kingston12
pfm Member
As you got yours from Amazon and then they disappeared you were probably the person that saved me from buying it!
Perhaps! Well, at least you saved the £300!
As you got yours from Amazon and then they disappeared you were probably the person that saved me from buying it!
The bass is a bit of a disaster though again as Tony says, muddy and lacking distinctiveness, at least at the start of the first set. I'd put probably put most of that down to Jymie Merritt using his hybrid amplified Ampeg Bass that he helped to invent. I'm not a fan of uprights amplified via pickups and played through a 90 watt amplifier in his case.
Why he didn’t just use a conventional acoustic bass
Tony, yes I agree again about the bass. I don't understand it's use for an upright at all. You lose all the sound of wood body of the instrument and much of the subtleties of hands on strings. It is a real pity here as otherwise the standard of playing is exceptional and the sound (apart from the bass is very good). I think perhaps Merritt wanted to mark himself out as different and amplification was becoming the norm for bass players even in small clubs. Ron Carter tried it for a while because of the demand (as on the two Tone Poets - it does sound much better there though), but hated it and eventually abandoned using it. Or perhaps Merritt was just pushing his use of a pickup on an upright that he helped to invent for Ampeg for commercial reasons.Listening to this again it makes total sense. The recording is fine, in fact the rest of the band is great (excellent horns & drums, Rudy style piano), it’s just the bass is just a horrible distorted honking booming mess, which I guess is exactly what it sounded like. Why he didn’t just use a conventional acoustic bass or even a standard Fender Jazz Bass and amp I have no idea. He must have realised it was crap!
What’s the studio album Caramba (1968) like? That’s pencilled in for a Classic reissue later and I’ll likely take a punt as I love the Lighthouse material, especially the more long-form stuff.
I think the only Maupin's with him as leader are about 5 or 6 albums later than Lighthouse. I have only heard the ECM one Jewel in the Lotus. Otherwise I can only remember hearing him as a sideman on the later Miles and Herbie Hancock albums and on the 1967 McCoy Tyner that is a now a Tone Poet.
Just checked Discogs that gives 6 albums, 1 single and two compilations. 4 albums in the 70's. Mostly fusion I think as you say, but the Almanac album with Cecil McBee seems interesting I might check that out.Yes, I think he might have done some other fusion stuff (after Jewel in the Lotus) mid/late-70s - could be thinking of someone else as it's not really my thing.
Theo,I'd love to see Andrew Hill's 'Grass Roots' re-released on TP: it's Hill at his most accessible.
There was a relatively recent re-pressing on BN: anybody here heard it?