Best Bass Player?

[ld111134]

Jazz (acoustic):

1. Charles Mingus - his monster bass playing was overshadowed by his composing/bandleading
   
2. Jimmy Blanton - Today's players can outplay him but he stared it all back in 1939 - 1940 with Ellington; listen to him on the original recording of "Cottontail"
   
3. Oscar Pettiford - Woefully underappreciated today, but listen to him play with Sonny Rollins and Max Roach on "The Freedom Suite"
   
4. Harrison Bankhead - a local player here in Chicago who is the "go to" guy for all of the avant gardists such as Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Anderson, etc., but he's also an awesome "straight ahead" player too
   
5. Christian McBride - Probably my favorite bassist of the post-Wynton Marsalis era
   
6. Charlie Haden - His playing with Ornette, Pat Metheny and his own Quartet West is matchless

Jazz (electric)

• Jaco Pastorius - Nothing more to say about the innovator; plus, he was a great arranger (listen to his recordings with his Word of Mouth big band, which includes such ringers as Oregon's Paul McCandless on tenor sax and steel pan player Othello Molyneaux)
  
• Jamaladeen Tacuma - His recent recordings with drummer Calvin Weston and his old recordings with Ornette's Prime Time band have to be heard to be believed
  
• Stanley Clarke - I had to get over my loathing of his pop-oriented smoothed-out efforts and realize how great he really is, with Return to Forever and in other contexts

Rock:

• John Entwhistle - "My Generation", "Who Are You?" and "Doctor Jimmy" (from Quadrophenia). 'Nuff said.
  
• Bootsy Collins - You can listen to any George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic recording with him on it and just focus on his playing alone
  
• Chris Squire - Yes's music was often excessive and turgid, but Squire's treble-like playing on the Rickenbacker was always refreshing
  
• Dave Schools - I am not a huge fan of Widespread Panic, but I heard them play two shows here in Chicago with some true Panic-heads and I have to admit this guy is really, really good