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RIchard Davis  -  one of the pioneers of modern bass technique

 

 

Here he is driving the Thad Jones - Mel Lewis Orchestra.  He takes the wheel at about 1 minute into it and never stops driving!

 

 

I have the original vinyl and can say that it's up tight and outta sight!  The Solid State label (brought to us by Phil Ramone) was obviously not dedicated to traditional sound quality - but they managed to make some enjoyable recordings.  All their releases (of which I have more than half) are a little bit brittle, with an artificial multimic'ed sound stage and bass that's more thin than tight.  But they recorded some fabulous music that transcends their technology.  Interestingly, CDs of some of the Jones-Lewis releases came out decades after the vinyl and sound about as good.  I know of no audiophile releases of their music but would love to discover that there are some.

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14 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

There are other great videos of her on YouTube.

 


I just found 2 of her albums on Amazon Music and am listening to Donna Lee as I write this. I think her version is as enjoyable as Jaco’s. I’m very intrigued by her tone, which seems to have a bit of the “bark” that characterizes a fretless Modulus (which has a graphite neck) even though she’s playing a fretted Fender Jazz Bass in her picture gallery.  I suspect that I’ll love her tone even more when the CDs arrive and I can hear it through my good systems.  Tone is clearly in the chops!! 

She is amazing!

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10 minutes ago, bluesman said:

I’m very intrigued by her tone, which seems to have a bit of the “bark” that characterizes a fretless Modulus (which has a graphite neck) even though she’s playing a fretted Fender Jazz Bass in her picture gallery.


I just learned something. The Fender Jazz Bass is known for a woody bark, which is brought out well with a slight 500-800Hz boost.  I’ve never owned a Jazz, and the players I work with who do don’t seem to like it so they EQ it down and their styles intentionally minimize it.

 

My only bass is a ‘57 P:
 

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And a la James Jamerson, it’s had the same flat wound strings for almost 30 years. My bass don’t bark.

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17 minutes ago, bluesman said:

The Fender Jazz Bass is known for a woody bark, which is brought out well with a slight 500-800Hz boost.


Here’s more audiophilia!  Kings Glyk’s tone is not the same on the Rejestracja studio album as it is on the live Happy Birthday tracks, even on low res playback . The difference is easily heard by comparing the two versions of Sad & Happy Blues - I think the bark in her tone is slightly but clearly more pronounced on the live recording. I’d love to hear her live to know what she’s laying down.

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2 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

nuh unh,  another hint (tho Jud already knows):

 

"Free your mind and your ass will follow"


Billy Nelson was Funkadelic’s first bass player, so I guess that’s your reference.  I wouldn’t put him up there with the top tier, but I wouldn’t kick him out of my band either.

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2 hours ago, mordante said:

But it can also just be a low rumbling sound where the individual notes cant be heard.


You’re describing the sound escaping from the low rider with 24” subs in the trunk that’s next to you at a stoplight.  Or it could be turntable rumble, or 60 Hz hum - but I can’t really consider what you describe as an instrumental contribution to music of any kind.

 

Of course, it could also be the result of a blown speaker in the bass amp, in which case a recone might reveal some stellar playing :)

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1 hour ago, mordante said:

 

Why so close minded?

 

 

 

I don't have to like everything to be open to it.  As a classically trained pianist and a professional musician for 60 years (guitar, bass, keyboards), I've been hired to back a wide variety of acts.  I have decent historical and contemporary knowledge of the spectra of genre and content of music.  I can even stretch my imagination far enough to accept that the fuzzy drone Cisneros is playing there could be considered a modern take on the pedal tone and that it might really make the right tunes pop.  Sadly, the only such efforts I've heard to date remind me more of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor played painfully slowly on solo fuzz bass.

 

I understand the drone band concept, and I like some of what I've heard.  But virtually atonal buzz bass seems to be far more physical than musical in its effect on the listener / feeler.  And I bet Adolph Rickenbacker is turning over in his grave :)

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