Dave Holland – Bass There is always something interesting going on with Holland’s compositions. There are no contracts here. The tunes are blues drenched but there are no lazy 12-bar heads. This composition has a strange ‘limp’ in the form. Each three bar sequence reads 3:4/4:4/3:4. The extra beat in the middle bar creates this…

Chris Squire – Bass There are a lot of Squire parts that are profoundly difficult to get down on paper (I tried to tackle ‘Tales Of Topographic Oceans’ but it is impossible to capture) but some of these earlier tunes are that little bit less demanding. It wasn’t until I was doing this chart that…

Dave Holland – Bass Another from the 1980s Holland Quintet catalogue, this is the beautiful ballad ‘First Snow’ from the 1984 Quintet album, ‘First Snow’. Great writing and I love the way these three horns blend in the ensemble sections. Holland’s parts are harmonically fairly unremarkable but, rhythmically, he keeps you guessing all of the…

Dave Holland – Bass Another one from that series of Dave Holland Quintet recordings from the 19080s, this one featuring the Coleman/Priester/Wheeler/Smith line-up. The tune is called ‘World Protection Blues, another Doug Hammond composition, and comes from the 1985 album, ‘Seeds Of Time’. Great composition, this one is only challenging from the point of view…

Dave Holland – Bass Another from the 1987 Dave Holland Quintet album, ‘The Razor’s Edge’, this is the Kenny Wheeler composition ‘5 Four Six’. It opens with an arco sequence. The challenge in this one is in capturing Holland’s unique phrasing. There is also the fact that, to my ears, it changes from 4:4 to…

Dave Holland – Bass Another one from the 1987 Dave Holland Quintet recording ‘The Razor’s Edge’, this is the first 38 seconds of the opening track, ‘Brother Ty’ penned by drummer Doug Hammond. Hammaond wrote a couple of tunes on this album so I assume he is connected to the band in some way but…

Dave Holland – Bass There was a series of Dave Holland Quintet albums in the 1980s that came out on the ECM record label which featured Steve Coleman, Kenny Wheeler, Robin Eubanks and Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith. For this was one of those bands that was greater than the sum of it’s parts and it is…

Hans Glawischnig – Bass I love these tunes and I love Miguel Zenon’s composition energy but, hell, these parts are impossible. This transcription is the first improvised part only on the tune ‘Jibaro’ from the 2006 Zenon album of the same name. It is very quick so you will probably need to spend some time…

Phil Lynott – Bass I loved this Thin Lizzy live album when I was a kid and this track was a favourite for reasons I cannot recall. It was only when I came to transcribe it that I discovered that it was written by Lynott and Brian Downey, not by one of the guitar players.…

Unknown – Bass There are four different bass players listed on the discographies linked to this album; Chris Laurence, Chuck Berghofer, Mary Scully and Mike Brittain. My money is on Berghofer but I have no way of checking. As musical and sensitively executed as it is, though, the real heroes of this record are arranger…