I think Jon’s bass-playing is fantastic and want to highlight a few things he played on the new album. Here are a few solos he took:
The first sample was taken from the second track, Blue by Blue.
Dancing Alone. This second example is the only solo that was overdubbed. The reason for that was that Jon used a fretted bass with a piece of foam wedged under the strings (((it’s a James Jamerson thing))) for the song and he wanted to do the solo on the “singing” fretless. You actually hear both basses here. The fretted bass plays the root and the fretless solos.
The third excerpt is from track number ten, Sixteen Hours. No matter what the chord changes, Jon will find something lyrical and melodious to play!
This last examples was taken from track number six, Tokyo After Midnight. I have presented this already, but this here is from the final mix.
Wow, that solo in Blue by Blue is fantastic.
Oh, I like the title btw. It was originally “Beckish”, right, because you associated it with “Blow by Blow”? Cute…. :P
Jon is a fantastic bass player.
He has a highly developed sense of economy of means, which I really appreciate. Great phrasing. Great lines.
ya know … I was going to leave it at that but …
Ever since Jaco, bass players have kind of wanted to do the Jaco thing. I dig the Jaco thing, (A LOT) but the Jaco thing is essentially Jaco playing like Bird did. Playing with the sensibilities of a saxophonist of Parker’s caliber is no mean feat, but Jaco did it- First.
HOWEVER …
Why have no bass players seemingly ever tried to play with the sensibilities of Miles? Because it’s really difficult, that’s why. It takes a pretty deep musician to do so.
Well, I think Jon does that. And I think that he succeeds pretty much all the time.
Jon is thuh mann. (oops, teabonics crep tin.)
Sounds great now i really can’t wait for the release.
Will there be a pre-sale? Maybe limited Edition signed copies?
For me, Jon’s bass is a vital part of the unique LN ‘sound’.
OL and JG playing together is a joy to listen to. I took a chance at the record store and bought Solo Para Ti (all those years ago) – I still remember that 1st listen as though it were yesterday!
Wonderful celebration of Jon’s Solo Sound.
Listened to Les Roses d’Isphahan this morning via mp3-player and headphones and found the bass there simply amazing as well.