#57601  by deadguise
 
Phil of coarse, Geddy Lee, Oteil Burbridge blew me away when I saw the Kreutzman trio...
who's the bassist that played on all the Mowtown tunes? -that guy too...
 #57602  by b weird
 
In order:

Jeremy Davis (from Paramore), Berry Oakley, Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Roger Waters, Phil Lesh.

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You don't have to watch the whole video, just 2:30-2:40.
 #57609  by confusions_prince
 
No love for Brian from Hot Buttered Rum? That guy was IN CHARGE of the last HBR show I was at. He just asks that you keep it quiet that he is the real mind behind the band. Friggin' Nat likes to think he runs the show.

Zappa always had a good band. I'm thinking of the bass line from Trouble Every Day. Keith Moseley knows a thing or two. Was it Larry Klein who played with Hunter on a few tours?

But you're asking for the best. Phil. Then man is a genius as a composer and as an improvisor, and I like to think he is choosing the direction for the new Dead.
 #57669  by astroman99
 
Phil, Joey Spampinato(NRBQ), andJack Cassidy, and the guy from Los Lobos,
really check out Spampinato, he gets in the groove, and was in the chuck berry movie hail hail rock and roll with Keith richards :shock:
 #57682  by mttourpro
 
Since nobody mentioned Scott Thunes from Zappa's later years, I'll throw him out there.

As for jazzers, Stanley Clark is great as is an almost unknown genious named Mirislov Vitous (sp)....I think he played briefly with Weather Report and is on a lot of other people's albums. Also, Jeff Berlin who often plays with Alan Holdsworth. Mike Mannring also should be given a listen.
 #57685  by Shuxter
 
My favorite bass player is Phil Lesh. I'm checking him right now.
 #58897  by Thomas Lieber
 
Jack Casady was THE first bassist to step up to the front of the stage with his own sound and unique style of play. All others fall behind Jack. Regardless of music type, jazz, rock, pop.

If not for Jack veracious hunger for sound envelope pushing, there never would have been an Alembic number 1. Jacks bass was the singular thing that sparked my personal interest in the designing and building of guitars. So then I would never have apprenticed with D Irwin guitars, hence no Tiger ever would have been designed and created etc....

Jacks my choice! He is also a great f-in guy!

Best,
Thomas
 #59325  by philsaam
 
HEY -hello, you know --I met Jack like by accident at 60 Brady st -by accident - walked out into the hall next to the showroom of cabs and guitars -took a right turn up to the soda machine and -BAM --there he be-talkin to Rick Turner -wearin a white T-shirt with a pack of smokes folled up in his left sleeve -like a 50s Greaser dude only -now a seasoned 60s psychadelic hippie ET lookin dude -startled to see my geekie panic recognizing him -he say s ---"hey punk " finally I found affermation --as in " After bathing at baxters" that mr Casady was the first big name star I met and pissed off -wonder how long that encounter stayed with the "man ", I am still trying my best to live up to his endorsement--at 3 I was a skin-head [got pics to prove it] meeting jack at 18 made "PUNK" status- and went through a breif period with allen watts and a chemical wash -say some heavy metal -then got into working as a musician and hair fell out so I guess I have been full circle because I am now a skin-head again ---nothing like havin Jack Casady wanna kick your ass unless its big brother Phil Lesh ----now thats a music lesson on a whole new level --the boots are down on one 1 , its the upbeat to look out for -its a bruce lee thing -jeet koon do where ithe boot lands you better know--you never know someone till you fight them -from the Matrix movie the guardian for the Oracle --the House of BASS has a place for all of us -Jack and Phil top my list as first major influences -then came Stanley ,Jaco ,Leo Lyons ,Squire,Carole Kaye,John Heard ,Mingus,Eddie Gomez ,R. Carter,Ray Brown,Manring ,Mark Egan, Rocco Prestia,Joe Osborne,Al McKibbon,P. Mc Cartney ,Alfonso Johnson,Dave Brown,Dave Margen,Dave Holland ,Bunny Brunnel,Scott LaFaro,Doug Lunn,Mario Cippolina,Barry Oakley,Steve Fossen,Victor Wooten ,Steve Bailey, Larry Graham,Mel Graves,--J. Jamerson,Peter Cetera,,Pete Sears, Pat Drummond ,Wolfgang Schmidt,Tom Fowler,Timothy B. Schmidt,Greg Lake,Edgar Meyer,Noel Redding,Donald Dunn,David Frieberg--Love these people ,some I know personally ,couple as friends , and all of them I have studied and I am the better for having done so--philsaam
Last edited by philsaam on Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #59326  by jonarobb
 
Thomas Lieber wrote:Jack Casady was THE first bassist to step up to the front of the stage with his own sound and unique style of play. All others fall behind Jack. Regardless of music type, jazz, rock, pop.

If not for Jack veracious hunger for sound envelope pushing, there never would have been an Alembic number 1. Jacks bass was the singular thing that sparked my personal interest in the designing and building of guitars. So then I would never have apprenticed with D Irwin guitars, hence no Tiger ever would have been designed and created etc....

Jacks my choice! He is also a great f-in guy!

Best,
Thomas


That's heavy duty Thomas. I'd say John Entwistle and Pete Quaife had that out front style long before Jack and Co. even recorded their first album. But I do love Jack!!!
 #59411  by BuddhaG
 
I love Phil as more of a musician than as a bass player though I think his playing on the instrument is wholly innovative, dynamic, and simply beautiful. I almost shudder as I think of those Phil Bombs on any given version of Morning Dew.

For me, second up would have to be John Paul Jones. Everytime I listen to The Lemon Song off of Zeppellin 2 I become absolutely giddy with grooviness.

Jack Cassady, Jack Bruce are both fantastic. Rick Danko is so solid.

Christian McBride is a awesome bass player whos double live cd "Sonic Tonic" I bought after hearing the title track on a late night jazz show. One of the best impulse purchases ever with the first disk being shorter compositions and the second disc being long trippy jams with awesome guests.

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 #59447  by Rusty the Scoob
 
Christian McBride is killer. I've mostly seen him play straight-ahead jazz on an upright string bass and he is a true modern monster.

In addition to everybody mentioned, I'll throw in Marcus Miller, Billy Cox, Larry Johnson, Bootsy, Flea (yep, Flea - get deeper into his catalogue you find out he plays on a lot of non-Chili-Peppers recordings including a lot of really nuanced and melodic stuff - he's supremely talented and also a former jazz trumpeter like Phil), and Stuart Zender from early Jamiroquai - all his grooves are ballsy and funky and pure dance grooves yet really creative and interesting all at once. He was my favorite part of the band besides J.K.
 #99305  by Phil Lesh101
 
All of you people are saying like Mike Gordon From phish and Rick Danko From the band, But They are just ordinary bass players... Mabey Mike G. is Better Than Rick, But :hail: PHIL LESH My friends/ He is thew Best. Sorry But its true :D
 #99367  by Charlie
 
I see bass players in two schools: the really busy ones and the ones who concentrate on good tone and sitting on a groove. Willie Dixon, for example, never played a note he didn't have to yet appears on many of the all time classic Chicago Blues recordings. Ray Brown is the most recorded jazz player of all time because he was such a great accompanist rather than a flash soloist.

Really busy bass players rarely work for me although I do love Phil's playing. With someone like Stanley Clarke, I can appreciate his virtuosity but most of what he plays bores me shitless. There is something about a lot of really good players where the songs they play disintegrate into vehicles for them solo over. With bass players especially, I prefer the approach of "What can I play to make the song sound good?" rather than "What can I play that's really cool on this song?"

Overall my favourite bass players are Duck Dunn, and James Jamerson (who's playing was so melodic and fit in so well that he transended the 'busy bassplayer syndrome'). Then you get Phil, who's playing is so different and yet works so well in the context of the Dead. I also really like Tommy Shannon who backed Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Johnny B Gayden, who plays on heaps of the modern Chicago blues albums.
 #99386  by Rusty the Scoob
 
I think what Phil had that was unique was that he was a busy player, but every single note he played was rock solid (even if slightly off time) and advanced the cause of the Song. You can drop bombs and be melodic but your melodies should be slow, big, winding, and supportive of the overall Hunter/Garcia composition. (Barlow/Weir songs rarely get the full Phil melodic treatment) Too many fast/busy players are bouncy, tap-dancing, no depth. Doesn't have power.