Bass Player: Steve Swallow

When you speak to Jazz musicians about electric bass players, the name that comes up as a favourite time and time again is not someone who is high on the list of bass player’s bass players; Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, John Patitucci, Gary Willis etc etc. The name you hear the most is that of a man who has never sought to draw attention to himself and whose solos are seldom technically challenging; they are simply perfect. Musical, sensitive, purposeful and clean.

This is the opening solo from the tune song ‘Your Song’ performed by a quartet led by saxophonist Pietro Tonolo and featuring pianist Gil Goldstein and drummer Paul Motian on his 2007 album, ‘Your Songs: the music of Elton John’. The solo is absolutely exquisite; a Faberge egg of a piece which shows Swallow to be the master musician he is. Not overly difficult to read or play, just difficult to come up with in the first place.