10 Albums Blu DeTiger Thinks Every Bass Player Should Own
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The post 10 Albums Blu DeTiger Thinks Every Bass Player Should Own appeared first on Consequence.
Consequence’s Bass Week continues with our latest edition of Crate Digging. For this session, bassist and singer-songwriter Blu DeTiger shares the 10 albums she believes every bassist should own. Check out our 100 Greatest Bass Players list, our roundup of the 50 Greatest Basslines of All Time, and other lists, artist-driven content, games, and more.
On a Blu DeTiger song, the bass is never a background instrument. If you aren’t familiar with Blu’s tunes, you may have heard her playing as a session musician on standout songs by Chromeo, Bleachers, FLETCHER, The Knocks, Claud, and Nasty Cherry. Now with her long-awaited debut album All I Ever Want Is Everything, Blu is elevating her status as not just a bassist, but a writer of effortless pop music, a funk and disco connoisseur, and a supreme vibe curator.
She admires the greats — each bassist on her selection of 10 essential albums made it on our list of the 100 greatest bassists of all time — and has been studying from their playbooks her whole life. Throughout our conversation, Blu DeTiger mentions that she wrote a college paper on Larry Graham, obsessed over the image of Bootsy Collins with his signature star-shaped bass, and has been trying to write a bassline as good as Chic’s Bernard Edwards for years.
Even with a major appreciation for low-end romps of the past, Blu DeTiger is keeping her eyes on the future and serving up classic line after classic line on All I Ever Want Is Everything — from the bouncy funk of “Cut Me Down” to the haywire speed drive of “Latency.” It’s been a long time coming for Blu, given her origins as a session bassist and how much music she’s put out in the lead up to her debut. The album is assured, confident, and distinctly Blu DeTiger.
See below for Blu DeTiger’s list of the 10 albums she thinks any bass player (or music lover) should own, including Chic, D’Angelo’s Voodoo, and Meshell Ndegeocello’s Plantation Lullabies. You can also see the rest of this week’s bastion of bass content here.
Graham Central Station — Graham Central Station (Bassist: Larry Graham)
Larry Graham, legendary. I actually wrote a paper about him in college about how he brought slap bass into the mainstream through Sly and the Family Stone. He had a huge influence on how people played the instrument. My essential track is “Hair,” iconic bassline. It really showcases what slap bass is and how rhythmic it is, how much space it can fill and how much rhythm and harmony it can express. I practiced that for hours and hours and hours when I was learning, trying to figure out how to do those ghost notes and how to just constantly have my right hand going while the left hand was going. His bass work in Sly and the Family Stone is a little bit more simple, but his influence on music is definitely there.
Essential Track: “Hair”
Chic — Chic (Bernard Edwards)
I feel bad choosing a Chic album that doesn’t have “Good Times” on it, but “Everybody Dance” on their self-titled album — their first album — has such a cool intro with such a cool bassline. Bernard Edwards’ bassline crafting is some of the best ever. He’s such a big inspiration, probably my favorite bass player ever — Chic is what got me into funk music. He was using the bass as a lead instrument, driving the songs with the bassline. Bernard Edwards had a specific technique where he’d do a double thumping rhythm, like on the intro to “Everybody Dance,” and it’s so crazy that I still need to get that technique down. “Good Times” is probably one of the best basslines ever, but there are so many amazing basslines in Chic where Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers were just matching each other so perfectly. But “Good Times” and “Everybody Dance”… I’ve been trying to write a bassline like that for years.
Essential Track: “Everybody Dance”
D’Angelo — Voodoo (Pino Palladino)
Pino Palladino played bass on Voodoo, definitely one of the best bass players of all time. That album really gives a sense of how bass can manipulate time along with the drummer. When you listen to Voodoo, the grooves almost feel wrong because you’re in Dilla time. Pino Palladino’s playing and how he fits the notes in… If it was on the beat, it would completely change the song for the worse. So even though it kind of feels wrong, it’s perfect, you know? His muted style almost feels like it’s low-passed, the tone is so specific and influential for that kind of playing. He’s not even playing a crazy amount of notes. It’s really just where the notes are being placed with the groove. It’s loose, sloppy, and it can’t be any other way.
Essential Track: “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”
Jaco Pastorius — Jaco Pastorius
Jaco was iconic, and he really showcased the fretless bass, how it can be used, the harmonics, it was insane. He definitely influenced some of my music, using the bass with more harmony. I do a lot of bass chords and I try to use it in a pretty way, almost as a vocal part. I think Jaco was so good about that. He was very vocal on the instrument. It felt like he was singing through it. I think that element is really… you can feel that present in any bass player who kind of uses it as their voice and as a lead instrument. I think you can definitely relate it back to Jaco.
Essential Track: “Portrait of Tracy”
Meshell Ndegeocello — Plantation Lullabies
This is such an incredible record, first of all, and the bassline on the key track “If That’s Your Boyfriend” is so sick. But something to note, when Meshell plays live, she sings and plays — so when you listen to her records and imagine her singing and playing these songs on bass, it’s insane. She’s a big inspiration to me, being a singer and a bass player myself — doing that at the same time and figuring out where the vocal fits within the bassline… she’s a master of that. Her groove, her slap bass, and her feel on the instrument is so special.
Essential Track: “If That’s Your Boyfriend”
Grover Washington Jr. — Winelight (Marcus Miller)
Marcus Miller is one of my favorite bassists ever, but he kind of came after a lot of other great bassists. I was going to put his solo record because it’s so great, but I thought I would put something from when he was younger instead to really demonstrate how gifted he was. Winelight has this jazzy vibe that is so special. Marcus Miller’s tone on the instrument, the way he slaps, his touch… it’s impeccable. His timing and his groove was essential. He definitely opened my eyes to different styles of playing.
Essential Track: “Let It Flow”
James Brown — Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang (Bootsy Collins)
This is a compilation with James Brown with the J.B.s, so it has Bootsy Collins on it, Bootsy’s brother, and that whole crew. Bootsy is just such an important player to listen to — for his sound, obviously, but also as a cultural figure, how he played his star bass. Me being an artist whose primary instrument is the bass, I’ve always been influenced by him and how he was as an artist. Bootsy’s whole thing was the ‘one,’ the ‘one’ is key. The ‘one’ is supreme, that’s where the funk comes from… you have hit the one and then whatever you do in between is kind of up to you, as long as you hit the one.
That was something that my bass teacher, when I was studying funk music, told me, he was always like, “as long as you hit the root on the one, any fill you do in between, that’s chill, you just have to make sure that you’re back for the one.” I use that all the time — no matter how many layers and how much spice you put into it, you have to keep the groove going and you have keep the bones of the song together. I think that comes from Bootsy Collins.
Essential Track: “Super Bad”
The Beatles — Abbey Road (Paul McCartney)
Paul McCartney is usually known for his singing and songwriting, but his bass-playing can often be underestimated. “Come Together” is obviously the focus track, just an iconic bassline — any time a bassline can be sung back as an important melody or as the key part of a song, I think that’s just something so special to celebrate. So if someone says, “Come Together,”‘ you’re going to sing the bassline in your head first; that’s the key factor. If someone sings that bassline, you’re going to know the song. I think that’s always just the coolest thing, that’s what I strive to do for my tracks. I want the bassline to be able to be sung back and recognizable. That’s what I love about that song and that record.
Essential Track: “Come Together”
The Brothers Johnson — Right on Time (Louis Johnson)
This was Louis Johnson, who played on a lot of Michael Jackson records. Louis Johnson was a crazy, crazy funk bass player. Listening to him doing the octave-driven bassline on “Strawberry Letter 23” was really inspiring to me when I was learning funk music. You’re playing the root and the octave, which sounds so simple — but the way Johnson would place them, the way he’d move in between the chords, the way it’d become the driving force of the track… the feel of it is so well done. You know it’s coming from his soul and his heart, not just calculated to be on the click. He also has this crazy instructional video on YouTube where he’ll play something really difficult and then break down bassline like it’s nothing. If you’re learning the bass, even though it looks impossible, I highly recommend.
Essential Track: “Strawberry Letter 23”
Victor Wooten — A Show of Hands (Victor Wooten)
When I listened to A Show of Hands, Victor Wooten’s first solo album, and the key track “U Can’t Hold No Groove…” I was like “How is that a bass doing all those things?” Victor Wooten has really shown what the bass can do, and how there are no limitations. Anything you can think of on the bass, Victor Wooten can probably do it. And if he can’t, he’ll be like, “okay, let me work on it.” And then he’ll learn it and then he’ll do it. He’s so adventurous on the instrument, he’s not afraid to try anything. It will sound like there are four people playing and it’s literally just him. I did his workshop at Berklee College of Music one year, and it was amazing. The way he talks about music as a language… I’ve read his book too. He’s a really smart guy, such a great teacher.
Essential Track: “U Can’t Hold No Groove…”
10 Albums Blu DeTiger Thinks Every Bass Player Should Own
Paolo Ragusa
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