08 March 2008

Been revisiting my musical roots today.

Here's the guy that first got me to appreciate the bass as more than a prison sentence for the not-good-enough guitarist (as I at one time viewed it):

Cream - Spoonful

Make sure to watch until the midsection when they get out of the "form" and start just grooving. Jack Bruce is a wild man on the bass, and one of the first to really advance past the "thump thump" rhythm keeper it was in the early 60s...coming from a jazz background, he really advanced it to the point that it could be an improvisational component of a musical combo, not just a low frequency foundation for vocals and guitar solos.

Here's a great early instrumental recording...alas, no video, but pretty good sound:

Cream - Steppin' Out

Again, after they run through the form a few times, the interaction gets a bit more interesting. Bruce and Baker again get a bit wacky for a blues-rock rhythm section!

1 comment:

Percussivity said...

I was never much of a Ginger Baker fan. He always sort of reminds me of a Neal Peart or a John Bonham... unarguably good players... but not 'amazing', and yet they all have huge fan bases.