One day I arrived at my friend Danny’s house to practice some bass. Danny wanted to show me some live footage of John Mayer. It was “Where the light is” live in L.A. It wasn’t John Mayer he ment (although I love John Mayer especially within the John Mayer trio) . Danny pointed me to the bassplayer, Pino Palladino. A rather tall skinny bassplayer with a funky movement. I never heard of him before (sorry, my wrong) but I was fascinated already only by looking at him.
I got this little tic that if I want to listen to a particular musician or instrument in a band I can close everything out of the song and listen only to the particular instrument. When I tried that with the bass-lines Pino was playing with the John Mayer songs I was blasted by the creativity and rhythm of his lines. Although many of the songs of the trio are almost straight forward blues-schemes, Pino took walking-bass to another level….If you combine that with the ease of him playing he is a real steady and calm member of the band.
After my first acquaintance with Pino I was fascinated with him as a bassplayer and person. So I went online to gather as much as information I could find. It was then when I found out that he was the originator of the famous bassline in Paul Young’s song “Where ever I lay my Hat”, the soft, fretless bassline which is so typical fort his song.
In the clip he talks about the creation of the bassline. As you can see in the interview it is a humble guy and tremendous musician.
It is almost like if his bass sings……..
Although I have a weakness for bassplayers and the instrument itself I just love and live music in general. So I got my hands on a live DVD from the UK. It was a concert in honour of the 50th birthday of the Fender Statorcaster guitar. During the concert a lot of artists came by to pay their tribute to the Fender Guitar. Although almost every single performance was great there was one that took my attention somewhat more. It was the performance of Amy Winehouse. At that time I didn’t knew her, but boy what a style of singing and what a great songs. Pino played bass for the enitre concert. To let you see how diverse he is as a musician , and even during one gig the next two clips are taken from that concert
** Amy Winehouse at the Fender Strat concert **
** Apache by the Shadows **
The trackrecord of Pino is huge. He contributed to a lot of albums of all lot of artists. He is one of the most often asked session-players. Not only his bass-playing is well respected, but also his influence on songs or albums to enrich music.
Pino himself is influenced by James Jamerson among others. Jamerson is the founder of the real motown bass-sound. Which you also can recognize in Pino’s bassplaying. Pino contributed a part to a tribute album for Jamerson where he plays “For once in your life” by Stevie wonder. Jamerson was the real motown bassplayer which invented the muted play, that typical motown sound.
In the next two clips you can see Pino perform on Jazzfestivals, the man controls al styles…It is just amazing.
His Discography (not all his contributions ar noted)
With Paul Young
• 1983 No Parlez (Columbia)
• 1985 The Secret of Association (Columbia)
• 1990 Other Voices (Columbia)
With David Knopfler
• 1983 Release (Peach Tree)
• 1985 Behind the Lines (Paris)
• 1987 Cut the Wire (Paris)
With Don Henley
• 1984 Building the Perfect Beast (Geffen)
• 1989 The End of the Innocence (Geffen)
With Go West
• 1985 Go West (Chrysalis)
• 1987 Dancing on the Couch (Chrysalis)
With Elton John
• 1985 Ice on Fire (Rocket/Geffen)
• 1992 The One (Rocket/MCA)
With John Mayer
• 2005 Try!
• 2006 Continuum
• 2017 The Search for Everything
With Jeff Beck
• 1999 Who Else! (Epic)
• 2006 Official Bootleg USA '06
• 2010 Emotion & Commotion
With D'Angelo
• 2000 Voodoo (Virgin)
• 2014 Black Messiah (RCA)
With The Gaddabouts
• 2011 The Gaddabouts
• 2012 Look Out Now!
With The Who
• 2006 Endless Wire (Polydor)
• 2014 Quadrophenia Live in London (Universal)
• 2015 Live in Hyde Park (Eagle Rock / Universal)
• 2017 Live at the Isle of Wight 2004 Festival (Eagle Rock / Universal)
With others
• 1980 with Joanna Forte, (Eagle/CBS Europe)[14]
• 1982 with Gary Numan, I, Assassin (Beggars Banquet)
• 1983 with Nick Heyward, North of a Miracle (Arista)[15]
• 1983 with David Gilmour, About Face (Harvest)
• 1985 with Pete Townshend, White City: A Novel (Atco)
• 1986 with Chris Eaton, Vision (Reunion)
• 1986 with Chris De Burgh, Into the Light, (A&M)
• 1989 with Tears for Fears, The Seeds of Love (Fontana)
• 1989 with Phil Collins, ...But Seriously (Warner Music Group)
• 1990 with The Christians, Colour (Island)[16][better source needed][17]
• 1990 with Oleta Adams, Circle of One (Fontana)
• 1990 with Mike Lindup Changes (Polydor)
• 1992 with Mango, Come l'acqua, (Fonit Cetra)
• 1993 with Melissa Etheridge, Yes I Am, (Island)
• 1996 with Richard Wright, Broken China
• 1997 with Steve Lukather, Luke (Columbia) [18]
• 1999 with Robbie McIntosh, Emotional Bends (album)
• 2000 with Richard Ashcroft, Alone With Everybody (Hut)
• 2000 with Erykah Badu, Mama's Gun (Motown)
• 2001 with Zucchero, Shake (Polydor)
• 2006 with J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton, The Road to Escondido (Reprise)
• 2010 with Alain Clark, Colorblind (Warner Music Group)
• 2011 with Robbie Robertson, How to Become Clairvoyant (429 Records)
• 2011 with Adele, 21 (XL)
• 2016 with Keith Urban, Ripcord (album) (Capitol Records Nashville)
• 2013 with Nine Inch Nails, Hesitation Marks (Columbia)
• 2016 with John Legend, Darkness and Light (Columbia)
• 2017 with Ed Sheeran, ÷ (Asylum)
(source discography is Wikipedia)