Любимый бас-гитарист!!!

Brian Bromberg's Diverse Career Expands With The Hard-Hitting Metal

Full Speed Ahead
By Chris Jisi | September 2005

When it comes to bass heroes, we can argue about who’s the funkiest or the most fleet-fingered, but what about the most misunderstood? That might be Brian Bromberg. Brian is a favorite topic in online bass chat rooms, whether the discussion concerns his tricky-to-follow solo career—with albums in different idioms, played on everything from upright to piccolo electric bass—or the controversial cover of his Jaco CD, for which he recreated the black-and-white cover of Jaco Pastorius’s debut with a portrait of himself. But while thumpers have long debated the merits and miscues of one of bassdom’s most versatile virtuosos, Bromberg has been busy growing laterally. He’s one of the best-selling smooth jazz bass artists to date, with a hefty chunk of sales to people who don’t even know he’s a bassist. He has also become an in-demand producer, writer, and arranger for a wide range of artists, including Jeff Kashiwa, Orna, and Alan Broadbent, and he contributed to Chris Botti’s Grammy-winning 2004 disc When I Fall in Love. Brian’s home studio is constantly abuzz, and, along with three partners, he owns a record label, Artistry Music.

That’s not to say Bromberg’s bass career has taken a back seat. This summer he released three CDs: Choices, his latest smooth effort featuring guests Jeff Lorber and Richard Elliot; It’s About Time, a remixed, remastered reissue of his 1991 acoustic jazz album boasting Freddie Hubbard and Ernie Watts; and Metal, the electric response to his 2002 acoustic-bass benchmark, Wood. Metal is especially ear-grabbing, as Brian explores new upper-register terrain with hard-hitting instrumental rock starring his overdriven piccolo bass (plus numerous piccolo, tenor, and standard 4-string overdubs). Bringing to mind guitar heroes such as Jeff Beck and Joe Satriani, the nine-track disc is pure fun and appeals to the air guitarist in all of us.

It was drums that initially appealed to Bromberg growing up in Tucson, Arizona, thanks to his father and brother, who were both jazz drummers. After absorbing the sounds of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and other jazz royalty for a number of years, Brian was encouraged by his junior-high orchestra director to try the acoustic bass. He instantly felt at home on the instrument and embarked on a rigorous day-and-night practice schedule from ages 14 through 18, gaining experience through countless club gigs. In 1979, Bill Evans bassist Marc Johnson heard the 19-year-old Brian and recommended him to Stan Getz, who was looking for a young bass player. Bromberg auditioned and got the gig, which also required him to double on electric bass. He began a European tour with Getz the next day, and he moved to New York City, all the while ’shedding on both instruments.

Eventually returning to Tuscon, Bromberg was recommended to guitarist Phil Upchurch by the Japanese label recording Upchurch’s 1985 album L.A. Jazz Quintet. Upchurch was impressed by Brian’s performance on the disc and asked him to move to L.A. to cover several months’ worth of gigs, which Brian did in 1986. At the same time, Bromberg released his first album, A New Day, and it began getting airplay. The combination of radio and live appearances helped establish Brian as the new bassist in town, and he was soon building his impressive résumé (www.brianbromberg.net).

We talked with the 44-year-old as he was preparing for a summer European tour with Lee Ritenour & Friends—Patrice Rushen, Ernie Watts, and Alex Acuña.

Why do you feel you’ve been misunderstood?
It’s hard for people to figure out who I am. My creative output is in several different areas, so it’s difficult to develop an identity. Most bassists have a signature sound and style, and they play a bass or two. I have a broader voice, and that makes me less identifiable. I’m more multi-directional by nature. I like different styles, sounds, and instrumentation; I used multiple basses right from my first CD. Another part of it is, just as guitarists and drummers do with their instruments, bass players tend to listen only to other bass players. Here’s a funny story that happened with a good friend of mine, who’s a bassist, while I was recording Metal: We were driving in my car and I played him some of the tracks to see what he thought. At one point during my piccolo bass solo, he was talking, and not listening. But when my bass solo started, he stopped talking! So he didn’t listen to the notes or the music or the technique because he didn’t relate to the sound—it wasn’t a bass. When it comes to my CDs, there are those who need to get away from what they think a bass should sound like and listen beyond, to the big picture and all that’s going on in it—listen to the music and not just the bass.

A comment you regularly hear from that camp is, Why doesn’t he just play guitar?
I’m a bass player. I don’t want to play guitar. If my piccolo bass sounds like a guitar, so be it—but I love the fact that it’s a 4-string bass. Does the bass have to sound a specific way, and must my playing fit in a box? Why can’t I use the instrument in a different way? My feeling is there’s room for a million bassists with their own voice, but there isn’t room for one voice and 999,999 imitators. If I had focused on one aspect of bass playing I’d probably be further along in my bass career, but my heart isn’t there anymore. Being multi-directional has enabled me to more easily step into the world of producing.

How has being a producer changed your bass playing?
It’s given me a whole new outlook and made me a much better bassist. It has made my playing more musical and more appropriate for the situation. I have nothing to prove; it’s all about supporting the music. Looking at the big picture myself has helped me as an artist, and it comes through in my playing. Bass is the instrument I love—my main vehicle to express myself. It’s a big part of who I am, but it’s not who I am. I’m a human being first, a musician second, and then a bassist.

How did Metal come together?
I love the energy of rock, so it’s a project I’ve always wanted to do. I had some songs accumulated that lent themselves to instrumental rock, and thankfully, King Records in Japan—who had me do Wood and Jaco—supported me to do Metal. The entire disc is myself and drummer Joel Taylor, except for two keyboard parts by Dan Siegel. I demoed all the tunes with a drum machine, a bass part, my Dean prototype piccolo bass for the rhythm parts, melodies and solos. Then Joel came in and recorded to my demo rhythm guitar and bass tracks, and I played the melodies and solos live with him, to get the intensity. From there, I took Joel’s Pro Tools tracks and recut every part again. I did all the rhythm at once, then all the bass, all the melodies, and finally, all of the solos. It took forever and it was exhausting, but it made a difference sonically—it sounds like a real band.

What guitarists inspired your writing and techniques?
To be honest, none. I’ve never copped any specific guitar licks, tones, or songs; it’s all just based on the feeling I’ve absorbed over the years. Even the track “Carlos” was named after the fact, because it reminded me of Carlos Santana. Technique-wise, I was somewhat limited in that I couldn’t bend my strings like a guitarist might, and I didn’t have a whammy bar, but I just went for it. I played everything with my fingers, except for a thumb pick on one rhythm part; I used hammer-ons, pull-offs, and tapping. I even used some upright thumb position on electric, where I use my left thumb as a sort of capo for extended reach in the upper register. My goal, in addition to making an album of good music, was for my piccolo work to be real enough that guitarists could relate to it and dig it, and not think, Oh—here’s another bass player trying to do the guitar thing.

Choices is your latest smooth jazz disc, which is another area where you’ve gotten some flak.
I feel Choices is the best smooth record I’ve done. It utilizes the bass in probably more ways than I ever have: There’s upright, 4- and 5-string, fretless, tenor bass, and nylon- and steel-string piccolo bass. And as always, I try to maintain the integrity and musicianship, using real horns and live drums. But yes, I do take hits for my smooth career. My feeling is smooth jazz is really just a marketing term, a format. It has little to do with jazz; it’s commercially appealing melodic instrumental music with urban grooves and some improvisation. That said, I think the whole point of making any album is to know the style you’re dealing with—what to do and what not to do. You need to make it fit into some kind of parameters. If you don’t, you can’t be upset if people don’t respond to it.

I enjoy the challenge of creating smooth discs, separate from my other CDs. Most jazz greats who knock it couldn’t make a smooth record to save their lives. It’s more song- and production-oriented than playing-oriented. It’s a vibe. I understand why some “players” have a problem with it. On the other hand, I have a career as a solo artist because people who don’t even know what instrument I play liked my music and bought my CDs. That’s very rewarding on a certain level; they were responding to my music, not my bass playing.

It’s About Time was originally recorded in 1990, and on it you introduced many of your signature upright moves. Have those techniques evolved since?
I explored slapping in more detail on Wood, and Wood II, which I’ll release next year, shows where I’m at now—but you’re right. In many ways, It’s About Time was my original upright statement, and everything since has been more about refining and executing those techniques. Musical maturity is a positive factor, but on the other hand, I don’t get to practice regularly as much now. The acoustic bass is physically more challenging to play than the electric, although playing anything well requires the same amount of effort. The upright demands that you play it all the time to maintain your chops. I leave it out of the case, so that if I walk by it, I’ll play it.

Who were your early musical influences?
On the upright, it was Buster Williams, Ray Brown, and Rufus Reid on the feel side, and Michael Moore, Eddie Gomez, George Mraz, Scott LaFaro, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Marc Johnson, and Stanley Clarke on the lyrical, solo side. Stanley and Jaco were my influences on electric, but when I was in my late teens, people started telling me I sounded like them. That immediately led me to stop listening to bass players so I could focus on trying to get my own identity. I loved Jaco, though; he wasn’t a stylistic influence, but more a beacon to reach for. I like to choose artists at the very top to be my inspirational bar—especially non-bassists like Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Itzak Perlman, and David Oystrach. You know you’ll never reach their level musically, or even be able to duplicate what they do on your bass, but in trying, you develop more than you normally would.

What kind of sessions and gigs do you get called for as a sideman?
I don’t really do a lot; I’m not considered a first-call session player, like a Dave Carpenter. But I’m fortunate to get good calls—maybe a movie date, a session for David Foster, a tour with Lee Ritenour, a recording with Michael Bublé. Ninety percent of my calls are for upright, mostly to read or to walk, but I’m usually called to be me, which is nice. I’d always rather create than replicate.

What career path will you follow?
I’d like to keep on my current path: producing, writing, and growing as a musician and label co-owner, while also maintaining my solo bass career. Ultimately, we do the things we do because we love doing them. Whether people understand is a totally different matter. I only know how to do what I do, so what others think about it won’t stop me. But they’re welcome to come along for the ride.

Metallurgy
With Metal, Brian Bromberg continues to extend his range in the pursuit of personal expression. The result is soaring solos, twisting melodies, high-voltage slaps and taps, and boisterous bottom—in other words, rocked-out bass with an attitude. These examples are all notated and tabbed for standard 4-string.

Ex. 1 shows Bromberg’s opening piccolo-bass melody on “Dungeon,” first heard at 1:06. Crank up some distortion and keep your head down. Ex. 2 features three bars of Brian’s burning piccolo solo 3:17 into “Through the Window.” Note his use of various phrasing devices and bebop-style chromatic movement to add interest and color to the Bb–C triad chord changes.

Ex. 3a has the angular opening melody of “Trade Show,” which Bromberg plays on piccolo and doubles on the bottom with his 5-string. Be aware of bar 4’s half-time triplet feel against the bright 180 bpm pulse, and keep the quarter-notes on beats four and seven short. Ex. 3b shows the first bar of Brian’s furious, tapped tenor-bass break 3:27 into “Trade Show” (leading into his tenor solo). For the eight-note pattern (high D to low D), which is continually shifting over the sextuplet rhythm, he alternately taps two notes with his right and left index and middle fingers. Listen for how the entire four-bar break develops and moves across the lower strings and down the neck (toward the headstock) in major 2nd and minor 3rd intervals, creating a wave-like effect. Says Brian, “I wanted to do something dramatic for the break. The tapping and the rhythmic movement really come from my early drum roots.”

Finally, Ex. 4 is from Bromberg’s Choices CD. It shows a tasty bar-and-a-beat phrase from his acoustic piccolo bass solo on “Relentless,” at the 4:15 mark. Dig Brian’s inclusion of every alteration on the dominant V7 chord. He offers, “I sing my solo lines in my head and try to play what I hear—like George Benson or Oteil Burbridge, but without an audible vocal. Singing to yourself is the perfect connection between the heart, the head, and the hands—and when you sing your ideas, you aren’t limited by your instrument’s physical characteristics.”

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
Solo albums
Metal,Artistry Music;
Choices, A440; Jaco, A440;
Wood, A440;
You Know That Feeling, Zebra;
Brian Bromberg, Nova;
It’s About Time, Nova;
BASSically Speaking, Nova;
Magic Rain, Intima;
Basses Loaded, Intermedia;
A New Day, Black Hawk.

With Stan GetzAutumn Leaves, Koch.
With Dave Grusin (all on GRP) Homage to Duke; Havana (soundtrack); The Fabulous Baker Boys (soundtrack).
With Chris Botti When I Fall in Love*, Sony.
With Michael Bublé (both on Warner Bros.) It’s Time; Michael Bublé.
With Michel Legrand Michel Plays Legrand, Delta.
With Billy Cobham By Design, Cleopatra.
With Gonzalo Rubalcaba The Trio, EMI.
With Nancy Wilson With My Lover Beside Me, Columbia.
With Toots Thielemans The Brasil Project, Vol. 1 & 2, Private Music.
With Kenny Rankin (both on Private Music) Here in My Heart; Professional Dreamer.
With Lalo Shifrin Return of the Marquis De Sade, Aleph.
With Lou Rawls Rawls Sings Sinatra, Savoy Jazz.
With Rob Mullins Jazz Jazz, Nova.
With Jeff Kashiwa (both on Native Language) Piece of Mind*; Another Door Opens*.
With Arturo Sandoval Dream Come True, GRP.
With Orna The Very Thought of You*, A440.
With Renee Olstead Renee Olstead, Warner Bros.
With Marilyn Scott Nightcap, Prana.
With Richard Smith Soulidified*, A440.
With Phil Upchurch L.A. Jazz Quintet, Pro Arte.
With Alan Broadbent You and the Night and the Music*, A440.

Rockwalk Hall of Fame Legends of Bass Induction.

Великие вместе: BILLY SHEEHAN, STEVE HARRIS и JOHN ENTWISTLE. Незадолго перед кончиной Джона.

Rockwalk Hall of Fame
Lee Sklar, Tony Levin, Tim Bogert, Billy Sheehan, Bootsy, Family of James Jamerson, Larry Graham and Stanley Clarke

Тони Левин - Грув Мэн #1!

Феникс

Iosif Kappl

1.Nathan East
2.Billy Sheehan
3.Jack Bruce

Rosco***
"..но, при этом, ни одному артисту такой басгитарист не нужен на записи или концертах, ибо он соло-басист,-с самого начала поставил цель стать свех-виртуозом на басу, исполняя сольные номера...

Хотя уже давно его в этом деле "переплюнули"

Это я про всё того же Вуттена..."

Это откуда такая информация,что Вутен никому не нужен? Кто эти "Никому"?
У меня куча альбомов,где он играет в различных командах с лучшими из лучших.

2papan:
>Это откуда такая информация,что Вутен никому не нужен?
К гадалке не ходи - by SergeK
И тем более "не ходи", что сранивал, небось, с Marcus Miller'ом

PS
Впрочем, из пары попадавшихся дисков Вутена я сделал вывод, что он мне тоже "нэ трэба" :-)

2papan:

>Это откуда такая информация,что Вутен никому
>не нужен? Кто эти "Никому"?
>У меня куча альбомов,где он играет в различных
>командах с лучшими из лучших.

Ну и посмотри кого чаще приглашают - Левина или Вуттена?

Я против него ничего не имею, некоторые сольные композици нравятся (оосбенно в паре со Стивом Бэйли). Но это солирующий басист.

2Rosco:
>Ну и посмотри кого чаще приглашают - Левина или Вуттена?
Железная логика... Если человек беднее Билла Гейтса - он оборванец... :-)

2karp:

>Железная логика... Если человек беднее Билла
>Гейтса - он оборванец... :-)

:)

Речь шла о стиле игры.

Левин довольно лаконичный басист, чем и хорош для совершенно разных направлений.

Rosco***
Что-то я не замечал,чтобы Левина активно джазмены приглашали.Бритни Спирс-да:-)).Ты вообще что у Вутена-несолиста слышал?

2papan:

>Rosco***
>Что-то я не замечал,чтобы Левина активно джазмены
>приглашали.Бритни Спирс-да:-)).Ты вообще что у
>Вутена-несолиста слышал?

Ну если Бадди Рич и Ди Меола etc - неджазмены по-твоему...

Если из сайд проектов - Jaco Pastorius Word Of Big Mouth Band, Кориа, Принца, Дэйва Мэтьюса...

2Rosco:

>2papan:
>>Rosco***
>>Что-то я не замечал,чтобы Левина активно джазмены
>>приглашали.Бритни Спирс-да:-)).Ты вообще что
>у
>>Вутена-несолиста слышал?
>Ну если Бадди Рич и Ди Меола etc - неджазмены по-твоему...
>Если из сайд проектов - Jaco Pastorius Word Of
>Big Mouth Band, Кориа, Принца, Дэйва Мэтьюса...

Бадди Рич-весьма далеко от современной джазовой сцены.Scenario-одна из худших работ Ди Меолы,очень не хочется это джазом называть.Уж лучше вспомнить сотрудничество с Джеффом Голубом.
Если хочешь действительно узнать Вутена-джазового ансамблевого басиста ,послушай два выпуска Vital Tech Tones ( Scott Henderson/Steve Smith/Victor Wooten ),Cause and Effect (Larry Coryell/Tom Coster/Steve Smith),Extraction (Greg Howe/Victor Wooten/Dennis Chambers),These Times (Mike Stern) и само сабой Béla Fleck & The Flecktones. Ну а на The Deepest End (Gov't Mule) можно одновременно послушать и Левина,и Вутена:-).

2papan:

Спасибо за своет;).

Корьел и Хендерсон мне мпонируют.