Its the last show of the month, meaning its time once again for our Theme Special. This month’s is entitled “In Praise Of The Upright Bass”, and casts an ear over various tracks that feature the fine, resonant, deep and warm sound of the mighty double bass.
The premise for this show began when I was listening to Roberta Flack’s “First Take” album – a truly mesmerising record that Tom rightly described as sounding “like you’re right there in the room with them”. Whilst Roberta’s voice is doubtless the star attraction of this record, Ron Carter’s effortless bass work is astonishing and summarises to me all that is sublime about the double bass as an instrument. With that in mind, I texted Tom suggesting we do a special celebrating the double bass, and now here we are, selecting our favourite tracks for your delectation. Sadly, some tracks had to get left out due to our one-hour running time, and we even had some great suggestions from friends, one of which will be making an appearance on our blog shortly. However in those 60 minutes we take in the sublime Ms. Flack, the twin-bass weaving of Cecil McBee and Stanley Clarke, the legendary Mr Carter’s appearance with Tribe Called Quest, the modern sound of bass courtesy of The Heliocentrics and naturally a piece featuring arguably Britain’s most legendary double bass player, session legend Danny Thompson.
Here’s the tracklisting in full:
Lee Arnold Trio – “Funky Chimes”
Pharoah Sanders – “Black Unity Part One”
The Heliocentrics – “Distant Star”
Unknown – “Halfcrown Skit”
A Tribe Called Quest feat Ron Carter – “Verses From The Abstract”
McCoy Tyner – “Survival Blues”
Donovan – “Get Thy Bearings”
Soul Coughing – “How Many Cans”
Roberta Flack – “Trying Times”
Click to download the show! (115Mb, 256k MP3)
Here is the Featured Video for this show – Ron Carter’s rather odd coffee advert he made for Japan. Tom actually tried to find the ads he did for some pipe brand, but sadly he couldn’t find them:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
1 Comment
Leave a Comment
Just been giving the podcasts a thorough going over and thanks for playing the Aynsley Dunbar and Viv Stanshall tracks over the last few weeks – have duly purchased on your recommendation. Any chance you could spin Roy Budd’s Girl Talk one week?
Keep up the sterling work and I’m spreading the word about your exemplary podcast to all and sundry – check my review of sorts on Itunes