Guitarist Frank Seeberger was in the house Friday, April 19 for Jazz in The Georgian at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in the heart of downtown Seattle. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Frank holds a music Masters degree from New England Conservatory in Boston. He has been an elementary music teacher in the Seattle school district for over 15 years who also gives guitar lessons as a private instructor. Frank is one of the most in-demand guitarists in the area who is extremely versatile in playing in almost any professional gig situation. Whether the music is straight ahead jazz, big band swing, rock and pop music, R&B/funk, or shows that require qualified music reading skills, Frank can back it up.
On this particular night I decided to bring my Ibanez fretless bass guitar. I have owned this bass for about 23 years. Almost all of that time it mainly spent forgotten in the corner of my office with a generous coating of dust. Back in 1990 I had a beautiful Music Man electric four-string bass with a stunning birds eye maple neck. It was a great funk bass and just growled. One evening I went out drinking with a buddy in Pioneer Square and put the bass in the trunk of my friends car. We were parked on a side street just off First Avenue. Apparently, someone had spied us putting the bass in the trunk. When we got back to the car after an hour, the bass was gone from the trunk. The thief at least had the courtesy to close the trunk. It was pretty devastating to lose that fine instrument. It makes me wince just thinking about. I put the thought of it long out of mind. The next day I immediately went to the music store and bought two basses to make up for this tremendous loss. I got a Fender Jazz bass that became my main bass for many years, and a black Ibanez fretless bass. Getting two basses instead of just one was probably more of a reaction to quell the agony of this mishap. I recall that I did have a desire to play the fretless bass and this was an opportunity to get one as it was on display at the store. However, almost all of my time was spent on the new Fender Jazz bass as my new number one bass. Every now and then I would dabble on the fretless but never found a comfort level with it. I was simply not ready to pursue this bass as my playing style at the time was not really suited for it. Also, I was simply afraid and intimidated by the fretless bass. It is much different than a regular fretted electric bass. Playing in tune is the main issue. I didn't have the chops for it and wasn't focused on it enough to dive into it. So the poor bass languished and sat neglected pretty much untouched for...decades.
It was only not until a few weeks ago that I decided to give this bass a shot. What prompted me was my association as a partner of Seattle record label Urban Mosaic Records that needed some fretless bass tracks on some studio music projects. I put down some fretless bass tracks on a composition of mine where it was the lead instrument. Something of a revelation happened. I could play this bass! I was also learning the great song by Steve Swallow called Falling Grace. With all tunes that I learn, I learn the melody as well as chord changes and did so on the acoustic bass as well as the "new" fretless. Because of my time spent on the upright, which if you think about it is really the ultimate fretless bass, this electric fretless felt totally at home and comfortable. It's like an extension of my upright. Even though the spacing and certain technique is different on the upright, this electric fretless just felt so comfortable and right. It was butter. Playing the upright bass is all about using the ears to maintain correct intonation. Playing an electric fretted bass does not have the same challenge. Just by rolling your finger slightly on the finger board of an upright or electric fretless will immensely vary the pitch. Having played the upright bass so extensively has produced a great skill set of ear training that apparently seamlessly transfers to the electric fretless. It's as if I just discovered a new instrument even though I've had it for twenty-three years. It feels like full circle in a way. The first half of my music career was spent exclusively on the electric bass. The latter half of my career up to the present time has been mainly on the acoustic bass. Now, after all these years I have gotten back to the electric bass (actually never left it), but I have found a new voice with the electric fretless. This would not have happened had I not been playing the upright bass for the last twelve years. Right now, it's a neat feeling to discover a "new" thing at this stage of music career and life as a youthful middle aged person. It's exciting.
With Frank coming in The Georgian, I thought this would be a great opportunity to bring the fretless out and leave the big upright at home. A lot of traditional jazz musicians do not carry over to the electric instrumentation world of jazz-rock-funk-fusion. Frank does as he is a modern contemporary guitarist who is equally skilled playing traditional straight ahead jazz and fusion jazz. This is the first time ever that I have played this fretless bass on any gig or situation where it's the main bass. Frank's style of playing is such that the electric fretless would be compatible to him. That turned out to be correct. It was just great fun to play that night.
We covered a lot of musical ground this past Friday. Normally, if I can get just one or two good videos out of the whole night, that's a success. We got a bunch of moments captured on video to share. I'm so excited about the possibilities of playing the fretless electric. It has such a great resonant earthy wood tone. Please enjoy these video presentations from our night of Jazz in The Georgian!
This first video is the new tune I recently learned, Falling Grace.
Falling Grace
This next video is a pretty waltz called Emily.
Emily
Here's a blues tune by jazz guitar legend Wes Montgomery called D Natural Blues.
D Natural Blues
This song is a Antonio-Carlos Jobim piece called Once I Loved.
Once I Loved
The last video is a great song by Sam Rivers called Beatrice.
Beatrice
I hope I didn't overwhelm with these many videos. If you did get through them, thank you for taking the time to check them out. I truly hope you enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed playing on them.
Next at Jazz in The Georgian we have the marvelous jazz guitarist Milo Petersen back again this Friday, April 26, and superbly hip tenor saxophonist Brian Kent in the house on Saturday, April 27.
Please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear highlights of Jazz in The Georgian, and Smooth Groove Productions special events.
Jazz in The Georgian every Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm-10pm at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle, Washington 98101, 206-621-7889.
Please visit www.smoothgroove.net
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