Robert Leslie Hurst III – Bass

Hurst played guitar early in his career before concentrating on bass. He worked with Out Of The Blue in 1985 and also did work with musicians such as Tony Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Harry Connick Jr., Geri Allen, Russell Malone and Steve Coleman. From 1986 to 1991 Hurst played in Wynton Marsalis’s ensemble, and played with Branford Marsalis in the early 1990s. He was also a member of The Tonight Show Band. His debut as a leader, 1993’s Robert Hurst Presents, reached No. 13 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart. He currently teaches jazz bass at the University of Michigan.

I recently posted a transcription that I did of the Marsalis solo on this tune and, in doing so, had a chance to listen to the bass part after filtering it through the Moises software. It is a fascinating bit of playing but I was unable to get it down. One of the problems with Sibelius software that I cannot seem to get around is that it will not allow you to write a triplet across a bar line. This is rarely an issue but it becomes problematic when a player plays 3 against 4 across a bar line or, in this case, 4 against 3 across a bar line. I have managed this in the past by changing one bar to 5:4 and the next to 3:4 but, in this case, during the trumpet solo, Hurst is doing something I have never heard before in all my years; playing 4 against 3 for half a chorus whilst the rest of the band continues playing in 4. In short, Sibelius says he can’t do that!

Well, he bloody well did so there we have it – Human Race – 1. Computer – 0

I am, nevertheless, posting Hurst’s bass part for the head of ‘A Foggy Day (in London Town) from the 1987 Wynton Marsalis album, ‘Standard Time Vol. 1. It presents as lot of the ideas that underpin the rest of his lines on this tune, showing that there is room for thematic development in the bass part as readily as in the soloing. Lots to learn here in terms of the use of rhythm to add interest to your walking lines.