Back to Bass-ics

Yes its true, I have got myself a bass guitar again and am intent on getting back into a band. I haven't played for 16 years but its like riding a bike but without the prospect of gravel rash. Here are a few inspiring bass albums.

Charles Mingus. MINGUS AH UM.

Charles Mingus was one of the great bass players, composers and Jazz legends. His music was known for crazy rhythms, off tempo break-out vocals, people yelling in the background, even plates smashing in between drum rolls. It sounds totally weird but a lot of his stuff is simply beautiful, smooth and to be admired. This album has a bit of all that and is a good starting point for those interested in Mingus. Mingus made bass super
cool.

John Coltrane. BALLADS.

Coltrane is probably my all time favourite musician. He is an inspirational figure and a true genius of his art. Coltrane took jazz into realms unimaginable and produced some of the world's great music along the way. This is one of his most beautiful recordings. I love the bass playing by his long time collaborator Jimmy Garrison.


Primus. SAILING THE SEAS OF CHEESE.

Les Claypool of Primus has amazing bass playing abillity coupled with a keen sense of irony and imagination. His playing and lyrics make you laugh out loud. He was one of the great slap style players along with Flea of the Chilli Peppers and others. Primus is a bit of an off-beat band, not a lot of people seem to know about them for some reason and maybe you can't listen to them all day long but this is some seriously cool bass playing and one of the great underground albums of the 90's. I recall being given it on an orange TDK cassette tape and never giving it back, then it got stolen out of my 1984 Commodore cassette deck. Whoever ended up with it, I hope they loved it as much as me - more Bass to Ya.

It seems Jazz is the home of bass and it probably is. I wish I could think of more rock with good bass but I just was never into the 70's fusion stuff (Chick Corea, Stanley Clark) or the 90's stuff like Fishbone but if you have any bands to add leave a comment for me....