A onetime member of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time Band, and among the generation of bassists strongly influenced by the Stanley Clarke/Jaco Pastorius school, which emphasizes playing the electric bass like a lead guitar rather than a rhythm instrument. MacDowell is capable of booming, rapid-fire licks, flickering riffs, and sizzling rhythms. As a... [+] Read More

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Jaco Pastorius was a meteor who blazed on to the scene in the 1970s, only to flame out tragically in the 1980s. With a brilliantly fleet technique and fertile melodic imagination, Pastorius made his fretless electric bass leap out from the depths of the rhythm section into the front line with fluid machine-gun-like passages that demanded... [+] Read More

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Since his emergence with Ornette Coleman's Prime Time in the mid-'70s, Jamaaladeen Tacuma has been one of the top electric bassists in a style of music that could be called "free funk." Growing up in Philadelphia, Tacuma (who before he converted to Islam was known as Rudy McDaniel) played with Charles Earland. Only 19 when he joined Coleman in... [+] Read More

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Joe Zawinul belongs in a category unto himself -- a European from the heartland of the classical music tradition (Vienna) who learned to swing as freely as any American jazzer, and whose appetite for growth and change remains insatiable. Zawinul's curiosity and openness to all kinds of sounds made him one of the driving forces behind the... [+] Read More

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One of the top bassists of the 1990s (on both acoustic and electric), Patitucci's speed, very clear tone, and versatility are quite impressive. He started playing bass when he was 11, grew up in Northern California, and in 1978 moved south near Los Angeles. He played with Gap Mangione (1979) while going to college, and during 1982-1985 worked in... [+] Read More

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A wild improviser, bassist Jonas Hellborg leans more toward rock than jazz. Drawing inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, Arabic music, and Lifetime, Hellborg began playing professionally in the mid-'80s. After some session work (including Pil's Album, Ginger Baker's Middle Passage and John McLaughlin), he released The Word on Axiom in 1991. The album... [+] Read More

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Rick Laird was the quiet member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra -- while John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman, and Billy Cobham each regularly tried to outdo his bandmates in speed and volume, Laird provided the anchor to the group's sound. Not that he didn't occasionally get the chance to step out in front for a brief solo spot, but he seldom... [+] Read More

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A very versatile bassist, Rob Wasserman has gained fame for his trilogy of recording projects accurately titled Solo, Duets and Trios. Wasserman began playing the violin when he was 12, not switching to bass until he was already 20. Within a year he was studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and playing with drummer Charles Moffett.... [+] Read More

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Steve Swallow has long been many jazz critics' favorite electric bassist for, rather than playing his instrument in a rock-oriented manner, Swallow emphasizes the high notes and approaches the electric bass, to an extent, as if it were a guitar. He originally started on piano and trumpet before settling on the acoustic bass as a teenager.... [+] Read More

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