He’s a player who anchors bands with killer monikers!

 

Fans of LA hard rock and roll know bassist Johnny Griparic from his long association with the former Saul Hudson, more familiar to the masses as Slash, as a member of Snakepit; and the Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist’s most recent (as of 2024) incarnation as a bluesman leading his Blues Ball (get it?) collective.

 

Born in Sweden, Griparic worked his way up, up, up the hard rock / blues food chain anchoring such artists of note including Richie Kotzen, BB Chung King and The Buddaheads (get it?), Jimmy Z and the Z Tribe, Triggerdaddy, Sonofabitch (as I said about band names…), Gilby Clarke, and Nina Hagan among others.

 

A fine pocket player and soloist, Griparic is a spirited on-stage presence who doesn’t quite steal the show from his bandleader, but he could if he wanted to.

 

Who loves playing rock and roll more than Johnny Graparic?

 

Johnny Griparic Sound & Vision…

 

Slash’s Blues Ball: “The Pusher” https://youtu.be/hnUO5rFG4Tg?si=tO-IhulOMbmk4ioJ

 

Slash’s Snakepit: “Grand” https://youtu.be/LPL4JFsTgeI?si=FOwZmtA1LU5pGW2L

 

Richie Kotzen: Live in San Paolo 2007: https://youtu.be/anEYZexJBlg?si=wrhV-JA5CX3Q9kOd

 

Photo by Elliott Cynthia from Johnny’s Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/johnnygriparic

 

Photos courtesy Johnny Griparic Facebook

 

Anchoring an ensemble whose moniker derives from the Thai term for an airplane (hopefully not a Boeing), Laura Lee Ochoa – aka Leezy – takes an old-school doghouse / rhythm & blooze approach to the post-modernist Khruangbin trio.

 

Renown for her on-stage attire – Leezy leisurely works a classic/vintage J style bass (SX replete with ashtrays and the impractical thumb-rest) akin to the Memphis, Motown, and Muscle Shoals masters – flats, finger pluckage, and a muted resonance with lines that work the pocket and dance around the beat as the situation warrants. And she sings too! Everything old is new again…and vice versa. 

 

Leezy Sound & Vision…

 

“Texas Sun” with Leon Bridges: https://youtu.be/zSWNWWREtsI?si=Xzw6tZajWqVeP4YS

 

“Fifteen Fifty-Three” https://youtu.be/ZEPUuOGqjwU?si=Ie8Rm-fGZWitpCJd

 

“Maria Tambien” https://youtu.be/JtMALA6Gkkc?si=CzQye-AZpbCTP9YA  

 

Photos courtesy Laura Lee Facebook

 

Just when you think you know an artist…

 

Previous to Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s most recent New York City concert at Forest Hills Stadium on 14 May 2024, the last time I experienced the legendary collective was circa 1978 at the Nassau Coliseum in a faraway place still known as Long Island.

 

Times were different, of course. Neil was a massive star, a constant presence on ubiquitous FM radio not only as a solo artist but in collaboration with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and David Crosby.

 

A role model to scores of aspiring musicians (including British new wavers Elvis Costello and Graham Parker), Neil embodied the California singer-songwriter ethos. Along with Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, and Jackson Browne, to cite a few, Mr. Young ruled from atop of his own sugar mountain.

 

That was then and this is now. Today, Neil’s posse is comprised of his founding rhythm section; bassist Billy Talbot, and drummer Ralph Molina – both in fine form at the ages of 80. Original guitarist Danny Whitten passed in 1972, and his replacement Frank Sampedro retired in 2014. The Crazy Horse second guitar chair now resides with Micha Nelson, son of Willie.

 

Now I get it….

 

When Neil put together Crazy Horse in 1969 – a sonic and rhythmic revolution was going on in the jazz world, and looking back, and hearing Neil in the present, methinks Mr. Young was tuned in to what was happening. And he continues to refine the template of the times.

 

In the 1960s standard jazz song format was giving way to free form and modal jazz – John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, the works of Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Weather Report all resounded with rock musicians spanning the Grateful Dead, Soft Machine, and Pink Floyd– and rock audiences (thank you Bill Graham, FM radio) were along for the ride. Swing tempos were replaced by funk and rock grooves. Up went the volume, out went the post-bop theme and variation solos.

 

Of course, the heaviest of all the jazz rockers was Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew double album released in March 1970… which leads me to Neil and Crazy Horse.

 

Parallel to Miles’ ‘directions in music’ approach – Neil leads his band in the same manner. Billy Talbot, akin to Miles electric era bassist Micheal Henderson, renders sublime pedal tone grooves which anchor the ensemble and serve as motifs – and dare I say ‘hooks.’ Jazz elitists chided Henderson for his perceived simplicity. Rock musos berate Talbot for his repetitive passages – completely ignorant of their importance to the music. Like Henderson was to Miles – Talbot’s playing looms large in the essence of the Crazy Horse sound. In my jazz dub improv ensemble, I often reference Henderson’s motifs from Tribute To Jack Johnson among other Miles electric riffage – it never fails to attract (or provoke) the audience and my bandmates. From my post-punk group Tex Wagner, on record and on stage you’ll detect a few Talbot lines if you listen closely.  Don’t spook the horse!

 

Ralph Molina, much like Davis’ range of drummers and percussionists, moves from the backbeat to polyrhythms and back to the beat again according to Young’s cues. That’s how Miles worked – always moving his players in an ongoing chess game. Nelson assumes the role of Miles’ keyboardists – he’s all texture, chordal counterpoint, and shards of sound borne of volume!

 

Young solos a lot like Miles as well. He comes in off the beat, usually with a few dissonant scattered notes. He stops. Like Miles advised ‘take the horn out of your mouth’ – Neil pauses before he commences his dialogue – employing effects pedals and feedback much like Davis’ used a wah-wah pedal or turned to the keyboard to add color to the brew. Though Miles had virtuosos (another dubious term) in his bands, the emphasis was on the group, not the individual. Crazy Horse blends together as one – at times you can’t distinguish the instrumentation – which strikes me as Neil’s way of doing things. 

 

Young and Davis are/were masters of dynamics – as players and bandleaders. Rhythm, space, and collective and composition in the form of improv are/were at the forefront. Similarly, Miles and Young were reluctant to play their ‘hits’ on stage. Towards the end of their careers, they reversed said modus operandi.

 

Miles final performance, as captured on Miles & Quincy: Live at Montreux was recorded just two months before his death, and saw him revisit his past, rendering works he’d recorded with Gil Evans.

 

I’m not here to bury Neil. He is 78, in good health, and his voice hasn’t aged much. Curiously this Forrest Hills set was strictly Greatest Hits – not something you’d expect from Mr. Young, regardless of what those Alabama dudes think. Given mortality, this could very well be Crazy Horse’s victory lap.

 

Interesting how Miles and Neil are ‘imprisoned’ by their respective images too. Miles was the epitome of jazz cool – and still is. Thirty-plus years after his passing, the jazz police still have a warrant out for his arrest for plugging in.

 

Young remains a hippie icon – you can’t miss all the bootleg tie-dye merch for sale – and selling briskly – at his show. To my ears, though frozen in time to his fans, Neil left the peace and love party when it was appropriate to do so. The only thing hippie about Neil Young is his appearance – and I get the feeling that he simply dresses for comfort – just like I have embraced now at age 64.

 

Thirty plus years ago, 1990s alternative / grunge (awful terms, but that’s how history has recorded the era) artists recognized Neil for his experimental innovation. Ditto hip-hop artists who restored Miles experimental reputation for which he was so roundly criticized for by the jazz establishment.

 

In April 1970 Miles Davis opened for ‘that sorry ass cat’ (Miles’ words, not mine) Steve Miller, and Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Davis and Young were both in the throes of reinvention. Young was shedding his hippie CSN&Y skin, and Miles was running the voodoo down.

 

I understand from several Miles biographical sources that he was not happy on that particular bill, nor other similar circumstances with rock artists of the day. Miles learned more from Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone than the Grateful Dead – whom he also abhorred.  But he was listening. And I think Neil was listening to Miles too. I hope to get the opportunity to ask him.

 

It’s not how many notes you play, it’s how you play them!

 

Such is the musical doctrine of bassist Sarafe, anchor of the East Village “fringe” stalwarts SoulCake.

 

Since their official beginnings, which can be traced back to 2018 or thereabouts, Sarafe and her SoulCake colleagues JOff Wilson (songwriter / guitarist / provocateur) and Laura Sativa (flautist, bassist) have brought the Lower East Side aesthetic to environs yonder the Lower East Side.  

 

Among the highlights of any SoulCake concerto is Sarafe’s note-perfect rendition of the Velvet Underground deep track “After Hours.” It’s not how many notes you play…

 

Sarafe SoulCake Sound & Vision…

 

“Shelter” https://youtu.be/jWBoYZi74Tg?si=Xauf3g48UTraPfsF

 

“Tears We Cried Yesterday” https://youtu.be/UchAD8hCTys?si=sWOcnp319Nym-_-d

 

“Other Side of Tomorrow” https://youtu.be/MmRfO7dLKR8?si=TDhHydTQK-kmj074

 

 

Oft times guitarists will take a stab at playing the electric bass. Enter denizen of the deep end Joe Sztabnik, who actually plays the instrument!

 

A revered presence on the Lower East Side NYC music scene since the earth cooled – i.e. the 1970s, Sztabnik is mostly associated with his associations; The Dragons, New York Junk, Johnny Thunders, Walter Lure, and Dee Dee Ramone to cite a hallowed select few.

 

As a charismatic frontman, sideman – if rock and roll happened in said East Village environs, Sztabnik was there with the volume cranked and then some.

 

Frank Vincent Zappa aside, necessity is indeed the mother of invention; hence Joe wields his beloved 1964 Gibson EB-O in such experimental ensembles as Puma Perl & Friends and permutations thereof.

 

Stab’s plectrum purveying style is simply no frills: root, fifth, occasional riffage when the situation warrants. Given the resonance of his totem tool of the trade, Joe lets the tone do the talking.

 

He’ll converse after the gig!

 

For all things Joe Sztabnik: https://joesztabnik.com/home

 

 

 

Joe Sztabnik Sound & Vision:

 

Puma Perf & Friends Live in NYC (2023) https://youtu.be/tmOtO9KMMc4?si=N0UokAFbtTS8A6rN

 

The Dragons “Walk My Dog” https://youtu.be/kHOtMKcTKTg?si=6WDSEHvQHWiuQcZI

 

New York Junk “Poison Heart” composed by JS & Dee Dee Ramone https://youtu.be/JcsxxNg-deg?si=AkZR1nNL2EPUtMH2

 

𝕋𝕠𝕞 𝕊𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕚 𝕚ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕟𝕖 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕠-ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕤…

 

MY NYC 10 December 2024: “Well I got a foggy notion, do it again. Over by the corner, do it again. I got my calamine lotion baby, do it again…” Sterling Morrison, Doug Yule, Maureen Tucker & Hy Weiss

 

 

MY #NYC 8 December 2024: “We understand your paranoia. But we don’t wanna play your game You think you’re cool and know what you are doing… 666 is your name…” John Winston Lennon 

 

’74 @ 50! Rod Stewart / Faces Live! Coast to Coast Overture and Beginners. Bassist Tetsu Yamauchi /Rod Stewart / Smiler. Bassists Spike Heatley, Willie Weeks, Ronnie Wood / Ronnie Wood / I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Bassists Willie Weeks, Pete Sears, with Mick Taylor / Rolling Stones / It’s Only Rock and Roll. Bassists Bill Wyman, Willie Weeks, with Keith Richards, Mick Taylor / Bill Wyman / Monkey Grip. Bassist Wiliam George Perks RAF O.H.M.S. 

 

MY #NYC 21 November 2024: “Imagine how my daddy felt, in your jet black suspender belt. Seventeen years old. He’s touching sixty-four. You got legs right up to your neck. You’re making me a physical wreck. I’m talking to you…hot legs…” Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE  

 

𝑴𝒀 #𝑵𝒀𝑪 20 𝑵𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 2024: 𝑨𝒎 𝑰 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏’ 𝒀𝒐𝒖… 𝑨𝒍𝒊 𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒂 & 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒊 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒂 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝑵𝒀𝑪 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑪. 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 & 𝑴𝒂𝒄 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒏!

 

MY #NYC 18 November 2024 “A race of angels bound with one another. A dish of dollars laid out for all to see. A tower room at Eden Rock… his golf at noon for free… Brooklyn owes the charmer under me..” Walter Carl Becker / Donald Jay Fagan   

 

MY #NYC 17 November 2024: “I used to think maybe you loved me now baby I’m sure. And I just can’t wait till the day when you knock on my door. Now every time I go for the mailbox, gotta hold myself down. ‘Cause I just can’t wait till you write me you’re coming around. I’m walking on sunshine….” Kimberly Rew

 

MY #NYC 11 November 2024 “He was the king of trees, keeper of the leaves. A deep green god of young… love stained memory.” Steven Demetre Georgiou 

 

MY #NYC 10 November 2024 “…I’m just a raindrop in a bucket. A coin dropped in a slot. I am an empty house on Weed Street. Across the road from a vacant lot… You know life is what you make of it… so beautiful or so what…” Paul Simon   

 

MY #NYC 9 November 2024 “…half of the time we’re gone, but we don’t know where and we don’t know why….the only living boy in New York…” Paul Simon

 

 

MY #NYC 6 Novembe3r 2024: “Tigers don’t growl much unless they’re bored. Or unless attempting to tackle the jungle, Lord… whose face tigers never see… but who still hands out their stripes judiciously…” Sananda Maitreya 

 

MY #NYC 4 November 2024: “If I could live to be several hundred, I could take a walk and really wander. All my ghosts on every sea, in every land…” Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV 

 

MY #NYC 3 November 2024: “I’m a road runner, baby. Can’t stay in one place too long. I’m a road runner, baby. You might look at me and I’ll be gone…”  Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Edward Jr. Holland 

 

MY #NYC 1 November 2024: “There’s a downtown fairy singing out “Proud Mary” as she cruises Christopher Street. And some Southern Queen is acting loud and mean where the docks and the badlands meet… this Halloween is something to be sure…” Lewis Allan Reed  

 

 

MY #NYC 30 October 2024 “November and more, as I wait for the score, they’re telling me forgiveness is the key to every door…” Phil Lesh / Bobby Peterson 

 

MY #NYC 24 October 2024 “Smiling faces sometimes… they don’t tell the truth. Smiling faces, tell lies and I got proof…” Norman Whitfield 

 

MY #NYC 22 October 2024 “Now I own the key to the door, the kingdom of heaven lies inside…I love visions of you…” Jah Wobble 

 

MY NYC 10.10.24: 144 Live at Silvana Harlem “It’s about that time…” 

 

MY NYC 4 October 2024 “Life’s a game of give and take. Early in the morning get your concentration
on your meditation to take the right direction…” Carlos Santana / Michael Shrieve   

 

MY #NYC 26 September 2024 “I’ve been talking to myself…because I’m a little bit crazy…” Stu Richards / Magic Forest Live at AH Presents Otto’s Shrunken Head NYC 

 

 

MY #NYC 24 September 2024 “My friends are so alarming, my lover’s never charming… life’s just a cocktail party on the street…” Sir Michale Phillip Jagger / Keith Richards  

 

 

MY NYC 23 September 2024 “In my sensations, I believe that I was born with the things that I know. I want to talk like I read…” David Byrne 

 

MY NYC 22 September 2024 “Something in the night. Something in the day. There’s slaughter in the air protest on the wind… Someone else inside me…someone could get skinned. Someone fetch a priest, you can’t say no to the Beauty and The Beast…” David Robert Jones

 

MY NYC 19 September 2024 “Only renting. Only subletting. Fences mending. Just pretending. Reality bending. Signal sending. Patent pending. Just inventing. Let’s go ‘round the bend. Get in trouble again. Make a commotion. Drink a love potion. Sweet ’til the bitter end…” John Doe / Exene Cervenka 

 

MY N.Y.C. 16 September 2024 “I am a tree, I show my age when I don’t cry. I have the leaf that will fall off when wind blows by…I am a tree fruitless and free…” Robert Pollard  

 

MY #NYC 15 September 2024 “Speedy Marie, ahead of the now. She’s better built that’s how. She’s built for speed, Speedy Marie…” Frank Black 

 

 

 

MY NJ/NYC 15 September 2024 “One day you turn around and it’s summer. Next day you turn around and it’s fall…as a man who has always had the wand’ring ways, now I’m reaching back for yesterdays. ‘Til a long-forgotten love appears and I find that I’m sighing softly as I near September, the warm September of my years…”                                                     Sammy Cahn as sung by Francis Albert Sinatra  

 

MY NYC 13 September 2024 “I wanna be somebody’s Chelsea, somebody’s world. Somebody’s day and night, one and only girl. A part of a love story that never has an end. You know that’s what every woman wants to be somebody’s Chelsea…” Reba McEntire  

 

MY #NYC 13 September 2024 “The streets of New York, a maze made of iron and stone. A labyrinth complete, with edges that cut through the bone.” Willie Nile  

 

MY NYC 13 September 2024 “Autumn in New York, why does it seem so inviting?” Vernon Duke 

 

MY #NYC 8 September 2024: “We’re so young and pretty, we’re so young and clean. So many things that we have never seen. Let’s move from Ohio, sell this dam’ old store. Big Apple dreamin’ on a wooden floor…” Vincent Furnier   

 

MY NYC 8 September 2024: “Safe in my garden, an ancient flower blooms and the scent from its nature slowly squares my room…” John Edmund Andrew Phillips

 

MY #NYC 5 September 2024 “Can we fix our nation’s broken heart? Are we brave enough to try? Can we fix our nation’s broken heart and leave a better world behind?” Stevland Hardaway Morris   

 

MY #NYC 4 September 2024: Groovin’ on the 2 & 4 in 4/4! Diggin’ FAITH NYC Live at Silvana Harlem NYC….

 

MY NYC 3 September 2024 “I wanna run, I want to hide I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside… I wanna reach out and touch the flame where the streets have no name… Paul David Hewson  

 

MY #NYC 2 September 2024 “There is a rose in Spanish Harlem. A red rose up in Spanish Harlem. It is the special one, it’s never seen the sun. It only comes out when the moon is on the run. And all the stars are gleaming. It’s growing in the street right up through the concrete. But soft and sweet and dreaming…” Ben E. King / Jerry Leiber

 

 

MY #NYC 30 August 2024 “Through a fault of our designing we are lost among the windings of these metal ways…” Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno  

 

MY #NYC 29 August 2024 “There ain’t no reason to tell no lie when you’re young and you’ve got a lot of pie… now I slink around like a killer…the things they say are just a lot of filler…” James Newell Osterberg Jr.

 

My NYC 27 August 2024 “Nothing is planned by the sea and the sand…” Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend 

 

MY #NYC 26 August 2024 “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds…” Marcus Garvey / Robert Nesta Marley 

 

MY #NYC 26 August 2024 “Want some whiskey in your water? Sugar in your tea? What’s all these crazy questions they’re askin’ me? This is the craziest party that could ever be… don’t turn on the lights… ’cause I don’t wanna see! Mama told me not to come! She said ‘that ain’t the way to have fun… son.’ Uh-huh!” Randy Newman 

 

MY #NYC 2018 “The return of the Thin White Duke throwing darts in lovers’ eyes…” David Bowie Is Here Bleecker/Lafayette St. Subway Exhibit 

 

MY NYC 25 August 2024 “And when I see the sign that points one way… the lot we used to pass by every day. Just walk away, Renée you won’t see me follow you back home… the empty sidewalks on my block are not the same, you’re not to blame… just walk away…” Brown / Calilli / Sansone

 

 

MY NYC 22 August 2024 lORRAINE lECKIE lIVE @ ilon Art Gallery hARLEM nYC Ilon Art Gallery 

 

MY #NYC 22 August 2024 “No, it ain’t judgement day. No, it ain’t Armageddon… it’s just the apple stretching and yawning, just morning. New York City putting it’s feet on the floor…” Grace Jones 

 

MY #NYC 20 August 2024 “Everyone’s feeling pretty, it’s hotter than July… though the world’s full of problems, they couldn’t touch us even if they tried…from the park, I hear rhythms, Marley’s hot on the box… tonight, there will be a party…on the corner at the end of the block” Stevland Hardaway Morris 

 

MY #NYC 14 August 2024: “In the heart of Harlem, a renaissance blooms. A symphony of voices, in countless rooms. Jazz and blues, a soulful sound where creativity and spirit abound, Langston’s dreams deferred, Hughes’ rivers flow, in every word, a people’s echo…” (author unknown)  

 

MY #NYC 12 August 2024 “The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stony ground. There’s no room no space to rent in this town. It’s a beautiful day. Sky falls, you feel like. It’s a beautiful day. Don’t let it get away…” Paul Hewson 

 

MY NYC 10 August 2024 “I play the street life because there’s no place I can’t go. Street life, it’s the only life I know. Street life, you can run away from time. Street life, for a nickel, for a dime…” Wilber Jennings 

 

MY NYC August 2024 Random images… 

 

MY NYC 8 August 2024 “Flowers never bend with the rainfall…” Paul Simon 

 

MY #NYC 6 August 2024 “I’ve just seen a face, I can’t forget the time or place where we just met…” James Paul McCartney

 

MY NYC 4 August 2024 “If you want me to stay, I’ll be around today, to be available for you to see. But I am about to go and then you’ll know, for me to stay here, I got to be me…” Sylvester Stewart 

 

MY #NYC 20 July 2024 “Gone are the days, of the seek and the find. All in the name of easy come, easy go merry go round the mind. Step right up, catch it while you can, alligator hugger and the candy man…” Cris Jacobs  

 

MY #NYC 19 July 2024 “All the young girls love Alice…tender young Alice they say…if I give you my  number, will you promise to call… wait ‘till my husband’s away…” Bernie Taupin 

 

 

MY #NYC 18 July 2024 “Walk right out to the four-line track, there’s a camera rolling on her back… I sense a rhythm humming in a frenzy….girls on film, two minutes later…” Lebon / Taylor / Taylor / Taylor / Rhodes 

 

 

MY #NYC 14 July 2024 “I got the time. I got my feet. Let’s go hit the street. High in the city. I got my mace. You got your knife. You gotta protect your own life. I wanna stay alive in the city…” Lou Reed  

 

 

12 July 2024 MY #NYC “And undulating always, like the tide, the devil’s bride is calling all toward her skirt. And in the loving folds there we will hide inside from any would-be sneak attack until it’s safe to journey back…” Robert Pollard 

 

 

MY #NYC 3 July 2024 “I have a positive hot gift, want one? A scoffer’s clutch karma issue, a nursery whip for men who skip. Want one?” Robert Pollard 

 

28 June 2024 MY #NYC “With the sinking of the sun I’ve come to greet you. Clean your hands and go to sleep, confess the dreams of good and bad men all around…” Robert Pollard 

 

 

MY #NYC 26 June 2024 “A live wire, barely a beginner, but just watch that lady go. She’s on fire, ’cause dancin’ gets her higher than anything else she knows…”  David Lee Roth 

 

 

17 June 2024 MY NYC “Everywhere I go people want to know, who I am. So, I tell them. I am the Serene King in a half-asleep dream, waltz across the battlefield…” Robert Pollard

 

4 June ’24 MY NYC     “And I’m sitting on a bench in Coney Island…wondering, ‘where did my baby go?’ The fast times, the bright lights, the merry-go…” Taylor Swift / The National 

 

31 May 2024 MY NYC “Up Madison, down Park… each time I turn a corner, I walk a little faster, pretending life is sweet, ‘cause love’s around the corner…. I walk a little faster…” Tony Bennett 

 

30 May 2024 MY NYC “Oh, my nuclear baby. Oh, my idiot trance. All my idiot questions. Let’s face the music and dance…” – David Bowie 

 

 

30 May 2024 MY #NYC “There goes my hero, watch him as he goes. There goes my hero, he’s ordinary…” Dave Grohl 

 

MY N.Y.C. 30 May 2024 “I love women, I think they’re great. They’re a solace to the world in a terrible state. They’re a blessing to the eyes, a balm to the soul. What a nightmare to have no women in the world…” Lou Reed 

 

MY NYC 5/29/24 “I’m in a straightjacket… I’m in a padded cell…a new disease is running through my veins…” Stu Richards

 

“Mama pajama rolled out of bed, and she ran to the police station. When the papa found out he began to shout, and he started the investigation…” – Paul Simon 

 

MY NYC 24 May 2024 “…kids you better look around. How long you think that you can run that body down? How many nights you think that you can do… what you been doing? Who, now who you foolin’ …” Paul Simon 

 

 

24 May 2024 MY N.Y.C. “Life, a transient odyssey, weaves a mysterious tapestry of moments that mold our very essence….”

 

Spaghetti Eastern Electro Dub Live @Silvana with MARK MURO in MY N.Y.C. HARLEM 24 May 2024 “If you’re tired of walkin’ around and getting nowhere, I know, there’s a path that’s leading towards the master. Love, devotion and surrender…” Carlos Santana 

 

MY #NYC 23 May 2024 After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang out. We’re gonna cause talk and suspicion, give an exhibition, find out what it is all about…” JJ Cale 

 

MY #NYC 16 May 2024 Sign Language … 

 

MY #NYC 14 MAY 2024 “The king is gone, but he’s not forgotten. This is the story of a Johnny Rotten… it’s better to burn out than it is to rust…” Neil Young 

 

MY #NYC 12 May 2024 Paul Collins, Sal Maida’s Bottom’s Up Band live at Bowery Electric with Mike Fornatale, Dennis Diken, Dave Amels, Dave Foster… 

 

MY #NYC 8 May 2024:  “We’ve got to judge the judge. We’ve got to find the finds. We’ve got to scheme the schemes. We’ve got to line the lines. Try to place the place where we can face the face…” Pete Townshend 

 

MY #NYC 8 May 2024: “Sign, sign. everywhere a sign. Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind. Do this, don’t do that. Can’t you read the sign?” Five Man Electrical Band

 

MY #NYC 7 May 2024 “See her picture in a thousand places, ‘cause she’s this year’s girl. You think you all own little pieces of this year’s girl…”  Elvis Costello 

 

MY #NYC 6 May 2024: “Now this is a song to celebrate the conscious liberation of the female state…” Annie Lennox 

 

MY #NYC 4 MAY 2024 “Somebody took the papers, and somebody’s got the key. But me, I’m down around the corner, you know, I’m lookin’ for Miss Linda Lee…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 3 May 2024 “I’ll say goodbye to all my sorrow. And by tomorrow I’ll be on my way, I guess the Lord must be in New York City…” Harry Nilsson 

 

MY #NYC 3 May 2024 “I know what I know. I’ll sing what I said. We come and we go. That’s a thing that I keep in the back of my head…”  Paul Simon 

 

MY #NYC 2 May 2024 “I get all the news I need on the weather report… hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile. And here I am, the only living boy in New York…” Paul Simon 

 

 

MY #NYC 1 May 2024 “For there’s Basie, Miller, Satchmo, and the king of all, Sir Duke. And with a voice like Ella’s ringing out, there’s no way the band could lose…” Stevie Wonder 

 

MY #NYC 30 April 2024 “Watch out world, comin’ at you full throttle. Better check that sausage before you put it in the waffle. And while you’re at it, better check that batter, make sure the candy’s in the original wrapper…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 29 April 2024 “Well I’m beginning to see the light. Some people work very hard, but still they never get it right….” Lou Reed  

 

MY #NYC 4.27.24 “I have my books and my poetry to protect me. I am shielded in my armor…” Paul Simon

 

MY #NYC 26 April 2024: “I want the principles of a timeless muse. I want to eradicate my negative views. And get rid of those people who are always on a down…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 4.25.24 “It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Please won’t you be my neighbor?” – Fred McFeely Rogers 

 

MY #NYC 15 April 2024 ‘Twas a sunny day…not a negative word was heard from the people passing by. All the birds in the trees, and the radio’s singing songs, all the favorite melodies…” Paul Simon 

 

MY #NYC 8 April 2024 “Blue, blue, electric blue, that’s the color of my room, where I will live…waiting for the gift of sound and vision…” David Bowie

 

MY #NYC 5 April 2024 “Every day you’ve got to wake up and disappear behind your makeup. Take away your calendar watch and you can’t keep track until your heart attack…” Jimmy Destri 

 

MY #NYC 4 April 2024 “In the big apple, scars embedded like tattoos. Ghetto love, protection from what’s coming at you. Keeping our heads up, maintaining self-esteem, and reminiscing on the Harlem Nights scene…” Luther Vandross  

 

MY #NYC 4 April 2024 In the Heights….  

 

MY #NYC 4 April 2024 “I was staying at the Marriott, with Jesus and John Wayne. I was waiting for a chariot, they were waiting for a train…” Warren Zevon 

 

 

MY #NYC 1 April 2024 “Somebody took the papers. And somebody’s got the key. And somebody’s nailed the door shut that says, ‘hey, what you think that you see?” …” Lou Reed  

 

MY #NYC 30 March 2024 “Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari. Can you dig it? Yes, I can. And I’ve been waiting such a long time. For Saturday…” – Robert Lamm

 

MY #NYC 29 March 2024 “If you want me to stay, I’ll be around today, to be available for you to see. But I am about to go and then you’ll know, for me to stay here, I got to be me…” Sly Stone

 

MY #NYC 28 March 2024 “I’m going uptown to Harlem. If a taxi won’t take me, I’ll catch a train. I’ll go underground, I’ll get there just the same….” Duke Ellington / Nick Kenny

 

MY #NYC 27 March 2024 “Is is. Therefore you are. I am. That I am. Let me be….” Leon Thomas

 

 

MY #NYC 21 March 2024 “Take a risk and listen to the radio, click your heels at the bi-polar disco. Fly down the villa destination sign, everybody feels the days but waits for summer nights…” Scott Weiland

 

MY #NYC 20 March 2024 “Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map that brought Columbus to New York…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC 19 March 2024 Three Views of a Secret… Jaco Pastorius 

 

MY #NYC 18 March 2024 “Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I heard, was a song outside my window, and the traffic wrote the words…” Joni Mitchell

 

MY #NYC 13 March 2024 “Mama’s got a lover, a painter I am told. She’s getting out of real estate, for the art scene down in old Soho…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 13 March 2024: “Ah, but remember that the city is a funny place, something like a circus or a sewer. And just remember, different people have peculiar taste, and the glory of love… might see you through…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC 12 March 2024: “You know the day destroys the night; night divides the day…” Jim Morrison 

 

MY #NYC 7 March 2024: “As the twilight sunburst gleams, as the chromium moon it sets, as I lose all my regrets, and set the twilight reeling…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 3 March 2024 “Oye cómo va. Mi ritmo. Bueno pa’ gozar…” Tito Puente 

 

MY #NYC 28 February 2024 “Old friends, old friends… sat on their park bench like bookends…” Paul Simon

 

MY #NYC  27 February 2024 “Man makes machines, to man the machines, that make the machines, that make the machines. And man and machine, will make a machine, to break the machines, that make the machines…” Pete Townshend 

 

MY #NYC 25 February 2024 “Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten, from the Battery to the top of Manhattan, Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin, Black, White, New York you make it happen…” Beastie Boys 

 

 

MY #NYC 23 February 2024 “I couldn’t escape this feeling with my China girl, I’m just a wreck without my little China girl…” Iggy Pop

 

MY #NYC  23 February 2024 “They fought with their words, their bodies and their deeds, doin’ the things that they want to…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC 18 February 2024 We’re an American brand…. Bleecker & Bowery  

 

MY #NYC 27 January 2024 “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”  Oscar Wilde 

 

MY #NYC 14 January 2024 “I’ve got nothing to say but it’s okay, good morning, good morning, good…” John Lennon 

 

MY #NYC 13 January 2024 “…just a perfect day, drink Sangria in the park, and then later, when it gets dark, we go home…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC 7 January 2024 “Rainy day, dream away, let the sun take a holiday…” Jimi Hendrix  

 

2021 – 2023 

MY #NYC (June 2023) A Great Day in Harlem 1958 is a black-and-white photograph of 57 jazz musicians in Harlem, New York, taken by freelance photographer Art Kane for Esquire magazine on August 12, 1958 at 17 East 126th Street 

 

MY #NYC (31 December 2022) “Drop me off in Harlem, any place in Harlem There’s someone waiting there, who makes it seem like Heaven up in Harlem….” 

 

MY #NYC  26 May 2022 “Eyes without a face / les yeux sans visage… I’m on a bus on a psychedelic trip reading murder books tryin’ to stay hip, I’m thinkin’ of you, you’re out there so, say your prayers…” Billy Idol 

 

MY #NYC (17 January 2022) ‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp, when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light, that split the night, and touched the sound of silence….” Paul Simon

 

MY NYC 23 January 2024 

 

MY #NYC  (May 2022) “It’s up to you…New York, New York” A Mansion Diner denizen since I migrated to the Upper East Side in ’85… my sanctuary replete with black coffee, apple pie, and Sinatra on the sound system 24/7. A monument on York & 86th since June 1945…chatty waitresses, culinary anonymity, egalitarian reception no matter what condition I enter… says Ed Levine: “Diners are so important because they are the greatest bastions of civility, service, and dare I say grace available to all economic strata in this country.” 

 

MY #NYC 26 January 2022

  

 

MY #NYC 1 February 2022 “And I’m laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone.. where the New York City winters aren’t bleedin’ me…leadin’ me…goin’ home…” Paul Simon

 

MY #NYC  (May 14, 2022) “You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re put under pressure…across 110th Street is a hell of a tester…” Bobby Womack

 

MY #NYC 11 December 2023 “I think it’s the best, when I’m locked in the middle of New York city on Central Park ‘n’ West, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know it’s a mess, but you’ve got to be crazy to live in the city, and New York City’s the best….” Ian Hunter

 

 

MY #NYC (April 2023) “Ask the angels who they’re calling, go ask the angels if they’re calling to thee, ask the angels while they’re falling, who that person could possibly be…” Dave Grohl

 

MY #NYC 9 December 2023…out on the edges they’re mixin’ the colors, some they don’t like it, but me I don’t mind… Iggy Pop

 

MY #NYC  (July 2023) “Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map, that brought Columbus to New York…” Lou Reed 

 

MY #NYC  19 December 2023 “…everyone’s gazing at some body part. That’s the nature of art..” Iggy Pop 

 

MY #NYC 12 December 2023 “Until you’ve seen this trash can dream come true, you stand at the edge while people run you through, and I thank the Lord there’s people out there like you…” Bernie Taupin

 

MY #NYC 20 December 2023 “Sunday morning brings the dawn in, it’s just a restless feeling by my side…” Lou Reed

 

MY #NYC (November 16, 2023) Dusk on the Upper East Side NYC…

 

MY #NYC (November 2023) Morning on the Upper East Side… 

 

MY #NYC 8 April 2023 “The traffic’s so noisy it’s a shock, sounds like fireworks or a gun on the next block, ah, hooky wooky with you…” Lou Reed 

 

 

“Take the horn out of your mouth…” Miles Davis

 

It’s proverb oft intoned on a multitude of occasions and I will once again refer to the time-tested adage; it’s the notes you DON’T play that make you a good / great musician / composer.  For those of you keeping score, that credo applies to bass players as well. Not that we’re not musicians….

 

From Tony Bennett to Metallica, from Slash to Andrés Segovia – from Lennon & McCartney to Rogers & Hammerstein, from Brian Eno to Leonard Bernstein … insert the iconic artists of your choice here – it’s the rhythm, tone, and the space in a performance or composition – from metal to classical – that makes for memorable music.

 

If only baseball in the 21^st Century would heed said advice.

 

Seconds following the last out of the 2023 Word Series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks (I had to look that up), legacy and new digital media (vlogs, blogs, YouTube channels, digital adjuncts of establishment media, X/Twitter, Instagram, Flipboard, MSN, SNY, MLB, TikTok…) commenced to “reporting” on the 2024 season which hadn’t happened yet.

 

The media’s intellectual insomnia of possible trades, draft choices, contract negotiations, free agent signings, new stadiums, new uniform logos, ownership transfers, front office hirings, firings, retirements; punditry in all shapes and sizes; among other ephemera resonated with cacophony. Imagine the sound of a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs. Filler. Empty calories. Mostly schtick, hardly any substance.

  

Let me dial up for you my favorite Carlos Santana recording “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile)” written by the master guitarist and keyboardist Tom Coster: https://youtu.be/BlW8rblRbMw?si=z3HApudptnEI0AWd 

Close your eyes, listen, and submerge yourself in the musical dialog between Carlos and his band – the pauses/rests, the opportunity for both the artist and listener to reflect; the necessity of each note, time to breathe, time to contemplate, the gradual build of the rhythm and harmony into a meaningful conclusion, among other attributes.

 

If only baseball in the 21^st Century would heed said advice.

 

Before baseball expanded to a playoff format in 1969, the season ended in early October. And even with the extended post-season, the sport was done before the threat of snowfall, and before football – the true fall sport, and the indoors only competition of ice-hockey and hoops commenced – two sports which now conclude in summer of all seasons!

 

“To every season turn, turn, turn….” Pete Seeger / biblical Book of Ecclesiastes / The Byrds. 

 

It was time to put baseball to bed last November (gasp!). 

 

“Sleep is the single most important thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day – Matthew Walker.”

 

But no. This “offseason” – there is no such concept anymore – the din grew denser. Ohtani, Yamamoto, Alonso… over and over and over…. Too many notes!

 

What did we learn? The most marginal players on the teams are financially set for life – good for them. The best players are wealthy beyond the imaginations of the fans. The incentive to win is lost. Gaming stats and clinical analysis have replaced passion, intuition, and that good ol’ gut feeling. Too many notes!

 

“Managers are mere data applicators” – Sal Licata / SNY. Too many notes!

 

The insufferable inanity of post-game press conferences and on-field player interviews grows louder and louder.  Too many notes!

 

What did we learn? Players are celebrities – just what the world needs more of now.  Increasing reliance of analytics continues to suck the life force out of the games. Too many notes!

 

What did we learn? Teams don’t need to win anymore to turn a profit – gaming revenues, merch, box-office, advertising rates, and those taxpayers’ funded stadiums provide a perpetual windfall. It’s the American way, teams lose money, yet the teams are owned by billionaires who grow richer by the season. Too many notes!

 

Call me old, call me a curmudgeon, because I am.  Call me ‘out of touch’ with the new game – and you are wrong! The game is out of touch with nature! The game is out of touch with humanity!

 

The anticipation of a new season has been diluted. The spring ritual of digging your baseball mitt and cap from the back of the closet (physically or spiritually) has been watered down. The thrill of seeing your favorite players and local announcers after months of hibernation has evaporated. The constant buzz of baseball content is the stuff of Clockwork Orange (and Blue if you’re a Mets fan).

 

I am antique enough know that the beauty of the natural world lies in the details.  When you plant a tree, you have to give it time to grow. If you water the plant too much, the plant dies. 

 

Play ball 2024? I’ve drowned before the season even starts… I know, the fans will return. I will watch the games. Why? What for, I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet… I need more time….

 

Tom Semioli, February 2024

 

 

 

 

 

Eureka (Ancient Greek: εὕρηκα, romanized: héurēka) is an interjection used to celebrate a discovery or invention. It is a transliteration of an exclamation attributed to Ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes.

 

13 December 2023: Last evening, deep in the lower intestines of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, I was rehearsing/rehashing my post-punk, post-modern, post-partum, Post Toasties alternative collective, Tex Wagner. Our trio is reuniting while we still have breaths left in us.

 

My usual tool of the trade in said configuration is the Fender Jazz – it has the double pickup bite and afferent bravura required to slice through Stu Richard’s squall of sound coupled with “Big Daddy” Dan Reich’s drum orchestra.*

 

In fact, I’ve just ordered custom Lindy Fralin pups to enhance the J din. Wait ‘till the fellas really go deaf!

 

Given my recent Fender Mustang bass modernizations (Curtis Novak pups, toilet seat buffer thumb rest, black pickguard) I opted to take this short scale to work. With heavy flats, the instrument resonates akin to a washtub, so I lowered the bass guitar below my waist and employed a heavy plectrum for the desired timbre. Not at all my usual posture, but we bassists have a job to do here…

 

Changing deportment also changes note choices, and rhythmic options. Access to the upper register is limited and the E string and your wrist bones/muscles become your best friends.

 

Once we started decidedly disturbing the peace, I found myself simplifying once busy passages and working single note harmonies which actually improved on the original motifs I waxed in the late 20^th Century with these comrades in sonic mastery.

 

My work ethic at this stage of the game is to throw myself curveballs. Go where the road don’t go and you’ll be pleasantly surprised where you arrive!

 

* “If you don’t like the way I play…try moving me!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bassist, composer, recording and performing artist, educator, and historian – among other endeavors… Brad Hallen hosts a brief video and tutorial history of the electric bass! 

 

Who is Brad Hallen. Glad you asked! From his website bio https://bradhallen.com/index.html

 

Brad Hallen hails from Boston, Mass and is an accomplished Acoustic and Electric bassist.

 

Since graduating high school in 1975 Brad has been thoroughly committed to the art of music.

 

After graduating from Andrew Warde High School in Fairfield, Ct in 1975 he spent time in top forty bands honing his craft and learning bass lines to songs that were on the radio at that time by Earth,Wind and Fire, Rufus, Stevie Wonder, Average White Band, etc. In 1978 he got off the road and moved to Boston, Mass where he quickly became part of the musical fabric in the city. He joined Pastiche and they went on to win the Rock N Roll Rumble in 1980 and became one of the top draws in Boston. Also during this time Brad played with many other Boston Bands including The Nervous Eaters, Willie Alexander, and The Outlets.

 

In 1981 he joined forces with a band out of Chicago called Ministry and toured steadily for two years including tours with The Police on their Synchronicity tour, Culture Club and Madness. During this time there was a flurry of recording activity with Ministry (With Sympathy and Twitch), Eliot Easton (the Cars), Jane Wiedlin (the Go Go’s), and Iggy Pop. After getting off the road with Ministry, Brad came back to Boston and got involved in the local scene again and The Joneses were born and quickly secured a contract with Atlantic Records, releasing Hard; they became a staple on WBCN and in New England.

 

After that band ran its course Brad toured and recorded with Aimee Mann (I’m with Stupid) for a year or so. Following his stint with Aimee, Brad toured and recorded with Monster Mike Welch (Just Like It Is) and then joined Susan Tedeschi’s touring band, as documented by Live at WC Handy Hall; after two years of working with Susan, Brad became a member of the legendary Roomful of Blues. For 5 years he toured the world with them and made two records for Alligator including the Grammy nominated That’s Right. During that time he also recorded with Johnny Winter (I’m a Bluesman).

 

After his tenure with Roomful, Brad hooked up with Duke Robillard and has been in his touring and recording band for the last 7 years. Brad has made 6 records with Duke as a leader and countless records that Duke has produced. Brad’s other project at this time includes The Evenfall Quartet on Blue Duchess records.

 

The journey continues!

 

The “wrong” Tom Semioli at home in New York City, May 2022

 

11 June 2023: On a sunny Sunday New York City afternoon, I turned in my final exam for a medical course I am enrolled in for career purposes. Suddenly, I experienced a profound bass epiphany. Are there any other kind?

 

For years I had advocated the “one bass is enough” theory based on my reasoning that playing the same style instrument is the most precise path to establishing a singular, unique, and personal voice on said tool. 

 

I documented this dastardly dictum on my website www.KnowYourBassPlayer.Com – please refer to Tom’s Ten Reasons Why You Should Own One Bass: http://knowyourbassplayer.com/2022/02/19/toms-top-ten-reasons/

 

Now forget what I wrote! If you have not already that is…

 

As co-host of Notes From An Artist radio / podcast with my like-minded (in this instance) co-host David C. Gross, we strongly advocated this hypothesis.  I was wrong. And maybe David is wrong too. I’ll let him decide.

 

My personal “one bass” theory was inspired by a Marcus Miller interview – I cannot recall if it was in print or on his SiriusXM Miller Time program – wherein this master noted that many of the iconic players – spanning Paul McCartney, Chris Squire, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius and the like – all rendered their greatest work on one instrument.

 

Makes sense! At the time I heard / read Marcus’ notion, I was returning to the bass after years of inactivity. I was having trouble aplenty navigating the five-string Stingray MusicMan (a gem of an bass – get one!) which I retrieved from my storage unit figuring I should pick up where I left off with my most modern instrument. My playing was more awful than I remembered.

 

Adhering to the almighty gospel of Marcus, I dutifully returned to the ancient four string wherein I created my best work – a 1976 Fender Precision which I had modified during the ’77 Jaco zeitgeist to include a J bass bridge pickup. Hence it was more of a J than a P bass sonically. I commenced playing and sounding better and feeling good about getting back on the bandstand and the studio. Feeling good is good!

 

Now, I realize, after much contemplation, that what works for me does not necessarily work for everyone else. Many of my esteemed colleagues own and play several instruments. I should not impose my own experiences on those of others. Nor should you! 

 

Here are Tom’s Top Reasons Why You Should Own More Than One Bass…

 

One: Life is short. If owning more than one instrument brings you joy – go for it. Loving an instrument makes you play better, which translates into playing better music and vice versa. Joy is good in this world! 

 

Two: Playing more than one bass is good for the bass industry. More bass purchases mean more basses manufactured means more research and development – as such, we will have better basses in the future.

 

Three: Aesthetics. As godlike Beatles producer George Martin opined in his book All You Need Is Ears (Macmillian 1979) – and I am brutally paraphrasing here – people listen to music with their eyes…when they see you they make up their mind whether they are going to give you a chance to like you or not… Martin emphasized that as talented, fortunate, and ambitious as The Beatles were, it was their charisma and appearance that made them an enduring phenomenon.  

 

My pal and Know Your Bass Player interviewee John Cardone (Playlist Link: https://rb.gy/wruuq ) anchors a fantastic 1960s repertory ensemble aptly named “The Sixties.” John’s onstage bass collection corresponds to the era which the band celebrates, not only with period attire, but with a video montage that complements the music as it is played. Don’t miss this show – regardless of your generational bent! 

 

Certainly, Cardone could rock on with an ‘80s style bass such as my Steinberger XL, or any number of boutique 21^st Century instruments. However, that would compromise the image The Sixties impart to the audience. Plus, I’m sure if I asked John, playing vintage instruments such as a Hofner, Rickenbacker, Fender, and others, enables him to get into character. And on stage, whether we care to admit it or not, we are in the entertainment business and we play a role.  John plays the role of a 1960s rock bassist – he uses the right tools for the right job.

 

John Cardone Bass Museum…

 

Four: Right Tools for My Right Jobs. I own four basses – each with its own distinct function. My Fender Jazz for live performances (most adaptable to varied NYC backline, infinite tonal options, ergonomically perfect for my body type). My Fender Precision – re-modified to its original split-coil configuration – is used strictly in the studio. (Too heavy to play live, too sentimental a totem to risk damage, and now too fragile for the rigors of subways, cabs, and running from thieves – some of which are in my respective groups!). My JMJ Fender Mustang is a backup for outdoor gigs in dodgy weather, my occasional garage rock collective (The Velcro Underground) or even dodgier neighborhoods. I treasure my beloved (by me) Steinberger XL for sentimental reasons and occasional shock value in public – yes, even after 42 years and counting folks freak out when they behold the bass has no headstock!

 

Those are my tools for my jobs. You have your own toolbox! Don’t let me or anyone else tell you what should be in there!

 

Five: Different Instruments Alter Your Playing Style. Your sound is in your fingers and your soul. Physically, your hands and arms play the instrument. Instruments with wider necks, varying ergonomics, and varying electronic designs all affect your playing. I can play my J bass with more dexterity than my P by way of the thinner neck and balance. My Mustang is short scale, so I have fewer note choices than my Steinberger XL which goes up, up and away to a very, very high E and beyond – and the swivel strap apparatus makes those stratospheric notes easy to reach. I am still me, but I am a different me on different basses. And I have no desire to purchase another bass – one me is enough!

 

Six: Identity. For original or improvisatory music – which is the only stuff I do nowadays, I play one instrument for my own consistency. That’s how I build my identity. If you feel playing more than one instrument keeps you consistent, improving, and forging your own identity – go for it.

 

I witnessed Jaco in his good years and sadly, during his downfall. Though he used (borrowed) inferior instruments other than his signature Fender Jazz “Doom” bass – he sounded like Jaco. Ditto Macca, whom I heard with his 5-string Wal and a Hofner. My pal and dramatic Know Your Bass Player foil Tony Senatore is one of the best players and people you could hope to meet. I look forward to his daily bass videos to see what instrument he is playing. Senny always picks the right tool – he has scores of them – for the song and the style of music. That’s what we do as bass players.

 

Tony Senatore – a man who will admit that I was wrong!

 

Don’t put a price tag on passion…or life.

 

Life is short…don’t sweat the bass stuff!!! Go buy a bass…buy two…three… 

 

 

The author wearing Jesus slippers on stage at Stitch Bar & Blues NYC 2022