Bass Clinic in San Francisco

[Wally Malone]

Just received the Northern California Bass Club newsletter and they announced Bass Bash 18 and will take place on Saturday, May 4 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will be held at Musicians Union Local 6 located at 116 Ninth St. (at Mission) in San Francisco. It will feature Rufus Reid and Benny Rietveld. And guess what? It's free.

 

Wally

[Whappo]

Why is it, that when they finally have something local, I'm going to be out of town? Bummer!

 

Let me know how it goes Wally,

Whappo

[Wally Malone]

There's been a change in the line-up for the clinic. Benny Rietveld had to cancel due to a Santana recording session in LA. Michael Manring has stepped in at the last moment. For those who have not had the opportunity to catch Manring you should try to make it. My understanding is that he will be going on first. Again this is free and you don't have to be a member of the Northern California Bass Club or of Local 6. I'll be there and was hoping I would be able to meet some of the Lowdowners. Will any of you be attending?

 

Wally

[Kurt Ribak]

May 4 was the Northern California Bass Club "Bass Bash", held in Local 6s main room at 116 9th Street, San Francisco. Upright bassist Rufus Reid and electric bassist Benny Rietveld were announced as the performers for clinics. Rietveld had to cancel to play additional sessions on an upcoming Carlos Santana record. Michael Manring agreed to step in on short notice, an especially generous gesture as he had two other gigs the day of the Bash and was flying out of the country the following day. Manring is probably best known for recording with the late guitarist Michael Hedges. Today Manring displayed his remarkable solo bass style. Manring brought three electric basses, all four-string Zon basses. Two were fretless, and the fretless basses also featured Hipshot transposing tuners on all strings, as well as special transposing bridges. These basses allow Manring to change tunings during songs, something he did repeatedly. These basses were specially built for him by Zon and are available as a signature model, but as Manring noted, "youd have to sell your car to buy one." Manring used a capo on some tunes, demonstrating how with a CGDA (low to high) tuning and a capo he could play the Bach cello suites in the original octave and tuning. Manrings playing displayed a remarkable ability to play complex right-hand hammer-ons and juggle complex and changing tunings.

 

Manring spoke of his love for music and his joy at being able to make his livelihood. He also spoke of when he was 21, studying with Jaco Pastorius, and how he eventually realized that he could not totally copy Pastorius and had to develop his own style. His comments paralleled later comments by Rufus Reid, who said he tried to duplicate Ray Brown and realized that some of the ways that he could not duplicate Brown became elements of developing his own style. Manring spoke of how Jaco emphasized that the electric bass guitar was a different instrument from the upright bass and should play a different role in music.

 

Next up was Rufus Reid, who is well known as a jazz educator in addition to his work in numerous major jazz bands. Reid spoke at length about what is expected of a jazz bassist, emphasizing the ability to recall tunes and their harmonies. He also spoke of the importance of singing a melody so one could play more melodically and with better phrasing. He noted that Gary Karr studied with an operatic singer to compare his phrasing and interpretation with a great singer. He also displayed his "EGG" endpin, a carbon fiber endpin specially fitted to his bass to allow for a greater rake to the instrument while standing, which Reid felt made it easier to play in thumb position. He said the great bassist Francois Rabbath recommended it to him. Reid also noted that such decisions were very personal ones, noting that Gary Karr, the virtuoso, plays with a very upright angle to the bass.

 

Rufus Reid played a couple of solo bass pieces, one a Thad Jones tune and the other a Sam Jones composition. He later had local pianist Larry Dunlap join him on some standards. Dunlap and Reid had not played together before but immediately clicked as a duo. Reid explained the process of playing with somebody without rehearsal, being aware of the different chord changes a player is using, etc. Reid also emphasized the importance of playing well whenever and wherever you are performing, noting that "you never know who is listening." He recounted how the great trombonist J.J. Johnson hired him for his band because he heard Reid play in the rhythm section on the Jamey Aebersold practice records.

 

Reid noted many players relied too heavily on fake books rather than experience and their ears for playing tunes. Reid observed the older fake books were riddled with errors but that the Chuck Sher series of fake books were of much higher quality, a comment that pleased Dunlap, the Musical Editor of the series.

 

Both bassists were remarkably generous with their time, as the workshop started shortly after 10 AM and wrapped up around 2:45 PM, with Reid playing and talking for almost three hours. The Northern California Bass Club raffled a couple of useful items for bassists a case for a German style bow and a copy of Reids bass method "The Evolving Bassist."

 

Thanks to Local 6 and the Northern California Bass Club for organizing the event, which was free to the public.

 

 

 

Now here are a couple other observations I had -

 

Rufus reid's comment about singing had me thinking about the importance of phrasing and breathing in music. A lot of the stuff I hear in the vein of what Manring is doing, amazing as it is, leaves me a bit cold. Why? Because there is no phrasing or space in the music. A lot of it winds up being long machine-gun riffs - realy cool ones, but to my ears they don't swing, and they generally don't swing or groove. I think that's one place where Jaco still ahs it way over a lot of his successors.

[Whappo]

Kurt, thanks for the wonderful update. Being out of town, I was frustrated in not being able to attend but you review helped soothe my soul.

 

Whappo

[Wally Malone]

Kurt, welcome to the Lowdown and thanks for the great review of the clinic. Just to add a comment made by Reid who said that J.J. Johnson wanted to play with someone he played with every day, referring to the Jamey Aebersold tapes.

 

I would like to let the Lowdowners know that it's great to see Kurt here on the Lowdown. He's not only a very fine jazz bassist but also an accomplished composer with his own group. I first met Kurt at the Bass Night a little over a year ago held at Local 6 and he is a member of our bass band "Bassed on Jazz" where he holds down the string bass seat. We also perform a couple of his original compositions with the bass band.

 

Wally