Bass Player: Rob Palmer (Bilbo)

Transcribing your own performances is always an interesting experience as it gives you a perspective on your own playing that simply listening to it doesn’t quite achieve. In transcribing his bass part for this performance of the old Sinatra favourite ‘Witchcraft’, we can see that basic building blocks of a walking bass line over relatively unremarkable changes. It is almost entirely quarter-notes (as was often the case with Paul Chambers) and the basic swing groove is the defining characteristic of the performance. The solo is a little more involved but, for reading purposes, It is fun just play the basic walking bass lines.

The trio is Norwich based pianist Simon Brown, Ipswich drummer Alex Best and our very own Rob Palmer on double bass (at the time of this recording, Rob was playing a borrowed bass and had only been playing the instrument for about a year).