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CS<br />
100 GREATEST BASS PLAYERS<br />
72<br />
74<br />
76<br />
Victor Bailey<br />
A natural talent blessed with Jaco’s<br />
bravura, the Philly-born phenom<br />
was the perfect Pastorius replacement<br />
in Weather Report, issuing<br />
his own dramatic Jazz Bass<br />
tones. Bailey’s elastic grooves<br />
redefined the pocket, his bebop<br />
lines and phrasing raised the bar<br />
on blowing, and his radical techniques<br />
(like double-thumbing and<br />
tapping) across four solo sides<br />
remains under-heralded.<br />
73<br />
Dee Murray<br />
With Elton John’s wildly successful<br />
’70s band, Murray’s smartly<br />
syncopated R&B approach<br />
first pushed the boundaries of<br />
the piano/bass/drums rocktrio<br />
format on the early album<br />
11-17-70. Over the next decade,<br />
Dee’s upfront sound and upperregister<br />
fills helped bring dozens<br />
of Elton’s tracks to life on classic<br />
albums like Honky Chateau and<br />
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.<br />
75<br />
KEVIN MAZUR<br />
Esperanza Spalding<br />
Sure, she’s a stylish young artist<br />
who sings beautifully in three<br />
languages while casually handling<br />
acoustic (and her fretless<br />
Propert and Fender electrics)<br />
like a virtuoso. After last year’s<br />
multi-hued Emily’s D+Evolution<br />
explosion, however, this gifted<br />
32-year-old is laying the foundation<br />
for a lifelong career that will<br />
continue to defy expectations.<br />
77<br />
Michael Manring<br />
Manring has become one of the<br />
bass guitar’s greatest experimenters<br />
and innovators. First<br />
making his mark as a Windham<br />
Hill Records fretless specialist,<br />
Manring developed the Hyperbass<br />
(with builder Joe Zon) and<br />
other instruments featuring leveractivated<br />
hardware that allows for<br />
instantaneous alternate tunings.<br />
He is also known for playing multiple<br />
basses at once.<br />
Sting<br />
With the Police, Sting brought<br />
reggae influences—featuring onedrops<br />
and unexpected rests—into<br />
rock, starting with 1978’s “Roxanne”<br />
and “Can’t Stand Losing<br />
You.” “Every Little Thing She Does<br />
Is Magic” (1982) is a pop-bass<br />
masterpiece of space and development.<br />
If you’re still skeptical<br />
of his bass brilliance, check out<br />
the weird “Masoko Tanga” (’78).<br />
Peter Hook<br />
Listen to classics like “Love Will<br />
Tear Us Apart” and “Ceremony”<br />
and marvel at how catchy and<br />
clear the bass lines are. It’s no<br />
surprise, then, that Hooky’s<br />
distinctive pick work with Joy<br />
Division and New Order, most<br />
famously on Yamaha BB1200S<br />
4-strings and Shergold Marathon<br />
6-strings, has had such a<br />
huge impact on post-punk and<br />
new-wave bass.<br />
40 bassplayer.com / february<strong>2017</strong>
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