Influences & favorites

[richbass939]

I was just wondering what kinds of music you guys play and listen to.  I can't imagine a type of music that an Alembic wouldn't sound great behind.  What types of music do you play at home, play at gigs, and listen to?  What bass players interest you or influenced you?
 
Rich

[811952]

Everything.  Really.  Right now I'm listening to Don McLean (earlier it was Cat Stevens).  I'm a big YES and King Crimson fan, and listen to whatever jazz or symphonic music the IU station has playing when I'm driving around.  Cake is awesome, as are Chicago (the old stuff), Kate Bush, Rush, Johnny Cash, Dylan, The Police, Miles, Zappa, Beatles, Sex Pistols, the Floyd, ELP, Elvis Costello, John Hartford, Pearl Jam, Jaco, They Might Be Giants - You get the idea.  Pretty much everything except modern Country and Western (which is way too formula for me to not get p*ssed off listening).  I think I probably use a bit of all of it when I play (and I'm developing a mean bottleneck-slide bass technique).  I've copied just about everything I have onto the computer and usually just set the thing on random stun and let it play for hours while I'm working.  My folks owned radio stations of all stripes for many years, so I've got an eclectic couple-hundred or so hours of sound to keep me entertained.  A Steve Gadd drum solo just came on.  Sweet.  
 
Some time ago I had an opportunity to ask Tony Levin what he listens to for inspiration while he's doing his photography or whatever, and his reply was that he tries to only listen to good music, because if bad music becomes acceptable to your ears, then you will unwittingly begin incorporating it into what you're playing.  Sounds reasonable to me.  He listens to a lot of Berlioz, Ravel, Stravinsky and the like, if I recall.  Abraham Laboriel & Al Jarreau just came on.  I LOVE WinAmp!
John

[811952]

Richard,
I just checked out your profile.  I played 3 nights in Craig in early '83 and thought I was going to get killed every night.  Some guy was buying us two or three rounds of whiskey every set and we were told by the bar owner that we should drink them all if we didn't want to get shot by the appreciative patron (it must have been the Alembic that he liked so much).  I went out to breakfast with the female lead singer of the band and everybody in the dive got up and stood around our table and told us what they wanted to do with her in explicit detail.  One of the scariest experiences of my life.  Otherwise, what a cool part of the world to behold!
And Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Albert Lee just finished playing and Larry Graham's bass solo just came on...
John

[richbass939]

John,
You're right.  Craig can be a little on the red side.  Now the scariest folks are the ones on meth (or cooking it up).  But, I like having the mountains right here.  It makes for a nice, easy get-away.  So, you were gigging with an Alembic in 1983?  
You have a wide assortment of bass player interests.  Same here.  It makes for a more interesting sound.  One can make a song sound completely different by throwing in a groove that changes the feel.  Especially for jam type of songs where you have time to explore a little. Some of my best memories as a player are when the drummer and I locked in and experimented.  We could change the feel several times.  People think we're just in the background but we can literally take over a song.
I didn't know you could see someone's profile.  I am new to all this.  It's not a problem but I thought that was just for Mica and the others in the company.
Rich

[811952]

Richard,
Simply click on my name (or yours) and it should open a new window with the profile.
John

[dela217]

John, That sounds like every night here in the French Quarter of New Orleans!  I know what you mean.
 
When I am just listening, I usually have something on as background music.  I am tuned in to our local jazz station, WWOZ.  They are on the web and you can listen to them anywhere.  When I am driving in the car, country.  I am a fan of new country, but I love the classics too.
 
When I am playing bass, it could be anything!
 
Michael

[David Houck]

Early this evening I was listening to Marcus Miller.

[tom_z]

I like to listen to many kinds of music, but lately I've been on a bit of a jam band jag. I've been listening to a lot of moe., Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (Victor Lemonte Wooten kicks ass), Grateful Dead, Umphrey's McGee, Gov't Mule - Warren Haynes in general, Medeski, Martin and Wood, String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band (mind-blowing bluegrass). I've also been enjoying Derek Trucks and Robert Randolph, these young guys are future legends in my estimation.  
 
Always in my CD mix is Miles, Coltrane, Monk, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver and other bebop stuff - also John Scofield, Wynton Marsalis and Marcus Miller. I don't go long without a healthy dose of Latin Jazz (lately: Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Caribbean Jazz Project, Jesus Alemany - plenty more). Check out Avishai Cohen - great young jazz musician plays piano and bass. Also listening to some Charles Earland on the Hammond B3.
 
I'm on the staff at the Las Vegas Philharmonic as well so I get to see a fair amount of live classical and art music. Stuff I want to make more time for is George Clinton and P-Funk, Leo Kotke, Brian Wilson, Jorma Kaukonen, more Miles Davis, Steven Stills (his older stuff), Dwayne Allman, a cool gospel group - Ollabelle, the Campbell Brothers, David Grisman, and Kaki King, a very promising young acoustic guitarist, too many others to list.
 
Well, that's what's in the rotation lately - any other suggestions?

[keavin]

Classic rock,& anything funky,& kickass drummers!

[echo008]

Just picked up the album Brain from Hiromi, Anthony Jackson/ Tony Grey on Bass ...Tight, tasteful and just plain jaw droppingly good.
I 've also been revisiting alot of my Stevie Wonder Albums, the album Natural Wonder is one of my favorites.
besides that .... Grateful Dead, Miles, Wilco ...  
 - Tom

[richbass939]

That's quite the variety, as I expected.  Mentioning Victor Wooten (whom I saw once with Bela Fleck) got me thinking about a clinic video a friend showed me.  Victor played a solo version of Amazing Grace.  It started out slowly with harmonics then moved into slapping and popping.  What dexterity and imagination.  Has anyone seen it?
Rich

[David Houck]

Yes; Wooten's Amazing Grace is very nice indeed!

[ajdover]

Me?  Rush (Geddy is my biggest influence), Yes (as is Chris Squire), The Who (hey, I own a Spyder!), Jethro Tull, early Genesis, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, the Police, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Paul McCartney's later stuff, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stanley Clarke, Jaco (amazing we only have to say his first name and everyone knows who we're talking about!), Toto (David Hungate was very underrated, IMHO - his solo on 99 is amazing), the Yellow Jackets (Jimmy Haslip - a monster), the Smithereens (a guilty pleasure), Duran Duran (love John Taylor's stuff - it always fit), Dire Straits (John Ilsey - equally underrated), Level 42 (Mark King - what can I say), Blue Oyster Cult (love the bass solo on Godzilla), Chicago (Peter Cetera always played tasty stuff), Cream (Jack Bruce - what a player), Living Colour (mostly for the drummer), The Tubes (loved Rick Anderson's stuff, and Prairie Prince's Drumming), Primus (Les is a Bass God).
 
Alan

[richbass939]

Yay,
Someone finally said Stanley Clarke.  Alan, I like just about all of them you mentioned.  But Stanley was the one who drew my attention to Alembic.  I was really interested in what bass he was playing.  30 years later I have one in my living room.
Does anyone know about a guy who plays (or played) with Buddy Guy.  I think his name is Greg Rzab.  I believe he owns Jaco's Fender Jazz.  I saw a TV show one time with Guy at The Woodlands, TX, outdoors.  Rzab was amazing.  I'd like to see that one again or at least get a CD with that kind of stuff on it.
Rich

[mint_bass]

Heres a deal
 
Do you guys get HMV music stores in USA and Europe because they have released a Stanley Clarke 3 CD bundle for ?15 about $20. It contains Live at the Greek, School days and East river Drive what a great buy.
 
Andrew