Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: white_cloud on May 15, 2009, 11:02:36 AM
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After the recent discussion about the worlds greatest bassist on this forum I just watched a re-run of the Clapton cross-roads show in Chicago once more and got to thinking - how about the worlds greatest female bassist!
Yup, Im talking about Tal Wilkenfelds performance playing alongside Jeff Beck - outstanding feel, technique and composure. Im enourmously impressed with Tals chops.
Literally tiny and dwarfed by her Sadowsky she can really rip it up! She turned professional after picking up the bass for only three years...crazy!
If cats like Jeff and Chick Corea demand her presence in their bands its good enough for me.
Simply superb player. Does anybody know of any better female player on the scene at the moment?
John.
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Tal rules!
She is really gorgeous, great bassist and a lovely girl....
Oliver (Spyderman)
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I vote for Kimberly!
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Not my vote, but you might also consider Meshell Ndegeocello.
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Hi Guys,
Tal rules and Meshell rules and there are more than a few female bassists that are in the 'same league'.
Doing a quick Google search sent me to,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_bass_guitarists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_bass_guitarists)
Who of them are better on the scene I believe would be a purely personal perception 'bassed' (sic) ;) on an individuals taste in music. A heavy metal 'thrasher' appeals to some and a jazzy 'sweet note' player appeals to others.
Bottom line to me is, male or female, if they can play it's all good.
Best Regards,
Kimberly
PS. Thanks Mike!
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Yup, its all good! Thanks for the tip on Meshell - I will look her up as Im out of the loop on whos who on the scene!
Gail anne Dorsey has nice chops as does Tracy Wormsworth but I think Tal is special!
I would love either of my daughters to get into bass playing - my youngest has claimed the fretless bass that I recently built so maybe she will become the worlds greatest female bassist lol!
John.
(Message edited by white cloud on May 16, 2009)
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Yep.she's real good John
And oh..so pretty!!
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I've been a fan of Aimee Mann (http://www.aimeemann.com/ target=_blank) since the 80's. I'm not sure how many of her tracks have her on bass. I'm surprised that she's not on that wikipedia list. She plays quite a few instruments and may be considered more of a songwriter, but I've always considered her to be a bassplayer - and a pretty good one.
I also liked Johnette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde. But I have to agree that when it comes to chops, I haven't seen anyone better than Tal Wilkenfeld, but some do come close.
Mike
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Mike,
Im a BIG Aimee Mann fan too - she has a superb voice and is a sublime and wonderful songwriter but I have never considered her to be more than a basic bassist.
Not that Im criticising Aimee at all, I class her in the Sting school of bass playing - using it as a basic tool to craft beautiful songs upon!
Tal is a monster player but probably would love to have a singing voice like Aimee!
John
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okay there is not much that i know about her, but from reading her myspace her name is Elise Blanchard, and she is from paris... now check this video of her solo.. i know the sound qulity isnt great.. but great lines nonetheless:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.Channel&ChannelID=391915351 (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.Channel&ChannelID=391915351)
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Wow - great player, nice tone too!
Elise is superb, what a great tip off from chrisalembic.
John
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I always liked Paz Lenchantin she was most well known for her work with A Perfect Circle.
She also played violin on one of the songs here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvLkQJUqxrU&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvLkQJUqxrU&feature=related)
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Suzi Quatro
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kind of surprised no one's mentioned esperanza spalding. not my thing, but she can play. she's in one of joe lovano's bands.
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Tal's good - but Me'Shell has got a far more impressive body of work at the moment.
In terms of having a unique voice - I've always liked Tina Weymouth - especially in Tom tom club.
In terms of having played on the most hits - Carol Kaye.
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Tina Weymouth - Talking Heads
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I've always liked Tina Weymouth too. But like John said about Aimee Mann, she keeps it pretty basic.
A while back I stumbled across someone on youtube named Lydia that I thought was pretty good. I don't know anything about her though. She has a few clips out there...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SChhHj415Oo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SChhHj415Oo)
Mike
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I seem to remember seeing videos of Talking Heads touring with two bass players ... Tina Weymouth up front, and some guy actually playing bass up stage.
Bill, tgo
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I gotta go with Kimberly Lynn also
Sam
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If you ever get to hang one on one with Carol Kaye, you will realize what a badass she is on the bass. Of course, we've all heard the records she's been on, from Beach Boys to various TV shows, but when she's just playing bebop, she is positively astounding. I took a lesson with her about 10 years ago and I was blown away. Imagine Charlie Parker combined with John McLaughlin and packed in the body of someone who looks like someone's grandmother.
I'd also like to give props to Kim Clarke. Best known for her playing in Defunkt, she plays it all and is a monster player.
But, really, do we think it's possible to hear gender in playing? Some symphonies have taken doing auditions behind a curtain so as not to make judgments on things like this.
Edwin
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Carol Kaye is amazing, without a doubt.
One of my favorite bassists of all time is Sara Lee. Her work with the B-52's and the Indigo Girls is really tasty. She's been a big influence over the years.
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Sara Lee? Tasty? As they used to say: everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Bill, tgo
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My dad once sat next to Sara Lee on a flight from London to Boston in the eighties. She told him all about the joys of a Steinberger and how easy it was to travel with.
I usually end up sitting next to smelly weirdos.
Edwin
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Like Edwin said - Kim Clarke. Much to my chagrin, I missed out on a Defunkt concert last month.
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Yolanda Charles gets my vote. I've seen her a couple of times at UK Bass Day. She's a superb player and has mastered the art of singing and talking while playing complex lines really well. She's also very pretty and pleasant to chat to.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/65297.jpg)
graeme
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Greta Brinkman
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Carol Kaye was with DeVol and was the one laying down the super messed-up hyperkinetic bass lines all through the Brady Bunch series. I liked the show as a little kid, and having recently re-visited it, I now realize how badass the bass playing was ...viva Johnny Bravo!
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There's soo much to learn from Bass players all over the world the Boundrys are limitless so Here's a Internet listing of bass people from A to Z (below).....
(Message edited by keavin on May 18, 2009)
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(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/65308.gif)http://bassplayersontheinternet.com/#ab
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Esperanza Spalding had me at the White House tribute to Stevie Wonder.
I think I'm in love....
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I vote for Kimberly. She is boldly going where no man has gone before. And by that I mean; she is playing killer bass lines, but also top flight melodic lead lines. She is a musicians musician. The you tube stuff just doesn't do justice to what her sound is live.
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Lydia..funky lines, great voice.
Kimberly..flowing notes, mood driven, thoughtful.
Anyway they are all good or they wouldn't be doing it would they??
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Thought I'd post this picture of my all-time favourite female artiste..
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/65395.jpg)
I know it's a staged photo but it is Del Palmer's jazz bass. Coincidentally, the BBC aired kate's 1979 christmas special this week and Del was playing what looked like an Alembic. Unfortunately there were no real closeups of the band so I can't be a 100% certain that it was an Alembic so I've emailed him to find out.
Graeme
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Rock on Graeme - although most definitely not a bassist Kate gets my vote too as my favourite female artist! She has a deep love for atmospheric fretless bass sounds on many of her recordings.
Kates an amazing, thoughtful and emotional songwriter. Im a big fan! Let us know how you get on with any kind of response from Del!
John.
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Gotta love Kate too!!
G
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Well, I got a reply from Del palmer. It wasn't an alembic but an Ibanez musician prototype (sting played a fretless version for a while). Very similar headstock and neck-thru construction but closer inspection shows it has a Jazz style body. He told me it was later converted to 8 string and used on Kate's 'The Dreaming' album.
Graeme
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Thanks for the info Graeme,
how did you manage to contact Del?
John.
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I've always been a fan of Kate Bush too. Very original and very talented!
Mike
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John.
I just clicked the contact button on his website (http://www.delpalmer.com). I think it helped that I'd ordered his solo album ;-)
Graeme
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Carol Kaye is one of my favorite bassist. Then I found very cool female bassist on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SChhHj415Oo&NR). And of course Kimberly!
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The sexiest may be the bass player lead singer from A Taste of Honey
Or the buxum brunette that played with Prince a dacade ago.
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Hi Guys!
Interesting thread.
It's actually pretty cool how often I've seen my name come up whenever a chick/girl/woman/female bassist thread comes up on various bass discussion boards (not that I frequent them with any regularity mind you). ;)
'Bottom' line, ;) there's lot's of good/great players 'out there in the world'.
Best Regards,
Kimberly
PS. Thanks for the smile you guys put on my face as roughly 10% of the responses to this thread mention my name. I feel very honored, thank you!
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For what it's worth Kimberly, you're not an excellent female bassist. You're an excellent bassist period.
Sam
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Hi Sam,
That's very much worth a whole lot, thank you!
Very Best Regards,
Kimberly
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I'm not saying she is the best (such statements are subjective, of course) but, how about Suzi Quatro? Her first bass was a 1957 Fender Precision.
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David, Suzi was mentioned somewhere above and I'd agree that she's a fine player. One of the first to put some real aggression into her performances too. I remember the first time I heard her on Top of the Pops, I think it was probably Can the Can in 1973, I was blown away by the sound and I think it was probably the first time the Bass caught my attention (it took over my musical ambitions totally in 1974 when I first saw Yes live). Amazingly she's still playing and touring, and putting as much into every show as she ever did.
Kimberley, I'll second Sam's comment, you're an excellent player full stop ;-)
Graeme
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did / does kate bush play bass? i thought she was only an awesome vocalist!
i believe bowie had a great female bass player at one time. what about the breeders? i think that is a woman too, but don't know here name.
neither of the wilson;s of heart played bass, did they?
you gotta like tina weymouth for originallity and inovative bass lines. the first four talking heads records are fabulous.
here's an interesting thread...who is the best bass player that looks like a girl.
Colin
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Jacko!!
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Sorry Graeme just kidding!!
Must say though.........Kimberley has got to be up there with the best!!!
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Haha! Thanks alot george. Sounds like I need to lose the Moobs ;-0
Colin. kate doesn't play (as far as I know). The photo I posted was used as a publicity photo when she brought out babooshka. If I recall correctly, the video featured her dancing around an upright dressed in black before changing to the 'warrior' outfit.
Graeme
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i love kate bush too. that is a pretty interesting picture of kate indeed.
i think the guy from the cars is a strong US candidate. there has to be a lot of chicklike candidates from all the 80's new wave and metal hair bands, like the dude from kajagoogoo. no doubt the winner will be from Britain. those artists had the most esoteric / insane hair ensembles of all time...even the accomplished ones.
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....especially the accomplished ones!
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Graeme, I didn't realise the BBC showed that! I've been dying to see that again! Don't suppose you have a copy do you? ;-) I love Kate, one of my all-time favourite artists. The Man With The Child In His Eyes is one of my favourite ever songs,and I think she wrote it when she was only 13 or 14.
My vote as a player would possibly go to Me'Shell, but I'm absolutely in love with Tal. Great player, and she is absolutely, utterly gorgeous! I'm going to see her with Jeff Beck this coming month, and yes I WILL be hanging about both before and after!
Esperanza is fab too, so is Yolanda, Suzi (big soft spot for Suzi) and Tina, and I like Melissa Auf Der Maur in a rock context; big, beefy tone.
BTW Kimberly, I haven't mentioned you only because I'm not familar with your playing...please feel free to point me in the right direction.
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Shaun, I have it on HDD and will copy it to DVD as soon as I can figure out how. Either that or I'll get my son to do it for me ;-) email me your address and I'll send it off asap.
graeme
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May have not been the best player, but for sheer looks IMHO, was the bass player with an American group called Fanny
Her sister played lead guitar, but I remember just staring at a pic of her when I was much younger.
Hell.I'd stare at a pic of her even now if I had one!
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Bigbadbill- This way to Kimberly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtJWsF3UTds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtJWsF3UTds)
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Wow, spooky coincidence George. I've just spent the night watching music on BBC4. An hour of the mamas and the papas songs followed by Rock family trees - california dreamin (m&p, Lovin spoonful, Al kooper and so on). I left the TV on to watch a repeat of an early Old Grey Whistle test and the first band on were Fanny. Jean Millington was excellent on bass and took the lead vocal too. I have endless admiration for bassists that can sing; I've been singing backing for about 18 months and co-ordinating that with playing takes alot! She was playnig a nice beat up old fender through an acoustic rig.
No idea what they're doing now but they've created their own tribute website (http://www.fannyrocks.com/).
Graeme
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Thanks Graeme, will do; much appreciated!
Ah, Kimberly; how could I forget! Of course I've seen you play before! I really like that Epic, it looks so cool.
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Fanny? What an intersting name for an all girl group!
Of course that word means something quite different on this side of the pond as opposed to in the states lol!
Regarding your point Graeme I have always sang and played bass - I have never found it too hard....I suppose it comes from my adolescent Geddy Lee impersonations where I played and sang all his lines (my voice had a higher range in those days!)
John.
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John,
Look at the bass player..............a Goddess.
AND she could sing and play at the same time.....something I've got to concentrate on now.........since someone stole my Mic stand and Shure SM 58 Beta
I used to be able to sing and play all jack Bruce's songs on Songs For A Tailor
Especially loved..The Clearout........what a song!!.great vocals, and....the most amazing bass sound !!! IMHO
George