Here’s a look at the first part of the 1971 duet “Where Is The Love” featuring the vocal talents of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway.  I’ve looked at the intro and the first 8 bars of the A section here.  Stay tuned for the second part of the tune at the end of this week.

This track was the third single to be released on their 1971 duets album “Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway” and when it was released in ‘72, went straight to no. 1 in the US Hot Soul Singles and Adult Contemporary charts, peaking at 5 in the Hot 100.  By this time Roberta Flack had started to get greater success as a solo artist.  Donny Hathaway is a legend in his own right but if there are any young players reading this, be sure to check out “Donny Hathway Live” for some undisputed vocal genius and soul and the super bad bass playing of Willie Weeks also.  Great record.

The bass player on “Where is The Love” is the equally great Chuck Rainey (who we’ve looked at before with Aretha Franklin here).  Chuck played on the whole album and it features some great examples of his session playing:

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Intro

The notes are mainly based around the Roots and 5ths of each chord.  The main thing to watch out for is the note lengths – Chuck plays it pretty staccato giving it more of a bouncy feel than if it was longer & legato.  The other thing to watch out for is the angular feel of the the time, especially when he leaves out the 1 (bars 4, 6 and as this can make it harder to nail in the pocket.  There’s also a nice use of the  range of the bass between bars 6 and 7 here.

A Section

The bass settles down more when the vocals come in.  There’s less rhythmic stuff going on and the notes themselves are longer and smoother or more legato.  Again Chuck uses mainly R’s and 5’s here except a walking run on bar 7 of this section up to the Bb.  If you’re newer to the bass, it’s a great example of using 5ths in your line below the root note – (the obvious 5th being the one above when you first start out).  So here there are 5ths below in the A section in bars 1,2 and 5.

Hope you enjoyed this part and stay tuned for part 2 later in the week.

cheers,

Johnny

Intro

Here’s a look at the bass on the track Whatcha See is Watcha Get from the 2003 album “Up All Night” by the John Scofield Band.  This is one of Sco’s more groove-orientated records compared to the more straight ahead Jazz work on albums like “Works For Me” a few years earlier.  The rhythm section here is one of his regular line-ups for the more groove heavy music and features bass player Andy Hess and drummer Adam Deitch.

Andy’s great bass work has found itself on the records of The Black Crowes, Joan Osbourne and Gov’t Mule.  Meanwhile Adam Deitch is a superb groove drummer that in the words of John Scofield’s ” …’s got that jazz mentality and a ‘take no prisoners’ type of creativity – all combined with the groove of death.”  Thanks to my mate Osk for first getting me into Adam’s stuff in Leeds in 2003 and Ben Macdonald for getting me into this particular album a few years back.

“Up All Night” – The John Scofield Band

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A Section

The A section i’ve looked at here is the second time the groove kicks in over a Bm7 vamp.  The transcription is the first 8 bars of this section.  This starts at around 1:35 into the tune after the first break down.  The main riff is based around the notes of the Bm7 arpeggio with a few extra notes like the E from the minor pentatonic thrown in.  The main things here are the ghost notes which add a lot to the feel and the other thing that sticks out is each bar of riff is always rounded off by the F# (5th) going to a low A (7th) on beat 4.

B Section

The B section is based on the changes of a |III| VI| II| V | in A.  This section starts around 2:17 on the original recording.  Although, Sco starts adding in lots of jazzier language and harmony in this section the bass mainly stays on the R 5 and 7th of each particular chord as they bass.  The rhythms change constantly and are a great example of varying one single idea in a million different ways to keep things interesting but not too random at the same time.

Hope you liked this one, and if you do, be sure to check out Scofield’s earlier album with a similar rhythm section “Uberjam”.

cheers,

Johnny