He Wrote the Book on Blues Bass! Ed Friedland

Ed Friedland may not be a household name, but in the musical world of Austin, Texas and to the professionals passing through, he is well known. Ed Friedland is one of those strong and silent blues partners- a gentle unassuming master. He’s even known Online as the “Bass Whisperer,” (corny, but effective, to quote him). A mulit-layered bassist with an impeccable reputation who is on call for the cream of the crop and a hell of a nice guy too-really and truly! As if that’s not enough, he writes the absolute best and most fun books on learning how to play blues bass all published by Hal Leonard. Some titles include: Blues Bass, Expanding Walking Bass Lines, The Way They Play – The R&B Masters, and Blues Jam. Ed moved to Austin in 2006, He keeps busy with a mixture of gigs, teaching, writing for magazines, and doing gear demo videos. Whether you’re a novice player, a veteran or simply a hardcore blues lover, I hope you find Ed’s answers so honest they may actually make you laugh (like saying he knows most of the great blues players today did not grow up share cropping in Mississipi so why pretend it’s still 1951!). Ed speaks of the reality of being not only a great player, but being a great person as well. It’s an honor to know and learn from Ed. His impressive background and out of the box approach to staying connected musically surely says a lot .

KS: Tell me a little bit about yourself – your history in music-who you’ve played with, where you’ve taught, what you are currently up to.

EF: I started out playing guitar when I was 10 in NYC. I knew pretty much right away that I was going to be a musician—law school was never a consideration. I started playing upright bass at 13, mainly classical music, and went to the High School of Music and Art. After graduating, I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, started playing in bands, and got deep into the jazz thing. While in Boston, I played with a lot of great jazz musicians like Sal Nistico, Hal Crook, Illinois Jaquette, George Garzone, Gray Sargent, Enrico Pieranunzi, to name a few, and played hundreds of gigs in the local jazz scene. But I also had to make a living, so I developed my skills for commercial music. I had my first taste of big-time show “bidness” playing a package tour that included acts like Georgie Jessel, Demond Wilson, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, The New Christy Minstrels, and Tiny Tim. I always mention Tiny just for the sheer shock value! After a few years, I moved back to NYC and started gigging around the jazz scene, performing with players like Larry Coryell, Michal Urbaniak, Junior Cook, Albert Dailey among others. I moved back to Boston and started teaching at Berklee in 1984. Although the school was mainly jazz focused, I thought it was important to expose my students to the realities of the outside world, so I began writing up lesson materials on blues, r&b, country, and slap bass. This is where a lot of the ideas that would later become my book catalog began. At this time, I got more into the roots scene, working with players like Bruce Katz, David Maxwell, Paul Rishell and Annie Raines, Barrence Whitfield & The Savages, Little Frankie Blandino (an amazing, well-versed roots guitarist who should be on everyone’s radar), Sax Gordon Beadle, Mickey Bones, as well as doing some road work with Mighty Sam McClain, Robert Junior Lockwood, and Johnny Adams. I was also very active in the jazz and commercial scenes, I did a lot of studio work—jingles, soundtracks, demos, etc, and would occasionally get calls to back up artists like Robben Ford, Al Martino, The Marvellettes, The Drifters, Martha & The Vandellas, Vic Damone, as well as doing theatre gigs like Little Shop Of Horrors, All Night Strut, The Opera Company Of Boston, Nite Club Confidential, and A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline. In ’86 I left my teaching gig at Berklee to go on the road with the Savages, but due to a family illness, I left the band to stay close to home and began teaching at Boston College. In 1996 I moved to Tucson, AZ (don’t ask), but in spite of the much smaller scene, it proved to be a very good place for me. I had the opportunity to back up some of the top names in jazz that came through town—Buddy DeFranco, Eddie Daniels, Wycliffe Gordon, Tierney Sutton, Paul Horn, Lew Tabackin, Bud Shank, Dave Stryker, Marc Elf, Joe Beck, Steve Allen, Stacy Kent, and many more. For a few years, I taught bass at the ASU jazz program in Tempe, where I got to work with Frank Vignola, Claudio Slon, and several other great jazz players. In addition to all the jazz, Tucson was where I started fronting my own band, Lazy Ed & The Stratoloungers. We focused mainly on New Orleans music, with some Chicago blues thrown in. I was lucky to work with some very talented players—notably, a sax player named Sidney George from New Orleans who recorded with Dr John, and many of the great r&b artists of the classic 60s Heritage period. Sidney has the TONE. You know it when you hear a New Orleans sax player! Also in the band was a young piano prodigy named Arthur Migliazza. He was 19 when we started, and I gave him his first James Booker cds. Now, he’s tearing it up in NYC, scaring the pants off the old cats.

KS: How and when did you get started in playing the bass and the blues?

EF: The first song I learned on guitar was “House of The Rising Sun” (and many years later, I got to play that song backing up Eric Burdon). I was into Creedence, Cream, Hendrix, Zepellin, etc, but then discovered their source material and got into blues players like Albert and BB King. I spent a lot of time playing along to those guys. After I started playing bass in Junior High, I thought at one point I might do the classical thing, but I just didn’t have that kind of discipline. I got turned on to jazz during High School—we had a killer jazz band, which featured a young Marcus Miller on bass. That was what led me to choose Berklee instead of a classical conservatory. During college, I lived in a big communal house, and one of my roommates was pianist Anthony Geraci of Sugar Ray And The Bluetones. The band was just getting started, and they rehearsed in the living room 3 nights a week. I spent a lot of time hanging out in the blues clubs listening to them play, always wanting to sit in, but at that time I was a “jazz guy” and I played a Kramer fretless bass with an aluminum neck, and the “Blues Nazis” would have none of that. Mostly I just listened and drank beer, but it left me with a real hunger to play that music.

KS: How many books for bass players have you written?

EF: At this point I have 20 titles out.

KS: How and why did you get into this field of writing books?

EF: It was in the early 1990′s that I started to write bass instructional books. I felt the bass books that were available back then didn’t present the material in a clear and understandable way, so when I went back to school to get my Masters degree in Education, I decided to make my thesis a book on walking bass lines. One of my students at the time was Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, and he graciously opened a door for me at Hal Leonard publishing. They accepted my book Building Walking Bass Lines, and that started my career as an author. Around that same time, Bass Player magazine was just starting up, so I sent in an idea for an article called The Metronome As Guru. They accepted it, beginning a 12-year relationship that produced more articles than I can count. I’m currently writing gear reviews for Guitar World magazine.

KS: What are the titles of the books you have written?

EF: Building Walking Bass Lines, Expanding Walking Bass Lines, Jazz Bass, Bass Improvisation, Reggae Bass, The Working Bassist’s Toolkit, Bass Grooves, Blues Bass, The Way They Play – The R&B Masters, The Hal Leonard Bass Method Books 1, 2, 3, and DVD, Slap Bass (DVD), Bass Licks, Jazz Upright Bass (DVD), Pentatonic Scales For Bass, as well as two play-along projects—Jazz Jam Session, and Blues Jam. All titles are from Hal Leonard.

KS: What is it like-the real true grind of starting and completing a book- the real nuts and bolts of it from conception to getting it published?

EF: I had tried several times to write a book, you know—sit down with a pen and paper and just go, but this approach never got far. While getting my degree, I learned that you need a solid outline first. Pick a topic, pick a starting point—then, it’s simply a matter of deciding what’s the next thing that needs to be discussed, until you reach a predetermined end point. A lot of people try to write one book that covers it all, but personally, I think that gets a little heavy handed. Most people will never finish a 350 page instructional book. I’d rather write a well conceived, tightly organized 64-page book that someone can finish, then write book 2 on the subject. Putting a book together is not just about the writing, I have to produce the notation examples, as well as record the play along tracks that come with the book. It’s fun because I get to drag out my guitar, play keys, program drum tracks, or hire others to play on it when the budget permits. I had a blast doing the guitar tracks for Blues Bass—okay, I’m no SRV, but with 6 months of shedding, I think I could give a few guitarists a little run for their money. (Lucky for them, those 6 months of shedding will never happen!) As far as getting a book published—except for the very first one, they are all under contract before I start. I propose an idea to the publisher, and if they like it, we sign a deal and I start working on it.

KS: What inspires you to write a specific book?

EF: Most of my book catalog was inspired by the situations I run into as a professional player—skills that bassists need to survive, styles they need to know, and players they need to be aware of. I try to write about topics that I have gained a degree an expertise with, except for my Reggae Bass book—I really had no experience with the style, but my publisher asked me to do it, so I approached it like a research paper.

KS: How do you make sure you get all the notes right?

EF: Oh, is that important? Jeez, better go back and check!

KS: Did I mention he’s funny too? Are there any blues songs you have a story you want to share on transcribing?

EF: Well, these days with software programs like Amazing Slow Downer, you can really get into the fine details. When I was transcribing Jerry Jemmott lines for my R&B Masters book, I was able to slow it down without changing the pitch and really hone in on the little things he was doing. The dead notes, the approach tones—there were a lot of surprising things going on that I would have missed without being able to zoom in so closely.

KS: How does writing a blues book differ than writing your other music style books?

EF: Well, blues is not typically approached academically—it’s folk music, so trying to teach someone about the blues this way seems a little out of character. I doubt any of the great blues players in the world used a book to learn. So, the challenge was to write a book that: 1) doesn’t suck, 2) focuses on the parts of the style that you CAN explain, and 3) gives people the opportunity to try out things with some backing tracks. I don’t get too involved with talking about the feeling, or “zeitgeist” of the blues. That’s something you have to find for yourself. Instead, I tried to focus on things like the common forms, bass lines, and rhythmic styles that you find in the blues, discuss performance protocol, and expose people to the standard repertoire. If you sit in at a blues jam, you’d better know “Hideaway”.

KS: Yes, and Stormy Monday! Is there anything about Ed Friedland we don’t know?

EF: I like all kinds of music, and need to play it all to be happy. As much as I love the blues, if that was all I played, I’d go nuts. Same for jazz, country, funk, r&b, latin, etc. While the upside of this is I can play many styles with authority, play with a diverse spread of players, and potentially get more work, the downside is perhaps not being fully committed to any one thing. Players in any given scene typically like to associate with other players that have made a commitment to that style. And I’ve found some blues players get a little suspicious if they think you’re not a “pure-bred” blues guy, or know too much music theory. For many, it’s a lifestyle thing as much as a musical thing. For me, the beauty of the blues is that anyone can claim it as their own—it’s a universal feeling. Let’s face it, the majority of great blues players today did not grow up sharecropping in the Mississippi delta, but that doesn’t take away from the power of their music. I don’t want to pretend it’s still 1951, I don’t want to live, eat, sleep, and breathe one type of music to the point that it identifies me. I’ve always thought of myself as a musician that plays bass, not a “blues bass player”, a “jazz bass player”, or a “country bass player”.

KS: Who is your favorite blues artist and why?

EF: Hmm, there are so many! I can’t pick just one. Of course Muddy, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and all the Chess artists from the classic Chicago era. I love the raw sophistication of those records, and the purity of the feeling. But I also have a huge love for the New Orleans sound too; Professor Longhair, James Booker, Dr. John, The Meters, Chris Kenner, Ernie K-Doe, to name a few—I love the rhythm and the funk of that music. As far as contemporary artists, Sugar Ray Norcia is one of my favorite singers of all time. Maybe it’s because I heard him sing so much in my early days, but for my money, his voice is just perfect. There are some great players right here in Austin that I really enjoy: the Little Elmore Reed Band—their drummer, Mark Hays has the groovinest shuffle on the planet! It’s like riding in an old Cadillac on a smooth highway. And Derek O’Brien is such a tasteful and unselfish player, he really gets in there and makes it happen for everyone. Jimmie Vaughan of course is another favorite, I love the sparseness of his approach, he says it all without hitting you over the head with it.

KS: What’s in Ed’s future?

EF: Well, I intend to stay put in Austin, TX. I’m not a big planner, so I’ll just continue to float downstream and see where life takes me. Every day a new opportunity arises, and I remain open to the possibilities.

KS: So, to me, you are the type of bass player that could play with anyone, yet you keep a low profile. Which is great. Maybe what I am trying to say is there doesn’t seem to be any drama or gossip surrounding you (if only we could all be so lucky . Can you give some of us fledglings and pros advice on maintaining a strictly professional reputation and advice on growth with the blues and becoming a better (and more wanted) musician or artist?

EF: Well, first of all, thanks for the compliment. I know that my skills are pretty well developed, and that I can cover a lot of different musical situations, but I am constantly humbled by the amount of talent out there in the bass world. When I started, we had Jaco, and Stanley Clarke… now there are hundreds of these bad-ass players that seem to come out of the woodwork. I gave up trying to compete with that, I’m not really a superhero bass player, even though some people might get that impression. I have come to love the art of simplicity; it’s something that many of the bass warriors of the world have chosen to ignore. And for me, coming from a jazz background, it had to be a deliberate choice. I still have work to do, but I got one of the nicest compliments many years ago from Robert Junior Lockwood—on a break and he said to me: “You play blues pretty good for a jazz musician!” That meant a lot. Because people know I have quick ears, eyes, and hands, I often get those last minute emergency calls to fill in because they know I’ll be able to fall in and nail the gig on short notice. I got called to back up Hal Ketchum at the last minute when his bassist was ill, and came in and basically sight read this modern opera “Caroline or Change” when they discovered no one had booked a sub. As far as keeping a low profile, well, I’m very lucky to have a wonderful wife that I love to be with, and frankly—going out to hang with musicians usually loses out to staying home with my baby. I like to balance being a musician with other aspects of the human experience. So many players are so singularly focused on playing, it’s hard for them to maintain relationships, or do anything non-musical. I believe being grounded, and more fully human helps me play better than practicing 8 hours a day and gigging 7 nights a week. It’s not just about your chops, it’s about your connection to the source of inspiration. As far as maintaining a good professional reputation… well, I wonder if I’m the right guy to ask! The lesson I am continually learning is simple—keep your mind positive or keep your mouth shut! We all struggle at times with ego, and self confidence, and it’s easy to fall into trash talking. I have to work real hard to remain aware of my own tendency toward that. And sometimes you work with other players that do this and it’s difficult not to get pulled into it. Ultimately, bad mouthing people does you more harm than it does them, not just professionally, but energetically. As far as growing in the blues and becoming a more desirable player—first of all, you have to love the music. I have so many students come to me and say: “I want to learn some new things to do with the blues, I don’t want to play the same old stuff…” My first response is: “Do you want to lose your gig?” For me, playing the blues is not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about loving the music, respecting the stylistic elements, and finding a way to express yourself within that context. As they say here in Texas: “It ain’t rocket surgery!” Play what sounds right, groove like your life depends on it (it does), and try to be nice.

To keep up with Ed, please visit his website at www.edfriedland.com

Interview Copyright of Kim Session 2011

Photos copyright Ed Friedland and Dana Lynee Stringer.