December Playlist - The Bassist's Picks
Inagural playlist picks and blog post!
November 28, 2022 -
Welcome to the first iteration of “The Bassist’s Picks” blog and playlist where I compile 10 songs on the 1st and 15th of every month and write a little blurb about each pick. You might get musical whiplash, but at least the tunes will be good?
Have You Met Miss Jones? on “We Get Requests” by the Oscar Peterson Trio
Any of the tracks on this record would have made the perfect start to this series. Ray Brown’s bass is captured exquisitely and you can hear every aspect of his playing with greater detail than almost any other jazz record. Their arrangement on the head is a standard part of any decent piano trio’s arsenal, and the chorus and a half of Ray’s walking after the head is some of THE MOST swingin’ stuff you’ll ever hear.
El ron - Soulive
I’m starting a new project with some folks from an older project. While we’re not doing this tune just yet this time around, we’ve played it before. Neal Evan’s keyboard bass playing…! The trio is fantastic in every regard, but there’s something really special about the basslines Evans plays.
Fat Tire - Trevor Michael
The latest release from my buddy and frequent collaborator Trevor Michael. “All I need is a Fat Tire, and a warm campfire, and a real good friend or two.” Trevor’s got a great voice, songwriting chops, and the fiddle arrangement on this track is an example of beautiful writing that does exactly what it needs to without getting in the way. Great work Trev!
Lazy Lions- violet pilot
Shameless plug here - that’s me on bass! Violet Pilot was recently nominated for the Colorado Playlist’s Debut/Comeback Artist of the year for 2022!
Keep me around - the wood brothers
Absolute earworm of a bass line. I just recently finished Discover Double Bass’ masterclass/interview with Chis Wood (the bass player on this track). Not only is he a world class bassist, but he’s got some really great ideas. Check out the course if you can!
Sylvains d’orient - Renaud garcia-fons
I’ve loved Renaud Garcia-Fons’ playing for as long as I can remember. Every once in a while I’ll hear his “Berimbass” between segments on NPR in the car. This track is a great example of his mastery of upper register melodic playing, extended techniques, and just solid pizz playing in the low register.
Looking Alive (L.A.) - Madison Cunningham
It’s really easy to be astounded by the vocal dexterity of everything Madison Cunningham puts out, and this track is no exception. But dig a little deeper into the subtle 6/8 feel, virtuosic guitar playing, and recording production… there’s no shortage of excellence.
Come when I call you -the klezmatics
I’ve been diving into traditional and not-so-traditional Klezmer music recently and the Klezmatics happened to catch my ear while I was listening to as much Klezmer as I could find. I love the Simon and Garfunkel sound on this track blended with the steady pulse in 7.
De Plata - Rosalia
Rosalia… what a voice! Her artistic output is quite varied, but I always love coming back to her Los Angeles record from 2017. The rawness of her virtuosic singing (and tasteful reverb) with just an acoustic guitar takes me on a journey.
Adam’s Apple - wayne shorter
This quasi-boogaloo is from one of the first records I binge-listened in middle school and it’s still great. Herbie Hancock’s incessant rhythm throughout the head, accompaniment on Wayne Shorter’s solo, and even throughout his solo creates a sort of skating effect that makes you feel like you’re cloud jumping for the whole 7 minutes.
Since this is The Bassist’s Picks first blog I’m still considering formatting/programming. What do you think? Do you like the surface-level blurb, or would you prefer a more in-depth analysis? Should I talk more about specific musical elements in a technical way, or use more descriptive language about each track? Let me know!
Cheers, and happy listening -
Jo Asker