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Michael Weintrob
AnThony JAckson
An iconic figure in the bass world, Anthony Jacksons reputation as an A-list sideman is founded on four decades of exceptional bass work. Now, after years of waiting, he releases his debut solo album, but as Mike Flynn discovers, the bass legend took an unexpected route to produce something very special indeed.
sought-after signature bass, complete with the now familiar single-cutaway design, as Vinnie explained: I cant think of any earlier instance of it. It was a response to a request from Anthony Jackson for a better contrabass. Id built him several up to that point, and each time I gave him one it was better than the previous one and he was happy with it. But being the restless genius that he is, hes pushing me constantly to try and do better. What else can we do? Better material? Better hardware? What can you do? So that gave me the push to think harder and try and improve what I had already done. And the single-cutaway concept came about the basic idea of connecting more of the body to the neck, thereby stiffening the neck and having a more immediate connection so that vibrations could pass more freely between the body and the bass, and get the whole thing resonating better. Speaking of better resonances, if theres one thing that immediately alerts you to the fact that Anthony Jackson is playing on a record, its his tone: a vast, wiry, ringing, bell-like sound that has the power to shift any element of the music that surrounds it. Yet in spite of his illustrious sideman career and the huge respect in which hes held within the music world (and not just by bassists) earning him a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Bass Player Live! Jackson has never released a solo album. Until now. But the results are o compromise two words that have often been brushed aside in the music industry in the ruthless pursuit of fame and fortune. But for bass icon Anthony Jackson theyve been the cornerstone of his 40-year career. Living by and adhering to his own exceptionally high artistic standards has put him in the upper echelons of the greatest musical innovators and performers, always digging deep into his musical reserves for each and every project or concert hes been a part of. His well-documented sonic breakthrough came via his picked bassline on The OJays 1973 hit For The Love Of Money , his wah-wahed Fender bass, with producer Leon Huff s addition of a phaser effect, becoming one of the classic b-lines in bass guitar history. As a first-call session musician, Jackson has played on over 500 recordings since then, including many classic albums by Chaka Khan, Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack and numerous luminaries from the jazz world, including Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Pat Metheny, Michel Camilo, Michel Petrucciani, Steve Gadd, Steve Khan, Mike Stern and Wayne Krantz. Hes also been at the forefront of the evolution of the bass guitar with the invention of the 6-string bass, thanks to his completely valid assertion that the bass guitar is a member of the guitar family and not, as Leo Fender saw it, an electric version of a double bass. It was his convictions that inspired master bass luthier Vinnie Fodera to create his much
The genius of
typically surprising and challenging as only Jackson could make them. Hence Interspirit is not a self-indulgent bass-centred album full of flashy solos and flimsy melodies; instead, its an intense masterwork and collaboration with one of todays unsung bass heroes, Greek virtuoso bassist/ composer Yiorgos Fakanas. Recalling jazz fusions 1970s heyday, its a supercharged set of fiendishly intricate compositions, sweeping through a panoramic palette of styles that takes in burning funk, modal jazz, classical interludes, cinematic themes, Latin jazz and rock. In essence, Interspirit is a summation of the many styles and musical eras that Jackson has worked in. At the heart of this remarkable music is the equally remarkable partnership between Jackson and Fakanas, who share all the written basslines, often double-tracking parts to thicken the grooves and harmonic layers, while Jackson provides improvised basslines playing almost exclusively with a plectrum throughout and Fakanas tackles all of the five solos with virtuosic aplomb. This lack of Jackson solos may surprise many of his fans, but this project was more than just a chance to prove he remains one of the very finest bassists on the planet for Jackson it was all about the music. Joined by a stellar band of fusion guitarist Frank Gambale, keyboardist Mitch Forman (of Mahavishnu Orchestra fame) and drum master Dave Weckl, plus some of Greeces best classical string and horn section players, this is a modern jazz
Bass Guitar Magazine 21
Super Sideman
Jackson has often collaborated with European jazz musicians notably his celebrated trios with pianists Michel Camilo and the late, great Michel Petrucciani so working closely with this leading Greek musician was nothing new to him. In fact, Jacksons world view has only ever been coloured by one thing: Its strictly about the music inevitably, where there is a musical bond, nationalistic concerns fall away. I never set out to play with musicians from certain backgrounds; I hoped to play with the best people that I could anywhere, so I always felt lucky to be travelling a lot and running into people and having a chance to sit down and play with and interact with people from all corners of the musical world, he says firmly. Its this sense of never wanting to be categorised or dismissed as a one-dimensional player that has always seen him pursue a huge variety of work. He elaborates: I love all music I can possibly hear. My first interest in music was classical music, from the time I was an infant almost, but as I got older I heard other things and I brought them in as well. So I guess the
22 Bass Guitar Magazine
whAT wAs inTeresTing wAs how The music wAs TighTly wriTTen melodicAlly, buT There wAs cleArly An opporTuniTy for me To do The Things ThAT i do.
important point is that where there was music to be played I was always willing and anxious to hear what it was and embrace it. I have a pan-musical interest. While we now live in a world where producers manipulate almost every organic performance to create perfect yet sterile, homogenous-sounding music, Jackson and Fakanass approach was that of a forensic musical investigation into the possibilities of each section. He embarked on months of renewed study, practising his flatpicking technique anew, and its this approach that has defined his work over the last four decades not least his pioneering work on Chaka Khans Naughty and What Cha Gonna Do For Me albums as he proudly explains: What was interesting was how the music was tightly written melodically, but there was clearly an opportunity for me to do the things that I do while playing what he had written also, and he knew that. So the music features his compositional approach, which is widely varying through numerous styles, and was technically very, very demanding. But that gives me a chance to do what I do, which is to take very demanding music, no matter how tightly its written, and still bring something of myself to it. And with that, I spent months working on just what I was going to do while remaining faithful to what he had written. It took time for me to evolve many of the things that I was going to play, playing many of the things that he had written in my own way. I did a lot of the work there; I went back to Athens to actually begin recording, and spent a long time putting down initial tracks and then refining them section by section. Then going back home and listening to them some more before going back to refine them again and then putting them down back
Groundbreaking Groove
Its always been one of Jacksons assertions that a great bassist should be able to speak volumes through their basslines and note choices, rather than the tendency today for many new players who feel soloing is the only way to really show the world what they can do: Well, Im in the unusual situation in making a record in that Im one of the two co-leaders but I dont have any solos, and that was a challenge to be certain that what I was doing was strong enough to stand on its own without a solo, but thats what I have done in the decades that I have been a performing artist. I used to solo a lot more than I do now, but its never been a concept where I say, OK, youve heard me play all night but now my solo time is here! Now Im really going to show you something! My feeling is, Ive been playing all night, havent you heard something? Or, this has been a feature in the sense that I have a chance to show, if you willmake magic if I can be so bold as to say that while still being an accompanist or a more traditional concert artist where somebody is out front playing all night but they are playing something that was written by somebody else; despite that, its still their statement. Even if they play every note on the page it was done in a way that nobody else could do it. And their individuality is sort of in the back door: Well, Anthonys not taking solos No, but it is there, it is a statement. Thats one of the things that took time to decide just how I was going to step out that way using the flatpick, which I have always done but not with this much intensity since the days of Al Di Meola and the nine or so albums I did with him. So that alone opened up a whole world of possibilities for how to interpret Yiorgoss music in a way that was my own, while
Bass Guitar Magazine 23
Bassic Motivation
As we reach a new crossroads in the way music is consumed in the 21st century, with declining CD sales, increasing digital sales and ubiquitous illegal downloading, musicians face a time both of increased independence and opportunity, alongside decreasing wages and certainty about their future. For an artist so intimately linked to a golden age of recording, and the global renown that brought him, Jackson has also been affected by the music industrys current woes. Yet he remains stoically sanguine about it all: Well, Im a bit of a purist. The people that I grew up listening to, the great composers and great performers, the people that I played with for as long as I have been a performer, have agreed with this point of view. First you have the music, then you worry about playing it in a certain place, in a certain way, and lets say trying to make a living, which, of course, I knew nothing about in the beginning none of us do. It really has no effect on inspiration or commitment to
making good music, just as when you start playing we are children for the most part, or often, very, very young children our thoughts are strictly with how it makes us feel to play and to listen. There are no thoughts about where are we going to do this? How am I going to manage for the next couple of months, Ive got these bills Thats not a part of it, and that, of course, is one of the things we use when were older to assess how gifted children will do in music. If they cant live without playing, then theres likely to be a real lifelong commitment there. If you start playing music with an eye towards making a living Well, Im going to start my lessons, and Im going to buy an instrument, but I just need to think more and more, just what am I going to do with this and how am I going to fit this in with my job? My real job that follows you throughout your life. If you have that kind of early-life motivation it never leaves; despite all the need later to think about how you are going to live by doing this, your basic motivation never disappears, your heart still
you Are driven by someThing...ThATs deep enough inside And sTrong enough you donT consciously Think AbouT iT ThAT much, you JusT pursue iT.
YiorgoS fakanaS
very challenging, and hes not soloing because he prefers to do rhythm stuff, but we play a lot of the melodies together in harmony. Its also testimony to the very high quality of Fakanass work that Jackson was so keen to collaborate with him, as he humbly explained: I was really surprised at the way he described his admiration for my music; that was a very big honour for me to hear that from one of my heroes. Plus the fact that, before me, he has refused several propositions from some very big producers and composers to make music for him, and it was a big surprise for me that he accepted to work with me just like that! Weve done ten concerts together, which were not only fun but a great honour to play with him, and aside from doing a clinic with Victor Wooten, this was the first time I was playing with such a big-name bass player, playing the same instrument on the same stage. That was a big responsibility becausewell, its Anthony Jackson.
brings things that are out of pitch on pitch. You seldom hear singers anymore who are making records without it, and for me I can hear it when its working. Its very sophisticated technology but I can hear it when its used it ruins the timbre of a human voice and its a constant reminder that a branch of the industry is making music in which people who really dont have any talent at all are able to make something that can be passed as great music by the public. Its almost impossible to hear a singer nowadays who isnt using Auto-Tune. And I was extremely angry for years behind it. Now I shake my head and I just think, well, you know, this is the period we live in, this is what has happened to culture it has come down to quickly produced, quickly packaged, and here you are, this is it. You see people now who are entering the music business without even a serious attempt to be serious and talented, people who wouldnt have done more than make coffee in the reception area who are now featured performers. Its still something I get very angry about but Ive had to accept it,
and all you can do in situations like that is maintain your own stuff. Its what you will do anyway, but try to do it with some sense of accommodation. You cant walk into a situation pissed off, saying, If I hear Auto-Tune Im going to You cant do that. So in all areas we are adapting, and theres so much thats changing and being lost, and its so difficult to earn a living as a performing artist that you really dont have a lot of time to cry about it. You get your ass up and you go out there and you play like you always did. You know that the stakes are higher now there are fewer places to play, it pays less, there are so many more considerations of just staying alive. Just remain thankful that there is a place for you to function in this business of music today, as bad as it is, and once that decision has been made, all the old motivation, all the old ambitions and all the old standards still apply. Interspirit is available now from www.abstractlogix.com