John Hancotte's Bass Desires: A Christmas Party at Coca-Cola NAT Cannot Be Flat!

Had been looking forward to this for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, don't tell anybody but my wife works here! Shhhh, I told you to keep it on the down-low! She started at the Wildwood location, but as soon as she got comfortable with working 7 miles from home and not having to deal with the highway, they up and moved her to the North Avenue Tower. So much for letting her have an easy commute and being able to get the kids on time without worry. Anyways, she wasn't on the invite list. Also anyways, she doesn't read this blog, so 'nuff said on that matter. The other reason I was looking forward to this was that we played the same event last year. The action was feebly documented here. Many aspects were the same. We were treated very well. A great hot meal of filets, mushroom ravioli, salad, veggies, and of course, all of the free soda including Coca-Cola we could possibly want.

My big issue of the night: my batteries died once again in my 6-string. I guess I've finally come to learn that that deluxe 18-volt EMG pre-amp and active pickup system is quite a current drain. Damn! I need to change those puppies when I change the clocks to standard or daylight saving time. I brought the Stick (check out Stick Enterprises here) out for the hip-hop set. Let me say that the Stick just may be my ticket to hip-hop groovedom. Well, maybe not exactly, but I want to get some playing time on it, so let's try that. I need a niche with that instrument and I may have found it. It has a glorious attack on Gold Digger, This Is How We Do It, and many of the other ones. As far as playing Ain't No Mountain High Enough on it, I'm not quite there yet, but I got through it. I had to after my bass starting farting and spitting through Brown Eyed Girl. Glad I had something to go to. As luck would have it, I had my Jazz bass in the car. It was safe in the gated parking of the NAT complex. I fetched it after the 2nd set, rather than try to change the batteries. It sounded great. Why do I ever play anything else? Really? All I need is a Fender and I'm there. Oh well, that's how it is with me, I suppose. I'm not sure the band loves the Stick. Nobody has ever said anything about it. They look at me. Gus shook his head. That's about it. Glen knows what it is. I might bring it all back out this next weekend when we play at the Intercontinental. Would be nice to have fresh batteries and all. I need a more pronounced damper since I raised the nut screws one-half turn to allow for more tapping volume at the 1st and 2nd frets. The low D-flat (and A-flat on the G string) sounded great on Gold Digger. That song is just not right, in a good way. A bit too much, but the crowd dances like it's the greatest song they've ever heard. Kanye knew what he was doing on that one. The Ray Charles hook is certainly catchy. Love the Stick, and I think I'm more or less comfortable with playing just the bass on it. I grabbed some nice chords on This Is How We Do It:

Fm with the right hand playing (low to high): Ab C Eb (an Ab triad)
F# with the right hand playing (low to high): A# C# E#
- really, I think of it as Gb bass with Bb Db F on top (a Bbm triad)

The Stick really makes one think of the chords in a different way, I suppose how a piano player thinks. No revelation here, but any jazzer should know that one should not be playing the root when the bass is already doing that. One should explore the upper partials, or simply omit the root, then the fifth after that. Great fun.

More on the Stick, if I may. I had to play it on a good amount of the "Motown/Stax/Atlantic R&B/Classic Rock" set, starting with the middle break of Brown-Eyed Girl. I wasn't easy, as the next tune was that James Jamerson tour-de-force Ain't No Mountain High Enough. The best moment came with The Drifters' nugget Under The Boardwalk. The bass kicks it off, with simple arpeggios, for us, in the key of F. For the first time, I could bask in the juicy tone of the sweet spot of the Stick. The piano-esque timbre made it really come alive. If I could, I would always play that tune on the Chapman 10-stringer. At any rate, I ran and fetched my Jazz bass during the break and played that during the majority of the 3rd set. For a second time, the Kanye West nasty track Gold Digger was the hands-down floor packer. No n-word was ever muttered, and that's a good thing.

Tony subbed for Anton. Man, the band really misses those extra keys and all of the nutty stuff that Anton brings. No offence Tony; your tenor tone was Brecker friendly and Berg-ish in all of the right ways. I think the role has morphed into much more than that of just a horn player. It's a multi-instrumentalist who also dances and even raps! I talked it over with Anton at the following gig and he explained that he wouldn't do what he does now if he were subbing for someone else. It's a level of comfort and familiarity. That's the beauty of a regular band. Playing with different people lets you come in refreshed; it's not stale. Then it gets to be "what can I bring to it this time without losing the essence." Anton has got it going on in that department. His little keyboard is sick with the dope patches and he's got the 'tude to pull off just about anything. Tony, get that keyboard (get one like Anton's - it's small & it has the real deal sounds). We love you and want you back. Make it happen!!!

Kevin informs the people that this dance isn't for just anybody, only the sexy people!

The crowd was tough and rather indifferent. Dancing was not the focus of the evening. We tried to read the crowd. Numerous changes were made on the fly. The folks were in a social frame of mind. Still, on the loadout we were heralded as one of their favorites. Promises were made to have us back the following year.