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OT - Lee Sklar (bassist) performing one of my favorite Billy Cobham tunes
FUCK YES! Lee Sklar is a personal hero, and hearing/seeing him play one of my favorite tracks he played on is such a treat. Love me some Billy Cobham!
And he's still got his first real bass (which used to be a '69 or something Fender Jazz) which he recorded the track with.
This whole album is spectacular - features one of my all-time favorite keyboard solos of all time on Red Baron, by the incomparable Jan Hammer on the Fender Rhodes.
I love this - for super bass nerds only!
Comments
This track also featured the late great Tommy Bolin on guitar.
Indeed it do!
I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me to see me lookin' back at you.
Yup, Massive Attack were in fact my introduction to Billy Cobham, back in the 90s
Stratus and Red Baron are my absolute favourite Billy Cobham tracks.
This is the Massive Attack tune that sampled Stratus:
This man has lived a full life. His discography, for context:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Sklar#Selected_discography
That guitar solo was smokin! ☹️
If you've not heard a Lee Sklar bass line, you've not listened to music in the last 40 years. Seriously.
You really can't go wrong when your band is made up of jazz superstars.
George Duke on keys, Alphonso Johnson on bass and John Scofield on guitar - not to shabby!
The billy cobham stuff is not my favorite, but I love Lee and his home videos have been really interesting and entertaining. And he’s clearly not afraid to hack up a bass if he feels like doing so!
The human machine. Amazing.
Cobham was the best combination of technique and musicality... the fact that he played left handed on a traditional drum set arrangement but only made one change: the location of the Ride Cymbal was like some guitar player must have felt watching Hendrix when he showed up. He wrote all the tunes on that album and any have become fusion standards. Jeff Beck changed completely after that and still plays a similar style of complex fusion... so you may blame him for that. But these technically gifted musicians like to challenge themselves and throw down.
The thing I like most about any of these musicians is their ability to show restraint. They can ALL blow like crazy given the opportunity, however they all know exactly when to shut the fuck up and just GROOVE.
That, my friends, is mastery of your instrument, no matter what you play.
So true. The list of great musicians that can be traced back to Peter Asher and James Taylor from that
Beatle's Apple Corp is amazing... the best players that served the needs of the music and not the other way round:
Don Grolnick
Steve Gadd
Carlos Vega
Jimmy Johnson
Michael Landeau
Sklar, Kunkle
and the Linda Ronstadt "country" branch of the Asher tree with Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner...
They all served the music first and put it above commercial success. Still... hired guns of the Bi-coastal
East/West talent pool.
So steady it sounds like a loop or a sequence. I though I heard just the hint of a clam maybe one time.
Sklar fit into that second branch too. The only time I ever heard him live he was backing Jackson Browne on the Running on Empty tour.
No dispute that he’s great at what he does, it just isn’t the thing that gets me. I do love jazz but a lot of the 70’s fusion just doesn’t appeal to me, with the exception of weather report and chick corea. But I have a ton of respect for the players and I get why it was so big at the time.
However, with Lee, “your smiling face” is an absolute masterpiece, among the many he’s been on. It is a shame that the video got pulled, and it may go back up, but he seems to get annoyed a little too quickly (and should probably make peace with the fact that if he wants to talk politics on Facebook or twitter it’s going to go nowhere). Even when you play an amazing line, if you’re not the songwriter or publisher, it’s not yours. Chuck Rainey and Carol Kaye couldn’t use many of their incredible lines in their books either. But I do hope Lee keeps making videos, I’ve enjoyed them.
I could not agree more. "Your Smiling Face" is one of the greatest bass lines of all time in my eyes. Yes, a hefty statement, but it is a master class in a bass player's primary function: supporting the song. However, within those limitations, he manages to include:
A descending walking line not only framing the chord changes but also tipping a hat to the jazz crowd
A slap bass part, providing instant textural contrast between the first and second half of each verse and tipping his hat to the funk crowd.
Solid groove that locks with the drummer, both supporting the lyric and the melody style adding some bounce to make you tap your foot.
Beautifully expressive fills in the outro that get progressively more melodic and complex
Restraint - is clear Lee can play more, but he chooses not to, leaving the vocals/lyrics to be the focus of the listener's attention.
Amazing stuff - Sklar is a power player. I saw he posted that video but didn't get a chance to check it out before it was taken down.
Not sure what a clam is, but I think I caught two.
He reposted today from a live version. Interesting to see him do the plucks that sound like he would be slapping and popping- he doesnt slap at all because of wrist injuries. Verdine White did similar sometimes.
I can see he’s getting a little frustrated though and hope that he can relax, I know the internet stuff annoys him between videos getting taken down and social media stuff. He mentioned about having to redo today’s video 3 times because it wasnt up to his standard, and a lot of times the best thing is to walk away for a while when you’re by yourself. I’m sure he’s been there on sessions before but having people around to bounce off of and who can encourage helps a lot.
Pretty sure JT wrote that descending bass as part of the song. But I agree that Lee adds all of the other elements you mention.
Sure, but knowing to do it rather than do something else is part of being great.
When James is playing it on guitar and it’s the main instrumental hook, you pretty much have to double. Not to diminish the rest of the great bass part, but this one thing anyone would have done.
Done all without dropping a ash!
Knowing when to play as written and when to step out is yet another hallmark of a master musician & accompanist, one that is highly under appreciated in my eyes.
And to be fair, I only mentioned that these elements were included in his bassline, not that he himself composed/conceived them all.
😉
Not everyone...but I agree, anyone with common sense would have done it, especially being that James Taylor was a very established artist at that point. Some yo yo will still show up to a session and think that a slap fest is appropriate for everything....ha!
I’ve found that usually the best effect for slap bass is the mute button.