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 thin outside the pattern playing that bass players and guitarists can get locked into if they are not careful. I chose to transcribe this tune because it is reasonably easily paced. There are some moments that require some thought but they are generally little flicks and tricks that are common in the phrasing of the instrument that the solo was performed on; in the case, the trumpet. It is in finding ways to replicated or approximate these details that you will find your own voice as soloist. I have tried to include the chords but my chord work is not entirely reliable so treat them with appropriate scepticism.

The tune is called ‘When It’s Sleeptime Down South’ from the 1991 album, ‘Standard Time Vol.2 – Intimacy Calling’. The transcription (presented so it fits on a standard four string bass) features the complete Marsalis performance. This stuff is so much more important that the whizz-bang athleticism that permeates the current crop of hot shots.