Following up on yesterday’s entry, here are two approaches to utilizing a muscular bass sound.
Christian McBride is one of the most noted acoustic jazz bassists today. I suppose his sound can be compared to Oscar Pettiford or Ray Brown.
McBride is friendly with members of the hip-hop group The Roots, having attended Philadelphia’s High School for the Creative and Performing Arts with them. He has performed with drummer/producer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson and beatboxer/human turntablist Scratch from that group. Earlier this year, while recording some live performances for a forthcoming album, McBride did a set with Scratch, DJ Logic, and Eric Krasno and Rashawn Ross from Soulive.
Today, we present the title track from his 1994 debut album Getting’ To It. The personnel is: Christian McBride (bass), Roy Hargrove (trumpet), Joshua Redman (tenor sax), Steve Turre (trombone), Cyrus Chestnut (piano), and Lewis Nash (drums).
And let’s revisit a subject from yesterday: Roni Size. His management agency describes him as “…twisting up jazz breaks with dancefloor energy and infusing it with dub, ’50s be-bop and Motown. ” His songs include titles such as “It’s Jazzy” and “It’s a Jazz Thing.”
The 1997 album New Forms by Roni Size & Reprazent won Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize and is still a classic, not only of drums ‘n’ bass, but of any genre. Eight years on, it still sounds ahead of the curve.
Here’s a quote:
Roni Size and Full Cycle [the record label he started] were one of the first to bring the jazzy elements into the dark jungle of the early 90s.
“We were using more melodies, more jazz orientated loops — sounds that in London only people like [LTJ ] Bukem, or maybe Fabio or Peshay [all DJs] were using. But they were still using fat Amens where we were just using toned down breaks.”
Roni Size outlines the influences of the different members of Reprazent:
“Suv was more dub, Die was more jazz, I was more ragga or bashment and Krust was definitely more hip-hop but we all had elements of soul and break beat in us…”
So, jazz and jazz-influenced. There you go.
Christian McBride – Gettin’ To It — BUY
Roni Size & Reprazent – Hi-potent — BUY