What People Want In Their Bass Player Ep. 03 - Pianist Randy Halberstat

Time for another episode of one of the most popular features here on Basso Ridiculoso.

This episode brings us a Seattle local hero jazz pianist, Randy Halberstat.



Randy is a professor at Cornish College of the Arts, where he originally was asked by Gary Peacock to fill in for a few classes that Peacock was teaching at the time. That is a pretty heavy endorsement right there. Now, Randy is a full professor and teaches piano and improvisation at Cornish.

Randy has also written a great book called "Metaphors For The Musician" which is one of the most interesting and helpful music books in my Basso Bass Book collection. And I own a LOT of books about music, it is seriously up into the hundreds of books at this point and Randy's book it one of the best. His book is not a book about scales, but it will change how you play them. It is not a book about learning tunes, but it will show you how to learn any tune you want deeper and faster than ever before. It is not a "you can play this scale over this chord" kind of book (although, there is some of that in there) but instead it takes you from scales to music in very interesting and engaging ways. Big Basso stamp of approval on this one.



Lest you think Randy is just some ivory tower academic, let me dissuade you of that incorrect idea. He also is a recording artist on Origin Records and has cut sides (as the cats say) on his own and as a side man for people like Mimi Fox and Greta Matassa. Some of his tunes are also in the Sher Real Books.

So Randy has seen probably his share of young students with chops through his teaching and has also got to play with legends like Gary Peacock, so it should be very interesting to get his take on what makes a "good" bass player.

Here is what Randy said (emphasis mine) :

For me, this question immediately splits into two questions:

1. "What do I want from a bass player?" and
2. "What do I want from any musician?"

Just to be ornery, let me go to the second question first. I need my musicians to have their ears wide open. They need to be in such control of their own musical "tasks" that they can listen to the others in the band with as much avid interest as an audience member. If they're too focused on taking care of their own business, they won't be able to contribute to a unified band sound, which is really more important. If a musician has his ears open and really hears everything that's going on around him, I know I can relax and just play. At that point, I don't care what he plays in response to what I play: he can imitate me, complement me, or contrast with what I'm doing. I know it'll be an honest and well-informed decision, and that's all I want.

I want my musicians to have distinct personalities. If one musician plays "behind the beat" and the next plays "on top of the beat," that's OK: I just need to know where they're coming from. I can enjoy playing with almost all types of musicians, but it's difficult to make something happen with a musician who's doing what he thinks he should, as opposed to what he wants to.

Of course, I want my musicians to be well-versed, both in terms of repertoire and vocabulary. Really, I just want to sense that they love and respect this music as much as I do. If they do, the repertoire and vocabulary will be there.

Hmm, frankly, that doesn't leave a lot for my answer to question #2.

I guess I would say that I want a bass player who enjoys both the "traditional" role of the bass as well as the opportunity to make a more personal statement. If a bassist is never willing to lay down a walk or a two-beat feel, and/or if he spends all of his time in the upper register of the instrument, it leaves me wondering why he didn't just become a guitarist. Again, it has to do with the overall band sound. Doesn't he realize what an opportunity he's missing to knit the band sound into a coherent whole? Why try to simulate what the drums and piano are already doing? This is a touchy area. I really don't want to make a bass player my "beast of burden," just laying down the groove all night so I can display all my cool reharmonizations and rhythmic displacements without fear of getting lost. I don't want to tell a bass player what or how to play: I want him to feel free to play what he hears. But if what he hears just doesn't contribute to the overall sound I'm going for, I'll just look around for someone else. And that doesn't mean that he's wrong. Being able to enjoy another musician's music and being able to play with that musician are not the same. Vive la difference!

Good stuff from someone who plays for a living.

Check out Randy's book and albums.

http://www.randyhalberstadt.com/
http://www.randyhalberstadt.com/Book.htm
Randy's Book at Sher Music
Randy At Origin Records

Damian Erskine's Headstock Cam

How cool is that? You can see both hands very clearly. He stuck his Iphone onto his headstock somehow and filmed himself.

Of course it only makes what he does even more amazing when you can see it in action and both hands moving like that. It's not like it is gonna be any easier to do just because you can see it though.

Ridiculoso!

Joe Hubbard's New Bass Track

Joe is a British bassist that studied with Jeff Berlin (I think), and played with Gary Neuman for many years. He just released a new tune on Soundcloud, so check it out. 

Adventues On Haskell Avenue by Joe Hubbard Bass

How Have You Used The Transmogrifier? Hmm? Huh? Have you? Didya? Huh? Well?

Sometimes I sit and wonder about things. Various things. Random things.

Today it has been about the Transmogrifier.

Have you at least tried The Bergonzifying Transmogrifier?

Why not?

Not into patterns?

Think it is too mechanical?

Because it is "just for jazz and I don't play jazz"?

Opposed for moral reasons?

Because it has not been certified dolphin-free? (note: The paperwork has
already been submitted)

If you have used it, and clearly you represent the elite percentage of musicians with taste and intelligence, what did you do with it?

What patterns did you make?

What instrument do you play?

Did you print your patterns out?

Did you save the mp3's of your patterns?

Where did you hear about it?

Well, take 20 seconds and let me know in the comments section. Cmon! 20 seconds! Geez.

The Russian Carbon Fiber Cello Dudes play "Welcome To The Jungle"

Turns out they are heavyweight classical Russian cellists that just do this to blow peoples minds.

And probably get chicks.

Marcus Miller Talks About Miles

From 1998. A new video of Marcus discussing Miles and what he learned from him.

He talks about how he started playing with Miles and how that led him into producing.

He also says Miles was working with Eazy-E right before he died. Yow.

Triad Palooza - Diatonic Triad Variations

Here is a fun little set of exercises to keep you busy for, oh, the next 3 or 4 years or so.

It takes all the triads that are in the key of C Major and runs some ascending, descending and mixed (up and down) arpeggio patterns. Some patterns are "close position" meaning the notes are all within one octave, and some are "open" where they span more than one octave.

The patterns are as low as possible on the neck and they are guaranteed to be playable on a standard tuned 4 string. You can extend the patterns by playing them in higher octaves if you want and if you have a 5 or a 6 string you can move them around as appropriate.

The patterns outline each chord that appears naturally in C Major, so - C maj, D min, E min, F maj, G maj, A min and B dim. The patterns don't all start on just the root of the chord, they also start from the 3rd and the 5th too. "Inversions" for those theory showoffs in the crowd.

Willis and his Roland Guitar Synth

I am blown away at how good that thing tracks, but it is also a testament to Mr. Willis's mucho ridiculoso intonation on his fretless. That can't be easy.