Marc Johnson – Bass

I like the second Bass Desire album, ‘Second Sight’ (1987) but I don’t think was as strong as the first Bass Desires recording (which I bought when it came out – I saw that it was a bass led album and, although at this stage I was still new to the Jazz malarky and had never heard of Marc Johnson but I had heard of all of the sidemen; John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Pete Erskine. Incredibly strong performances on Bass Desires but I think this album lacked the intensity of the first. It’s a good album though and there are a few tracks on here that I want to transcribe. I am a huge Johnson fan and have lots of recordings that he features on and I did get to see him with John Taylor in Basingstoke some years ago. I think he is massively under-rated and I think he has some techniques that I have never heard anyone else use.

This is a Scofield tune which speaks of things to come in the ‘Sounds of Summer Running’ vein. A kind of faux-Rock and Roll/Surf music vibe. Not difficult to play but I always love the modulations.