Bass Player: Ben Wolfe

In 1999, the Wynton Marsalis Septet released a seven cd boxed set of performances recorded ‘Live At The Village Vanguard’. Given the flexible nature of membership in Jazz ensembles, the bass players changed and, alongside Marsalis mainstay, Reginald Veal, one of the gigs recorded featured bassist Ben Wolfe who has also played with Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall. ‘Play The Blues And Go’ is, unsurprisingly, a blues and, along with Milt Hinton’s performance on ‘Housed From Edward’ from the Trio Jeepy album, offers a welcome opportunity to spend time with the most important element in the life of a Jazz bass player. The seven CD set is a massive achievement and there are absolutely no fillers in there at all. Well worth the price of admission.