Reginald Veal – Bass

There are some forms of bass playing that take a relatively little amount of time to get a handle on but which nevertheless, take a lifetime to master. Walking bass lines are the meat and potatoes of Jazz double bass and there are few greater pleasures than playing an earthy standard with a medium swing feel. The players of yesteryear did this beautifully before microphones, amps and pickups became the norm but there are still many players who are able to play this ‘style’ of Jazz (it’s everywhere so to call it a ‘style’ is a misnomer). Reginald Veal is one of the masters and it is easy to see why he has remained one of the most important of the Marsalis rhythm sections.

This version of the Lewis/Young standard, ‘Street Of Dreams’ appeared on the 1990 Wynton (and Ellis) Marsalis recordings, ‘Standard Time Vol. 3: The Resolution Of Romance’. The bass comes in at around 0:59 and the feel is dictated by the Ellis Marsalis piano pick-up. Veal plays an incredibly inventive walking bass part and his triplets make this a challenging transcription to pull off cold but, with a little time and effort, it’s all achievable. I could play lines like this (at this tempo) all day long.