Jimmy Smith remembered

[foth]

When first  attempting to unfold the mysteries of  the bass guitar and blues bass lines, I asked the best player I knew how to begin.  He told me Go get Jimmy Smith's Back at the Chicken Shack and listen to his feet.
Thanks for your music and your soul Jimmy!  We miss you.

[palembic]

Jimmy Smith,
 
I remember a car-drive on holiday with a friend to a whine district in the Tarragona-area in Spain. He pout on a CD in his car ans said: :this is the only  music my father and I agree upon. And he started the Blues dot com CD of Jimmy Smith.
I loved it.
 
Play with the heavenly choir bbrother, I KNOW thay can use a good Hammond-player!
 
Paul the bad one

[275hz]

Yes he will be missed, and do listen to his feet, nothing like it ever!
 
listening to There will never be another you as I type

[edwin]

I am curious about the Hammond bass thing. Both Hammond players that I talked to said that organ players (excepting classical) only use the pedals for punches and the real bass lines come from the left hand. Apparently there are more sounds available from the keyboard part (ie. more drawbars) and other advantages. Still and all, JS was awesome!
 
Edwin

[David Houck]

I'm no authority, but I'm thinking the bass lines were from his left hand.

[palembic]

I am puzzled.
I saw Rhoda Scott playing once and thought the bass part came off the feet-part.
Now I am thinking off it ...that must be pretty impossible to play the bass-lines with your two feet, one keyboard layer for chords (left hand) and one keyboard layer for melody/solo (right hand).
So I think I thought wrong the day I saw Rhoda Scott.
 
Paul the bad one

[lbpesq]

I always thought that Ray Manzarek played bass on his organ with his feet in the early days of the Doors, my all time favorite bassless rock group.  (Actually about the only bassless bigtime rock group).  I hope I don't get in trouble for bringing them up around here!  LOL
 
keep you eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel
 
Bill, tgo

[adriaan]

There's a lot of television footage of The Doors where Manzarek has a bass version of the Fender Rhodes keyboard on top of his organ (his what? LOL). You can recognize the outline of the regular Rhodes keyboard, but it's no more than 2 or 3 octaves wide.

[David Houck]

Yes, I think Manzarek played bass with his left hand.  On a lot of Doors recordings, real bass players were used.
 
Recently, Steve Winwood has been touring without a bass player.  And Winwood is also playing bass with his left hand.  I saw the Winwood group on TV.  Personally, I don't think the music grooves like it would with a real bass player.

[dnburgess]

The Doors of the 21st Century have a bass player. In a recent interview Manzarak said it was much easier for him - and it sounded better!
 
David B.

[beelee]

I was at a wedding many years ago in California, and was close enough to watch what the organist was playing, He had a full set of bass pedals and was playing bass with his feet using an alternating heel and toe method,  some of the things he played had a non-church progressive rock type style to it.
He was awesome.
 
Yes Ray Manzarek played that little Fender Rhodes bass live, but sometimes the Doors had a bass player in the studio. Lonnie Mack played bass on Peace Frog and Jerry Scheff played bass on the LA Woman LP ( His son Jason plays bass for Chicago) there might have been others, but I'm not sure.
 
I think Devo used the Rhodes bass on Whip It as well.
and don't forget John Paul Jones playing bass pedals and left hand bass in LZ, Geddy Lee from Rush, Mike Rutherford from Genesis and a band called Zebra, bassist/kybst Felix Hanneman does killer left hand bass !
 
B.

[dnburgess]

...and Greg Lake using Moog Taurus pedals.

[beelee]

I saw Winwood on a cable tv concert  back in 89 ? he had a bass player that was using a Roland GR-77B bass synth wish I could have taped it, there were some excellent camera angles of the band.
 
I don't think the music grooves like it would with a real bass player.....DaveHouck
 
I only partially agree about this, sometimes yes and no, listen to the keyboard bass parts that Stevie Wonder played on his early stuff, it definitly has groove, but all things played on a electric bass can't really be duplicated on a keyboard, it also depends on the player's approach, you have to think/play  like a bassist
for it to be convincing. the same goes for playing a guitar or horn part on a keyboard.

[dadabass2001]

The Doors instrument was IIRC a Fender Piano Bass. which had reversed color keys (black naturals and white sharps/flats), and about two or three octaves. I knew a guy in high school in Dubuque who played one in a rock band called the Jesters (are you out there, Drew?). Riders On The Storm features Doug Lubahn on bass, who also produced an album or two for Jim and the boys.  
Another bassless band (boy, that sounds weird!) was Lee Michaels and Frosty the drummer. I caught them at the Winterland ballroom in 1969. Lee played a Hammond B-3 (barefoot and shirtless) with pedals through about 20 Acoustic 360 amps (with 18 folded horns) and Frosty did a drum solo with his bare hands. 4 or 5 years later, Lee had a hit with Do You Know What I Mean where he played multiple parts on an antique steam calliope (tuning variations due to changing steam pressure and pipe expansion - at least we don't have to hire a boiler tender for recording sessions)
Your occasional source for pointless information from the sixties...  
Mike
 
(Message edited by dadabass2001 on February 17, 2005)

[richbass939]

A few years ago I read an interview with some producers who all seemed to agree that if you want a keyboard bass on a song you should get a bass player who also plays keys.  Don't get a keyboard player to play bass.  There are some exceptions, of course.  Beelee brought up Stevie Wonder's bass lines.  I've always liked the stuff he dreams up.
Rich