soft-spoken album that came out around the time new age music became a genre, but there's a sense of struggle and challenge that elevates it above the usual sort of head-nodding noodliness. I have to qualify this - it's not a great album, it's an interesting failed experiment. As such, I prefer it to many safe successes.
2. Victor Wooten - A Show of Hands - I feel weird about complaining that something's too playful, but that's about the case here. Wooten's showing off how all-over-the-place he can be. But when he's not indulging in virtuosic wankery, he's playing music that's compelling like you wouldn't believe.
3. Rob Wasserman - Solos - The musicianship is excellent and the music is somewhat conservative. But new ground doesn't have to be broken at every step all the time, right?

 
Some bass solos on other albums:

1. Jaco Pastorius' turns on Weather Report's 8:30 and Joni Mitchell's Shadows and Light - taking cues freely from a crazy-mad array of sources which all become Jaco's own, perfectly illustrating how good artists borrow and great artists steal.
2. Charlie Haden's extended solo on "Two Folk Songs" from the album 80/81 by Pat Metheny - it still haunts me in my dreams from time to time, it was the melodic eye of a musical storm.

 
As far as bass as a part of the rhythm section, there are many good performers that other people are mentioning. So I want to highlight a lesser-known: Jane Dodd's work with The Verlaines. The early albums (especially Bird Dog) are nothing short of amazing specifically because of her contribution - nimble, melodic, involving, and working as a perfect complement to a band surging through pop songs with complex meters and changes.

Emergence is amazing! As is Jaco's playing on Shadows and Light and Invitation. Now I am not familiar with Jane Dodd - so this is a great opportunity for me to check out Bird Dog. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
BTW - Rick Liard on the original Mahavishnu Orchestra albums - stunning - it's not virtuoso technique compared to the rest of the band - but for instance on One Word - his performance is the kind that blends and balances the rest of the band musically and in terms of sonority. Now that is a different kind of virtuoso... 
 

 

[Spyro]

Christian McBride
Scott Ambush
Garry Willis
John Pattitucci
Victor Wooten

 

[tru blu]

Melvin Gibbs w/ Sonny Sharrock…bass solo at 6:07…
 

 

[Syan25]

Now that is playing!
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Melvin Gibbs w/ Sonny Sharrock…bass solo at 6:07…
 

 
 

 

[Br777]

being a bass player myself i gotta get in on this.
 
I've always had a thing for slap bass
 
when i was in college playing bass my idols were jaco and victor wooten. 
I even brought my 5-string to a wooten concert and he signed it!  to me he is truly a virtuoso musician.  In my mind no one can touch him.  
his work with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones is still some of my favorite music. 
watching Victor play was one of the reasons i quit playing for a while.  having him as an example made the whole endeavor seem futile. 
 
of course i also loved les claypool in primus. 
 
 
 

 

[Syan25]

With every instrument - there are THE GREATS - but that should not let you quit playing - for me it was Keith Jarrett and to a lesser extent Chick Corea - but I am still making my music and performing - though I will never touch their league - I can still produce music that is personal to me

 

[Syan25]

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being a bass player myself i gotta get in on this.
 
I've always had a thing for slap bass
 
when i was in college playing bass my idols were jaco and victor wooten. 
I even brought my 5-string to a wooten concert and he signed it!  to me he is truly a virtuoso musician.  In my mind no one can touch him.  
his work with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones is still some of my favorite music. 
watching Victor play was one of the reasons i quit playing for a while.  having him as an example made the whole endeavor seem futile. 
 
of course i also loved les claypool in primus. 
 
 
 

 
BTW - Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer - those albums are sweet too!

 

[Br777]

 

1. Victor Wooten - A Show of Hands - I feel weird about complaining that something's too playful, but that's about the case here. Wooten's showing off how all-over-the-place he can be. But when he's not indulging in virtuosic wankery, he's playing music that's compelling like you wouldn't believe.

 

 
 
its a solo album.. a bass solo album.. of course he's showing off! thats what you do on a solo album!

 

[Br777]

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Melvin Gibbs w/ Sonny Sharrock…bass solo at 6:07…
 
 

nice!
 
i see your melvin gibbs,6:07 and raise you a victor wooten - the whole damn thing (a little solo at 2:00ish.
i could have chosen his famous outlandish sinister minister solo, but this song and the one that follows are more elegant... and grooooovy!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
lovers leap.. one of my all time favorite songs - wiked smoothe bass solo 3:18
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Br777]

so it looks like im hijacking this thread - with awesome!!
 
in my humble opinion one of the greatest bass lines of all time.. and damn good song.. INCREDIBLY hard to play this groove..  I have NEVER heard anyone play this song with anything but SHAME compared to the funk Jaco laid down.  a masterpiece of bass, especially that wiked bridge.  ooooh.. chills... chills
 
 

 
 

 

[Br777]

and one more for the old timers - the inventor of slap bass Larry Graham and another wiked funktastic bass line
 

 

[Br777]

i cant help myself.. another impossibly awesome bass line from a true bass wizard.
 
Phish's mike gordon - "its ice"
 

 

[mtntrance]

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i cant help myself.. another impossibly awesome bass line from a true bass wizard.
 
Phish's mike gordon - "its ice"
 

 
There is a free and legal down load of Mike Gordon live (an entire concert) from November 16, 2010.  The download is mp3 but recorded and mixed well.  Check out the first track "Can't Stand Still"  simply awesome.
 
link http://www.livephish.com/live-music/0,613/Mike-Gordon-mp3-flac-download-11-16-2010-Fine-Line-Music-Cafe-Minneapolis-MN.html

 

[Syan25]

Some Serious FUNK! - I always love to listen to this one!
 
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so it looks like im hijacking this thread - with awesome!!
 
in my humble opinion one of the greatest bass lines of all time.. and damn good song.. INCREDIBLY hard to play this groove..  I have NEVER heard anyone play this song with anything but SHAME compared to the funk Jaco laid down.  a masterpiece of bass, especially that wiked bridge.  ooooh.. chills... chills