Steve Swallow, born in 1940, started out as a kid in New Jersey playing the piano, double bass, and trumpet (but mostly the bass). He studied composition at Yale under Donald Martino, where his love and knowledge of jazz technique and improvisation grew. In 1960, Swallow met Paul Bley and his wife, Carla, both esteemed jazz pianists and band leaders, and toured with him for a while, as well as Benny Goodman, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, and many others. After that, he never went back to school, until 1974 where he taught at Berklee College. In 1978 he re-joined the Carla Bley Band, whom he still works with extensively to this day. Swallow also toured with John Scofield from 1980 to 1984 (at first with drummer Adam Nussbaum, then just the two of them). He is a producer, as well, producing music for a lot of the people he has already worked with, like Bley and Scofield. He continued to tour for a while in many locations, including Brazil, South Africa, and Italy. In 1996, he created the Steve Swallow Quintet, including Chris Potter (saxophone), Ryan Kisor (trumpet), Mick Goodrick (guitar), and Adam Nussbaum (drums). From what I’ve heard from him, he really enjoys the upper neck of the bass much more than the lower section. He’s very smooth, with technique that seems to mirror that of a six-string guitar.
Swallow Solo Video
Carla Bley comedic duet
Charles Mingus was born in 1922 Arizona and grew up in Watts, California. He’s mostly known for his bass playing, but he is also highly skilled as a pianist, bandleader, and composer. He studied double bass and composition from Herman Rheinshagen, the principal bassist for the NY Philharmonic for five years, then with Lloyd Reese. During his training, he also absorbed all he could from the early jazz stars like Duke Ellington. In the 1940s, he was already touring with the bands of Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, and Lionel Hampton. As the years progressed, he moved to New York, where he played and recorded with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, and even Duke Ellington, one of his childhood heroes. He was one of the few double bass players able to lead the group in which he played. In 1952, he opened Debut Records with Max Roach so he could more closely catalog and protect his extensive collection of original works. In 1971, began teaching at New York State. His technique is highly syncopated, and a lot like what should be the base standard for jazz basslines.
Solo Bass, early years
Devil’s Blues, 1975
Joy Division consisted of Ian Curtis (vocals), Peter Hook (bass), Stephen Morris (drums), and Bernard Albrecht/Sumner (guitar). They were a crazy punk band from England that formed in 1976, and were soon revered by bands like U2 and The Cure. None of them went to college or had any formal musical training, but they worked well enough together that they were able to make some paradigm-shifting new-wave music. They are a lot like many punk bands that I have heard, but the thing is that they were one of the first to do it. Other bands emulated the styles that were being played by Joy Division. That being said, they are actually fairly good at their respective instruments.
Shadowplay
Gabriel Roth started his formal education at NYU. He was a huge funk feind, adamantly ignoring anything unrelated to funk. Roth is what many would call a funk purist. His ideas behind music appear fairly limited, but it’s how he executes his talent and his full embrace of simple yet affective playing. He opened Daptone Records with Neal Sugarman just to make sure others would follow his philosophies.
Jaco Pastorious was born 1951. He was an innovative bass player, though he lived for such a short time (dying in 1987). He didn’t read music until he was much older because he had no need for it. Jaco would mostly play along to the radio, getting the technique and idiosyncracies of whoever was playing at the time. This probably led to his unique playing, given that it’s probably just an amalgam of everyone he heard. One of his favourite things to do was to play the melody along with a bass line, destroying the idea that a bass has to be a rhythm instrument with multiple people there to back you up. Jaco’s bass of choice was a fretless one, on which he extended the playing range of the instrument. He even has a technique named after him, called the “Jaco Growl” which included using only the bridge pickup with multiple harmonics.
A Portrait of Tracy
Gary Burton is a professional vibraphone player who has performed with artists such as Dave Holland, Chick Corea, and Pat Metheny. In the 1970s he taught percussion and improvisation at Berklee College. He soon became the dean of the department and obtained a doctorate in music. He also created the Gary Burton Quartet, consisting of Larry Coryell (guitar), Roy Haynes (drums), and Steve Swallow (bass) in 1967.
Falling Grace
Bill Frisell is a contemporary jazz guitar player who is fluent in many different styles of music. He is considered to play the guitar like Miles Davis played the Trumpet. He began studying the clarinet, and moved onto guitar. His teacher Dale Bruning helped Bill apply the theory he learned on clarinet on the guitar and opened up the world of jazz. He played many in many school bands and festivals, school dances, frat parties, and eventually ended up on the east coast to study at Berklee, where he met Pat Metheny, and played in a top 40 band called The Boston Connection with Vinnie Colaiuta, a world famous drummer, and Kermit Driscoll, a bass player who was a student of Jaco Pastorius in 1974. Kermit also attended and graduated Berklee School of Music, and has played with countless orchestras. He has been a part of 28 Broadway shows, many film scores and TV commercials. He currently teaches at SUNY Purchase College and Sarah Lawrence College.
Keep Your Eyes Open
Wednesday we did a lot of discussion, just like we did on Monday. Many more names were said, many more laughs shared. I'm planning on looking through a lot of the names and music we were discussing sometime this coming week.
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