have we done a list of good bass playing?

[Gordon Moore]

No, I think I did understand you right. Are you saying then that the bass should only underpin the music, that it can't be an instrument in it's own right? Surely not.

[Rod B.]

Did you see the program on the bass in Howard kendall's programs.

Howard Kendall? The ex-Everton manager and England player? :) I'm sure he'd be the first to say the ideal bassist is like a good solid centre half, keeping it simple, organising the line so tight at the back that the more creative midfielders and strikers have the confidence to go forward and express themselves. The last thing you want is the type of centre half who fannies around in their own penalty area.

[Dayna]

But what about the songs where a bass sounds really wonderful!

[Con Murphy]

Howard Kendall? The ex-Everton manager and England player? :) I'm sure he'd be the first to say the ideal bassist is like a good solid centre half

I do love a good football metaphor. You might say the best type of bass player is a Makelele style midfielder, acting as an anchor for the sound but also setting the tempo of the band. An uncelebrated but essential musical water-carrier.

[Adam Blake]

No, I think I did understand you right. Are you saying then that the bass should only underpin the music, that it can't be an instrument in it's own right? Surely not.

Oh dear! No, of course the bass is an instrument in it's own right! Right at the beginning of my first post in this thread I make a joke about how if you subtract the bass, music tends to sound wrong. The bass has, in many ways, a more important job down there than many things higher up in the register. Perhaps that's why "show-off" bassists irritate me so much: they are abusing a noble role. When the bass pretends to be a lead guitar, for example, or a saxophone (God help us) it is depriving us of the pleasure of a deep groove for the quickly passing pleasure of (what may be) a good solo. It's inappropriate. It's bad form. Having said all that, I love to hear a good bassist break out from time to time - as if to say, "I'm here, you know". I love the story Mingus tells of some saxophonist who was annoying him on a gig somewhere so he started playing his solos back at him. One of my all-time favourite bass moments is Danny Thompson's magnificent unscheduled flight into sliding chromatic harmonics in the link between two tracks on John Martyn's "Live At Leeds" album - "Make No Mistake" and "Bless The Weather". You can hear Martyn's delighted cry of "yes, Danny, yes!" as Thompson just flies. When he comes back down to Earth to drive the track along like the proverbial mother, the sense of distance travelled is just astonishing. A truly magic moment in the history of British Jazz (and it isn't even British Jazz).

I trust I make myself...obscure?

[ritchie]

Yes Rod B and Con, but there are some good Bass players who are just as confident going forward. John Charles is a perfect example and to some extent Dave Watson formerly of Sunderland and Man City, I'm sure there are others who you can think of if you put your mind to it.

But I'm not sure we can actually make that comparison as we accept there are some good female Bass players.

Women centre-half's!

Mind you, come to think of it, I think Newcastle's had a few.

[Ted]

How could we leave out the mighty Jah Wobble?

TW

[Adam Blake]

Aaahh... Wobble isn't that mighty. Nicking dub bass lines and playing them slightly out of tune at ear shattering volume isn't such a great achievement really. Context is everything. He'd have been laughed out of Studio One for doing what critics hailed as genius in the context of a tuneless rock band.

(Bring 'em on! I'm ready!)

[Rob Hall]

Carol Kaye. She played bass on a phenomenal number of hits. This list is from her website, (and it's not just empty boasting - it's taken from union contract logs):

Whipped Cream - Herb Alpert
Spanish Eyes - Al Martino
Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Sloop John B, I Get Around, Wouldn't It Be Nice (dano), Calif. Girls, God Only Knows, Pet Sounds lp, Heroes & Villains, Caroline No, Surf's Up, Child Is The Father Of The Man, Do You Like Worms?, Smile lp, Cabinessence, Fire sessions, I Was Made To Love Her, Let Him Run Wild - Beach Boys
Little Green Apples, Hickory Hollar - O.C. Smith
Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take my Eyes Off Of You medley, Hurt So Bad, Shangrila, When I Fall in Love, More, Theme from Summer Place, etc. - Lettermen
Something Stupid - Frank & Nancy Sinatra
Boots, Sugar Town, You Only Live Twice theme, etc. - Nancy Sinatra
Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker
The Way We Were - Barbra Streisand
Tell Her You Love Her, The World We Knew (OD dano fuzz on "World"), etc. - Frank Sinatra
Hold Me Thrill Me etc. - Mel Carter
Godfather Theme, Love Story etc. - Andy Williams
In The Heat Of The Night, I Don't Need No Doctor, America The Beautiful, Eleanor Rigby, I Chose To Sing The Blues, Here We Go Again, Don't Change On Me, Feel So Bad, Understanding etc. - Ray Charles
Romeo & Juliet Theme (A Time For Love), Willow Weep For Me, Godfather Theme, others & Doc Severinson lp etc. - Henry Mancini
Mercy Mercy Mercy etc. - Buckinghams
Indian Reservation etc. - Paul Revere & Raiders
Natural Man, Love Is A Hurtin' Thing, Unforgettable, Your Good Thing etc. - Lou Rawls
Song Of Innocence - David Axelrod
I Was Made To Love Her - Stevie Wonder
What'd I Say, A Little Less Conversation, Suspicious Minds etc. - Elvis Presley (this cut is claimed by 4 others too)
Bless The Beasts And The Children - Perry Botkin
Little GTO, Go Little Honda - Hondels
Shaft Theme - movie OD MGM w/J.J.Johnson (credited on sheet music)
You Gave Me A Mountain, To Each His Own etc. - Frankie Laine
Games People Play, Happy Together, Comin' Home etc. - Mel Torme
Wichita Lineman, Galveston, Rhinestone Cowboy etc. - Glen Campbell
Someday We'll Be together Again, Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross (w/Temps, cut 1968 RCA, Paul Humphrey on drums released 1970, you hear my improvising on this after my music fell down on take)
If I Could Build My Whole World Around You, Ain't Nothin' But The Real Thing - Marvin Gaye & Tami Terrell (Steiner's studio - LA)
Don't Pull Your Love Out On Me baby - Hamilton, Joe Franks & Reynolds (ABC Paramount OD)
It Must Be Him etc. - Vickie Carr
12th Of Never, Alone Again, Memories, etc. - Johnny Mathis
Tiny Bubbles etc. - Don Ho
When I Die - Motherlode (Toronto)
Batman Theme & others - Marketts
I'm A Believer, Last Train To Clarksville & others - Monkees
Homeward Bound, I Am A Rock, Scarborough Fair - Simon & Garfunkle
Call Me etc. - Chris Montez
Straight Life, Honey etc. - Bobby Goldsboro
River Deep, Mountain High - Tina Turner
No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In - T-Bones
This Diamond Ring, Just My Style, etc. - Gary Lewis and Playboys
Soul & Inspiration - Righteous Bros.
Elusive Butterfly - Bob Lind
Hikky Burr - Bill Cosby TV Theme/Quincy Jones (TV and single) "Livin' It Up" lp - Jimmy Smith
Chump Change - Quincy Jones
Red Roses For A Blue Lady etc. - Vic Dana
Up A Lazy River (rock part) etc. - Bobby Darin
It's A Small World - Mike Curb & Congregation (at Disneyworld too)
Light My Fire - Doors (listed in book)
In Crowd, Going To The Gogo, etc. (dano, el. bass) - Dobie Gray
Bonnie Jean - Ed Ames
Love Child, Baby Love, Stop In The Name Of Love, Back In My Arms Again, You Can't Hurry Love, My World Is Empty Without You, Reflections, Love Is Here And Now You're Gone, You're All I Need To Get By etc. - Supremes
GIT On Broadway TV Show - Diana Ross/Temptations cut 1969 NBC, Al Lapin contractor
Come Together - Count Basie
I Can't Help Myself, Bernadette etc. - 4 Tops
Peace Of Mind, Out Of This World - Nancy Wilson
Willow Weep For Me - Chad & Jeremy
This Is My Song - Pet Clarke
Joe Williams Live lp
Big Man lp - Cannonball Adderly
A Time For Love - Tony Bennett
Northern Windows lp - Hampton Hawes Trio
Get Ready, I Second That Emotion - Temptations
Doo Ron Ron - Crystals
Count Me In etc. - Bobby Vee
Yellow Balloon - Gary Zekeley
Baby The Rain Must Fall - Glenn Yarborough
Midnight Confessions, etc. - Grass Roots
Home Of The Brave - Jody Miller
David Axlerod produced lps
You Made Me So Very Happy - Brenda Holloway
Sixteen Tons (60s recut heard now on radio, others) - Tenn. Ernie Ford
Alone Again Or, Dailey Planet - Love
Bang Bang, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves - Cher
Winter Wonderland - Darlene Love
Expected to Fly - Buffalo Springfield
The Summer Wind - Wayne Newton
Universal Jones Vol. I - Gene McDaniels
Do I Love You? - Ronnie Spector & The Ronettes
Fastman Raiderman - Frank Black NEW
Frummenn - The Original Studmenn (VIP Iceland group) NEW

[Ted]

Aaahh... Wobble isn't that mighty. Nicking dub bass lines and playing them slightly out of tune at ear shattering volume isn't such a great achievement really.

Context is everything. He'd have been laughed out of Studio One for doing what critics hailed as genius in the context of a tuneless rock band.

(Bring 'em on! I'm ready!)

I agree about PIL. But the later stuff is rather more interesting if not particularly my cup of tea. Although you've sown the seeds of doubt now...

And Adam, you've really got that grumpy old man thing down.

Cheers
TW

[Adam Blake]

[quote="Ted...And Adam, you've really got that grumpy old man thing down.[/quote]

Thank you!

[Gordon Moore]

Goodall, Goodall, oh crap!

:()

[Gordon Moore]

Did anyone mention the Dead Combos? Blummin good stuff that...

[Neil Foxlee]

Wot? only one reggae bassist (Robbie Shakespeare)?
Aston 'Family Man' Barrett - eg the live version of Kinky Reggae
Earl/Errol? 'Bagga' Walker - Studio One
Lloyd Brevett - Skatalites

- to name but three.

Charlie Mingus - Haitian Fight Song

[felonious munk]

If Carole Kaye played on these

Love Child, Baby Love, Stop In The Name Of Love, Back In My Arms Again, You Can't Hurry Love, My World Is Empty Without You, Reflections, Love Is Here And Now You're Gone, You're All I Need To Get By etc. - Supremes

Bernard Purdie played drums on all The Beatles hits.

Come on guys if you don't know who played bass on these records you should keep yur comments for the radio 2 message boards.