Archived Edition of Chromatic Musings

Closing Jam Session

Saturday just happened to coincide with Victor's 40^th birthday. We had a free form jam, four or five bassists at a time with Roy Wooten, Derico Watson or J.D. Blair on drums (just back from touring with Shania) and the occasional guest on other instruments. Everyone who wanted to play got up, took a solo or laid back, holding the groove.

For myself, when I was up on stage, I didn't do much in the way of soloing. There were four other bass players up there, each trying to find their space to solo. So, I let them go, laying down as good a groove as I could while locking in with Derico's drumline. I did do the occasional fill here and there, but that was about it. I had a great time doing it, though.

Rob got up twice for the jam session. The first time, he was on stage for about two minutes when the next group was shuffled on en masse. But, he did make it back up later on, playing with J.D..

About midway through the jam session, Victor and J.D. started to jam together, playing U Can't Hold No Groove and a version of Me And My Bass Guitar. For me, this was such a great experience. I caught the A Show Of Hands tour when it was just J.D. and Victor, so this was a nice return home to the stripped down sound.

A very special guest who stopped by that evening was Bob Moore. Mr. Moore was Elvis Presley's bass player, along with performing on over 18,000 sessions and 621(!!) number one songs. It was an honor to have met him.

At the end of the evening, Mama Wooten got up to say a few words. She told some funny and touching stories about Victor when he was a child. While she was talking, my bass -- my baby -- fell off it's resting place and onto the ground. I couldn't curse anywhere near as much as I had wanted to, so I just shrugged and tried to play it off.

Posted by Casper at September 11, 2004 11:58 PM