Bass Player Appreciation Thread

One who deserves a multitude of respect is  Brendan "Cygnus" Brown of Ne Obliviscaris. He's probably the best bassist in black metal!

http://www.youtube.com/user/cygnusbass

I've always been a big Hugh Hopper fan.  I love his tone, as well as his style all together

Freaking too many, come to think, there are plenty of amazing bassists in prog...maybe it's got to do with that they can do something other than beefing up the riffs as in heavy metal!  Off the top of my head:  Squire, Wetton, Rutherford, Shulman, Lake, Camp, Lee, Richard Sinclair, Mike Howlett, Jannick Top, Holger Czukay...will stop here for now.   Oh, and Trewavas and Myung from a bit later in the day.    My favourite bass playing though would have to be Percy Jones's performance on Brand X's Nuclear Burn.  

Pete Trewavas doesn't get the recognition for being a great bassist. Not flashy, but solid foundation.

Probably my favorite bassist is not even part of a prog band. It's Mark King of Level 42. The man is just simply amazing.

E


Edited by E-Dub - August 13 2009 at 20:01

TO AGINOR :

I'll have a closer listen to DEE MURRAY , as suggested . I do remember the fretless on ' Nikita ' as fretless bass is also one of my passions as a player and avid listener. I will check it out, but it's a big call to suggest the work on ' Nikita ' is the ' best fretless work I have heard ' . As a bass enthusiast , I expect you've heard plenty and you obviously feel strongly about Dee's playing.

From my memory of that pleasant and tasteful playing on ' Nikita ', I could never line it up with the work of the likes of JACO, JEFF BERLIN , PERCY JONES, MARK EGAN or even PINO PALLADINO or MICK KARN on fretless for that matter although I concede you are talking about playing in more of a pop music idiom .

I also rank JONAS REINGOLD, who has been mentioned already , as a great fretless exponent in prog.today.

A really tasty fretless player from the US is TIM LANDERS who played with Ian Wallaces CRIMSON JAZZ TRIO [ CJ3 ] who you can read about right here on PA.

I should also reiterate that in my previous post I was searching for the lesser knowns with talent who were yet to be mentioned . There are still heaps out there worthy of mention I'm sure.

Have just scrolled through to see if anyone mentioned John Glascock, and there it is on the last post.

Because we are talking Prog and not fusion which opens up a completely new ball game where Jaco is next to God [sadly], here are some, perhaps more obscure ones who I don't think have been mentioned.

Dave Pegges work with TULL was good esp. his introduction of fretless and no mention of Glenn Cornick to date, as far as I can see, which is odd.

Other Johns are John Giblin and John G. Perry who also played a tasty Wal custom for Caravan, Quantum Jump and others. Also Mike Wedgwood is underrated at least for his work with Curved Air [ the great ' Air Cut'] and also Caravan e.g. on ' Blind Dog....'.

Pete Farrelly of 'Fruupp', seldom mentioned but quite choppy as well as melodic rates, as well as Trevor Williams of ' Audience' who combines extaordinarily well with Tony Connor on drums in a raw and very energetic way - the latter unfotunately left them for fame n fortune with ' Hot Chocolate' of all things.

These are all worthy . I'll see if I can come up with some more.

Avishai Cohen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTSOADcHQDY&feature=related

Michael Manring:

(it's all about technique and emotion)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4Ra2KOyas&feature=PlayList&p=762F2C98F9394D51&index=0

Jeff Corallini:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vAalqCpqCA&feature=PlayList&p=B9C0EC6C7CD23B18&index=9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtimtnobOR0&feature=related

there's a few for now.... lesser known guys.  I feel that a lot of guys get well known being in big bands, but I don't think they deserve the accolades they receive.  Anybody with enough time and theoretical knowledge can become decent at bass, but it takes a true virtuoso to blow me away.... at bass.

Some of my top favourites:

Chris Squire

BaldFriede wrote: That Hattler's name NEVER pops up in any bass player threads unless he is mentioned by Jean or me is something I can hardly understand. It is a real shame proggers are not more familiar with his name. That guy has been around for almost 40 years now; anyone who knows a bit about Krautrock should be familiar with his name; he is one of the central figures in the German rock scene.

I keep seeing you an Jean mention him and I am interested, so what albums should I start with to get a good feel of what he can do?