Anthony Jackson – Contrabasse Guitar

What can anyone say about Anthony Jackson that hasn’t been said? He is undoubtedly one of the most original voices on our chosen instrument and is recognisable instantly in whatever context he performs. Chaka Khan (no relation), Michel Camilo, Hiromi, Al Di Meola – his note choices are incredibly personal and no-one sounds like him, even if they are playing his lines. Total genius. And his Fodera Presentation 6-string bass (the previous red one, not the white hollow body pictured here) is my ‘when I win the lottery’ dream bass.

This is the head chart only for the Joe Henderson tune ‘Caribbean Fire Dance’ from the 1992 Steve Khan album, ‘Headline’. Even his playing on this head is pure Jackson. I have presented two separate transcriptions as I first heard it as a 16 bar head and then reviewed again it as a 32-bar AABA. I stopped there as transcribing Jackson parts can be challenging because the bass sound can be so overwhelmed with sub-harmonies that I cannot hear what the notes are and Jackson’s logic is so idiosyncratic that I cannot often work it out (I have previously abandoned several Jackson charts for that reason).

I could listen to Anthony Jackson all day.