| Author | Message | ||
| reinier
New Username: reinier Post Number: 10 Registered: 1-2003 |
Mr. Series II since 1976 (unfortunately I haven't yet located my copy of Wayne Johnson's 1980 release "Arrowhead" with a nice studio pic of his first SII with fan peghead, but I'll find it one of these days) at work with Lee Ritenour (1984) and his current gig, James Taylor (2001):     | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1643 Registered: 9-2002 |
HAllo Reinier, there is a video of a James Taylor rehearsal concert at a barn somewhere. I think even at James home where you can see Mr. JJ at work on this bass (not the fan-head). Anyway ...a very nice and intense concert and those bass-lines are sooooooooooooooooo nice and ...well ..."economical" describes it but I don't like the word. Paul the bad one | ||
| room037
Junior Username: room037 Post Number: 17 Registered: 9-2003 |
Wow ! I want to see such photo. I have never seen Graphite 5 bass except Mr. J.J.'s and mine. His current bass has cone head, but neck width and control knobs are same dimension as his 70's 5 strings (with fan head). And these has nice Walnut top too. I love narrow neck 5 st. | ||
| reinier
Junior Username: reinier Post Number: 11 Registered: 1-2003 |
Found it! Here's the pic of Flim in the studio while recording one of the best free Alembic ads ever: "Arrowhead" by the Wayne Johnson trio. Lots of melodies and solos by Flim on both fretted & fretless SII. In a May '89 Guitar Player interview Flim reports this bass was stolen 1.5 yrs earlier when touring with Allan Holdsworth. Could be the fan peghead SII in the "Stolen Alembics" section?  And for you as a graphite neck lover, Eiji, here's the (only) pic from the '89 GP interview (apologies for the page cut; I didn't want to cut up the mag). Reportedly, the other side of the neck doesn't have frets either ;-)  Paul, indeed Flim's playing with JT isn't themost flashy stuff around. Still love to see that video by the way. If you want to hear some "uneconomical" playing, just listen to "In the mystery" from Allan Holdsworth' "Metal Fatigue". Talking of videos: is anyone the happy owner of Allan Holdsworth' "Tokyo dream" video disc (or the VCR bootleg) released in Japan only? Supposed to be a killer trio (Chad Wackerman on drums?). Take care, RR | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1645 Registered: 9-2002 |
Hoi Reinier, let's not take this the wrong way. I just LOVE JJ playing that "economical" way. Being the most unflashy bassplayer of all time myself I always look for this "economical" way to play ...it just feels so ...well ...oh ....huhuhu ..."right". There is nothing to add nothing to do another way ...just precisely "right". I am a HUGE fun of JJ. On the "flashy" side I would choose for Armand SL ...but well <<<<<<let's>>>>> oops (I installed an automatic off-topic censoring device ....huh ...it will work for about a day I guess) Paul the bad one | ||
| room037
Junior Username: room037 Post Number: 18 Registered: 9-2003 |
Hi Reinier, Thank you for great photo. I saw this photo in B/W. Burl Walnut on back side is just like Graphite ! I have "Tokyo Dream" disc. This live act was done at Tokyo 1984. It was released in Japan. Mr J.J. play his Graphite 5 st. Yes, Chad Wackerman on drams and Paul Williams on vocal. I will try to upload these pict. | ||
| room037
Junior Username: room037 Post Number: 19 Registered: 9-2003 |
Hi, This photo is included Japanese Alembic catalogue in late 80's. Another photo is in "stolen Alembics" 76 AC 418  Next pict is J.Johnson signature bass. The bass has 3/4 body and both scales medium or long. I saw only a few this model in Japan.  My favorite is standard omega body. I love it than 3/4 body. (Message edited by room037 on October 07, 2004) | ||
| reinier
Junior Username: reinier Post Number: 13 Registered: 1-2003 |
Hi Eiji, Thx for the great pics! I have asked Alembic if they would know how may "JJ" signature basses have been produced but haven't heard from them yet (perhaps I should use a different e-mail than the general Alembic@Alembic.com?). You've partly answered that question now. Thx! Would be interesting to know where they've been shipped to. Could it be a model mainly for the Japanese market? It's a real beauty, the JJ from the folder. Fan peghead (WOW!), Deluxe neck laminates and classic knobs, so I guess there was no real standard for the JJ model. But then again, the words "standard" and "Alembic" don't mix too well anyhow ;-) they're all about being non-standard! I now have a digital camera but I'm still waiting for my classic hat knobs to arrive. As soon as they're on, I'll experiment to see if I can match the pro shots above.... Take care,RR | ||
| room037
Junior Username: room037 Post Number: 21 Registered: 9-2003 |
Hi Reinier, Yah, I am also interested how many made JJ Sig. There is only 2 JJ Sig. bass in this club. (one is your's Reinier !) I saw the bass only two time in late 80's to eary 90's, one was long scale, and another was medium scale. I was looking for it again, but I can't find it. I think this JJ sig (with 3/4 body) were ordered by Japanese dealer, after the boom of Alan Holdsworth with JJ. This bass's neck was slightly wide than 70's 5 st. I think it was standard 5 st width neck in late 80's. Then, the neck was not deluxe laminates (like series 2), it was standard 7 piece for 5 strings. My Graphite 5 has slightly wide neck. May be it is same construction as JJ sig in 80's. Each strings space is 15mm. I think, 70's 5 strings has 14mm space. How do you think the 5 string neck width ? I love the narrow one ! room037 from Japan | ||
| jseitang
Member Username: jseitang Post Number: 67 Registered: 6-2002 |
hey does anyone know what jimmy johnson's rig is? | ||
| dadabass2001
Senior Member Username: dadabass2001 Post Number: 427 Registered: 6-2002 |
I know he doesn't use a backline at all. I saw him last summer at a Drum Workshop clinic with Chad Wackerman and Alan Hodsworth, and he was straight into a small power supply and then the mains. He only had two floor wedges on his side of the stage. The JT concert videos for "Live at the Beacon Theatre" and "Pull Over" look like the same setup. Mike | ||
| jseitang
Member Username: jseitang Post Number: 68 Registered: 6-2002 |
wow that awesome. very orgainic with the alembic. that and his fingers. do you know if he ever had a backline, and if so what? also, what's your fav FRETTED styles jimmy johnson album? ? he didnt have leds did he? | ||
| reinier
Junior Username: reinier Post Number: 19 Registered: 1-2003 |
Just for the record (as indeed Flim hardly tows anything with him nowadays), in the abovementioned '89 Guitar Player interview Flim lists two sets of backline he used at the time: for small gigs and rehearsals, a Walter Woods head, powering two Thiele-design cabinets with 12" EV speakers. For big venues, he had a "small PA", built up as follows: separate PU outputs from Alembic power supply >> Simon Systems 19" DI >> stereo crossover >> Yamaha power amps >> Meyer Soundlab speakers (highs stereo into two 12" + 1"; lows into a single 15" subwoofer). A few years earlier I've seen Flim on tour with Allan Holdsworth here in The Netherlands, using only a poweramp into a pair of stacked JBL 15" 3-way cabs. I was close enough to the stage tie his shoe-laces together and must say I wasn't thrilled by the way his Alembic sounded (rather mid-heavy, with an added "edge" of a solid state system being pushed to its limit, not very hifi so to say). As for hifi: you can clearly hear the improvement in sound reinforcement technology over the years. Just compare Flim's sound on Allan Holdsworth's 2002 live release "All night wrong" or the two James Taylor DVDs Mike mentioned to the (non official) release "I.O.U. Live" of some 20 years earlier. It seems as if sound reinforcement is (finally) catching up with the unsurpassed sound quality of Alembic basses. Best Flim Johnson album must be the Wayne Johnson Trio's 1980 release "Arrowhead" (unfortunately never made it to CD). Most songs fretted, the fretless songs are hard to spot though, at least until Flim's solos start. Contains one of the prettiest bass solo's ever recorded or, as our guitar player once stated, "this is how a bass solo should be". Take care,RR | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2142 Registered: 5-2002 |
Reinier; thanks for the info on Jimmy Johnson. That's interesting that he was playing straight into the power amp. Oh, and no fair saying something about "one of the prettiest bass solo's ever recorded" and also saying that we can't hear it! <g> I did go look for it, and found mention of the LP on Wayne Johnson's site. Maybe if we all emailed him. <g> | ||
| the_mule
Senior Member Username: the_mule Post Number: 533 Registered: 1-2004 |
Ordered the Hybrid SuperAudio CD 'Tricycle' by Flim & The BB's and it should be here in about 3-4 weeks. Their albums are very hard to find, in fact this will be my first Flim recording, but I'll check out the James Taylor DVD's or the latest albums with JJ on bass. Wilfred | ||
| reinier
Junior Username: reinier Post Number: 20 Registered: 1-2003 |
As for e-mailing Wayne Johnson, perhaps a nice anecdote to share here (don't burry the guy with e-mails upon reading this pls): in the pre-Internet days (we're talking 1988), the 1980 audio cassette copy I had from the "Arrowhead" album didn't have any highs left on it, so I decided to write a letter to Wayne, asking about the Arrowhead album availability in the US (what did I know; just took a gamble writing to Zebra Records with whom he just released his CD "Spirit of the dancer", asking them to pass my letter on). Many weeks later - I had almost forgotten about the letter again - the mail man rang the doorbell delivering a big cartonboard envelope with a letter from the man himself, thanking me for being a fan and saying he had found an audio cassette of "Arrowhead" and an LP "Everybody's painting pictures" he had - still sealed - lying around somewhere in his house anyway.... As you can imagine, I even still have the envelope.... As an expression of my deep gratitude, I sent him an album of my then fusion band to which he diplomaticly never reacted ;-D! Anyway, a few years ago I came across an Internet store in LA (www.aeonmusic.com) where I was able to purchase a sealed album copy of "Arrowhead", paying next to nothing (the B/W picture shown above is off of its cover). I transferred it onto a CD-R, using a crappy turntable I still keep in the attic and it sounds good enough for my taste. I just took a peek at AEON and they still list an LP for US $ 12,= and an audio cassette for US $8,= (go for the album, the cassette sounds a bit dull). Alternatively, I'd be more than happy to provide club members with one or two mp3s (it's for the good cause of Alembic proliferation I would say), but on the other hand, compared to our Dutch practices, US law suits are a bit too impressive for my taste (and budget). You reckon there's any harm in that (after all these years)? Take care, RR | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2144 Registered: 5-2002 |
The one Flim & The BB's that I have is "Neon", the first track of which is an overdubbed bass only piece called Fish Magic. Very nice! | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2145 Registered: 5-2002 |
Reinier; I'm not a lawyer and I don't know the laws relevant to this issue. However, if the album has never been released on CD and if the album is no longer in print, then I can't see the harm in making some MP3s for close friends if you are not seeking remuneration. But I could be wrong. | ||
| keith_h
Intermediate Member Username: keith_h Post Number: 141 Registered: 2-2005 |
I'm no lawyer either but I think you would be ok if you did not provide the whole piece, just selected passages (correctly creditted) to demonstrate a certain technique. Also since these are albums and not CD's I believe the DMCA does not apply. Maybe one of the attorneys here could weigh in. Keith | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 559 Registered: 7-2004 |
I'm no entertainment/copyright lawyer, but if I remember correctly from law school I believe as long as you are not selling it or receiving any economic compensation, copy away. (No warranty, either express or implied created by this posting). Bill, tgo | ||
| fmm
Member Username: fmm Post Number: 93 Registered: 6-2002 |
I'm also not a lawyer, but here's how I understand the copyright laws: If you want to make copies for your own personal use, go ahead. You can copy small extracts (much less than a complete song) for educational purposes. You cannot distribute copyrighted material to others. You can't sell it, you can't give it away. It doesn't matter that you're not making any money, you can't do it. Just because a work is out of print (not available on CD, no LPs available, whatever) does not change the law. | ||
| reinier
Junior Username: reinier Post Number: 21 Registered: 1-2003 |
No offence to anyone, but please accept some friendly advice on essential Flim recordings from a totally uncritical Flim Johnson fan (that's how you end up owning all 6 Flim & the BB's CDs.....): although all 6 contain at least one or two Flim-featured treasures (Fish Magic is indeed a winner in this respect), they also contain quite a few songs that don't do justice to his talent and taste. So, before anyone may decide that all the fuzz is "much to do about nothing" please try and listen to anything from Wayne Johnson or Allan Holdsworth, featuring Flim. Most Allan Holdsworth albums are readily available in record stores or on the Internet ("Metal fatigue" and "Atavachron" are good Flim showcases). Take care, RR | ||
| reinier
Junior Username: reinier Post Number: 22 Registered: 1-2003 |
Thx for all the legal advice. I guess the conclusion is warranted that there is no law against sharing only the solo (after all that's what it's all about here). It's strong enough to go without the context of the whole song anyway ;-) Any suggestions as to how? Take care RR | ||
| marcm
Member Username: marcm Post Number: 100 Registered: 12-2003 |
flim's work with the bbs isn't so hard to find. i just ordered a copy of 'tricycle' from http://www.dmprecords.com/CD-443.htm . dmp's catalog includes 'big notes', 'big notes gold', 'further adventures of', 'neon', 'tricycle gold' 'vintage bb's', and 'tunnel', all by flim & the bbs, as well as titles by a number of other artists. many titles are available in sacd as well as red book marc p.s. somewhere out there there's a video (now possibly a dvd) of james taylor playing with his band in the barn at his home on martha's vineyard. the performance was about 15 years ago, and i can't recall the title of it, but flim plays bass and he was sounding very nice indeed | ||
| jacko
Advanced Member Username: jacko Post Number: 269 Registered: 10-2002 |
Reading this thread sparked me to put Holdsworths' 'Secrets' on the turntable last night. It's the first time I've listened to it in about 20 years and up until now I hadn't paid proper attention to the bass. I got it when I was into Bruford and naively expected Jeff Berlin to be playing but as I'd never heard of Jimmy Johnson I kinda lost interest. Apart from rather too much 'noodling' from Allan, the album holds up very well indeed with Flims' playing standing out as being exceptional. looks like I'm going to have to do some research and spend some money ;-) graeme | ||
| jacko
Advanced Member Username: jacko Post Number: 276 Registered: 10-2002 |
And there's more, I received the James taylor live at the beacon DVD yesterday and boy did it bring back memories. I listened to Mud Slide slim and Sweet baby James almost non stop during the first half of the 70's, so much so that the LPs are now really badly scratched and almost unlistenable so it's been a long long time since I've heard any JT. Apart from looking really old, his voice is exactly how I remember it and he really looks like he's the happiest guy on earth when he's performing. It's also good to see so much footage with Jimmy in it. A really nice bass and there are quite a few close ups. His playing, whilst not as busy as the holdsworth material, is still quite exceptional and exactly what's required, and, like phils' bass sound on Live/dead, it comes through the mix beautifully. Even Mrs J likes it which is remarkable in itself;-) Graeme | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 452 Registered: 9-2002 |
Isn't James' playing wonderful? I love his playing behind his singing. As for the mighty JJ: Someone told me the secret to great playing is knowing what to leave out . . he could certainly overpower the JT gig, but his taste is impeccable. He SURE knows what to leave out!! J o e y | ||
| jseitang
Member Username: jseitang Post Number: 88 Registered: 6-2002 |
it seems like jimmy johnson was into seriesII electronics since 1976... when was it made available as a regular in the alembic line up? you dont get to see a lot of old series II's | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 596 Registered: 6-2002 |
I believe old #16 was a series II. Come to think of it, we sure haven't heard from Keavin for a long, long time. And what about Paul TBO? | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 2065 Registered: 9-2002 |
Hi Brothers yes ...my daily quotum of posts is declining tremenduously. Due to worksituations (no car, looooooooong train travels to get to job every day, ...short nights sleep ...) I cannot follow club life as actively as I would like to do. Though I have a nice gig story I'll tell you all in the appropriate departement. So please carry-on lads and ...dank je voor de gedachte broeder Adriaan! Paul TOBO |
