Normally I don't want to hear the bass player, just notice if he's gone. But there are exceptions:
1. Scott LaFaro - because he is the greatest, most musical, most expressive, most talented player there ever was.
2. Thomas Yearsley (formerly with The Paladins) - excellent player and songwriter, but mostly for his live playing: the most facially expressive person I'd ever seen perform. He is a riot to watch. You go, Thomas!
3. "Pistol" Pete Midtgard (Frantic Flatops; Twistin' Tarantulas) - he can rock (play and sing/holler) like no other. Plays and sings his guts out. He'll beat yer ears with his doghouse bass and switch-blade voice, then kick yer ass in the parking lot if warranted. |
I wish everyone described things like you Rockadanny. It helps me understand. lol |
Paul McCartney; his work with Beatles and Wings and all his solo stuff has been very rewarding through out my life.
Tommy Shannon; He's filled the holes in not one but TWO three member bands and behind two of the greatest modern day Blues guitarists Johnny Winter and SRV.
Charles Mingus; a pioneer and to watch his hands glide up and down the bass effortlessly he truely was at one one with it.
John Entwhistle; he was as solid as they came and when called upon stepped up to the plate for various solo's.
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I'm SHOCKED only two people mentioned Les Claypool, as good as Flea is (and he is great) I don't think he can touch what Les Claypool has accomplished with the bass during the 90's. Perhaps not the best recording "quality wise" but if your interested in bass performance pickup "tales from the punchbowl" circa 95'. |
Benny Rietveld -- currently w/Carlos Santana -- is capable of extremely effective bass playing. Plus, he just looks like a bada** playing. Some of you Miles fans might know of some of Rietveld's work w/him many years ago. |
also what about anthony jackson...the MAN who laid down the grooves for countless others...especially Herbie Hancock's Headhunters....I love his meaty tone |
I would like to second Mejames' recommendiation of Stanley Clarke. True Fusion Jazz of the early 70's, check out School Days. |
My favourites would be Larry Graham and Bootsy Collins.(i like the funky stuff).
Also i must admit I'm a bit of a fan of Victor Wooten(was amazing to see live)although he can become a little too technical at times. |
Ray Brown - energy and scale
Eberhart Weber - tone and style
Ron Carter - beat and virtuosy |
mike watt , matt freeman, victor wooten |
Michel Donato hasn't had a mention and he deserves it. Superb creativity married to technical mastery. Plus, his "Setting the Standards" disc with James Gelfand on piano is demo quality. |
John Deacon. I agree with a lot of the posts already but thought he should be added
John Deacon of Queen fame wrote "I want to Break Free" and I believe was largely reponsible for Queen's ability to produce such very memorable/catchy "primordial rhythmic loops" such as Under Pressure, Another one bites the Dust etc.,all of which provided a great backdrop to Brian May's improvs on lead guitar. |
Bathiki Kumalo (sic)-played on Graceland. VERY melodic player! |
(Among many greats) Charlie Haden is no slouch... |
Most of the expected names have been mentioned at least once, but I'd add two more:
Viktor Krauss
Don Dixon |
Anders Jormin
(Bobo Stenson Trio & Tomasz Stanko Quartet)
Try "Xieyi", which is mostly him playing solo. This guy might be the most soulful bass player I've ever heard. |
Boa2....which album has Xieyi? |
Henry,
Sorry I wasn't clear. The name of the album is "Xieyi". |
thanks....will check it out |
All of the above, but especially Jaco, Jones (Percy too!), Entwistle, Squire, Rutherford, Holland, Levin, Rodby, McCartney, Wetton, McCormick, Mingus, Lake, Wooten, Butler, Burton, Carter, Lesh, Cassidy. |
Yes Ray Brown,but also Keter Betts,he can be heard on the Junior Mance cd,'Blue Mance'.Awesome. |
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There is a very good bass player named Michael Manring that I like; he started out as the session bass player for the Windham Hill label and has played on several of Patty Larkin's albums among others; I have his solo CD "The Book of Flame" and it is really outstanding. I noticed somebody mentioned John Entwistle; I have a solo album of his called "Too Late the Hero" where he plays with Joe Walsh; he will be sourly missed on the upcoming Who tour. Also love Victor Wooten. |
There is a very good bass player named Michael Manring that I like Manring is outstanding in a trio called "Attention Deficit", with guitarist Alex Skolnick (Testament), and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander (Primus). These guys are phenomenal. Another great band with killer bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehose) is Banyan, which includes drummer Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction), guitarist Nels Cline, and trumpet player Willie Waldman. Talk about groovin'! |
There's a couple of great bass players from Brazil that I like, Marcelo Maia, who reminds me of Jaco Pastorius, and Zoos Moussawer, who compares with Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey. I also admire Andre Vasconcello, who plays on Phil DeGreg's album "Brasilia". |
Comparing Paul M., Geddy L., Ray B., et at, isn't very useful; different genres. When I was playing in rock bands in the 60's, Jack Bruce was my favorite. He didn't sound like the others. His lines were ahead of their time. Then, in the 70's it was Chris Sqiure of Yes. Rarely did he play on the beat, though his lines were always interesting (Rick Wakeman said that he (Sqiure) couldn't play a "straight" baseline if his life depended on it!). He was the "Jack Bruce" of 70's rock. But I never heard a bassist quite like Jaco Pastorius. The alternate growling, punchy, lovely portamento of his lines were something to behold. Listen to "Portrait of Tracy"; a piece he wrote that is almost all done with harmonics (I busted a gut figuring that one out). Simply beautiful.
Steve O. |
Must agree that Manring's Att. Deficit stuff is groovin' as #@^%$***!!! Unfortunately some of his other stuff hits the Kenny G gag reflex. Attention Deficit is as good as or better than any project connected w/these 3 guys. Life is short Att. Deficit never does gigs... it's a crime! Anyone who digs challenging head warping instrumental rock should be nagging the heck out of Manring, Skolnick and Alexander to get out and play or at least record some more. Same holds true for Massacre (Frith/Laswell/Hayward). Both units can crunch through the skull and sear a deep brand into the brain. |
Basic choices, nothing too esoteric here. I love "The Ox", Chris Squire, Billy Wyman and one of the guys in the Fab Four. All very melodic. Lesh is really good too-very powerful lines. Berry Oakley was amazing. |
Stanley Clarke- tone, skills, works (his early and RTF not his later)
Brian Bromberg- tone,skils, a little less impressed w/ works, just less my style.
Bill Laswell- tone(s), works, variety - he must have put out and been on 50 titles since 2000
Percy Jones- tone, skills ,works- but not "his" works - prefer Brand X and Nova Vimana, which is now on CD
Renaud Garcia Fons- tone , skills - only heard him on a few albums but he is unbelievable! Best bowed solo I ever heard on Nguyen Le's "Bakida" album....forget which track....
ET |
I'm going to concentrate on the rock spectrum.
Geddy Lee-Rush
John Entwhistle-Who
Geezer Butler-Sabbath |
forgot about Renaud Garcia Fons....skills is out of this world |
The bassist from Rammstein, because he looks really cool. |
Add Richard Bona to the list, right up near the top. Saw him last night with the Mike Stern band (+ Dennis Chambers & Bob Franceschini), and Bona made everyone sound better. First all-star jazz show I've ever attended that sounded like songs, not solos. If Richard Bona is in the band, don't miss it! |
*Best line: Slave's Slide; Pleasure's Glide; Azymuth's Dear Limmertz
*Old school but still rule: Louis Johnson
*Was good, but have nothing else to give: Larry Graham, Stanley Clark, Mark King
*Song writers pretend to be bass players: Sting, Paul McCartney
*Worst, should take lesson: Benny Rietveld
*Boring: Dave Holland, Anthony Jackson
*Should change to playing guitar instead of bass: Wayman Tisdale
*Funkiest Tone: Marcus Miller, Jonas Hellborg
*Impressive speed and/or technique but that's all: Brian Bromberg, Victor Wooten
*Extraordinare technique, incredible live: Michael Manring
*Musicality: Richard Bona, Doky Minh, Renaud Garcia Fons
***MY FAVORITE BASS GUITARIST: Alex Malheiros of Azymuth (Brazillian group); CDs that are 20+ years still so sound so emotional today. Never play the same line twice.
***MY FOVORITE GUITARIST: no list, just one guy = Nguyen Le.
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How about the women? (Past) Carole Kaye - did most of the Beach Boys recordings in the 60's and quite a bit of Motown, some that James Jamerson got credit for. (Current) Lynn Keller - Diana Ross, Rita Coolidge and many more. |
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Mark King (Level 42). He was the reason I started playing bass; great rhythmic slap technique, very quick, but also highly melodic player. |
stu hamm,billy sheehan,jeff berlin,i was very fortunate to have seen all 3 of them on the bx3 tour in buffalo,pittsburgh and cleveland within the past year,all of the shows were in very small clubs and they all seemed like they were having a great time playing together,hopefully they will decide to tour again in 2007/2008 |
Her body of work speaks for itself |
George Mraz, Dave Holland, Gary Peacock, and Eberhard Weber. They are my favorite because whenever they are in a trio, quartet, or other any other group, they add daring and direction to the music. There is nothing quite as enjoyable for me as when one of these bass players goes off on a solo within the context of the group. |
When it comes to choosing the "best" bass player, well, there is no better time where the phrase "to each his own" is applicable. I am a thirtysomething funkateer, which means my taste may differ a bit that that of a "student" of the instrument. Sure, Jaco, Stanley, Entwistle and Victor (and some other rockers I may have forgot to mention) are the absolute ELITE of their trade; however, there are cats who IIII grew up listening to who put the "UN in between the "F" and the "K" when it came to getting FUNKY....I will list MY favorite FUNK bassists (duh, what else was the instrument created for besides having someone watch or listen to a funky ass bass line with that "PEEE EEEWWW!!!! SOMETHIN' STANKS UP IN HERE!!!!" look on their face? And I DON'T mean just "slappin' and poppin'!!!!)
5. Louis Johnson (The bassist for The Brothers Johnson with a 10" thumb!!!!)
4. Mark Adams (of the 70's superfunkyass group SLAVE and the trademark finger slide on that Jazz Bass)
3. James Jamerson (Of Mowtown fame NO ONE has EVER approached the instrument the way he did!!!!)
2. Larry Graham (The Father)
1. Mr. William BOOTSY Collins (The Son, Innovator, multidimentional Funkateer...The SpaceBassed/Mutron sound remains second to none!)
Oh, that was the top five...The funkiest EVER, EVER, EVER...EV-ER...
Mr. Prince Rogers Nelson....THE Holy Spirit of FUNK.
Yep, PRINCE....This guy has his own style of funkyface creating licks...Let's Work? 777 9311? Kiss (extended version)? Alphabet Street? Face Down (live version)? What's My Name? Joint 2 Joint (solo part)? Sexy Dancer (extended with the solo)? 2 Niggs United 4 West Compton (solo part)? DMSR? What do you want me to do, girl? Irresistable Bitch? Crystal Ball (solo)? Lady Cab Driver???? Last Heart? When playing bass, Prince combines a smooth, funky, rhythmic and soulful approach with the most valued instrument throughout the composition of a song: SPACE. Without the use of overbearing or tone-shaping effect pedals, time after time, he makes my nose cringe, head bob, feet tap and spine tingle with each magical note he funkilly creates. I was sure when I listened to his albums and CD's; I was POSITIVE when I slept outside in 18 degree weather with my brother, had front row seats to one of his concerts and he picked up his axe, walked toward me and started doing his thing right above me with a big grin on his face as I bowed to him with my hands gripping his high heels (that was back in '99 and I STILL haven't washed them yet!!!!) (-; |
Listen to Prince's "I HATE YOU", you also realized he's the most talented lyricist besides the most talented multi-instrumentalist.
Louis Johnson also started another group called "Passage", and came out with only one album. Starting bid for my excellent condition album will be $10K because you can't even Google it :)
Talking about "GROOVE", I got 2 more bassists to name: Tower of Power's bassist and Etiene Mbappe on few of Nguyen Le's CDs. |
Mark King- Level 42 Cause he's a groove monster and plays intricate bass lines while singing lead. He's so funky. What a soloist
Tom kennedy-Dave Weckl Band- wow!
Victor Wooten- funky and humble
Francis Rocco Prestia- Tower of Power- King of the 16th note groove!
Scott Ambush- Spyro Gyra- Awesome seasoned player!
Spencer Campbell- Judson Spence debut CD- Love this guy! Anyone know what other albums he's on? Very Tasty
Many more but those are off the top of my head |
God.....doesn't anybody get it.....Bill Wyman, Paul Samwell-Smith, Jack Bruce or John Bonham.... egads.. doesn't anybody get it.....????? What a laugh......
then again I am drunker than shit...listening to the greatest C&W BAND.....notice not singer...that would be Hank Williams,Sr...not that numbn*ts Jr.....but the Rolling Stones...Sweet Virgina...the greatest C&W song since Honky Tonk Blues |
I vote for Mike Anthony (Van Halen)+ Prince, these guys can really groove! |
good call on Bootsy!, funky bass...especially during his James Brown days |
JAMES JAMERSON - backbone of the Motown sound and one of the original Funk Bros. He taught Jaco how to play, so that ought to tell something about Jamerson. He played electric bass with only his index finger, and called it his "hook". I've never seen anyone play like Jamerson... a true PIONEER. |
Jack Bruce.
Went through all the posts...maybe 2 or 3 votes for Jack Bruce. Add mine to that sadly paltry number.
Amazing interplay with Ginger on live cuts as on Cream's "Goodbye" and "Wheels of Fire". Melodic, rhythmic, imaginative. Not to take anything away from Eric but to my mind they elevated him to another level. Without them, nothing he has done (with maybe the exception of his work on Derek and the Domino's comes close). After Jack remember Felix Pappalardi. Oh, and by the way how 'bout other bass players that can really sing...add Greg Lake. Independent of vocals, add Chris Squire and John Entwistle. Not to say the many others mentioned aren't superb musicians. Just talking personal favorites. |
