Jimmy "Flim" Johnson

[rustyg61]

I came across this video of Jimmy with Allan & Gary. Very tasty stuff! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLPsSo8G8P8&feature=related
 
Jimmy, I know you don't like watching yourself, but your fans will love this! You are an amazing player with an equally amazing sound! Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge & experience with us & for inspiring us to try to attain higher levels in our craft!
 
Rusty

[JimmyJ]

Rusty,
 
Thanks for the kind words.  Yes, hard for me to listen to live stuff, harder still to watch it - oh sheesh!  I've been trying to solo on that tune for about 26 years and it still twists me around...  Great fun trying though!  And the other two characters in that trio are such unique and unusual musical voices...  I've been very lucky over the years to be able to play with so many talented folks!
 
Thanks again,
Jimmy J

[rustyg61]

Hey Jimmy,
 
It didn't look like it twisted you around too bad! Your playing is so smooth & effortless, the notes flow from your fingers with the ease of the breaths that you take! Yes, you have been lucky to play with some amazing musicians over the years, but they have been equally as lucky to have played with you! Since you don't like to listen to your own playing, the real lucky ones are those of us who love listening to your playing!! It's an honor to share this board with you! Thanks for the reply!
 
Rusty

[jacko]

Only a month to go. Can hardly contain myself. :-)
 
Graeme

[JimmyJ]

Hey Graeme,
So you're looking forward to some slow and low bass notes, huh?  Haha!  Chad Wackerman is playing kit with us this season so you get to hear the two of us in an entirely different setting than our last visit...  Landau on guitar, Goldings keys, McCuller, Markowitz and Zonn on BG vocals.  Plenty of great songs to choose from so it should be a nice show.  
I'm looking forward to it too!
Seeya soonish,
Jimmy J

[gbulfon]

Hi, in case anyone is interested, I transcribed Jimmy's bass solo on Dodgy Boat.
 
About the whole piece, it would be interesting to know how the original timing was conceived, because the chord timings at the very beginning may be interpreted in many different ways.
Would you shed some light Jimmy?
 
Gabriele.

[JimmyJ]

Hey Gabriele,
 
Sure, I'd be curious to see your take-down, can you post a link here?  I have the advantage of knowing what I was TRYING to play so it can be interesting to see what other people actually hear.
 
As far as the rhythmic twist in the head, yes, slightly open to interpretation...  You'd need to confirm this with Steve Hunt (the composer) but here is what I think is happening:
If you count in quick 1/4 notes there are two bars of drums before bar 1.  Then bar 5 is a 6/4 bar broken into triplets (18x3) which are grouped 2-4-4-4-4.  The first 2 of those are silent and the chords fall on the following groups of 4s.  Make sense?  Husband's drum fill leading into that bar makes it even crazier.  
 
Nice tune!
Jimmy J
 
(Message edited by jimmyj on June 11, 2011)

[gbulfon]

Here you go with the two pages:
 
http://www.sonicle.com/gbulfon/flim/Dodgy%20Boat%20-%20Bass%20Solo_0001.jpg
 
http://www.sonicle.com/gbulfon/flim/Dodgy%20Boat%20-%20Bass%20Solo_0002.jpg
 
You can find my view of the tricky part at the end of your solo, on page 2, where infact I couldn't find a good notation for your wonderful passage, that sounds more triplets, but I found no other way to put it into paper  
 
We were reharsing Dodgy Boat last night with the band, and we've been listening to the tricky passage many times, to find a common way to think of it (everyone was finding it's own desperate view!). At last, what you see on the score is what I find it easier!
 
Amazing solo, JJ, amazing and melodrome

[gbulfon]

I was trying to figure out your 18x3, that I find a little bit obscure...but I remember to be convinced almost with the same idea: 6/4.
My original idea was (I write bass notes):
 
x x G x - x Ab x x - F x x Gb - x x E x | x x x x - x x x x
 
That is 4/4 + 2/4 drum fill.
 
But then, the drummer reharsing with me, pointed out that there was something more tricky, and asked to listen better.
We listened....and infact, the feel was that something was missing...
The ending E sounds like a beat 1, expecially because of the drum fill of 2 quarters, starting exactly on E!
That's why I ended up with taking out 2 1/16, making E the new bar start, becoming a 7/8 bar.
 
x x G x - x Ab x x - F x x Gb - x x | E x x x - x x x x
 
 
Anyhow, the drummer vision was totally different, not counting in beats but in tuplets....still have no idea how he feels it

[jakebass]

Hey Jimmy, great to hear that Chad is on this tour, I've always liked his groove so look forward to hearing his treatment of the JT songbook, Gadd's shoes are tough to fill (as are Carlos Vega's) but I'm sure Chad will cope admirably.
Really looking forward to the gig
Jake

[JimmyJ]

Thanks for the kind words Gabriele.  That's a wild take-down, I'll try to look closer at it later.  Meanwhile, the bar in question may vary slightly over the course of the piece because (we're not machines and) I don't think we played this to click.  Here is how I would notate where the bass notes fall.  And YES, the E is meant to be the downbeat of the next bar:
 
 
(Message edited by jimmyj on June 11, 2011)

[JimmyJ]

ug, bad poster... try again
 
(Message edited by jimmyj on June 11, 2011)

[JimmyJ]

[JimmyJ]

Oh sheesh, one more time then with the notes...

[gbulfon]

Wow  this explains why your solo passage on it sounds more tuplets than what I wrote!
I tried to solve it in 1/16 division, while you solve it in tuplets  
Probably this is what is in the head of my drummer.
But still, if you start counting on the piece from the beginning in 1/8 beats, you can continue to count in 1/8 on this measure, and find a missing 1/8 that makes the 6/4 bar a 7/8  
I'll check it again though, love this analisys