I find the social media trend of “best of” lists, annoying. Five best bass players, guitarists, blues guitarists, drummers, vocalists, 70’s bands, 80’s bands, 90’s bands, grunge bands, hair bands, yacht rock artists, and bands who wore platform shoes… Why? Why does everything have to be a subjective competition? Is this America’s obsession with winning? I dissent with thee… I don’t need a subjective “best of” list. I don’t need a ranking. I will always leave someone off that list in the moment…

I remember last week seeing a best bass players list, and just shaking my head. It was a list of five players all associated with one genre of music. It was just sad. I replied to the post with my list of influential bassists. They included Ron Carter, Jaco Pastorius, Geddy Lee from Rush, Chris Squire from Yes, and Les Claypool from Primus. I forgot about Victor Wooten from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones in that moment. There are other great bass players that have made huge contributions to music: Paul Chambers, John Paul Jones, John Entwhistle, John Patitucci, Rocco Prestia, etc…

The number of bass players in music is astronomical. One could even cite Sting and Tina Weymouth as influential… Not the most skilled, melodic, ground-breaking, technical, or whatever. Their work just made the band better. The Talking Heads are not the Talking Heads without Tina. The Police sound this way, because of Sting. Lemmy Kilmister made Motorhead. Their personal flair, style, or way of playing helped define that band. Why do we need to rank them?

I played tuba for 40 years, before tinnitus ended my playing career. I listened to bass players more than guitarists or vocalists. Their use of voicing, volume, timbre, rhythm, and harmonic movement helped me understand my role as a tuba player in various groups. I stole from them. Yes, I played more classical music than jazz or rock, but I also arranged music for ensembles and by borrowing their genius so I could make my arrangement sound better…

My list of bass players is part historical and part loving their work. Ron Carter was the first jazz bassist that captured my imagination on recording. His work with Miles Davis in the second great quintet impressed me. He went on to appear in thousands of recordings. Right behind Ron in terms of influential jazz rhythm bassists is Paul Chambers who played on some of Miles Davis’ earlier material. Eugene Wright from the Dave Brubeck Quartet deserves an honorable mention here at least. This is not a ranking, but more of their work reaching my ears, and me admiring them for their contributions to music.

Then there is Jaco Pastorius. I first experienced Jaco in college. I did not connect him to Weather Report, until later. I bought Jaco’s solo record, and just listened and listened. The man just had a curious musical mind. He did things with an electric bass that defied my understanding of the instrument. I arranged his tune The Chicken for brass quintet. Jaco never had to use his breath to play his line… Whew, that bass line is exhausting when you have to play it for five minutes.

The bassist Victor Wooten appears to have purchased Jaco’s car and driven off with the technique, musicianship, and virtuosity that Jaco had. Victor’s solo on Sinister Minister (via YouTube) blew me away. He breaks a string during the solo and finishes the song with three strings, Having the ability to retune a string on the fly and finish the tune while missing a “G” string impressed me greatly. I have admired his work with the genre-bending Flecktones for about two decades now.

Rock bassists overlap with the jazz guys. I discovered them all about the same time. Geddy Lee was the first. Rush’s Moving Pictures album was the first to reach my ears. It was probably their most commercially successful. My high school band played YYZ for marching band. It was primarily a drum-line feature, but curiosity dug me a hole… and off to the library I went… I listened to more Rush, than I discovered Chris Squire of Yes. Progressive rock has always intrigued me. I like the virtuosity and classical music techniques being applied to rock music. There is a uniqueness to the sounds, structure, and orchestration that can draw you in.

Then we have my intro to Les Claypool from the Sailing the Seas of Cheese album. Wow just wow, his tapping, slapping, and funky groove along with the esoteric guitar playing and drumming from his band mates was so unique, awful, fun, and quirky that I fell in love with the music. I wish i played bass… he is incredibly creative and odd. My best friend and I used to remark that Primus is so bad, that it is great!!! I still follow Claypool and own quite a bit of his work with Primus.

I knew about Tower of Power but I never really investigated Rocco Prestia until I saw the song What is Hip arranged for Jazz Band. I hadn’t really dug into the bass groove of one of their tunes. I was always into David Garibaldi’s drumming… Whoa, Rocco is the funk framework within the band’s sound. Garibaldi was the color palette.

Sting, Tina Weymouth, and later Dave Matthews Band’s Stefan Lessard were also added to this list of great bassists. All three attracted my attention for different reasons. Lyrical writing and singing while playing bass (the juxtaposition of the two) is what entranced me about Sting. Tina’s articulation of her instrument really fits with David Byrne’s consonants while he sings. She gave him depth of character within the Talking Head’s music. She wasn’t flashy or virtuosic. Tina played to the ensemble’s strength, providing the groove and vertical balance of the music. I found her work to be very musical and democratic, where Sting’s playing was opportunistic as he filled the spaces with harmonic structure. Lessard’s playing is collaborative. He finds this comfortable space between Dave Matthew’s guitar and Carter Beauford’s drumming that allows the music to dance. The frenetic rhythm finds this comfortable groove on Lessard’s bass. His playing style reminds me of Paul Chambers and Ron Carter’s. I feel when DMB did an acoustic set on tour back in 2015 and I saw Lessard play an upright at this concert I was able to make this connection. The two jazz legends are definitely an influence.

There are so many other bass players that I could write about. I don’t need a “best of” list to admire a player. They don’t need to be ranked. They just need to be admired for their creativity and contribution to the world of music around them. The people who do these ranking lists really don’t understand the nature of music as a collaborative art. Each player evolves their work around the music they choose to play. Whether they play jazz, rock, funk, pop, etc. They can make us marvel at their artistry…

Now, I always forget about someone in these types of lists…. John Myung from Dream Theater gets forgotten here… Sorry John… There are a lot of men named John (Jon) that play bass… That’s a good way to end this…

…so it goes…