Bob Hurst – Bass

A massively underrated player (there are several transcriptions of his on here and they are all goldmines), Bob Hurst was a mainstay in the early Marsalis bands, both Wynton and Branford and probably the other siblings and Dad too!

*** I revisited this one for study purposes and it came to light that this is Reginal Veal on bass, not Bob Hurst. Apologies to both***

This is the complete and fantastic part from the tune ‘Uptown Ruler’ from the album, ‘Soul Gestures In Southern Blue: Vol II’. A great series of recording from an era during which I was enthralled with this band even to the point where I considered cutting my hair and buying a suit (I didn’t because no-one else around me was playing this stuff so I couldn’t commit). It’s a cycling 8 bars of 5:4 followed by 4 bars of 4:4 – that is an incredibly important factor to consider because Hurst is all over those bar lines. He uses the ostinato riff to keep things grounded but it’s challenging to stay with the form. A really musical later performance from drummer Elvin Jones.