Reginald Veal – Bass Another sensitive ballad from the 1991 ‘Intimacy Calling’ recording from Wynton Marsalis, we have another example of great ballad playing from Brother Veal. Reginald Veal held the Marsalis chair for decades. I don’t know why he gave the gig up – normally it is family stuff and the endless time away…

Jimmy Haslip – Bass I recall listening to this track when the album was released but I was reminded of it when someone asked for a transcription on one of the Facebook Groups I belong to. It is a straight swing tune in bass terms but there is a lot of ‘outside’ playing in the…

Wynton Marsalis – trumpet It has long been the received wisdom that, in order to expand your soloing capacities as a bass player, you need to listen not only to bass players but also to other soloists or just learn melodies. It’s a great way of expanding your ear and also of forcing you to…

Eddie Gomez – Bass Another track from the wonderful 1978 Chick Corea album, ‘Friends’ (although probably one of the worst album covers in recorded history), this is the bass solo only from the tune ‘Sicily’. There are a couple of slippery moments that I have struggled with even slowing everything down by 75% – it’s…

Gary Willis – Bass Another track from the second Tribal Tech album, ‘Dr. Hee’ from 1987, this is the complete Gary Willis performance of the tune ‘Seek And Find’. There are a few notes where I have had to take an educated guess due to the sound (it always gets a bit tense when they…

Andy Fraser – Bass I guess this is one of the most iconic bass lines in Rock. I wanted to transcribe THAT part to see what AF was doing but it seemed silly not to do the whole thing. There is an astonishing LACK of bass on the track as Fraser does not play in…

Dave Holland – Bass This trio recorded four albums, all on the ECM label. The first two came out in the mid-1970s whilst the second pair came out in 1995. The concept with the second two albums was that one of them was written compositions (Homecoming) whilst the other was more improvisation led (In The…

Carlos Henriquez – Bass The main squeeze from the latest string of Wynton Marsalis bands made his own record in 2026, a set of arrangements of Thelonious Monk tunes given the Cuban feel. The album is called ‘Monk Con Clave’ and the track here is the one I think is the most Cuban on the…

Joe Dart – Bass I have not been seeing much of these guys as they just don’t feature in my listening but this one appeared on one of my feeds and I thought it was a great, funky line, familiar but with enough to keep it interesting. I love what Dart does from bar 125…

Chick Corea/John Patitucci – Bass This was the album that brought John Patitucci to the attention of the wider world. He had recorded before this but Corea’s showcasing of Patitucci’s bass playing was instrumental in the promotion of what was for most of us a new face. Patitucci was encouraged to take on the big…