Bass Player: Jaco Pastorius The 1976 Joni Mitchell album ‘Hejira’ appeared at around the same time as the eponymous ‘Jaco’ LP and, given the nature of Mitchell’s audience when viewed against Jaco’s own, most people heard Jaco’s contributions to this album long before they heard his solo albums. The impact cannot be overstated and, for…

Bass Player: Jimmy Johnson Jimmy Johnson has a long career dating back to the 1970s which includes time spent with the Wayne Johnson Trio, James Taylor, Allan Holdsworth, Billy Childs and a host of other celebrated artists. One of the projects he was associated with was a band that featured Flim with two other musicians,…

Bass Player: Steve Rodby Massively under-rated, Steve Rodby played bass for the Pat Metheny Group for 23 years and produced many if not most if the band’s most successful albums. His bass playing is absolutely perfect for the Metheny ensemnble and Rodby has this knack of playing exactly the right part, no more and no…

Bass Player: Dylan Wilson Dylan Wilson has worked as a full time freelance bass player based in the Los Angeles area, and performing all around the globe, since the year 2000. He balances a wide breath of styles on both the upright and electric basses, is a top call for sessions and is regarded as…

Bass Player: No-one – it’s unplayable This piece is unquestionably the hardest piece of music I have ever tried (and failed) to perform. It is a solo bass piece written, ironically, by a Welsh pianist (and my first theory teacher) Joe Stuessy (from a small village called Nanty Fychlan, north of Cardiff). Joe was an…

Bass Player: John Giblin While best known as a London studio musician, recording film scores and contemporary music, Giblin has also performed live, and recorded with Peter Gabriel, John Martyn, Elkie Brooks, Annie Lennox, Phil Collins, pop-rock group Simple Minds and has been closely associated with artists, ranging from Kate Bush, David Sylvian, and Jon Anderson…

Bass Player: Jeff Andrews A highly underrated player, Jeff Andrews has performed with many of the greatest Jazz, Jazz-Rock and Fusion artists of his generation including Mike Stern, Michael Brecker and Steve Smith’s Vital Information. His soloing is comparable to many of the greatest legends of the instrument but his groove playing is second to…

Bass Player: Jimmy Woode Born in Philapdelphia on September 23rd, 1926, James Bryant Woode pril 23, 2005) was an American jazz bassist. He played and/or recorded in bands with Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Bechet, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis amongst a host of others. Now THAT is what you…

Bass Player: Mike Oldfield Having presented the bass part for Tubular Bells Part One, it was inevitable that we would have to complete the transcription for Part Two. A much trickier bass line, especially underneath Oldfield’s marvellous Piltdown Man sequence. Essentially pentatonic in nature, the lines are subtley changing throughout the sequence and will catch…

Bass Player: Mike Oldfield ‘Tubular Bells’ was the debut studio album by English mult-instrumentalist, Mike Oldfield. Released on 25th May, 1973, it was the first album on the Virgin Records label. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments on the mostly instrumental album including the bass guitar.…