{"id":24186,"date":"2021-04-01T13:46:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T17:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=24186"},"modified":"2021-04-01T13:46:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T17:46:06","slug":"bassmanship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bassmanship\/","title":{"rendered":"Bassmanship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Santana - Carnaval \/ Let The Children Play - 7\/2\/1977 - Oakland Coliseum Stadium (Official)\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bmH0XTBYQxU?feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In preparation for a long-overdue post on the mystery that is Carlos Santana (coming soon to a Rock Town Hall near you), I was plowing through some vintage Santana performances, and came across the above, from 1977.&nbsp; It\u2019s not the greatest version of \u201cCarnaval\/Let the Children Play\u201d I\u2019ve ever seen or heard, but I was really taken by the performance of Pablo Tellez, the band\u2019s bassist at the time.&nbsp; As I watched him dig in to his instrument (watch in particular at 2:56, and again at 3:54), horsing every note out for maximum impact, I thought (paraphrasing one of my favorite scenes from \u201cMaster and Commander\u201d):&nbsp; that\u2019s bassmanship, people; my God, that\u2019s bassmanship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bassmanship, in my view, is the ability to stroke the thunderbroom in such a way that you bring extra life, extra swagger, extra joy, and extra extra to an entire band\u2019s performance.&nbsp; It doesn\u2019t mean adding more bass-as-cock-extension hip thrusting, or more Lee Sklar tastiness, or more in-the-pocket\/locking-with-the-drummer-whatever-that-actually-means-ness.&nbsp; It means doing what Tellez is doing:&nbsp; making you enjoy the music more by watching the bass player love what he or she is doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who\u2019s got bassmanship?&nbsp; Well, this guy is the all-time heavyweight champion, in my view.&nbsp; Just watch.&nbsp; Don\u2019t tell me he doesn\u2019t know full well just how much he lifts the entire band with his subtle in-place sashay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spiral Staircase More Today Than Yesterday (Enhanced)\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IyN3X9YFW64?feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Or Dan Hartman, leading Edgar Winter\u2019s White Trash into a whole \u2018nuther groovy dimension in this live rendition of \u201cFrankenstein\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Frankenstein . Edgar Winters Group . 1973\" width=\"695\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P8f-Qb-bwlU?feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Bruce Foxton?&nbsp; Oh, yeah; bassmanship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Jam - Reading Festival 1978\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FvLvjdQN_Rs?feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You know who doesn\u2019t have any bassmanship?&nbsp; Bill Fucking Wyman.&nbsp; I actually really dig his playing, but on stage?&nbsp; Give me a break.&nbsp; It\u2019s like watching mold grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bill Wyman - I Want To Get Me A Gun\" width=\"695\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3esjt-lhCjs?feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Just thought I\u2019d share. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HVB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In preparation for a long-overdue post on the mystery that is Carlos Santana (coming soon to a Rock Town Hall near you), I was plowing through some vintage Santana performances, and came across the above, from 1977.&nbsp; It\u2019s not the greatest version of \u201cCarnaval\/Let the Children Play\u201d I\u2019ve ever seen or heard, but I was <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bassmanship\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}