Roll Call: Jazz Heroes of the Upright Bass

(I include myself in that shame, of course - see above.)

Richard Davis!

I had another name, but I just backspaced it out of existence.

Cecil McBee!

Jimmy Garrison and Reggie Workman, for fuck's sake!

This one's mine, tho

Buell Neidlinger

Sam Jones!

More old school:
Larry Ridley!

Larry Grenadier!

Kent Kessler!
Dominic Duval!

Larry Ridley: he played with lots of people, especially Monk. Check out the cool photo at the top of the page here

Jymie Merritt!

Sonny Dallas!

has anyone seen him since his 'comeback'? He's coming to Chicago in a month or so and I'm pretty excited.

oh, and for christ's sake:

Johnny Dyani

(even if he didn't play on Linus and Lucy)

Totally met this dude. One of the nicest guys EVER. Bar none. He let me bang a pool cue on the floor to a weird time signature's clave while jammed.

Just discovered Cecil McBee's "Compassion" and "Music From the Source" LPs (I group them together because they were recorded a day apart). Some awesome music on those two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Br63KHBCA

One of my favorite young bassists is Drew Gress

I guess he's not quite as young as I thought (born 1959) but still, awesome.

Also: Chris Lightcap

i like him too, but isn't weird that all the jazzers that i still think of as 'young' are not so young any more? i just looked up drew gress and he's 53.

ha xp

Recommend me so recordings with Drew Gress.

had to look at allmusic to jog my memory but:

john hollenbeck's claudia quintet records
ben perowsky's camp songs (jazz trio doing jewish trads. on tzadik, of course)
uri caine's solo stuff

i thought maybe he played on some mark turner and matt wilson records i love, but that was reid anderson and dennis irwin respectively.

Just discovered Cecil McBee's "Compassion" and "Music From the Source" LPs (I group them together because they were recorded a day apart). Some awesome music on those two.

whoa never knew that!! two of my favorite mcbee-related records.

henry grimes and sirone obv, but HOW COULD YOU PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN ALAN SILVA?

http://downtownmusic.net/images/7/71d458194a3d82093d0e4d69c41d46334ec9810a.jpg

henry grimes and sirone obv, but HOW COULD YOU PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN ALAN SILVA?

Seconded. Just about every record he's on is somewhere in the vicinity of stunning (and usually beyond that). A (relatively) recent favorite is his duo record with Oluyemi Thomas, Transmissions.

the only time i saw alan silva he was playing w/ various incapacitants and borbetemaguses and was totally inaudible:-(

Drew Gress solo records are also very good.

Richard Davis has passed away. He had a long and distinguished career that found him playing with so many of the pre-eminent jazz artists of the past 60 or 70 years (e.g. Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, David Murray's The Hill, Sarah Vaughan's Swingin' Easy, etc.) Also in constant demand as a session musician, he's perhaps best known for Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.

https://madison365.com/richard-davis-international-jazz-legend-and-champion-of-racial-justice-dies-at-93/

As mentioned in that article, his daughter has set up an online memorial here.

His album with Elvin Jones - Heavy Sounds - is one of my favourites.

petter eldh
ed schüller

joe morris
michael formanek
eivind opsvik
stephan crump
john hébert
john edwards
mark helias

shit I was listening to davis' duet with eric dolphy on alone together this morning and didn't know he'd just died - I kind of took him for granted and didn't really think about how many of my favorite jazz recordings he was involved in until now - you just see his name on an album and assume it's going to be good - RIP one of the best ever

I wrote up some memories/anecdotes for a local media outlet, here's the full bit:

After failing my first audition, I had the privilege of being in Richard Davis' Black Music Ensemble for each semester after that during undergrad, as well as taking his Black Music History class (more than once, if I recall correctly). Attitude and dedication was more important than talent, although there were plenty of incredibly talented musicians in those groups, and many of those relationships have continued to this day. I always felt that he was trying to recreate the musical environment that was present when he came up in Chicago and NYC, when you could be surrounded by dedicated musicians who were living & breathing the music 24/7 (and there was also a healthy dose of competition). This didn't always translate cleanly to an academic environment and not everyone was ready for it. When I was there, he had a habit of kicking people out of class (often for the entire semester) if they hadn't done the preparation he had asked for, or tried to argue in their own defense rather than learn the lesson that he was trying to impart. You'd still get the single credit and a good grade, but it wasn't about that. I always felt that there was an opening for them to come back anyway but few took it.

Somehow I survived while much better musicians dropped out because they didn't connect with this approach or had bruised egos, and it certainly wasn't due to any degree of talent or skill on my part. I think he appreciated that I took the time to study the history of the music and could remember who played on what jazz record, but more so that I was stubborn about staying in the group. After he learned that I was an absolutely terrible singer, he had me call him every morning at 5 am and sing scales (often to his answering machine). His lessons were often non-musical in nature, and were the sort that take years for you to properly absorb and appreciate them.

The Black Music History class was a break from the intensity of the ensemble classes, and was truly an amazing opportunity to hear stories from his entire life in music, as well as Black American history in general. It was sometimes very serious but often hilarious. Some of his very favorite singers were Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme, and Al Green. He loved Lucky Thompson, Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Blanton, Connie Kay (who he called "the security guard" for his solid time), and Lewis Nash (who could play everything that all the other drummers could play, but quietly).
(I don't think he loved being asked a disproportionate amount of questions about Astral Weeks, which was just one session among hundreds)

I certainly spent more time thinking about and practicing for these one credit classes than I did for my English major. They were an absolutely foundational experience for me, less in terms of the specifics of playing music and more about what lies behind it, and about the general living of life.

Some of my favorite Richard Davis recordings:
-Elvin Jones & Richard Davis, 'Heavy Sounds'
-Eric Dolphy, 'Out to Lunch'
-Booker Ervin, 'The Freedom Book' / 'The Song Book' / 'The Blues Book' / 'The Space Book'
-Joe Henderson, 'In 'n Out'
-Andrew Hill, 'Point of Departure'
-Rahsaan Roland Kirk, 'Rip, Rig, and Panic'

Also this story that my bandmate posted on Richard's 93rd birthday: https://www.facebook.com/mamadigdown/posts/pfbid02B1LeGdA1FsHpXF29xJU72zbJ2kh6qPTuYLP9VoaVUjRHwFcsVGNWvAXLBaTZ8Ryfl

Thanks for sharing these Jordan. I knew he'd taught a young William Parker for a period, so it's fascinating to learn more about this approach. And thanks for the recommendations. Somehow Heavy Sounds had passed me by, but what a great album.

I think his private bass lessons were a bit different, but also could be pretty intense. From friends who studied with him I think he focused on technique and bowing a lot (he was Stravinsky's favorite bassist, after all), and he used & taught a less common bow grip -- German, where your hand is cradling the bow from underneath, rather then French which is more of a violin-type grip.

Thanks so much, Jordan! I've always been captivated by what he and Randy Brecker and Roy Bittan (that's all the players) brought into Springsteen's "Meeting Across The River," a magical one-off.

A friend just sent links to several albums mentioned here, and also
Thee first Jayne Cortez LP, just Jayne x Richard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOKItq4IN4s

Another full album, Divine Gemini, by Richard Davis and Walt Dickerson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOKItq4IN4s

Damn, sorry! here tis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRjnLjokjnI

Joe Mondragon, who played on Peggy Lee’s “Fever,” as well as on two of my favorite albums, The Astrud Gilberto Album (1965) and Lee Konitz Plays with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, as well as many other credits.

Did we ever have some kind of Jazz in NYC around town listings type thread? I think I may start one.

Forks did a NYC gigs thread , I don’t remember how much jazz it had. Morbs did one earlier also. Again don’t recall how much jazz it had

upcoming nyc shows. best of the best

A dj/bass player/jazz writer I respect a lot has insisted to me for years that Richard Davis is the greatest bass player of all time. Like this dude has possibly the best jazz record collection of anyone I've ever met under 50 and he will insist that to his grave. Not that I've ever argued with him about it. Davis's discography is just deep and vast and astounding - he's like musical Zelig. I've come to think of him as someone who has a huge "plus factor" in the sports analogy sense - he just makes every record he's on better. And on records where he's given freedom, he just has this massive sound and unique sense of time and harmonic play. I think he would have worked really well in the mid to late Coltrane stuff. He's on Out to Lunch, all those great Andrew Hill and Booker Ervin and Jaki Byard and Sonny Simmons records, but then he shows up on, like Greetings from Asbury Park and Born to Run and Astral Weeks and There Goes Rhymin' Simon, and he was also a monstrous classical bassist.

Jordan that sounds like a great experience, I would have loved that.

Recently learned that Davis was one of the bassists on Frank Sinatra's hipster fave Watertown.

A few more memories of Richard here: https://tonemadison.com/articles/madison-and-the-music-world-mourn-richard-davis-towering-bassist-and-professor/

Thanks! Hadn’t known about the Charles Hughes connection before.