Today is the 11th anniversary of John Entwistle's death. I had the pleasure of seeing him play live a few times and was always impressed by his musicality and ability to keep up with Keith Moon- much less lay a foundation for Pete Townshend. I also have always enjoyed Chris Squire, Stanley Clarke, and Flea for similar reasons. Who are some of your favorites?
I have been listening to Geezer Butler on the latest Black Sabbath and have to say his tone and style are killer (in a good way!) I agree about Entwistle, Squire but also Greg Lake, John Myun, Mike Rutherford, Percy Jones, John Wetton, Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Dee Murray and of course, let's not forget the great John Paul Jones.
David Pegg, Chris Squire and Jon Camp all approach the bass as a lead instrument, Squire in particular. Pegg plays lead and carries the melody as well. His 43 year career in Fairport Convention (not to exclude his 16 years in Jethro Tull) as well as session appearances is a remarkable body of work.
Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna) McCartney Jack Bruce Carol Kaye (60's sessions player on many well-known songs) James Jamerson (Motown sessions player) Jim Fielder (Blood, Sweat & Tears) Entwistle Sting
Some great talent here. A couple of more off the run suggestions: Jaco Pastorious- his contributions to Joni Mitchell's catalogue are great. I especially like 'Hejira' Fernando Saunders- adds to some of Lou Reed' best works. I like Live in Italy. Peter Hook from New Order helped create their sound. These players use the bass to "sing' as a lead instrument more than just provide an underpinning for the other instruments.
Taking the liberty of expanding the rock genre to soul and funk would encompass James Jamerson and Larry Graham, whom I would guess influenced the majority of the great players mentioned above.
When did Danny play bass? I know he played a double neck with a bass side, but I don't think I've ever heard him play a straight up bass. If there's a record you could point me to, I'd love to check it out.
Staying on this subject, if people wanna go the "virtuoso guitarist when he was briefly a bassist" route (see Jimi, above), I guess someone's gotta give Jimmy Page a shout-out for his days in the Yardbirds, too.
Yes, Flea and Levin and Claypool might be more technically articulate, but Geddy out=performs them in terms of musicality, composition, and voicing. Whether you enjoy Rush or not, his elevation of his instrument in his genre is comparable to only giants like Entwistle.
Jack Bruce. Period. His bass playing on the live track "Spoonful" from Cream's "Wheels of Fire" album recorded in early 1968 in San Francisco is the very best bass performance ever from a rock band in the 20th Century. Can't touch it. A monumental masterpiece. A damn good runner up is John Entwistle's bass playing with the WHO on the "Live at Leeds" album from 1970.
I agree with Geddy Lee. I listen to a huge variety of music and I don't believe I own any Rush. I have however seen them live in the late 70's/early 80's and I've never heard a bass player as good as him live or recorded. I'm talking electric bass however.
There are a lot of great bass players already mentioned. Three others that belong in the discussion are Stuart Hamm, Dave Larue, and John Myung. Of those three, I think Larue is the best. I have seen all of them live, and they are all outstanding.
jack cassidy of the Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna. Listen to any live Airplane album and you will hear how he unobtrusively drives the band intensely forward.
Jack Bruce is a technical great, but when playing with Cream went off on his own path during songs instead of laying down a strong bass line.
In my time its Geddy Lee and Chris Squire. I saw them many time's since the late 70s.Most recently...Geddy Lee with the Clockwork Angels tour. In August of 2013 I saw the so called Yes....even though they were pretty good. They can never really be Yes without Jon and Rick.
FWIW the more recent players don't do it for me with the exception of Les Claypool. But the modern guitarists (Satriani, Van Halen, etc.) don't do it for me either.
Jack Casady was top of my list. I guess this far down people don't read all the posts.
Doug Ferguson, original bass player in Camel was pretty awesome, as was Andrew Latimer when he picked up a bass guitar as well.
ALso a big fan of Richard Sinclair who played bass mainly with canterbury rock group "Caravan" (it's dromedary day I suppose) and also did a stint as bass player with Camel in teh late 70's.
Also gotta mention Chris Squire (Yes) in the discussion.
While on the prog rock track, in more recent years, how about Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree?
Yeah, Bach's feet are the Original Bass Player. And they rock.
James Jamerson (and the Funk Brothers rhythm section that he anchored) played on more #1 hits than the Beatles, Stones, and Elvis combined. But since he didn't sing, nobody cares.
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