Crazy Larry?

[francisco]

Larry Grenadier news spot: https://www.marlbank.net/marlbank/a-...lo-flight.html

[Ian Thumwood]

I find solo bass albums to be amongst the least appealing in jazz. Whilst it is not difficult to appreciate the challenges and recognise the musicianship to pull of what is arguably the most difficult format to work, there is a problem for me with the "thinness" of this instrument on it's own. By playing arco, there is perhaps greater scope but I don't feel that many bassists deliver on this. I would certainly argue against this format being "rubbish" as it clearly takes an enormous amount of skill and vision. Personally, I feel that the results rarely deliver the same level of satisfaction as solo piano, guitar or even horn instruments. At one stage I heard a lot of solo bass records because a mate of mine got really in to it and was forever loaning me records abut which he enthused. Seem to recall one was by Miroslav Vitous and there might have been another by Dave Holland.


The article also refers to Eberhard Weber. I suppose he is almost an archetypal ECM artist and someone whose music I have enjoyed in the past even though I do feel that the music is very much of it's era. His best stuff is now over 40 years old and was an interesting response to Weather Report. In Weber's favour, he always has a good ear for a melody and there is something cheerily autumnal about his work. However, the processed bass sound and the way that it is to the forefront of the music seems to divorce his output from a lot of the mainstream. More than any other ECM artist, he is almost his own oeuvre. There is a lot of overdubbing and even the employment of a brass section on one if his records to make the music more interesting. They are something of a guilty pleasure but not sure if they still enjoy anything of the kind of a following he had in the70s and 80's. Great albums covers, though!