The bowed (arco) upright bass

[mrjazzman]

What is the best or your favorite BOWED bass solo. In general I don't like the bass as a solo instrument bowed or otherwise and have not heard a lot of them. I like Major Holley because his humming gave a voice to the instrument. Having said that, my entry would be Jimmy Garrison on Mr. P.C. from the cd "The Paris Concert" Pablo/ojccd.........

Edited November 24, 2009 by mrjazzman

[Chas]

I don't have a favorite arco solo , but if I did it'd probably be one by Richard Davis .

[7/4]

Eberhard Weber!

*

[clifford_thornton]

Buschi Niebergall!

[brownie]

Charles Mingus' arco playing may not be really correct by academic standards but it is his solos (on the UCLA concert, for instance) that really get to me.

So does PC's arco (as on Red Garland's 'Groovy')!

[Chas]

So does PC's arco (as on Red Garland's 'Groovy')!

Really ? Wow . He might be my least favorite with the bow .

[brownie]

So does PC's arco (as on Red Garland's 'Groovy')!

Really ? Wow . He might be my least favorite with the bow .

Some of my very first jazz experiences were listening to the Miles Davis quintet albums with Trane, Garland, PC and Philly Jo. Loved everything there.

And that included PC's arco bass appearances. Thought this was the way arco bass should be played

That was a bit more than half a century ago. I have moved on on many ideas and impressions since but not on PC!

[jazzbo]

Charles Mingus' arco playing may not be really correct by academic standards but it is his solos (on the UCLA concert, for instance) that really get to me.

It would be Mingus for me as well. Probably something from the 1964 European Tour.

[Niko]

another big fan of PC on arco here, e.g. on Coltrane's Prestige albums

i recently discovered Henri Texiers early solo albums, Varech and Amir, much more accessible than expected...

(don't know where in the world this link works:)

[Guy Berger]

Ron Carter is one of my LEAST favorites.

[flat5]

Once at the Both/And club in San Francisco in 1968 (I believe) I heard the Kent Glenn Big Band play an up-tempo "Lester Leaps In".

It included a long arco solo by Henry Grimes. It was clean and clear.

[jeffcrom]

Not to get over-dramatic, but one arco bass solo changed my life by opening my eyes to the wider possibilities of music. When I was 12, my sweet mom gave me Budd Johnson's Argo album Ya! Ya! for Christmas, since I had just taken up the saxophone. She wasn't that hip - she just found it in the cutout racks and picked it up because it had a picture of Budd with his horn on the cover.

George Duvivier plays on half of the record and Richard Davis on the other half. On a tune called "Exotique," Davis plays a remarkable bowed solo - very avant-garde for 1964, especially in this straight-ahead context. It's mostly double-stopped, full of quarter tones and other dissonances; it's just amazing. I liked it right away - my reaction was something like, "Oh - you can do that!"

That was my first jazz album, so it changed my life in that way, but it was RD's arco solo that really opened my eyes.

[mikeweil]

Red Mitchell does a great solo on "Bow Jest" on Hampton Hawes' "Four" LP on Contemporary.

Problem with jazz bowing is intonation. To play in a more agile fashion, jazz players use a smaller bow, but this doesn't give you enough pressure for correct intonation at faster tempos.

Major Holley was great!

[Shrdlu]

When I think of arco jazz bass, I think of Paul first. I love his solos - he manages to maintain the tempo as he does it.

Richard Davis is amazing of course.

After seeing the comment about Ron Carter, may I say that he's my favorite bassist of all (pizzicato). Ron is not one for a lot of solos, which is to his credit. Just an awesome, deep, sustained sound.

[AllenLowe]

I hear Ronnie Boykins play a beautiful bowed solo at the Tin Palace, maybe the early '80s.

[JohnT]

Eddie Gomez plays some great bowed solos on some of the recordings he made with Bill Evans - mostly in a "live" setting . IIRC, he played some great bowed solos on the "Tokyo Concert" and "Montruex III" records.

A great contemporary bassist who almost always plays bowed bass solos is Ari Roland. IMHO, he kind of reminds me of a modern day Paul Chambers in his bowed sound.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Toronto's Dave Young is the master bowed-bass soloist.

I get the chance to hear him a lot, and no one has better pitch, better sound or better ideas.

Oscar Peterson thought so, too... Dave played with OP for years, following on such as Ray Brown, Sam Jones, and: replacing Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, no less.

I know there are lots of folk on Organissimo who don't like OP, but if you want to hear some fine bowed bass, the best way to find Dave Young is on Peterson's recordings and DVDs.

Young has just released a new CD, and you can learn about it, and him, at: http://www.ejazznews.com/modules.php?op=mo...e&sid=10858

I think that a club date I recorded, Lenny Breau with Dave Young "Live at Bourbon Street" is still available. It was a typical club evening, and the whole thing eventually was released on rocker Randy Bachman's Guitarchives label. Fine work by Young there...

Edited November 24, 2009 by Ted O'Reilly

[BillF]

So does PC's arco (as on Red Garland's 'Groovy')!

Really ? Wow . He might be my least favorite with the bow .

I feel like that about PC too, but someone must have liked his bowed solos or they wouldn't have given him so many!

[paul secor]

Always liked David Izenzon's arco playing.

Mingus' arco playing on the Monterey album got to me back when - perhaps not perfect, but emotionally there & that was important to me. I was always impressed with Mingus' arco playing, given that he had so much else going on - composing, leading bands, making his bands swing. To me, it was amazing that he had the time and energy to put into it.

[Dave James]

I'm no fan of bowing, but of all the bassists who occasionally ply that trade, Paul Chambers has to be the worst. When he goes arco, it sounds to me like he's got as good a chance of sawing his instrument in two as he does of completing the solo.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Dave James

[Larry Kart]

Russell Thorne. Sounded like he was improvising a Webern string quartet.

[Chuck Nessa]

Malachi Favors solo on Roscoe Mitchell's Sound had amazed me since 1966.

[AndrewHill]

I'm a particular fan of William Parker and Alan Silva's arco playing, especially Wm's solo disk Lifting the Sanctions and Alan's duo disk with Thomas, Transmissions.

[Afric Pepperbird]

I'm particularly fond of Barry Guy & Barre Phillips - Arcus. Two of my all time favorites!

[JohnT]

The new Henry Grimes double CD "Solo" has a lot of great arco and pizz bass along with some violin. It's not for the faint of heart but there's some beautiful playing on these discs.

It's great to have Henry back at it!!!