The day’s first round of clinics featured French fab fingerstylists Hadrien Feraud and Dominique DiPiazza, and—in a preview of the local talent to come—L.A. bassist/producer extraordinaire Mike Elizondo. Before the sun had set, attendees took in lessons from such left-coast heavies as Nathan East, Rickey Minor, Reggie Hamilton, and Neil Stubenhaus. Additionally, David Ellefson moderated a rock and showmanship panel with SoCal-ers Josh Paul, Phil Chen, Marco Mendoza, Frank Bello, Joey Vera, and Jerry Watts. And Mike Watt, one of three BASS PLAYER Lifetime Achievement Award winners, headed up from San Pedro to hold court in his wide-ranging clinic. Typical of the geographic setting, just walking around meant running into stars, ranging from Bob Glaub to Malcolm- Jamal Warner to Richard Bona; while the crown jewel of spontaneous jams occurred in the Aguilar room, with Minor, East, and “Ready” Freddie Washington.
Sated by the all-day gear and instructional swath, the throng headed west on Sunset, just past the legendary Whiskey A Go-Go and the Roxy, to see “BASS PLAYER LIVE!” beaming from the marquee of the Key Club. It seemed for a moment like the bass had at last made it to the big time in Hollywood. The Key Club concert kicked off with the dazzling dexterity of Feraud and DiPiazza’s quartet. A tribute to Dave Carpen- ter, with words by the late L.A. bassist’s best friend, drummer Gary Novak, led headliner Tal Wilkenfeld to dedicate her ensuing set to the fallen great. Alternating between trio and quartet lineups (with guitarist Wayne Krantz, drummer Keith Carlock, and keyboardist John Beasley), the audacious Aussie tore through originals from her debut disc, as well as gems from Krantz’s seminal 1995 CD, Long to Be Loose [Enja].
No less than Flea took the stage next to present Mike Watt with his Lifetime award, followed by a fervent performance featuring Mike, his Secondmen (drummer Jerry Tribotic and organist Pete Mazich), and painter Norton Wisdom, who interpreted the music in real time on his easel. During the stage transition, BP Editor In Chief Bill Leigh hosted a short film he and BP video whiz Tim Tsuruda compiled on the legendary Carol Kaye, capped by the First Lady of Bass accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award from Bill at her California home.
Earth, Wind & Fire bass force Verdine White received the final Lifetime Award of the evening from Nathan East, who then prepared to lead Verdine’s quintet (with Carlock on drums, EWF guitarist Greg Moore, and keyboardist Jeff Babko) through two-bass versions of “Boogie Wonderland,” “Fantasy,” and “Shining Star.” Maybe it was three sets of music on the “fringe” giving way to classic hit songs, or maybe it was the instantly apparent chemistry and energy between enthusiastic band members, but from the very first beat from Carlock’s mighty foot, the crowd was rapt. By the time Nathan and Verdine unleashed their dual dance steps and alternating leaps, the Key Club was in hip-swaying lockdown. The wave of rave continued, as White and East stayed on for “Let’s Groove,” the first of three tunes in the Steve Bailey-led closing jam (with Greg Bissonette on drums). As Rickey Minor nailed down the synth bass foundation, Ready Freddie, Jimmy Earl, Andrew Gouche, and Janek Gwizdala got to engage one of their idols. Bailey’s nod to Watt, in the form of a New Orleans second line take on Thelonius Monk’s “Well You Needn’t,” showcased the mad skills of Bunny Brunel, Reggie Hamilton, Rufus Philpot, Pippo Matino, and BP Senior Editor Jonathan Herrera. Finally, the rock heavy back line of P-Nut, Dave Ellefson, Tony Franklin, Bobby Vega, and Brian Bromberg brought the concert to a close with a slam dunk version of “Feelin’ Alright,” in honor of the song’s original bassist, Carol Kaye.
Benefitting from a much-needed extra hour of sleep provided by daylight savings time on Saturday night, the crowd returned to S.I.R. Sunday morning for another day of gear testing and a clinic lineup that just wouldn’t quit. Verdine White and P-Nut opened with distinct and packed sessions. Bromberg, Vega, and Chris Chaney each pondered their crafts. Larry Klein presented his unique producer’s perspective. Stanley Clarke showed off his Spellbinder basses while blowing minds with fellow virtuoso Ronald Bruner on drums. And Jeff Berlin and Steve Bailey closed the event with firm but compatible viewpoints in their second and final debate. Call it a “screen test” or an audio audition, but the City of Angels found its groove and sat in the pocket enough to ensure that BASS PLAYER LIVE! will be back in Los Angeles, in October 2009.
In her Key Club concert headlining slot, TAL WILKENFELD added a twist to “Cosmic Joke” from her solo debut, Transformation. She took the 4-bar unison riff below, which appears earlier in the song, and looped it towards the end of the tune, for drummer Keith Carlock to stretch over. The line can be thought of as three phrases: bars one and two; bar three; and bar four. Just be sure to land firmly on the Fn downbeat of bar one each time, which can be tricky given the lack of a pause created by having to play the F# and E eighthnotes on the last beat of bar four.
BRIAN BROMBERG’S upright-focused clinic included a bracing solo version of “Teentown” and the interesting admission that while he never looks at the neck of his upright while playing, he has to look at the fingerboard when playing electric bass. He also recommended starting each upright practice session with a bow. “It’s the best thing you can possibly do for your intonation and your sound, and your left hand will turn into a vice grip—plus your instrument will love it; your bass will sound better because it’s vibrating so openly and moving air all the time.” To an electric bass-playing attendee who said he was debating over whether to take on the upright, Bromberg advised him to listen to his heart. “This [pointing to his head] will mess you up in life; this [pointing to his heart] will never lie.”
LARRY KLEIN, the 2007 Grammy Award-winning producer for Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters [Universal], spoke at length about playing bass from a producer’s viewpoint, which starts with a mindset. “What I look for from myself or from the bassist I hire on a project is to be playing from a compositional perspective, as opposed to an instrumentally-invested perspective. That has to do with listening to the song and the lyric and approaching what you play from an almost unconscious place that helps illustrate the lyric and helps the entire musical context of the song.” He continued, “When I play bass, I try to remove myself from any thought of trying to do something impressive or innovative from the bass perspective; perhaps you can keep those thoughts in the rear-view mirror, to be glanced at occasionally.” Addressing how to develop this approach, he added, “A lot of it is the way you listen to music. We all go through a period of focusing on what the bassist is doing, transcribing parts and solos, and being impressed by complexity. But you also have to move past that to get to a place where you listen to how the song is put together musically and lyrically, and how what is played affects the song’s ability to communicate emotionally. That’s kind of the first step: Why does the bass part make you feel a certain way? It’s more heart-oriented and less intellectually- oriented.”
RICKEY MINOR’S jampacked clinic included performances by his American Idol rhythm section and special guest “READY” FREDDIE WASHINGTON. Among Rickey’s pearls of wisdom on career development were, “First, identify your goal; then identify what it takes to achieve that goal; and lastly, understand how to apply it in a playing situation.” As for musical directing, he reminded, “You can’t be a great leader without first being a great sideman.” When asked about his negotiating skills he elaborated: “That came together when I realized you’ll never get what you’re worth, you’ll only get what you negotiate. So if you take a job for a dollar, then that’s what it pays; you can’t renegotiate or complain if you find out someone else is making more or they’re selling a lot of merchandise.” He added, “Just make sure you get what you feel good about. I’ve explained to clients I can’t make myself uncomfortable so they can be comfortable; there has to be a happy medium where everyone feels content. In my situation, it’s not fair for me to charge different prices to two different clients and then have them find out, so my rate is my rate; I’ll work for free before I take a lesser amount.” Asked about creating a bass line to a song and not getting writing credit, both Rickey and Freddie agreed, “If you come in as a sideman then that’s what you are, no matter what they use from your part. If you go in as a co-writer, that’s a different story.” They added, “Have your role defined for you before you go in, and get it in writing!”
STANLEY CLARKE, fresh off a world tour with SMV, focused on youth in his clinic. In-between playing two tunes with young guns Ruslan Sirota on keyboard and Ronald Bruner, Jr. on drums, he stressed, “If you’re interested in music as an art form, which I am, you have to cultivate the youth—that’s really the only way music can move forward. A lot of great things are done in every art form by the young because that’s when you have the combination of passion and technical expertise.” For musical growth, he advised, “Listen to as much music as possible from all over the world. You can focus on rock, jazz, R&B, any idiom, but what’s most important is that you’re rich musically, overall.”
MIKE ELIZONDO drew upon a wealth of experience working with artists from Eminem and Sheryl Crow to Maroon 5. Having started out as a session bassist, Elizondo observed, “Those traits I developed as a bass player definitely set me up for song-writing and production. Being able to listen with that kind of scope played a huge factor in how I’m able to produce.” Elizondo also commented that bass playing and production are linked as support roles but also in the confidence required. “If the bassist isn’t playing with confidence in supporting the melody and locking with the drums, then nothing is going to make sense. Its going to sound disjointed.” However, he also pointed out that it’s necessary to “Have good judgment in terms of what you want to do with your career. I started to feel a void as a songwriter. To enable myself to write, I started telling people I was a songwriter, and those doors opened up.” When asked about writing a hit song, Elizondo advised, “Make it universal. My goal is to make it so that it’d still sound good if you played it on acoustic guitar or piano.”
In his presentation speech for MIKE WATT’S Lifetime Achievement Award, FLEA reflected on how he considered dedication and generosity as great achievements in life. “Mike Watt is someone who has tirelessly and relentlessly toured, played every benefit concert, and taken every opportunity he has had to use his huge talent to give and help out people who have needed help. He has been there every time. He has showed up year after year and nothing will ever stop him. He has used his position as a musician, always, to promote things he cares about and to speak about what’s important to him about what’s going on in the world. He has always stuck to his guns and walked the walk his talk has always been about. His talk has been righteous.
“Often I’ll meet young musicians and they’ll say, ‘Give me some advice, tell me how I can be a successful musician.’ For one thing, forget about the being successful bit and concentrate on the being a good musician. The most important thing you can do as a musician is to be yourself. Listen to your own rhythm and your own sense of what’s beautiful; you have to be yourself and really open yourself up enough to let your song, your truth come out. I would say that the greatest tragedy in anyone’s life is that they let their song be unsung. If you can let you own song be sung, then it is the greatest triumph. Mike Watt has always sung his own song.”
After a hard-grooving Saturday night set, BP Lifetime Achievement Award recipient VERDINE WHITE offered reams of bass-playing nuggets to a devoted crowd. Verdine commented that Earth Wind & Fire’s success was largely due to the public’s readiness to receive the band’s music at the time. His advice to aspiring musicians was to not worry about being famous—because that part’s easy—but to do good work, for which you have to be committed 24/7. “Fame will come and go; you don’t have no control over that.” An interesting idea he presented about bass lines had to do with the “center of the track”: “I always try and find where the center is on any track. It makes everything fall into place; then you can hear the guitar better, the keys better. The drummer and the bass player have to be in tune. You can’t mess around with that combination.” However, in terms of the finished product, Verdine offered, “You don’t know what’s going to be better sometimes the song you spent so much time on is the worst, and the ones you spent the least on, people like because the spirit comes through.” When Steve Bailey asked after his great J-Bass tone, Verdine replied that his mentor had told him, “You should sound good without notes.” On a more practical level, he always went through an amp when recording, so he could work the knobs to give it the proper balance and “You’ve got to play great basses. You can’t play inferior instruments.”
STEVE BAILEY and JEFF BERLIN had an engaging second debate (a follow-up to their 2006 BP Live debate) in which they agreed on many points about music education, but couldn’t quite concur about tradition versus transition. Berlin believes there are certain basic academic principles of music that must be learned before expanding one’s musicality and creating art; and that this path is narrow, which is why so few see the light. “Music is not the priority for many out there; getting a gig, becoming famous, and making money is. As a result, the quality level of teaching, like musicianship, is watered down.” Bailey differs in that while he values traditional training, he thinks music education comes from everywhere. “If we’re only looking at a formal way to educate we may be selling ourselves short. I have empirical evidence that there are many other ways to get a musical education than just through the traditional process.”