Ron Carter

As I near the end of the semester I’ve gotten more picky and have spent more time researching top bass players and Ron Carter is one that almost slipped right by me. Ron Carter is right up there with Ray Brown, the Miles Davis quintet and other greats in terms of his influence. According to allaboutjazz.com: " He was named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Downbeat magazine, and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences." [1]   


Ron Carter was born on May 4, 1937 in Ferndale Michigan. His initial instrument was the cello that he started to play around the age of 10. He attended the Cass Technical High School in Detroit, followed by the Eastman School Music in Rochester, New York. He played in the Philharmonic Orchestra there and graduated in 1959. He then graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in 1961 with a master's degree in double bass performance.

After graduation he worked as a free-lance bass player, playing and touring with several different bands. In the early 1960s he really started to make some noise and became noticed as he came to fame with second great Miles Davis quintet. He played with the New York Jazz Quartet in the 1970s. In 1993 he earned a Grammy award for Best Jazz Instrumentalist group with the Miles Davis quintet and also another one in 1998 for a song that he composed for the film ‘Round Midnight. He has composed music for A Gathering of Old Men, starring Lou Gosset Jr. He has composed music for many films as well as worked on many projects for Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

He was Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Studies when it was in Boston. He was on the faculty of the Music Department of The City College of New York and is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

For my listening this week I picked a piece by the Miles Davis Quintet. This features Ron Carter on bass. Herbie Hancock on piano, Miles Davis on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on sax and Tony Williams on drum set. This piece starts out very fast. They keep this speed and intensity throughout the piece. It seems to be in an AABA form with a 4 beats per measure time feel. It is hard to tell exactly just because there is so much going on. We start out with a trumpet solo by Miles Davis. Backgrounds come in a bit later. At about the 2:20 min mark we go to a sax solo. All this time we hear Carter in the background just literally cruising on the stand-up bass. The ending is really cool. It slows down and the band fades out to the piano and sax. A really great listen!

Francis Rocco Prestia

As I continue my study on jazz bassists I chose to modernize my search a little bit and Francis Rocco Prestia came to the top of my list. Rocco is the current bass player for the band known as Tower of Power.

Prestia was born in Sonora California on March 7th, 1951. Having gone to school with Emilio Castillo, (who currently plays with Tower of Power as well) Prestia had been taking guitar lessons and he auditioned for Castillo’s band at the age of 14. After studying with Terry Saunders Rocco made the switch to the bass guitar. As Castillo started to get more proficient on his tenor sax, Saunders added horns to his band and they began playing songs by bands such as The Temptations and James Brown.
As they added a total of five horns the band became known as Tower of Power or”T.O.P.”. At this time the band began composing original songs and having successful major performances they became more noticed. In 1971 Bill Graham signed the band to his management company and they released their first recording known as East Bay Grease with his San Francisco Records label.  As the band toured excessively for the next 10 years they started to lose a little bit of their luster. Substance abuse began to take its toll on the band and in 1977 Prestia was fired to set an example in the band.

Prestia continued to tour and play with bands such as the Bay Area blues band. In 1983 he was hired by Frank Fiore who was the conductor of Lola Falana. He took Prestia in and began to teach him how to read music. Much to his surprise, in 1984 Prestia received a call from Castillo and was offered to rejoin the band. He continues to play with them today.

In 2002 Prestia was diagnosed with severe liver failure and was told he would need a liver transplant. The Rocco Prestia Medical Fund was formed and this made his operation and recovery possible. Over the next 8 years he recovered and in 2010 he rejoined the stage with Tower Of Power. A quote from Prestia shown by allaboutjazz.com Prestia states “I'm proud I've had a vehicle like Tower of Power to develop a personal style. A lot of cats - great players - never get that chance. They bounce around bands and sessions; they don't have the opportunity to cultivate a sound. So it’s been an honor and a privilege to be able to grow as an artist, as a player, in this band. Thank God I happened to be in the right place at just the right time.”[1]

For my listening selection this week I chose to spice things up a little bit. I chose a song by Tower of Power called Diggin on James Brown. this song features the band as a whole. I picked this song because it has Rocco Prestia playing bass. You can hear the "funk" he puts in his playing. It's ridiculous! This is an AABA song in a four beats per measure time feel. In this song you can tell the band thrives on each individual musician. They are very articulate and tight as a band. There is a saxophone solo around 2:45 min into the song that is very good. This song is very repetitive. Over all a very solid piece that is very fun to listen to! I especially thought this was cool being a live piece. The ending is spectacular. Give this one a listen! 

Charlie Haden

The next bassist in line that caught my attention was Charlie Haden. Haden became known as one of free jazz’s founding fathers. Born in 1937 in Shenandoah, Iowa he grew up with a musical childhood. His family had their own radio show broadcast twice a day from a 50,000 was station. Charlie grew up singing with the family band until he was diagnosed with polio at the age of 15. Due to the permanent damage from polio to his nerves in his face and throat, this was the end of his signing career.
After picking up the bass guitar he was hosted with Red Foley on a network broadcast in 1955 playing the bass in Foley’s band. As he became more proficient he moved to Los Angeles and began playing jazz. In 1957 he began playing with pianist Paul Bley at the Hillcrest Club. After hearing Ornette Coleman play for the first time he was impressed with him. Coleman as released from his band he met with him. Later that year Coleman and Haden teamed up with trumpet player Don Cherry and set player Billy Higgins to from the Ornette Coleman Quartet. A quote from allaboutjazz.com “Haden...” revolutionized the harmonic concept of bass playing in jazz. His ability to create serendipitous harmonies by improvising melodic responses to Coleman’s fee-form solos (rather than sticking to predetermined harmonies) was both radical and mesmerizing. His virtuosity lies…in an incredible ability to make the double bass ‘sound out’ and Haden cultivates the instrument’s gravity as no one else in jazz. He is a master of simplicity which is one of the most difficult things to achieve.” (Author Joachim Berendt in The Jazz Book).”[1]
In the years 1967-1976 Haden played as a member of Keith Jarrett’s trio, quarter and quintet. He teamed up with Coleman again and Don Cherry to form the band Old and New Dreams. In 1970 a pieces arranged for Charlie and several other soloists became a milestone in recorded jazz winning Japan’s Gold Disc Award from Swing Journal and France’s Grand Prix Charles Cros award.

In 1982 he formed the Jazz Studies program at California Institute of Arts. Haden formed the band Quartet West that has been together over 20 years. In 1997 classical composer Gavyn Bryars wrote “By the Varr” for Haden and it was recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra on the album “Farewell to Philosophy”. In 2001 Haden was awarded a Latin Grammy Award and in 2009 he received Bass Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He continues today to play and record and as quoted from allaboutjazz.com: “Charlie Haden truly is beyond category!”[2]

For some reason the blogger program would not find my youtube selection so I have left the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwXcgwzIYE&feature=related

My listening selection this week features Charlie Haden with Pat Metheny. This song starts out in a very slow melodic form. I believe it is an AABA form but it is hard to follow with it being so slow. Around the 2 min mark (just before it) there is some silence and there is a key change. Although this really doesn’t feature Haden all that much, one can tell that he truly is very skilled. I thought this was an exceptional peace to select since it has him on a stand-up bass. These two musicians complement each other extremely well. Truly an amazing piece of music if you have a love for acoustic music, if not this may be a little hard to sit through!

Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius is the next jazz bassist on my list of influential jazz bassists. He and Stanley Clarke were by far two of the jazz bassist in the 1970s. He was just as talented at composing, arranging and producing as he was playing.
Jaco was born in December of 1951 in Pennsylvania to a family already involved in music with the birth name of John Francis Pastorius III. His dad played drums in the band that he played in. At a young age he and his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he was raised. He was very skilled in football basketball and baseball. He took the name “Anthony” at his confirmation. He had a nickname that was influenced by baseball umpire Jocko Conlan and later when one of his pianists sent him a note and spelt it “Jaco” he liked it and changed the spelling.

As he grew up and played locally with bands, he became some sort of a well-known local legend. Soon after he started playing with Pat Metheny he was invited to join Weather Report where he became a third leading voice behind Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul. He played with them for several years and while playing with them he free-lanced on the side as a session man and a producer as he played Blood Sweat and Tears, Ira Sullivan albumns, Joni Mitchell, Paul Bley and many more. He recorded his album in his name in 1976.
The older he got the more mental health issues he had. He became very addicted to alcohol and some drugs that led to many instances where he was embarrassed in public. According to allmusic.com “…one was a violent crack-up on-stage at the Hollywood Bowl in mid-set at the 1984 Playboy Jazz Festival.”[1] He died in 1957 from a physical beating he took as he was trying to break into the Midnight Club in Fort Lauderdale. Many musicians and artists have written songs in his honor including Marcus Millers “Mr. Pastorius”.


http://grooveshark.com/s/Chicken/2g08km?src=5

Copy and paste the above link into your url.
(I used Groovesharks song because I liked the arrangement better. There are plenty of copies of this on youtube, some are of the band doing concerts so you can watch them play however the music quality is not there.)


The piece I picked for this weeks listening was a piece that Pastorius played called "Chicken". It appears to be in an AABA format. It is a funk chart. Jaco is laying down a funky beat on his bass and the guitar or keyboard is playing over him. Then we go into a guitar solo with the bass all funky in the background. We go from solo to solo and stay in this 4 beat per measure time. This is a good example of the type of music Pastorius is known for. Most of this peace is improvisation on top of the bass line with a swing feel on the set. Towards the middle of the song the bass into a solo at the same time the guitar is. He mixes it up quite a bit while keeping the tempo the same. These are some amazing solos! Towards the end of the song they take it back to the initial riff at the beginning of the song and end it with a typical quick hard ending.

Oscar Pettiford

Oscar Pettiford was born in September 1922 in Okmulgee Oklahoma. He was a primarily a double bassist but he also played the cello and was a well-known composer. He is considered one of the pioneers of bebop. He was a Native American but this was not known by most. The family band was his first real experience with music. He initially was a singer and dancer but he moved to piano and shortly thereafter to the bass around the age of 12. A few of the sources say that he was unhappy with the way people were playing the bass so he was going to develop his own individual way of playing it. According to allaboutjazz.com, “Pettiford is considered the pioneer of the cello as a solo instrument in jazz music.”
After a few years he joined Charlie Barnet’s band and was one of two bassists with the other being Chubby Jackson. In 1943 he made himself known when he was involved with Coleman Hawkins “The Man I Love”. In 1943 he formed a bebop group with Dizzy Gillespie in 1943 also. In the late 40’s he worked for Woody Herman and Duke Ellington. In 1949 Oscar broke his arm and wasn’t able to play his bass. So instead he picked up a cello that a friend had loaned him, tuned it in fourths an octave higher than the bass and became very proficient on the cello. He did not perform while his arm was broken since it was in a sling. Throughout the 50’s Pettiford did some freelance work but he mostly was a leader on bass and cello. He played with Thelonious Monk in the mid 1950’s as well. In 1958 he moved to Copenhagen in Europe and ended passing away from what doctors call a “polio-like-virus”.

My listening selection for this week is from the Oscar Pettiford band entitled "Blues in the Closet". This song starts out in  a 4 beat per measure feel. It seems to be in an AABA form. Pettiford plays a bass riff over and over again on a cello until a guitar comes in and they solo together as a type of duet. Then Pettiford and the soloist break up and the piano comes in. Then after a bit they all three come back together and play the initial riff together before a wonderful piano solo. All this time the set player is playing a laid back smooth bluesy feel. We know move on to a guitar solo and back to the cello solo with Pettiford. He takes the song out and shows off a little bit as the song comes to a close. Even though this is a basic song, one can see that Pettiford has some amazing talent on the cello.

Paul Chambers

Continuing my research on jazz bassists I turn my attention to Paul Chambers. Paul was born in Pittsburg Pennsylvania in 1935. He moved to Detroit where he grew up playing in local gigs around the city until he moved to New York at the age of 20. He initially started out on the baritone and followed with the tuba. He picked up a string bass in 1949 and really dug into his bass training in 1952 when he played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. When he got to New York he played with J.J. Johnson-Kai’s quintet as well as George Wallington.

Growing up he idolized Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown and later became fans of Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Jimmy Blanton was probably his all-time favorite. In 1955 he joined Miles Davis’s quintet where he played through 1963. When he left Davis’s group he played with pianist Wynton Kelly as well as some freelance work in New York. He did a little classical work throughout his career. In 1952-1955 he studied off and on at Cass Technical high school. He played the symphony there and even played the baritone saxophone on several occasions. He became known for his ability to perform “bowed” solos. Bowed solos had never really been attempted and his ability to work them in as a solo while keeping tempo and keeping the audience interested was second to none. This was really what painted his mark on the jazz culture. A quote from allaboutjazz.com states that “Chambers holds the unique distinction, along with Coltrane and Wynton Kelly, of participating on two of the most important albums in jazz history: Coltrane's Giant Steps, and Davis' Kind of Blue.”[1] Paul Chambers died in 1969 at the age of 33 from tuberculosis.

The blogger software would not let me post it in a video form so here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0t1-DxX5Ew

The listening selection I have for this week is a piece from Paul Chambers sextet. It is called Whims of Chambers. It appears to be in a 4 beats per measure time form. Also it seems to be in AABA form. Soon after the introduction we hear a bass solo. Chambers is swinging hard! Drum set is in the background with brushes. Next we go into a piano solo followed by a guitar solo all with Chambers hammering out the bass line in the background. We finish off with a quick piano and drum solo and then the original melody of the song comes back in. Truly a very good piece of music to show off Paul Chambers talents on the bass!

Walter Page

Another and perhaps the most influential bass player that I have researched is the great Walter Page. Page was an African American jazz bassist that was known for his ability to play behind soloists while remaining in the “four beats to the bar” form. Walter Page was born in Gallatin, Missouri in the year 1900. He attended Lincoln High School and started playing bari-sax and tuba while in high school. He then went to The University of Kansas and continued his study of music there. While he was studying he would go Kansas City on weekends to play with Bennie Moten and also did some gigs with the Dave Lewis band.

After school he was the founder of the Blue Devils, a band centered in Oklahoma City. He experimented with different instruments and more instruments in the rhythm section and basically set the precedent of the modern rhythm sections as we know them today. His changes included a piano, drum set, guitar and a string bass. Before it had been common to see a banjo, drum set and bass horn such as a tuba. The Blue Devils were a little bit different than other bands. They were known as a “commonwealth” band meaning the earnings by the band were split evenly among its members. They were also a band that used head arrangements and often times didn't play with music. Every single member in the band shared the same or similar ideas in music as the others.

As his band grew better and stronger Page offered challenges to Bennie Moten to prove that his band was better. Page wanted to Battle him. Over time as Moten refused to battle, he became rather smart and started to recruit members of Pages band. With little effort he stole Count Basie and several others. Page soon had them replaced with top notch musicians such as Lester Young. As he grew older Page was known for his walking bass lines. A quote from allaboutjazz.com states: “His evenly accented, four-beat “walking” bass lines provided not only a harmonic foundation but a melodic counterpoint in his accompaniments, and he chose notes that enhanced the playing of his bands and soloists.”[1]

Walter eventually joined Count Basie and Bennie Moten in Bennie Moten's band until Bennies death in 1935. He returned to play with Count Basie from then until 1942. Walter Page died in 1957. He was on his was to film part of The Sound of Jazz and he passed away not to long after. His early death limited his impact on jazz but he is still regarded as one of the most influential bassists and band leaders of the swing era.


http://grooveshark.com/s/Them+There+Eyes+number+2/44X3s5?src=5


For my listening this week, I wanted to incorporate a song that featured Walter Page. The song "Them There Eyes" does just that. As you can see I posted the link to it above because I could not find anything I liked on YouTube. Even though this song doesn't have a full band playing, it is a great example of how simple jazz can be. The song starts off with a guitar introduction and goes right into a muted trumpet solo. In the background you can hear Page with his "walking bass line". After some vocals we go into a saxophone solo. This tune seems to be in AABA form. It is a very laid back traditional song. The next soloist is a muted trumpet and the clarity of the "walking bass line" can really be heard well here. A third soloist on an alto sax comes in and we end with a trumpet. This song isn't the most upbeat song out there, but rather very simple. The simplicity allows you to really hear that walking bass line and understand how it helped the musicians solo. It opened up a ton of opportunities for them as musicians and jazz would not be what it is today with out it.

Jimmy Blanton

The next bassist I have chosen to research is Jimmy Blanton. Jimmy Blanton was an incredibly influential jazz double bassist. Born in October in Chattanooga Tennessee in 1918 he originally learned how to play the violin. He initiated his professional playing violin in Chattanooga as he grew up playing with groups that his mother who played the piano led.


He attended Tennessee State College where he started to play the stand-up bass. After he switched to the string bass he began to play with local bands led by Joe Smith and “Bugs” Roberts. He also played with the State Collegians. After attending college for three years he moved to St. Louis where he joined up with The Jeter-Pillars Orchestra. Two years later as he was playing a “gig” in St. Louis at The Coronado Hotel Ballroom with Miles Davis’ band, Duke Ellington happened to be in town and was very impressed with what he heard from Blanton. A quote from allmusic.com states ““…Blanton's bass could dance freely around the band and phrase like a horn, all without undermining the music's bass foundation.”[1] Duke Ellington immediately signed Blanton to play in his band. For the next two years Jimmy Blanton played as Ellington’s primary bassist in his band. Ellington wrote specific duets for Blanton to play on bass with tenor sax player Ben Webster. As the two became more popular Duke Ellington’s band was given a recording contract with Victor recording. A quote from allaboutjazz.com said “Jimmy Blanton immediately changed the sound and pulse of the orchestra. He had a fluent, buoyant sense of swing, matched with a unique sense of intonation. It was his quality of levitating the sound by his superior musicianship which inspired the other members of the band to rise to the occasion.”[2]


Jimmy Blanton unfortunately did not live a very long life. While on tour with Ellington’s band in Los Angeles, he became very sick and after spending some time in the hospital he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He fought it for about a year and was eventually moved to the Duarte Sanitarium, close to Los Angeles. He passed away a few months later in the year of 1942 at an incredible young age. Even though he died young, Jimmy Blanton was still one of the most iconic jazz double bass players of his time and greatly influenced “be-bop”and according to www.jazz.com "Blanton contributed more to the jazz legacy before the age of twenty-five than most do in a lifetime."[3]


http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=Jimmy+Blanton

For my listening song for this week I picked a song with both Duke Ellington and Jimmy Blanton. I could not find this song on youtube so I copied the link above that should take you to it on Grooveshark. It is the first song on the list entitled Mr. J.B. Blues. This song starts off with just the Duke and Blanton playing a riff over and over again. After they repeat this 8 times and move on to a new riff I started the song over and noticed that it is indeed in AAB form, however they go with a different AAB on the next run. I found it amazing that both musicians both flow really well together but at the same time everything they do individually is relative simple. Jimmy starts to play with a "bow" on his bass around the 2:07 mark. This is the first time I have ever heard a bow used in a jazz song. Blanton seems to push the limits of what most bassists would do but continues to "bail" himself out of it with smooth transitions and phrasing in his playing. While this is a very basic and smooth piece, I think it shows just how talented both Jimmy Blanton and Duke Ellington were quite well.

Ray Brown

Following along with my trend of bassists I turned my attention to Ray Brown. Ray was a bass player who was born in 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Havening taken piano lessons from a very young age and struggled to find his way on it. He initially wanted to be a trombone player after decided piano wasn’t for him, but with lack of funds, the trombone was too expensive and he forced to settle for a stand-up bass. In the book Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing, Brown revealed the main reason for ending his study of piano: "I just couldn't find my way on it. It just didn't give me what I wanted."[1] Soon afterward, Brown, unable to afford a trombone, switched to bass, an instrument provided by the school's music department. After he became proficient on the bass, he played many local gigs in his hometown to make money and despite multiple offers from band leaders he followed his mothers advice and finished high school before traveling on the road. He also played with the well-known group called The Oscar Peterson Trio. Around the age of twenty he purchased a one way ticket to New York City.


Upon arrival in New York City he met and played with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Dizzy promptly hired Brown as a bassist in his band. He continued to play with Dizzy and even was a part of Dizzies second big band. He left Gillespie’s band in 1947 after he began performing with Ella Fitzgerald. He married her the next year and after adopting a child and naming it Ray Brown Jr. The two divorced in in 1953 due partly to the fact that Ray wanted to pursue his career with Oscar Peterson and he joined up with him for about 15 years. . "During the past decades Brown's sound and skill have remained undimmed, "wrote Thomas Owens, in his 1995 book Bebop: The Music and Its Players."He is an agile, inventive, and often humorous soloist. His arco {bow} technique is excellent, though he seldom reveals it. But he shines most brilliantly as an accompanist[2]. Ray continued playing until his death in 2002. He died in his sleep the night of a concert. Ray Brown is said to have been one of the single most influential people in jazz.

For my listening this week I chose a song by The Oscar Peterson Trio. This song opens with a piano in what appears to be almost an AB form. I really struggle with this but he seems to repeat the same riff several times and then do the same with the next set. This is truly jazz at its best. The trio improved this song and it really stuck and caught my attention. It has your basic blues scales being hammered out on the bass in the background by mister Ray Brown himself. It's hard for me to tell the structure of this song but I notice that Peterson (the piano player) is playing a riff(s), and then playing something that seems to counteract the initial one on the next one following the initial one. Then he will do it with a different set of riffs. I want to say it is in twelve bar blues. Drum set player is laying down a solid swing time. This is a great study song and an overall great listen!

Stanley Clarke

Continuing my research on jazz bassists I turned my attention to Stanley Clarke. Stanley Clarke has been an incredible standout figure in jazz music the last 50 years and still continues to be today. Born in the 1950s in Philadelphia, he had did not have a rather strong upbringing in music. It is said that he showed up late to a music class the day that instruments were handed out to students and the only thing left was the standup bass. This is how he got his start on bass, eventually graduating from the Philadelphia Musical Academy. Following his graduation he moved to New York City where he began working with many famous band leaders and composers including Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson and many more. Shortly after he moved to New York City he joined the band Return to Forever, the leader of the band being well known pianist Chick Corea. According to allmusic, “…Clarke really hit the big time when he started teaming up with Chick Corea in Return to Forever”[1]. Clark also produced probably his best known solo album entitled “School Days” in 1976. 

Coming into the 80s he toured with many notable bands and musicians such as Bela Fleck and Stevie Wonder. Of recently he has turned his focus more towards film scoring and composing having scored movies such as Passenger 57 and The Transporter and many more. Stanley was featured in Los Angeles magazine as one of the 50 most influential people. In 2006 he was awarded with Bass Player magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He was presented it by Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller. Stanley is known best for his individualism on the bass. He places his hand on the electric bass almost just as he would on an upright bass though turned through 90 degrees. When he plays a lead or solo song his fingers wrap up under the bottom two strings such that when he releases on them they slap against the frets causing a percussion smacking sound. This truly is a sound and type of playing that singles Clarke out from any other bassist. He can play the piccolo bass and the tenor bass as well. Stanley Clarke is and will continue to be one of the biggest influences in modern music. 

For my listening this week I chose a classic piece by Stanley Clarke called School Days. This song features Clarke on bass. It appears to be in AAB form and in 4 beats per measure time. It starts out with Clarke on bass for the introduction and the band comes in soon after. It has almost a "techno" feel to it. We get to the solo section and Clarke shows off a bit. He shows his ability to make certain sounds on the bass that others cannot. He truly is very creative. Slowly the band starts to build towards the end of his solo and he goes around for another round. If I understood what I say right on this video he duets for a little bit with the violin or viola that is in the band. In the background this entire time we can hear bits and pieces of a traditional bass sound that another band member is playing. Stanley takes music to a another level and really shows off and the end of this piece. Truly an amazing musician! 

Charles Mingus

As I my research on bassists, my third bassist is Charles Mingus. Charles was one truly an amazing bassist, pianist as well as a composer. Born in Arizona in the year of 1922 he spent the early part of his life in the “Roaring Twenties”. He grew up in a rather religious family as a lot of his inspiration to play and compose came from the music he heard at church. Around the age of 8 years old he started studying double bass under H. Rheinshagen, the principal bassist for the New York Philharmonic. Some sources say that he even worked and studied with Lloyd Reese, Reese being regarded as a very legendary composer. As his playing and composing matured he found his way to New York. He recorded and played with the best of the best including Charlie Parker and others. He was known for his ability to compose music for mid-sized bands and bass playing. According to allmusic “As a bassist, he knew few peers, blessed with a powerful tone and pulsating sense of rhythm, capable of elevating the instrument into the front line of a band. But had he been just a string player, few would know his name today. Rather, he was the greatest bass-playing leader/composer jazz has ever known, one who always kept his ears and fingers on the pulse, spirit, spontaneity, and ferocious expressive power of jazz.” [1]

Mingus made his presence known in the civil rights movement, but he was more of a hard head on stage. He was not afraid to delay, stop or cancel a concert if the crowd had a poor showing he wasn’t happy with the way something was going. There was even one reported event that in the middle of a concert he slammed the lid of the piano down and smashed the hands of his piano players hands and proceeded to punch his trombonist in the mouth. He truly wasn’t afraid to be himself on stage and intern he developed the nickname “The Angry Man of Jazz”.

My listening piece for this week is a piece called Moanin'. It actually features a baritone sax but the song was just too cool for me to pass up, the introduction to this song is one of the "dirtiest" things I have heard but I love it! Having played this song in high school I was quite familiar with it. I was told that he was drunk when he wrote it by my director but I really am not sure that is the case. It starts off with Ronnie Cuber on the bari with a little solo jam. Then the rest of the band comes in a it keeps getting more and more nasty until they reach quick stop section. They then plan an introduction into a sweet solo section first featuring the baritone sax. As I listen to this song I my legs are swinging and bouncing is many ways as it is truly a catchy tune. Very fast paced song that seems to be in a typical 4 beats per measure. Now we enter a trumpet solo and I can solidly hear Mingus swinging hard on what sounds like a stand up base in the background. The trumpet. After that solo we return to what almost sounds like the beginning of the song where it is finished out.

Marcus Miller

My second blog on the topic of bassists I want to learn more about will feature none other than the one and only Marcus Miller. As I researched Miller I was amazed at the impact he has had on the music industry, both in his playing and composing. I was especially surprised and impressed with some of the people he played with and for. Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy and Herbie Hancock are just a few of the names that I came across.



Marcus was born in Brooklyn New York in 1959 and was raised for the most part in Jamaica New York. His family was already into music but his father was a major influence as he was the church organist and choir director. I found it very interesting that he is related to Wynton Kelly. Wynton was a jazz pianist for Miles Davis in the late fifties and early sixties. Around the age of thirteen he was fluent on piano, clarinet, bass guitar and was beginning to compose his own music. A couple of years later he found himself playing bass all over New York City with a variety of bands including flutist Bobby Humphrey and Lonnie Liston Smith who played keyboard. According to allmusic.com “Miller was a fixture as a performer in New York’s jazz clubs before he was even old enough to drive” [1] As he came into adulthood he seemed to be the main man to call in New York as he worked with David Sanborn, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, LL Cool J and many others. In 1981 he joined Miles Davis’ band where he performed with them for two years. In 2001 he was the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Album of 2001. In his more recent years Miller has turned his focus on film scoring but no matter what he is doing he is always learning and teaching, according to a biography on his website, Miller says "I like to keep things balanced, combining R&B, jazz, funk and movie stuff to help reflect what's happening in our world. I just try to keep challenging myself to continue to grow and get better." [2]
                                                                                       

One of my favorite songs played by Marcus is the old Tower of Power classic "What is Hip". This song features Miller on bass. I chose this song to because I felt it is a good representation of the creativity and style Miller plays with. To my best knowledge this piece appears to be in 4/4 (beats/measure) but it almost gives the "cut time" feel. The song starts out with a simple classic bass grove and quickly moves into an upbeat funk chart. Shortly later the alto sax and drum set come in and continue the funk. In the background I notice what appears to be a keyboard that almost sounds like a church organ. Very cool! Now we move into a solo section for the sax and keyboard with Miller hammering the bass for a funky background. He has a way with slapping the bass that is flat amazing! It give me chills just watching how fast his hands are going all while he is having the time of his life. After a great solo by the sax it is Miller's turn to solo and solo he does! After they finish the solo section they move back into a similar feel to the beginning of the song again. This song makes me wish I could play like that, it looks so soothing!

Victor Wooten

Growing up as a youth I have always been fascinated with jazz music. My intent of this blog is to increase my knowledge in jazz music as a whole, but more importantly being a brass player I want to learn more about the rhythm section of a jazz band. The bass guitar is an essential part of a jazz band, without it there is little structure in the music played. It is stringed instrument that can be played acoustically as in the case of a stand up base or it can be played in the form of an electric bass. My first post on this blog is about a bassist that you may have heard play before, but may not know his name or anything about him. Victor Wooten is a name I have become more familiar with throughout my life as a musician. He is an American bass player and author that currently plays with the band known as “Bela Fleck and the Flecktones”. “Victor is the recipient of five Grammys and was voted Bassist of the Year by BASS PLAYER readers three times (the only person to have won the award more than once)” [1]

Victor Wooten was born in September of 1964 to a military family outside of Boise, Idaho. He was the youngest of five boys and began reading music at the age of two. Being in a family where his brothers were all musicians Wooten was being taught to play bass so he could play in the family band as soon as he could sit up and hold the instrument. Soon they were the opening act of many big name artists and bands such as The Temptations. The family moved a lot due to the military during Wooten’s childhood. He claims this helped him diversify his music and is a large part in why he is so diverse in his music. He has played about every kind of music there is to play and cannot really be claimed by one genre of music. Some have called Victor Wooten “…..The Michael Jordan of the Bass” and “one of the most fearless musicians on the planet”. [2]

Part 1

Part 2

The Sinister Minister is a great piece of music that displays his diversity in music. I picked it mainly because of the long bass solo by Victor in the middle of the song ( note: there are two parts to this song). It starts out as with Wooten playing a funky bass line as some sort of electric banjo comes in. These two complement each other quite well. The piece seems to be in the typical 4 beats per measure time signature. After a bit a soprano saxophone comes in. The sax plays with one of the singers almost as kind of a duet feel. Next comes a guitar solo all this while Victor is still keeping that funky bass line in the background. At this point I’m a little more than five minutes into the song and Victor goes right into a bass solo. He starts off by plucking the bass in different ways while everyone else falls out except for drum taps. I am amazed at the skill this guy has and how creative he is on the bass! He quickly goes from a quiet and smooth style of playing to a very intense kind of playing and back again. Almost like he is fighting with the bass. As I watch the video I notice he has broken one of his strings and yet keeps on playing. As the solo ends he waits for a minute and goes right back into his initial bass line riff that he had at the beginning of the song. The song seems to start over again, kind of unusual. I don’t really know how to classify this song but I’m very intrigued by it. Truly an amazing piece of music!

In case the two You Tube videos above did not post right here are the links to both parts.
Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPBmyFsfyPc

Part 2: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmoA8FwqF9I&feature=related