Bass and Mingus
For the past few years I have been playing bass because I've decided that as a musician, this is the crux of music. I bought a bass a long time ago after I heard Eric Wilson playing dub in the band Sublime. I just wanted to be able to do THAT. That was and still is IT for me in bass. I've played guitar for a long time along with many other instruments. But bass just really kicks it for me on a subliminal level. Now I am also trying to sing and play bass which isn't any easy feat. Bass usually doesn't play in as easy as fashion as say a guitar or piano. The timing gets funky. If it's good.
There are only a few stand alone bass players who were great singers that were able to cash in. It's rare. The most productive in my mind are Paul McCartney (Beatles and solo), Jack Bruce (Cream and solo), Kim Deal (The Breeders and the Pixies), Les Claypool (Primus, Oysterhead and solo), Sting (The Police and solo), Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy), Roger Waters (Pink Floyd and solo), Rick James, Brandon Curtis (The Secret Machines), and Kamara Thomas ((Earl Greyhound (still unknown but great!)). And then there's the 200 million piano players and guitarists who sang and "made it". The odds are against being able to play "tight" bass and sing. It's tough. My props to the ABOVE players.
But I'm also a big jazz fan, literally. As a jazz bass player you don't need a singer. Your instrument is your voice. And as much as I have delved into jazz I really find I dig Charles Mingus as THE bass player and a composer. I am just beginning to learn walking jazz bass lines. But I have appreciated them for years. Paul Chambers for sure. And everyone Miles played with electrically in the 70's. But Mingus keeps popping up because he wrote killer songs! His songs are seriously so complicated and jamming that I can't get enough of them. And luckily Youtube has a lot of him.
The next 2 clips are one song live from The Charles Mingus Sextet in Norway in 1964. It's classic. Turn up my headphones! Plus it's funny how his bass starts slipping on the stage. The days before a good rubber stopper on the bass bottom. Should have spent the .35 cents. Enjoy.