Bass Player: Reginald Veal

Citi Movement (Griot New York) was a 1992 recording by the Wynton Marsalis Septet. CITI MOVEMENT (GRIOT NEW YORK) embraces the aural and visual cacophony of the cityscape, its throbbing heartbeats, and the harmonies that emerge from the conflicts and compromises of urban life. Wynton’s first dance score, and one of his first extended compositions, CITI MOVEMENT was written for the choreographer Garth Fagan’s modern ballet, GRIOT NEW YORK. An extraordinary collaboration between leading African-American artists, CITI MOVEMENT (GRIOT NEW YORK) also featured set constructions by sculptor Martin Puryear. Its sold out premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991 was one of the cultural events of the year. The piece is divided into three sections – “Cityscape,” “Transatlantic Echoes,” and “Some Present Moments of the Future” – and it is performed here, as it was on opening night, by the Wynton Marsalis Septet.

The transcription features Reginald Veal’s arco performance of the the ‘How Long’? section that opens the ‘Transatlantic Echoes’ section of the recording. It is a very short (1:05) piece that never gets past a quarternote and is, consequently, a very easy read. The whole thing is essentially the ‘How Long’? melody played on the bass. It is followed by a vocal variation on the same theme and then a third variation that is played using the full Septet. The transcription consists only of the solo bass part that opens the section.

Reginald Veal was born on November 5, 1963 and he is an American Double Bassist and multi-instrumentalist from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Veal grew up in New Orleans where he began piano lessons at a very early age. After receiving a bass guitar as a gift from his father at the age of eight, Veal went on to later join his father’s gospel group as the bassist. Veal studied with the legendary New Orleans bassist Walter Payton, father of trumpeter Nicholas Payton. He attended Southern University, studying bass trombone with the clarinetist Alvin Batiste. Veal was a touring bassist with the great pianist and teacher Ellis Marsalis from 1985 to 1989 and during this time he also worked with Pharoah Sanders, Elvin Jones, Charlie Rouse, Hamiet Bluiett, Harry Connick Jr., Terence Blanchard, Dakota Staton, Donald Harrison and Marcus Roberts.

Veal began playing in the Wynton Marsalis Quintet in 1987, which later became the Wynton Marsalis Septet in 1988. He is the original bassist for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Veal has worked with Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner, Branford Marsalis, Cassandra Wilson, Courtney Pine, Yusuf Lateef, Nicholas Payton, Eric Reed, Dianne Reeves, Junko Onishi, Mark Whitfield and Greg Tardy. Today, Veal resides on the West Coast where he continues to record and tour.

The transcription does not showcase Veal’s playing and he is much stronger that this recording, played in isolation, would suggest. Nevertheless, get a load of that tone!