Jazz Bassists

[OfficerJimmy]

The question of best rock bassists brings up names of great players, but imo the best bassists come out of jazz.

My favorite is Stanley Clarke.

[fuckhowardstern]

and right next to Stanley, Marcus Miller.

[Alex Mogilny]

Jack Bruce

[DrMaddVibe]

JACO!

[Coyote]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
JACO!

Ditto! (what a rhyme...)

[bueno bob]

Jaco. No question. No other name comes close.

[fuckhowardstern]

That guy from YellowJackets, Jimmy Haslip, plays a seriously mean fretless bass. Of course he got his style listening very carefully and passionately to Pastorias. Check out "Politics" and "The Spin" - anything with William Kennedy on Drums and Marc Russo on sax. They kind of went in a strange direction when Russo left in 1990 (to me, anyway - others might like it better....i dunno!)

[franksters]

I didn't even read the thread, Iread just the title and the answer is simply:

JACO PASTORIUS!

This is a non negotiable answer.

[nosuchluck]

Victor Wooten
Michael Manring
Bill Dickens
Ric Fierabracci
John Patitucci

[Last_Child]

Jaco For Fuck's Sake!

He even played with Ian Hunter!
Graate Bass solo in All American Alien Boy!

[nosuchluck]

can't believe i forgot Jonas Hellborg.

[Loons The Great]

James Jamerson

[ThrillsNSpills]

The old studio cat that played on Jeff Beck's fusion albums. Was it Bascomb ??

Of course Jaco and Stanley Clarke are monsters.

Tough choices.

[Loons The Great]

Karl"The Mailman" Malone
Pistol Pete Maravich

[Diamondjimi]

Jaco !

[Howlin' Wolf]

Matt Bissonette

[Warham]

Carol Kaye was pretty damn good.

[bueno bob]

The cool thing about Jaco?

Before he hit it, he'd introduce himself as THE BEST BASS PLAYER ON THE PLANET.

And then?

He'd prove it.

'nuff said on the subject.

[hankster]

I must say that I think that Billy Sheehan was one of the best out there in the late 80's early 90's, He was good enough for Dave, and Steve Vai, he was good enough for me!! And by all means Jaco too

[if6was9]

Jaco
Marcus
Eberhard Weber

[lesfunk]

Y'all must be talking about Electric Bassists only. If that's the case let me add Jeff Berlin.
Probably the best electric Jazz Bssist alive.
Jaco's my favorite though.

[Cato]

I heard the bass player of the Savage Brothers is pretty good.

[Kristy]

I can see many of you don't know shit about jazz. While true Jaco was a brilliant bass player he was hardly a traditionalist in the field of jazz; him and Monk Montgomery (brother of guitar god great Wes) were really the only two electric bass players that could pull it off with sticking to traditional jazz rules of bass playing. Yeah, you could throw Marcus Miller in there but he's a bit too funky for traditionalists.

So again, anyone who does know Jazz bass players know it's about the upright (or double bass) and to me, these are the best of the best:

1. Scott Lafaro:

http://www.findagrave.com/photos/2003/112/8821_1051136730.jpg

Played most notably for Bill Evans (after Bill ventured on his own after leaving playing with Miles). The man was an animal of jazz bass playing. His whole phrasing was fucking phenomenal as if he was playing solos within solos. Many still study and try to figure out what he did to this very day. Unfortunately he died an early and tragic death (no, not by drugs but by car accident) Evans was never the same since. Listen to Bill Evans Trio 'Explorations' and hear Scott shine.

2. Paul Chambers

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/A1V-ms1udRL._SL600_.jpg

Paul has played with everyone who is who's who in jazz from Miles to Jimmy Smith. You wonder where Marcus got his groove from? Look no further then Paul. Listen to 'Bass On Top' it's Paul at his best.

3. Dave Holland

http://jazz.com/assets/2008/12/1/Dave_Holland_03.jpg

Another living jazz legend. The man has such a unique style of jazz bass playing that has made in one of the most in-demand players to this day. Dave is one of those musicians who feeds off the energy of his fellow players and knows when to come in and play his part and when to stand out. How rare for a musician of his caliber to leave his ego at the door.

4. Larry Grenadier

http://www.jazzozieri.com/photo/LarryGrenadier/LarryGrenadier004.jpg

Young guy but can he ever play! Made a name for himself playing with Pat Metheny. I saw him back in 2004(?) with John Scolfeild and he was simply the most disciplined bass player I've ever seen even though he does look like a drunken slob on stage. Irony is a must to be a great musician, I suppose.

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Bill Stewart is no slouch, either.

5. Charlie Haden

http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/images/artistes/biographies/2000-06-29_Charlie_Haden-018-bio-port.jpg

Another living legend who played with just about everybody in jazz. I'm not too keen on his solo albums (they bore me) but his best work was most likely with Ornette Coleman.


Of course there are others but those are the ones I'd go with.

[lesfunk]

of course you are right Kristy, but since everybody was only listing electric bassists, I went with that angle.
Since we are talking DB now, I would like to mention a couple of my favorites.
Eddie Gomez, Marc Johnson, and Bob Magnusson

[FORD]

Here's a little Stanley Clarke..... with a not exactly jazz combo.......

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[ELVIS]

Never underestimate Marcus...

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:elvis:

[Dolemite!]

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[Kristy]

Mingus is a good choice although I always thought of him as being a figurehead in jazz. He was more of a composer than bass player and not many know that he was also quite a talented piano player as well. Personality-wise he was a bit of a dick. He was notorious for yelling as musicians only to point out their weaknesses and going so far as to embarrass them on stage in front of a live audience. May sound a sacrilegious here but when most call his albums "genius" I call them sterile. 'Ah Um' is a masterpiece but on repeated listening it also sounds like the musicians on that recording aren't having any fun whatsoever; arrangements are too tight in most areas and it ends up like an loathsome exercise over playing ability.

[Dolemite!]

It's possible, I do feel that way sometimes on listening to it. There are some other albums that never hit the spot for me like Bitches brew and birth of the cool... a lot of Pat Metheny including Secret Story.