Posted by In what was shaping up to become a pretty darn pleasant annual summer tradition, on June 26th, 2009 I descended upon Confederation Park just a hop, skip, and a jump (or more accurately: a bike ride) down the canal from my house for an evening of jaw-droppingly good music at the Ottawa Jazz Festival.
The sole act on slate for me was something going by the moniker SMV which, while not catchy at all, is a significantly smaller mouthful than calling yourselves “Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, and Victor Wooten; Omigawd Can You Believe Three of the Hottest Bass Players Alive Are Touring Together,” which is the more obvious name for such an ensemble.
Anyways, SMV was basically three of the hottest bass players alive touring together (which would have gone without saying had they stuck with the more accurate though admittedly bulkier latter title for their act) and it was amazing. If you don’t know any of those names then I could never really tell you how jaw-droppingly astounding it was to hear the three musical monsters stand toe-to-toe, and if you do recognize any of those names then I probably don’t have to; it was all that you can imagine and a little bit more.
There was just so much to take in when all three of them played together that it was almost better when each bass maestro led the band alone while the other two watched from the wings. Almost. My gosh, the amount of individual rehearsal and life-succumbing dedication to the greatest and most under-appreciated instrument of all time (in my absolutely correct and utterly irrefutable opinion) that was on display at this show was simply breathtaking. Michael Jackson had just died the day before (I believe it was) and one of them (Miller?) played a medley of MJ tunes in tribute that was so fluid, so musical…man, it was just so great and very likely just bleeding out of his well-rehearsed hands for the first time.
Anyway, I had a great time and kudos to the Ottawa Jazz Festival for booking such a cool act. I can see how some people might say it was a little risky booking a band led by three players of what many consider to be an in-the-shadows side-instrument, but if you ask me with SMV three basses make a home run!
(No way I was not making that joke.)
Todd Man Out 