Just ran across this clip of The Great Norman Watt-Roy

[hifiguy]

putting down the Alembic thunder on Ian Dury's immortal Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick with the inimitable Blockheads and had to post this link:
 
http://youtu.be/CBIRj3JW3h0
 
Whoa!!

[sonicus]

I stumbled upon this vid a while ago as well . I liked it then and still like it now. I Love the sound of the Bass on this one . A good player !   I have heard him play this on a non Alembic and although technically he still plays very well, the sound is much more lack luster.

[Fly-by-night]

Norman's playing mostly Fenders nowadays, backing up the great Wilko Johnson.  We were lucky enough to catch them a couple of years ago at a small gig in West Sussex.  Wilko has beaten pancreatic cancer, has not stopped playing (even when diagnosed as terminal).  He and Norman continue to be spectacular.

[hifiguy]

Even speaking as a guy who has always owned a Jazz for the last 40 years, the clip I originally posted is just more proof that There Is Nothing Like An Alembic.  The definition, the guts, the POKE for lack of a better term, is unique.
 
I don't think even the foggiest sound guys can obscure the Alembic character.  

[terryc]

I have a midi file which almost has the bassline right on, it is an absolute workout to do.
I remember an article I read about NWR and it quoted something on the lines ....NWR was the only bass player at that time who knew what Jaco was doing in his playing. You can hear it on the vid the way he plays those 16th fingerstyle notes with funk right in the pocket!

[sonicus]

Terry , I concur !  NWR's tone as well sounds very bridge focused . That is another JACO attribute. I adopted that orientation as well a few decades ago as a result of studying JACO. Quite certainly many other folks were doing so as well by the early 1990's.  I was and still do focus on my bridge pickup largely for tone building. JACO showed us all  so very much.

[hifiguy]

Agreed, and I hear some Rocco Prestia in that brutally difficult sixteenth note ostinato as well.   Norman and Charley were about as good a rhythm section as ever trod the boards.

[sonicus]

I have had thoughts about Rocco Prestia 's influence on JACO  as well . An experience that I had in the very early 1980's in recollection of these thoughts supports my suspicions.

[terryc]

Rocco...oh for f***s sake, bloody hardest fingerstyle technique to learn, how he gets that ultra funky sound and technique is beyond me!
First time I heard TOP, I thought,  I shall give up now and take up fishing LOL!
On that note I am now going to locate my TOP CD's and take on humiliation!

[sonicus]

Terry .    ROCCO's instructional video  Finger Style Funk was issued quite some time ago in VHS tape . I do not think it was reissued in DVD or Blue Ray as of yet .  Here is a youtube version for you Sir !
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6x--c9SZak&list=RDX6x--c9SZak#t=7
 
Here is ROCCO's Website , he needs our help .
http://www.roccoprestia.com/
 
(Message edited by sonicus on December 29, 2014)

[terryc]

Thanks Sonicus,I shall digest accordingly but I shall still be rubbish at it LOL

[sonicus]

Terry , _____Einstein kept telling himself  I know, I know nothing  
Therefore ; when a modest self denying individual sets forth with a goal , great achievements can be made !  In other words Sir , You shall be victorious !