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Bass Clarinet Jams: Spooky Loops

white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
edited November 2005 in Strut Central
The first thing that comes to my mind whenever I think about Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" is not Miles' funky, muted trumpet, the head-banging drums of DeJohnette, McLaughlin's meandering guitar or even the electric piano orgy, but the spooky, paranoid bass clarinet work by Bennie Maupin. Few instruments convey that back-alley, stoned-out-of-your-gourd vibe. "Bitches Brew" could even work as a Spooky Halloween record, especially the opening cut, "Pharoah's Dance"; little kids wouldn't know what to think of the music and if your crib was suitably dark, they'd probably be pretty damn scared. I don't know of any other musicians or too many other records with any decent amount of bass clarinet action, aside from some of Maupin's other work, on a handful of Herbie Hancock and Miles records. What are some good records that use bass clarinets and/or have that same sort of paranoid, eerie feel?
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  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    The first thing that comes to my mind whenever I think about Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" is not Miles' funky, muted trumpet, the head-banging drums of DeJohnette, McLaughlin's meandering guitar or even the electric piano orgy, but the spooky, paranoid bass clarinet work by Bennie Maupin. Few instruments convey that back-alley, stoned-out-of-your-gourd vibe. "Bitches Brew" could even work as a Spooky Halloween record, especially the opening cut, "Pharoah's Dance"; little kids wouldn't know what to think of the music and if your crib was suitably dark, they'd probably be pretty damn scared.

    I don't know of any other musicians or too many other records with any decent amount of bass clarinet action, aside from some of Maupin's other work, on a handful of Herbie Hancock and Miles records. What are some good records that use bass clarinets and/or have that same sort of paranoid, eerie feel?

    I never cared for the bass clarinet, but I believe that Eric Dolphy plays it on a number of sessions, as did Anthony Braxton...
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    I never cared for the bass clarinet

    hatter.

  • Salary_DizSalary_Diz 735 Posts
    yeah, i like that bass clarinet too. and oboe.
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    I too have always thought "Pharoah's Dance" was rather spooky.
  • JazzsuckaJazzsucka 720 Posts
    Bennie Maupin plays great bass clarinet on Headhunters "Survival of the Fittest", which IMO, is one of the best fusion records ever made.
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    Roland Young's Isophonic Boogie Woogie is two sides of mostly unaccompanied amplified, reverbed, and otherwise mutated bass reedwork. Fake spurtchal art on the front, fake Bootsy art on the back, and a sound that lies nowhere between the two. Pure brown-sound bad vibes. The cut corner on my copy means that my poster has a perfect diamond missing from its very center. But who among us doesn't?
  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    I don't know of any other musicians or too many other records with any decent amount of bass clarinet action, aside from some of Maupin's other work, on a handful of Herbie Hancock and Miles records. What are some good records that use bass clarinets and/or have that same sort of paranoid, eerie feel?


    yeah uh Eric Dolphy? Pretty much the definitive voice of bass clarinet in jazz.
  • FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts
  • white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
    For some odd reason, I don't have any Eric Dolphy solo joints. I have a couple Andrew Hill records, but no Dolphy. I realize that opens me up for a few jazz-head jabs. So be it. But thanks for the reccomendations. Maybe I'll pick up "Out to Lunch" today from the store. Thanks for the other recommendations too.
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    You NEED "out to lunch".
  • JazzsuckaJazzsucka 720 Posts
    Just to let you know that Eric Dolphy's records are pretty "free". Maybe that's your cup of tea, it certainly is mine.
  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    You NEED "out to lunch".




    Out There and The Illinois Concert are other Dolphy faves of mine. But seriously, Out to Lunch...
  • white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
    Just to let you know that Eric Dolphy's records are pretty "free". Maybe that's your cup of tea, it certainly is mine.

    Very much so. Sometimes best served over tea and/or whisky.
  • jazzercismjazzercism 838 Posts
    You NEED "out to lunch".

    This album features the best compositions that Eric Dolphy ever wrote, an incredible band, and the best vibes work on any jazz album ever, period.

    PLUS: paranoid bass clarinet for days...
  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    his live stuff with Coltrane and Mingus is required listening too!
  • gloomgloom 2,765 Posts
    i had to beat up a dude in high school that played bass clarinet, that fucker was spooky looking
  • jazzercismjazzercism 838 Posts
    TOOL/DICK
  • nickjnickj 53 Posts

    Dolphy pretty much had the bass clarinet on lock for the 1960's. In addition to his own stuff: All the versions of "Naima" he did with Coltrane were bass clarinet features, and he did some some crazy duets with Mingus, too.

    It seems like Bennie Maupin reprised his Bitches Brew sound on a few lp's: those Herbie Hancock Mwandishi lp's, some of those Eddie Henderson records, and Woody Shaw's first two lp's.

    There's a cut "Mind Over Matter" on Joe Henderon's In Pursuit of Blackness lp that's got some pretty insane bass clari, too. Pete Yellin, I think.

    And John Gilmore plays it beautifully on one of my favorite Sun Ra records, Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy. "Adventure Equation" is


    I'll post some more as I think of em.
  • leisurebanditleisurebandit 1,006 Posts
    a couple Andrew Hill records

    good call- 'Point of Departure' has some spooky sounding bass clarinet courtesy of Dolphy.

    Bennie Maupins 'Slow Traffic' LP has a bcl jam.

    i love that BDP beat that samples the Headhunters bass clarinet, the one w. Freddie Foxxxx.

    Nathan Davis has a couple records where he pulls it out for a song.
  • jazzercismjazzercism 838 Posts

    i love that BDP beat that samples the Headhunters bass clarinet, the one w. Freddie Foxxxx.

    Is that a bass clarinet on Ultramagnetic's "Traveling at the Speed of Thought Hip House Mix"?
  • Skip DrinkwaterSkip Drinkwater 1,694 Posts
    i love the bass clarinet in a jazz context. bennie maupin plays some real nice b.c. on jack dejohnette's slept-on "have you heard?" album from 1971. i recently burned it onto my hardrive, so i can up it if anyone's interested.
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    Dolphy was the man.



    the only DJ blend I have really ever done was with Dolphy, I will try and post it later...I didnt want to do a normal beat matching blend, so I took his "God Bless the Child" from the berlin concerts(its an unaccompanied bass clarinet solo) and blended it with a track form one of those Jamey Absersold LPs...it was tricky to get Eric to change in time and key with the chord changes on the Abersold LP, but I got it to work pretty well, my only major fuck up was I didnt pull Eric out in time and you hear the crowd cheer after his tune and I didnt want that, but I got the blend as good as it was going to get and didnt think I could do it twice and since I recorded it I left it at that...



    also, his bass clarinet solo on "Tender Warriors" from Max Roach's "Percussion Bittersweet" is
  • Otis_FunkmeyerOtis_Funkmeyer 1,321 Posts
    I saw this great jazz combo with two bass clarinets at the Dragon's Den in N.O. in 1999. I wish I could remember their name, though. It was something like "The Harvey Wallbanger Quartet" but definitley not that. Anyone else?
  • progbeatzprogbeatz 451 Posts


    PLUS: paranoid bass clarinet for days...
  • DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
    I too have always thought "Pharoah's Dance" was rather spooky.

    cosign.
  • bobbydeebobbydee 849 Posts
    You NEED "out to lunch".




    Out There and The Illinois Concert are other Dolphy faves of mine. But seriously, Out to Lunch...

    funnily enough, i have been trying to get this on wax for probably 5-6 years. One of the first jazz albums i found i could listen to, start to finish. I suppose its due to its quality that it hasn't come up....
  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    before my recent Nation Time purchase, Out to Lunch was the most I'd ever paid for a record at $76.
  • Skip DrinkwaterSkip Drinkwater 1,694 Posts
    before my recent Nation Time purchase, Out to Lunch was the most I'd ever paid for a record at $76.
    i've been trying to find that one too. got excited when i saw it a couple days ago, but it was a beat-up stereo copy, and i've been looking for a nice mono.
  • GNZGNZ 68 Posts
    i love the bass clarinet in a jazz context. bennie maupin plays some real nice b.c. on jack dejohnette's slept-on "have you heard?" album from 1971. i recently burned it onto my hardrive, so i can up it if anyone's interested.

    Definatly interested. Haven't heard much early dejonhette, except for his duet album w/keith jarret (1971 ECM) Ruta and Daitya (pretty strange stuff, mostly improvised).

    Some guys that i play with at school have bass clarinets and i fiend to play one.

    eric dolphy will bow your wig through the back of yr. skull




    and....


    john COLTRANE...? on the album "cosmic music" w/alice coltrane, pharoah sanders et. al.
    TRANE indeed wails on a bass clarinet (perhaps eric dolphy's? he played dolphy's flute on the album "expressions")
    This would more be free jazz spirituality saxophone full frontal assault than spooky loops of the maupin variety. I agree, he pushes bitches brew over the line into the classic status.
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    I heard some live Byron Morris jam that featured a pretty wicked bass clarinet. I didn't manage to get the name of it though and have had no luck in discovering what it was from or where to get it.
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