Sting – Bass

Not everyone knows this but Sting was a Jazz musician long before he hit the big time with the post-Punk/White Reggae icons The Police. When The Police wrapped things up and he went on to front his own band, he picked up the guitar and left the bass duties to former Miles Davis/John Scofield sideman, Darryl Jones. The album, ‘Dream Of The Blue Turtles’ was incredibly successful, as was his tour with Branford Marsalis on saxophones, Marsalis sideman Kenny Kirkland on piano, Jones on bass and drummer, Omar Hakim (Weather Report). There were also two backing singers, Dolette McDonald and Janice Pendarvis. By the time his second solo recording had come out, his touring band has changed featured Tracy Wormworth on bass. When looking at the attached transcription, I went back to the record and it showed that Sting himself played the double bass on this track.

The tune I have transcribed is a favourite, ‘They Dance Alone (Gueco solo). The song is a metaphor referring to mourning Chilean women (arpilleristas) who dance the  Cueca, the national dance of Chile, alone with photographs of their disappeared loved ones in their hands. The tune is easy enough to play but the closing section is not so easy to read as it doubles the tempo. It is, nevertheless, only a cliched samba groove; root/five etc.