Courtesy of Richard Davis Com

As one of the world’s premier bass players, Davis’s music has touched the lives of countless fans, and his teaching has inspired generations of students in the classroom as well as with the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists, Inc., which provides musical instruction for financially challenged youth. While the jazz master and professor could’ve ended his renowned biography there, his passion for social justice, for the healing of racism, has changed the lives of those who have accepted his invitation to open their hearts, minds and spirits to the history and pathology of racism within.” Neil Heinen,  Madison Magazine

A master jazz and classical bassist (Leonard Bernstein), solo recording artist, composer, collaborator, and educator at the University of Wisconsin in Madison; Richard Davis’ body of work as sideman span important, watershed recordings by Eric Dolphy, Ahmad Jamal, Kenny Burrell, Tony Williams, Andrew Hill, Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra, George Benson, Stan Getz, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Billy Cobham to cite a select few.

Davis began his career as a bassist in high school. A member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Richard migrated to New York City in the 1950s, and anchored Sarah Vaughan’s ensembles. 

Richard served as the rhythmic and melodic foil for Van Morrison on one pop music’s greatest recordings, Astral Weeks (1968).  He also worked with pop artists Bruce Springsteen, Laura Nyro, and Frank Sinatra. In 1977 Davis commenced his career as a jazz instructor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Richard Davis Sound & Vision….

Van Morrison “Madame George” https://youtu.be/FjSzsu9y9gY

Bruce Springsteen “Meeting Across the River” https://youtu.be/c6OAtvjSf1Y

Richard Davis / Elvin Jones “Shiny Stockings” https://youtu.be/FTnrNqCoFeQ

Richard Davis “What’d Ya Say” https://youtu.be/s_d1GIsXmDM

Richard Davis “Now’s The Time” https://youtu.be/0JdvW-1g3-4

Eric Dolphy “Something Sweet Something Tender” https://youtu.be/rUNDPUIac4E

His slap/pop groove on “Glide” was a rite of passage for bassists of my generation.

A first call session cat, producer, and composer; Nathaniel Phillips co-founded the funk powerhouse Pleasure, and plied monster grooves for artists spanning Ronnie Laws, Roy Ayers, Jeff Lorber, Idris Muhammad, Herb Albert, Stevie Wonder, Bob James, En Vogue, and Toni Braxton to cite a select few.

Nathaniel Phillips Sound & Vision…with Pleasure 

“Glide” https://youtu.be/uo9u0vtOqHw

“Joyous” https://youtu.be/ezRwtHlQoM4

An engineer left the tape rolling during a pre-session warm-up, and recorded the bass break that afforded Janice Marie Johnson renown as the sultry slap and pop diva on the dance classic “Boogie Oogie Oogie”

“Boogie Oogie Oogie” https://youtu.be/PhD58dP9kq8

A versatile singer, composer, bassist, Janice anchored disco / contemporary R&B ensemble A Taste of Honey (1978 Best New Artist Grammy) for a few platters and singles, most notably the aforementioned anthem and hits such as “Do It Good,” and “Sukiyaki.” Far from a one-trick disco pony, Janice and TOH were a dexterous collective, traversing soul, funk, traditional ballads, MOR, rock, and permutations thereof.

Raised in a musical family, Janice started her career as a jazz singer in her native Los Angeles. She gravitated to the instrument as a college student – and was a natural. Given her dexterity on the instrument, Janice is the consummate song player – every note counts, and serves the melody and groove. She’s been photographed with a variety of instruments, however KYBP digs Janice with her vintage Fender Jazz basses!

Following A Taste Of Honey’s initial commercial decline, she waxed a fine slab in 1984 aptly titled One Taste of Honey. Janice is still on the bandstand, slappin’…poppin’…singin’…tearin’ it up!

“Do It Good” https://youtu.be/PhD58dP9kq8

“Sukiyaki” https://youtu.be/xqFkUNqBwMw

“Rescue Me” https://youtu.be/8yKUHb38liY

“Last Chance Romeo” https://youtu.be/xpoHtlnc4DY

By Tom Semioli 

Back in the late 1970s – early 80s, the late Busta “Cherry” Jones was a first call session cat / side-man, plying funk fueled lines with a mastery of rhythm, space, harmony – rendered with fat P bass tone. A showman, composer, solo recording artist, and collaborator; Mr. Jones distinguished himself on several seminal sides of his era including My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) and The Name of this Band is Talking Heads (1982), among others. He followed Andy Fraser in Sharks, anchored a killer live trio platter with Chris Spedding (Friday the 13th); and worked with Gang of Four, Eno, Robert Fripp, and The Ramones, to cite a select few.

Dig Busta on “You Keep Making Me Hot” https://youtu.be/KwvpyQ8wUR0

Dig Busta with The Talking Heads https://youtu.be/GQo1YK3I0BY

Dig Busta with Eno & Byrne “Regiment” https://youtu.be/wtWFyiZITew

A giant of the electric bass in a primarily jazz-fusion context, Bernard “Bunny” Brunel has waxed seminal sides and performed on stage with Al Di Meola, Mike Stern, Joe Farrell, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Al Jarreau, and Wayne Shorter to cite a select few.

In addition to his tenure in fusion super-group CAB with Tony McAlpine and Dennis Chambers, Bunny is an award winning solo recording artist, writer, clinician, arranger, soundtrack composer (The Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood; Highlander, among others), bass designer, and educator.  Brunel cites his influences as Sam Jones, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Eddie Gomez, Miroslav Vitous and Stanley Clarke.

Bunny’s weapons of choice include Fender, Carvin, ESP, Yamaha, the GIBSON Bunny Brunel model, EUB upright, and LaBella round-wound strings.

Dig Bunny with CAB in 2017 https://youtu.be/04iFeMqmLlw

Dig Bunny with Chick and Al Jarreau “Spain” https://youtu.be/JmNd83q2PLc

Dig Bunny rendering the title track to his 1979 slab Touch https://youtu.be/QVrU4zJu8Cc

The late Paul Goddard anchored a dexterous collective of seasoned Georgia session cats who struck out on their own as the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and emerged as a staple on FM radio and concert halls coast to coast in the 1970s.

Plying  his craft on a Rickenbacker 4001 and Fender Precision with a plectrum,  Goddard was a master melodic pocket player and soloist.

Paul’s blistering chromatic bass breaks on “Another Man’s Woman” as rendered on the studio slab Red Tape (1976) and the live two-fer Are You Ready (1979) are the stuff of legend.  

Paul Goddard Sound & Vision…

“Another Man’s Woman” https://youtu.be/AODF46HKAHk

“So Into You” https://youtu.be/wzCdSJu5xqI

Of all Lou Reed’s remarkable ensembles, the one collective that garners the least attention, yet deserves accolades aplenty, was anchored by Ellard- James Boles. Commencing with Take No Prisoners in 1978, a swinging live set wherein Lou’s stream of conscious humor displaces his habitual street hassled libretto, “Moose” grooves heartily akin to a big band bassist.

Courtesy of Ellard James Boles Facebook

From Take No Prisoners, here’s Moose working a soulful pocket with Lou on radical remakes of “I’m Waiting for the Man” https://youtu.be/pZLKlQsWfgY  and “Satellite of Love” https://youtu.be/aAoZTP4dIA0

Lou also benefits from the mighty Moose’s soulful disposition on The Bells (1979) and Growing Up in Public (1980).  As I was witness on numerous occasions, this band delivered on record and on stage despite the fact that Lou was at a commercial ebb – which eventually righted itself when artists of Reed’s stature were afforded legacy status in the mid-1980s as CD reissues came into vogue. If you missed them the first time around, discover Lou’s slabs with Moose Boles.

“The Power of Positive Drinking” https://youtu.be/P0F45-Fyl2E

“Think It Over” https://youtu.be/gDx3EpDIRww

A multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, producer, sideman, recording artist – nowadays Moose fronts his Bulletproof Blues Band, among other projects.

Dig Moose and The Bulletproof Blues Band: https://youtu.be/_kNcBPpFNrQ

Boles’ history will bowl you over as well – among his collaborators include Gregg Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughn, David Bowie, Buddy Miles, James Cotton, Lonnie Brooks, Junior Wells, C. J. Chenier, John Belushi, Steve Marriott, and Steve Miller.

Dig Moose’s rendition of “Hoochie Coochie Man” https://youtu.be/u1VTOJbHCX8

By Thomas Semioli

These Wolverhampton lads started out as a just another British blues ensemble whose debut slab flopped. However when they commenced to cranking out pop tunes abetted with volume aplenty – these unlikely rock gods caught the glam train to superstardom in the UK in the early 1970s, scoring several platinum sides and singles until it all came to a screeching halt in ‘75 when their film and move to Los Angeles tanked.

Along with his showman mate Neville John “Noddy” Holder, bassist James Whild Lea created such scholarly compositions which infuriated English professors en masse including “Cum On Feel the Noize,” “Gudbuy T’ Jane,” “Skweeze Me Pleeze Me,” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now,” among others.  

A skillful, melodic song player ala Sir Paul and Brian Wilson by way of the Wrecking Crew who skillfully balanced himself atop platforms oft complimented by sparkling haberdashery, Lea and his Slade cohorts joyfully set the template for the pop metal onslaught of the 1980s as evidenced by the chart and video successes of Quiet Riot’s renditions of their signature tunes. 

Following Slade’s initial demise, Lea recorded under a few monikers including The Dummies, yet never approached the commercial success of Slade, who continued to tour well into the 21st Century as a nostalgia act – sans James.

Among Lea’s many weapons of choice included a Framus bass similar to Bill Wyman, Gibson EB-3, Fender Jazz and Precision, and Rickenbacker 4001.

Dig James on…

“Cum On Feel The Noize” https://youtu.be/Qu_ozjAu_vM

“Gudbuy T’ Jane” https://youtu.be/GddY7Jj63tw

“Skweeze Me Pleeze Me” https://youtu.be/-mKjx2oL_fI

“Mama We’re All Crazee Now” https://youtu.be/RPTk5poAa1c

And a personal favorite of The Viletones’ legendary leader, singer, composer Steven Leckie: Dig James’ rhythmic and harmonic movement on their rendition of Janis Joplin’s “Move On” https://youtu.be/X502fNgvST0

Courtesy Judas Priest Com

“Living after midnight, rockin’ to the dawn, lovin’ ’til the morning, then I’m gone, I’m gone!”

Rob Halford may be rockin’ and lovin’ but he’s not gone… and neither is the chrome-domed studded-codpiece commandeering singer’s former brother-in-law and bassist, Ian Hill!  

Hill started out on upright, following the footsteps of his father who was an accomplished jazz bass player. Founding the mighty Judas Priest in 1970 with K.K. Downing, Ian is the sole original member of this metal institution which has sold upwards of 50 million slabs, and inspired generation upon generation of hard rockers around the globe

A student of the classic British players of yore with a yen for volume – Jack Bruce and John Entwistle; Hill oddly enough eschews the flash and improve for pocket-playing, with an occasional melody / riff just to remind you he’s there!

Ian’s weapon of choice during Priest’s golden era was a 1970 Fender Jazz with a block neck. Since then he has worked Spector instruments which produce a signature Ian Hill bass. Sometime in the 1980s, Hill switched to the now common metal modus operandi of B-E-A-D tuning. Occasionally Ian will work the extended range five string as his guitar mates tend to tune down to further accentuate Halford’s hoops and hollers….  

Ian Hill Sound & Vision…

“Don’t Go” https://youtu.be/3ROVXf6fZ0U

“Another Think Coming” Live https://youtu.be/U__m4N7Ml30

“Hell Bent for Leather” https://youtu.be/IyEGGoWaxOc

“Rocka Rolla” https://youtu.be/957N7EAtpY4

“Painkiller” https://youtu.be/nM__lPTWThU

“Breakin’ the Law” https://youtu.be/L397TWLwrUU

“Electric Eye” https://youtu.be/yMVV_HsHcX0

“Turbo Lover” https://youtu.be/JhY9GOhFwN4