Probably because my son plays the bass, I have become interested in several bass players: Jaco Pastorius, Vic Wooten, Stanley Clarke. Those musicians are or were prominently featured in the groups with whom they performed.

Listening to Jaco simply own a rendition of "Mercy, Mercy" got me thinking about this. Those three are primarily jazz musicians, but it's hard to think of a bass player who was actually featured in rock music. I know there are several well known bass players, Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Flea, etc., but it does not seem like any of their music really featured the bass as a lead or solo instrument. Can anyone out there please prove me wrong and point me in the direction of some outstanding bass performances. Thanks.

Regards,

D-Ray

Sting
The Police

He played tremendous bass and was the lead singer and a great songwriter.

Geddy Lee
Rush

Same thing as Sting.

Stuart Hamm, usually found on Satriani's albums but has a few on his own

Phil Lynnot
Thin Lizzy

He was incredible!

Not really featured, but Jack Casady often played close to what you might call "lead bass." "Let's Go Together" off of "Blows Against the Empire" is a good example.

Stanley Clarke - School Days, is excellent.

Try some of Rob Wasserman's stuff.... "Duet's" and "Trios" are my faves ... preferably on LP (of course). :beer:

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/26/70/05e24310fca04d12a5319010._AA240_.L.jpg

Doak

I love Stanley Clarke.

Primus, which you may or may not like, has a LOT of bass guitar usage. More than guitar.

Check out Dean Peer. You may enjoy him. Just bass.. solo..

Evan

Stanley Jordan

More of a jazz type viruoso. He plays notes on the neck with both hands, hammering down on the strings, almost like a piano.

sadly, they recently disbanded. Concrete Blonde, Johnnette Napolotano(sp) she is my fav female bass player. Very cool band, they loved the Sonoran Desert. Their covers of "Little Wing" and "It's a Mans World" Give 'um a try d-ray, if you don't like them, I buy them from you, how's that for a deal:yes:

Craig

I know there are several well known bass players, Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Flea, etc., but it does not seem like any of their music really featured the bass as a lead or solo instrument. Can anyone out there please prove me wrong and point me in the direction of some outstanding bass performances. Thanks.

Regards,

D-Ray
Pick up the "Cream Royal Albert Hall" DVD. Spoonful, Outside Woman Blues, Politician, Born Under A Bad Sign. These should prove you wrong. I heard someone say Jack Bruce was the first person to play the bass like a lead guitar.

John Entwistle of The Who. 'Nuff said.

Check out Yes "Fragile" (Chris Squire) esp. Roundabout and The Fish, which was done with bass & drums only.

Check out Yes "Fragile" (Chris Squire) esp. Roundabout and The Fish, which was done with bass & drums only.

And while you're at it, check out his solo album, "Fish Out of Water." Also, though a couple of people have mentioned Jack Bruce, nobody's mentioned his solo albums - many of the tracks on these feature the bass as essentially the lead instrument.

Second Stuart Hamm. Give The Urge a listen, you will be amazed at what he can do with a bass.

Jack Bruce is tops.
Patrick O'Hearn is outa' site.

Second Stuart Hamm. Give The Urge a listen, you will be amazed at what he can do with a bass.

Thirded.

Check out basically anything by Tony "Papa Bear" Levin, from his King Crimson days, with Liquid Tension Experiment and on.

http://www.tonylevin.com/

Ken

Miroslav Vitous

http://www.miroslavvitous.com/recordings.shtml

Second Tony Levin! Love his Chapman Stick work too especially on things like King Crimson's "Elephant Talk". He's a fun guy to watch on stage too.

Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead deserves mention. He's an original and unique bass player, but not exactly a "lead" player in the traditional sense of the word. Some Deadheads always wanted their seats to be in "The Phil Zone" which was his side of the stage so they could focus on his playing.

Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order. He tends to play melodic lines in the higher range of the bass guitar. He's currently in a new band named Freebass with two other bass guitar players (Mani from the Stone Roses and Andy Rourke of The Smiths) where all three play bass guitar together.

Les Claypool of Primus

If you're looking for some tasty bass, check out anything that Gov't Mule did before Allen Woody died. You may also check out any one of the three releases in the "Deep End" series that they did after his passing. In particular, the last one, titled, "The Deepest End". It's a two disc live set that includes a live DVD with performances by some of the bass world's biggest names and talents. Jack Casady, Les Claypool, Jason Newsted, George Porter, Jr. (The Meters), Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), Roger Glover, Mike Gordon (Phish), Conrad Lozano (Los Lobos), Will Lee, Greg Rzab (Black Crowes), Rob Wasserman and Victor Wooten. There are a bunch of other guest appearances by Sonny Landreth, Karl Densen, Bela Fleck, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Bernie Worrell and others.

If you're one of those that has passed over Gov't Mule as "just another jam band", think again. Buy this . . . you'll thank me after you stop banging your head against your speakers thinking, "Why didn't I listen to these guys years ago?!?!?". Forget all this bass hype and consider that Warren Haynes and Matt Apst just might be two of the best musicians working together that you'll ever hear with ANY bass player. Danny Lewis is no slouch on the keys either. This is not your hippy neighbor's band as you may have previously categorized them.

You might also pick up a DVD called "Rising Low". It's a documentary style thing based on the "Deep End" Series that goes into discussing the making of the CD's and DVD as well as the styles of the different bass players involved in the project throughout it's life.

If your son is an aspiring bass monster, this will expose him to some of the world's best all in one place.

Just my $.02 again :music:

Lets not forget Billy Sheehan who sometimes plays with Steve Vai but has a solo career too. He was also the bass player for Talas. This guy plays "Lead Bass" like guitar players play the lead guitar. Just freakin amazing to watch live too. I suggest the album "Compression" to get a good taste of his music. Also check out his band "Niacin" for some Jazz/Prog tracks.

An anthropologist travels to a remote jungle village to study the natives. After a couple of days, he says to his guide "Ever since we got here, we've been hearing drums". The guide replied, "Drums are good...when drums stop is very bad". A week later, as the anthropologist was packing to return home, the drums stopped. With a worried look on his face, he turned to the guide and asked, "What happens now?". The guide looked down, slowly shook his head and said, "Bass solo". :D

Phil Lesh - Grateful Dead

Les Claypool - Primus, Frog Brigade

Roger Glover - Deep Purple

Roger Waters - Pink Floyd

John McVie - Fleetwood Mac

John Paul Jones - Led Zepplin

George Porter Jr - Funky Meters

Mike Gordon - Phish

Dave Schools - Widespread Panic

Jason Newstead - Metallica

I'm just getting started ....

Robbie Shakespeare of Sly and Robbie fame. A very talented bass player of great distinction; associated with some of the "wickedest" bass sound ever produced.

Dave Holland

Mike Watt cannot be left out of this list.

Stanley Clarke in The Clarke/Duke Project with George Duke. Also checkout David Friesen.

Stanley Clarke - Find Out

Some serious snapping bass on this one. Amazing how he plays it like a guitar. A superb recording throughout and a great test CD.

Someone said Primus already but Les Claypool and all his projects present the bass as a primary instrument and does it very well.

Also look for a new album coming out soon by the band FreeBass. Just google them and you'll see it's three very promenant bass players in a very cool band.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freebass

Once again the members of AK prove what a great resource we have here. :thmbsp: Lots of great ideas and suggestions.

Already had a lot of Stanley Clarke, including some of his work with George Duke.
A couple of years ago I saw Mike Gordon on tour with Leo Kottke.
Based on responses to another thread, I had picked up some Tony Levin - wild and varied stuff. :guitar::guitar:
I have some old YES, and a recent download of "Live at Montreaux" Some nice bass work on that.
I probably have heard more of Jack Casady's work with Hot Tuna than with the Airplane.

I always had a hard time listening to Geddy Lee's vocals, but I heard a great story about him last week. He saw a documentary about the Negro Baseball Leagues Museum in Kansas City, and was sufficiently moved by it to go about acquiring a collection of baseballs autographed by Negro League's stars. I was at the monthly luncheon for the Muesum, and the director was extremely impressed that a white guy from Canada was moved to do something like that, and donate the collection to the museum. :bigok:

Luckily, all of the great suggestions came just as my E-Music selections renewed for the month. :D I was able to download tracks from the following:

Gov't Mule (already had a little bit)
Miroslav Vituous (couldn't get his website to work)
Les Claypool's FrogBrigade (I had some of his stuff with Primus)
Jack Bruce with Robin Trower and Jack Bruce and Friends
Concrete Blonde
Wayne Darling
Some more Tony Levin
Dean Peer
Doug Wimbish
Brian Bromberg
More Victor Wooten (Live)
Allan Holdsworth
Stuart Hamm
Stanley Jordan

I also did a search that resulted in a couple of others: a bassist that apparently goes by "Youth." - involved in some interesting electronic stuff, and Keter Betts - a long-time session player with his own band - acoustic jazz. :music:

I am also looking forward to hearing something from Freebass.

Of course, I usually get to hear some pretty decent bass thumping down from the kid's room. (can I still call him "kid" at 20?)

I'll give some reactions after I have had time to absorb all of this. :scratch2: Thanks again folks for all of the ideas. :tresbon:

Regards,

D-Ray

I think Charles Mingus, Charlie Hayden and Ray Brown should be required listening as well. All the guys above are incredible players without a doubt, but I have found a lot of inspiration in my own playing by reaching back a little further.

I also did a search that resulted in a couple of others: a bassist that apparently goes by "Youth." - involved in some interesting electronic stuff....

Martin "Youth" Glover, the original bass player of Killing Joke. Great dub/reggae style bassist.

For equal opportunity:
Kim Deal (Pixies)
Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads)
Meshell Ndegeocello -- solo artist, played some monster bass in a duet version of "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp.

I know that Vic Wooten has been mentioned in this thread, but you guys have got to see this video of him. Everytime I see this video, I just laugh. Not because he's a joke, but because he does things with a bass that I have never seen (or heard) anyone else do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHTA8VZGoMs&feature=related

I appreciate guys like Vic Wooten, and even Billy Sheehan-who play melodic solos and have a ton of tricks up their sleeves, but what really impresses me are guys like Entwistle, Jack Bruce and Allen Woody who are master improvisors.

My recommendation of the day-pick up Gov't Mule's "Live at the Roseland" and listen to the opening bass lines of the first track-you'll see what I mean. I must get this in vinyl, if its available.

Kenny Gradney - Little Feat
Maybe not the greatest musician compared to these others, but very good, very stylish. Funky at times.

check out nearly any beatles track from taxman to something, macca's a very melodic player. a lot of classic beatles songs have two lead lines throughout, george or john, and paul. He added some really impressive depth to some very basic songs rendering them much more interesting musically.

don schacher of grand funk- i've praised his work here before. nearly as much lead as farner in some tracks. solid, on the money, super heavy.

check out the bass player on most beach boys tracks from pet sounds and smile- others too, but those grab me in particular- carol kaye, part of the Wrecking Crew, LA session musicians that graced so many wonderful pop songs back in the day.

But my favorite bassman has to be Jah Wobble, who is single handedly responsible for whatever mojo you think PiL had. Dubby and languid, what a great sound. He usually carried more of he melody than Keith Levine who was busy wreaking metallic dischord. Plus he's responsible for one third of a pretty obscure and awesome record along with Can immortals Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit- "Full Circle". And some cool stuff with Bill Laswell. Check him out for sure if you haven't.

*cough* LEMMY *cough*

Not the most technically proficient, I'm sure, but I never really realized how much he plays it almost as rythm guitar until I saw them live recently. Interesting. Plus, it rocks.....:guitar:

I know that Vic Wooten has been mentioned in this thread, but you guys have got to see this video of him. Everytime I see this video, I just laugh. Not because he's a joke, but because he does things with a bass that I have never seen (or heard) anyone else do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHTA8VZGoMs&feature=related

You need to see the Flecktones. His brother, FutureMan, plays drumitar. Drums played on a stringed instrument.

Marvin Gaye - Just To Keep You Satisfied
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8inA8kXRPKU

I'm a little late to the party. Some of these have been mentioned already but here is a list from a Bass comp I made. Not all rock but bassist you should hear.

Mark Egan from Pat Metheny Band
Martin Dresdin from Focus
James Dewar and Rusty Allen from Robin Trower
Greg Lake Solo and ELP
Jon Camp from Renaissance (no guitar, just lead bass)
Tony Levin
Chris Squire
Nathan East from Fourplay and many others
Jimmy Charlson from Carl Filipiak Band
Ralph Armstrong from Jon Luc Ponty
Stuart Hamm
Michael Manring
Jeff Berlin from Bruford
Craig Herlihy from YokeShire

+1 for Brian Bromberg - especially "Metal" where he plays a custom bass tuned up at least an octave as a lead. Great stuff.

Bryan

huh.. can't believe NOONE has mentioned Morphine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP8QhblSkRI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJH4hXWuV_I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1iTZItBzGY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxOuKKu88eE&feature=related

Cake is a band with a bass lead

great stuff.

VW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dWb-aCWR8U)

if ya like jaco P check this out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqashW66D7o&feature=related)...

these guys have one heck of a bass playa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBnQvd_xzs)

speaking of the funky side of bass
cats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMO37phmVyI)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4pWbwWOhGg&feature=related

playing live in amsterdam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns9jGWiF8d0&feature=related) will do that to a fella

Any recording that includes this gentleman. He played low notes, and did it with more class than anyone I know of.

http://www.uga.edu/music/gabrass/images/harvey.jpg

Harvey Phillips, tuba player extraordinaire.

Nobody caught on to this Flecktones thread? Come on, these guys rock!

bump bump!