dg
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Posts: 125
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Post by dg on Nov 6, 2022 22:15:48 GMT
Just watched a fantastic new documentary RON CARTER: FINDING THE RIGHT NOTES, which is being shown occasionally now on the US PBS television network...a very sensitive portrait of not only a great artist but an exemplary human being. Carter, said to be the world's most recorded bass player, is, in 2022, 85 years of age and apparently still playing. One of many very moving segments showed Carter at his first gig after New York "opened up after" the Covid pandemic, playing a very slow version of "My Funny Valentine" which morphed into Carter playing the tune with a variety of artists through the years, including of course Miles Davis. A fabulous production. I think the documentary can perhaps be viewed now on the PBS web site. A link through YouTube took me to a site that was not secure, so probably not recommended.
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Post by bassman on Nov 8, 2022 16:10:00 GMT
I shouldn't really be weighing in because I haven't seen the documentary. What I do want to say is I found RC's compendium, "Building Jazz Bass Lines" quite useful. Some folks on Amazon disagree, but they are few. However, aside from a few of his didactic "compositions" (bass line plus chords), it reveals very little about his own specific style. I think that's what people were probably looking for. Some transcriptions of his actual playing can be found in "Miles Smiles, and the Invention of Post Bop", by Jeremy Yudkin, and "The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-68", by Keith Waters. Both books provide very good reading, even if you don't want to go into detail.
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Post by gregorythefish on Nov 9, 2022 15:12:14 GMT
i largely agree, bassman. i am a fellow double bassist, if you didn't know. ron is enough of a god that i think any perspective he can give us is valuable, but this really does read like a more generic instruction book than i would have hoped from a guy like ron.
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Post by bassman on Nov 9, 2022 15:34:44 GMT
i largely agree, bassman. i am a fellow double bassist, if you didn't know. ron is enough of a god that i think any perspective he can give us is valuable, but this really does read like a more generic instruction book than i would have hoped from a guy like ron. I know, Gregory  . And yes, it is exactly that: a generic instruction book. The best way to learn from Ron is to listen to him playing. He revolutionized the sheer sound of the instrument around 1961, and when he joined Miles in '63 he changed music history. |
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dg
Full Member
Posts: 125
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Post by dg on Nov 10, 2022 17:50:54 GMT
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. And yes, it is exactly that: a generic instruction book. The best way to learn from Ron is to listen to him playing. He revolutionized the sheer sound of the instrument around 1961, and when he joined Miles in '63 he changed music history.