Oh wow... I had forgotten about Jeff! Bit of a jerk, definitely shouldn't sing but a hell of a player.

 

Awww, come on, so little love to the rock bass

Jack Bruce

Mark Sandman

Tina Weymouth

joe Lally

Well many others, The Primus guy for example, here is not the virtuosism the main thing but being able to make great riffs that are the backbone of entire songs

 

Tina is interesting... she's not flashy, she's probably technically all that great but DAMN she's solid, she really locks in. She's heckin' good at being a bass player for the types of grooves they did. That's what makes "who's the best xxxx" (as opposed to favorite, maybe) discussions tough. I always tell people that Ringo would have been a lousy drummer for Rush but then Neal Peart would have been a lousy drummer for the Beatles.

Speaking of which, Geddy, hello!

 

Eddie Gómez

Edgar Gómez (born October 4, 1944) is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist, known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1966 to 1977.
He played with musicians such as Gerry Mulligan, Marian McPartland, Paul Bley, Steps Ahead, and Chick Corea. He spent a total of eleven years with the Bill Evans Trio, which included performances in the United States, Europe and Asia, as well as dozens of recordings.


​

 

Richard Davis​

Richard Davis (born April 15, 1930) is an American jazz bassist. Among his best-known contributions to the albums of others are Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, of which critic Greil Marcus wrote (in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll), "Richard Davis provided the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album."

​

 

ALL of the bassist mentioned previously, but not forgetting, Esperanza Spalding, Meshell Ndegeocello, and the reggae greats
Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Robbie Shakespeare.

 

John Taylor (of Duran Duran fame)
he is probably one of the most NOTORIOUSly underrated bassists, of all time.

Is John Taylor considered a good bass player?
His sense of rhythm is incredible, and he was able to create new bass melodies on top of existing bass lines. He was even playing guitar-like parts with his bass. He knows his way around!” “That's an amazing body of work. Jan 1, 2008

Where does John Taylor rank as a bass player?



In February 2013, he placed 29th in MusicRadar's greatest bassist poll. In December 2021, Bass Player magazine awarded Taylor a Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Last edited: Apr 11, 2023

You are absolutely right about the singing.
On Brufords Master Strokes album, theres one vocal song, where Jeff sings.
Not the best decision.
But his Bass work on that album is phenomenal.

When talking about good players and good bass parts as well, i always have to think about one part:
The last 20 or 30 seconds of Marleys I shot the sheriff, until it's faded out.
Can't get enough of this one. What a hypnotic line, and played so well.
Dunno who was the bassman then, but others here will surely know.

 

Aston "Family Man" Barrett played on I Shot The Sheriff, Burnin LP. The live cut on Live at the Lyceum is great as well!

 

Also not to forget and in no particular order:
- Herbie Flowers
- Les Claypool
- Bernard Edwards
- Chris Squire
- George Murray

 

Yeah, was waiting to see if Chris finally turned up

 

Oh, and another, possibly my personal favorite rock bass player ever: Ray Shulman. And I just found out he passed away not two weeks ago. Damn, I'm bummed.

 

Avishai Cohen deserves to be mentioned.

 

I take my hat off to the following bassists:
Mark King from Level 42
Stu Hamm from G3
Wojtek Pilichowski - jazz and funk from Poland.

 

Sam Jones​

Sam Jones was born in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, to a musical family. His father played piano and drums and his aunt played organ in church. In 1955, he moved to New York City and began his recording career with Tiny Bradshaw, before working with Bill Evans, Bobby Timmons, Les Jazz Modes, Kenny Dorham, Illinois Jacquet, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie (1958–59), and Thelonious Monk. He is probably best known for his work with Cannonball Adderley, performing in his quintet from 1955 to 1956 and then again from 1959 to 1964, and recording extensively for Riverside Records as both a leader and sideman. He later spent several years working with Oscar Peterson (1966-1970) and Cedar Walton (1972-1977). In the 1970s, Jones recorded several albums as a bandleader for the Xanadu and SteepleChase labels. Jones wrote the jazz standards "Del Sasser" and "Unit 7" while working with Adderley. Other compositions include "Blue Funk", "O.P.", "Bittersweet", and "Seven Minds".

​

 

A really outstanding bass player, but also a great composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer, pretty underrated. R.I.P. Ray

 

As far as rock- the guy for the Who and the guy for the Stones were pretty good. I really liked Carlos for Interpol, too. It's surprisingly easy to eff up a song with a bass/line. Right on up there with drums. The above bands had excellent drummers, too. Of course, Ringo and Paul were amazing, too. The guy for Led Zeppelin had some really tasty keyboard and mandolin lines.

Kool and the Gang were the shit, too. So tight. Tom Petty had a quality rhythm section. I guess I like classic rock these days. And coldwave. The guy who did the bass for Bowie and Lou Reed was something. Dazz Band, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and The Band stand out, too. Naturally, the jazz guys will have the chops. It's just not really my bag. But I am sure the best jazz cats were untouchable except for maybe some tuba players in the major orchestras. Again, I don't know about all that. I love classical music, but I don't play it. I pretty much hate jazz except for particular Miles Davis and Coltrane albums back in the '50's and 60's that are very listenable to me. INXS, Thompson Twins, and the girl from Talking Heads all stand out in my mind, too. Duran Duran guy, too. Such a pretty boy. Although after reading the Nile Rodgers autobiography, I am pretty sure Bernard Edwards (RIP) did most of the heavy lifting there at least on the Rio record. Missing Persons was wow.

Really, bass is something that is so key to hold down the groove of the song. Most of the time it is not necessary to poke above and be noticeable, so maybe it is worth considering more deeply. The Beach Boys songs had some great moving bass lines. Synth lines from Kraftwerk are amazing. Some of the playing on those old Amon Düül II records is nice. I could go on and on. Peter Gabriel had some nice bassists. Sting was good. You get what I am saying.

 

Last edited: Apr 12, 2023

Lars Danielsson

Lars Danielsson (born 5 September 1958) is a Swedish jazz bassist, composer, and record producer.​

Lars Danielsson New Quintet concert at San Javier Jazz Festival (Spain), July 2016

Danielsson was born in Smålandsstenar, and was educated at the music conservatory in Gothenburg. He plays double bass, electric bass and cello. In 1985, he formed a quartet with saxophonist Dave Liebman, pianist Bobo Stenson and drummer Jon Christensen that sometimes used Danielsson's name, producing several albums. He also worked with big bands.​

He played and recorded with John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Mike Stern, Billy Hart, Charles Lloyd, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leszek Możdżer, Joey Calderazzo, Gino Vannelli and Dave Kikoski. Since 1980, he has released solo albums with the Lars Danielssons Quartet. In these albums, Alex Acuña, John Abercrombie, Bill Evans, Kenny Wheeler, Rick Margitza and Niels Lan Doky were featured.

​

 

Jaco with Ian

How Ian Hunter Bassist Paul Page Reinvented Jaco Pastorius' All American Alien Boy Solo