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ellyssianDespite being a guitarist and spending my free time hanging out with drummers on the Row, my single most memorable moment at Berklee was because of a bassist.
They brought all of us in - can't remember if it was during my History of Rock class or during the History of Jazz with the other half of the freshman class.
We all filed into the classroom - the Berklee Performance Center - and heard many a eulogy for a guy who used to pull frets out of his Fender bass, and inspired many of the speakers to do the same.
The point of all this was to announce the passing of a giant.
If you pretend to play bass, but haven't heard Jaco, that's all you are doing: pretending. I've heard other good bass players - other great, earth-shattering, virtuoso, incredibly talented bass players. I've even had the pleasure of playing with one or two of them. None have matched, let alone surpassed, Jaco.
This album features - Bach and Beatles excepted - Jaco as a composer. One key word that comes to mind - maybe even more than 'brilliant' and all that other kind of very applicable type of stuff - is fun. There's a playful spirit in this music. Brandon's already shown an interest in Jaco's first disc - don't think I've played him the birthday concert yet - but I fully expect him to have a blast bopping and dancing along to this one.
Who knows, if Deb doesn't pick up the bass again, maybe Brandon will...
They brought all of us in - can't remember if it was during my History of Rock class or during the History of Jazz with the other half of the freshman class.
We all filed into the classroom - the Berklee Performance Center - and heard many a eulogy for a guy who used to pull frets out of his Fender bass, and inspired many of the speakers to do the same.
The point of all this was to announce the passing of a giant.
If you pretend to play bass, but haven't heard Jaco, that's all you are doing: pretending. I've heard other good bass players - other great, earth-shattering, virtuoso, incredibly talented bass players. I've even had the pleasure of playing with one or two of them. None have matched, let alone surpassed, Jaco.
This album features - Bach and Beatles excepted - Jaco as a composer. One key word that comes to mind - maybe even more than 'brilliant' and all that other kind of very applicable type of stuff - is fun. There's a playful spirit in this music. Brandon's already shown an interest in Jaco's first disc - don't think I've played him the birthday concert yet - but I fully expect him to have a blast bopping and dancing along to this one.
Who knows, if Deb doesn't pick up the bass again, maybe Brandon will...
