Jimmy Haslip
Jimmy’s bass is an integral part of the Yellowjackets sound. In addition to building the foundation upon which their songs are crafted, his thoughtful and often fiery solos are a high water mark of many Yellowjackets tracks.
Background: Jimmy Haslip grew up in a rich musical environment. As a youth, he listened to Latin and salsa music around the house, including such Latin music icons as Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Machito, Ray Barretto, Celia Cruz and Eddie Palmieri, to name a few. In addition to learing various Latin dances from his parents, Jimmy learned how to play a lot of basic Latin rhythms on the different percussion instruments that they had around the house. He learned to play authentically on the claves, maracas, cowbell, bongos and the guido, which gave him that keen sense of time and rhythm that surfaces in his bass playing today.
His older brother Gabriel also played Jimmy some jazz and classical music, so he had exposure to John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck on one hand, and the music of Debussy, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mozart and Mahler on the other. Jimmy says, "This was an eye opening time for me and even though most of this music was over my head, it definitely ignited my musical curiosity. I also was listening to a lot of Pop music, like the Beatles, the Supremes, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Wilson Pickett, James Brown and lots of great Pop music on the radio. I can remember that it was a very exciting time for music!
Jimmy began studying music in elementary school, playing the trumpet and other assorted brass instruments (including the bugle, baritone horn and tuba) from age seven to fourteen. Jimmy picked up a bass at the age of fifteen and taught himself how to play it. "Actually the very first time I saw an electric bass, was at a junior high Valentine's day dance. There was a live band playing and the bass player had an reddish/orange Hagstrom bass and a small Standel bass amp. It was then that I knew I wanted to play the electric bass! What a feeling! I'll never forget it as long as I live. It was my very first real spark of creative passion!
While being mostly self taught on the bass, Jimmy studied with a private bass/tuba player from New York named Ron Smith. He was also very fortunate to have studied with one of jazz music’s greatest talents. "…I did manage to study with Jaco Pastorius for a few weeks in the mid seventies, when he had just joined Weather Report. That was a giant leap for me as a serious musician and it filled me with a much higher level of inspiration. I think he was a major inspiration to all bass players at that time!
To sum it up, Jimmy offers this inspirational piece of advice that is applicable to any musician, whether it be a Beginner or experienced/advanced: "I've basically learned so much from just about every musician I've performed with in the past and I will continue to learn from my experiences in the future. The learning process is never ending. The key is to always strive and search for knowledge. In learning new things everyday, there will be inspiration. That inspiration will thirst for knowledge and so the endless cycle goes. They will feed each other infinitely and theoretically the creative well will never run dry.
Influences: So, what musical influences does Jimmy claim? "Well definitely for me the Beatles, especially Paul McCartney, inspired the melodic concept and James Brown inspired the groove. Then there is Scott LaFaro, Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaria who inspired rhythm. Béla Bartók, Mozart, Prokofiev, Samuel Barber, Chick Corea, early Genesis, Gentle Giant, Olivier Messiaen, Mozart, Dmitri Shostakovich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Pablo Casals, Ron Carter, Mstislav Rostopovich, Villalobos, Brahms, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Alban Berg, Charles Mingus, Miles, Nicolas Slominski, John Coltrane, Led Zepplin, Tower of Power, Francis Rocco Prestia, Yes, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Sting, Sergei Prokofiev, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Tony Williams, Keith Jarrett,
John McGlaughlin, The Motown Sound and Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein;
just to name a few that inspired my playing, arranging and compositional skills.
Van Gogh, Dali, Henri Rousseau, Georgia O'keeffe, Leonardo DaVinci, Galileo, Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Plato, Walt Whitman, Nostradamas, Steven Hawking, Marc Chagall, Tamayo, Henry Moore, Edward Hopper, Rembrandt, Picasso, Botero, Dali, Matisse, Escher, Canaletti, Gaudi, Gauguin, Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Speilberg, Frank Capra, Orson Welles, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Arthur, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Lina Wertmuller, Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut to name a few who inspired my imagination.
And last but not least, perhaps the most influential person in Jimmy’s career: Jimi Hendrix was the sole inspiration for me playing music as a profession. Seeing him perform live was awesome and it lit a fire within me, which eventually gave me the drive to pursue music as a career.
Jimmy’s credits are a virtual who’s who of the popular and jazz music industry. This is the "short list" of some of the talents he has recorded and/or toured with over the past 30 years: Gino Vannelli, David Sanborn, Rod Stewart, Michael Sembello, Joe Cocker, Vince Mendoza, Chaka Khan, Neff Irizarry, Selena, Bo Didley
Eric Marienthal, Al Jarreau, John Scofield, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Brenda Russell, Dave Mason, Tom Scott, Bo Diddley, Marilyn Scott, Dori Caymmi, Betty Wright, Ivan Lins, Kenny Loggins, Flora Purim & Airto, Rickie Lee Jones, El Debarge, Booker T. Jones, The Chiffons, Laura Brannigan, Larry Carlton, The 5 Satins, Chubby Checker, Alcatraz, Kiss, Cheech Marin, Mick Fleetwood & the Zoo, Christopher Williams, John Klemmer, John Finley, Tommy Bolin, Carmine Appice, Miki Howard, Max Carl, Charlie Watts, Michael Narada Walden, Milton Nascimento, KennyG, Michael Penn, George Duke, Roy Ayers, Mark Stein, Lee Ritenour, Chi Coltrane, Jackie Lomax, Bobby Caldwell, Walter Becker, Randy Crawford, Harvey Mandel, Diane Reeves, James Ingram, Ricardo Silveira, Michael Franks, Bonnie Raitt,
Pat Metheny, Jerry Garcia, Gary Wright, Jimmy Barnes,
Branford Marsalis, Blackjack w/ Michael Bolton, Dave Koz,
Steve Reid, Bob Mintzer, Bob Mamet, Randy Brecker, Bob Sheppard, Larry John McNally, Greg Karukas, Bruce Beckvar, Bob James, Vinnie Colaiuta, Will Downing, Andy Snitzer, Sovory, Dusty Springfield, Bill Gable, Kevyn Letteau, John Beasley, Don Grusin, Carl Anderson, James House, Nana Vasconcelos, Boney James, Justo Almario, Jeff Richman, Brian Auger, Michael Ruff, Diana Ross, Bobby Lyle, Vonda Shepard, Aureo Baquiero, Marc Antione, Sergio Salvatore, Dave Sammuels, Andy Narell, Rene Geyer, Bill Champlin, Michael English, Huey Lewis, Toots Thielemans, Matthew von Doran, Harvey Mason, Paulinho Da Costa, Alex Acuña, Herb Alpert, Tim Hagans, Michael Davis, David Meece, Richard Page, Everette Harp, Lisa Fischer, Mike Pinera, Paulinho Da Costa, Tower of Power Horns, Steve Khan/Trio Electric, Peter Erskine, Kiki Ebsen, Dennis Chambers, Andy Laverne, Terry Bozzio, Joe Sample, David Benoit, Ron Wood, Ndugu Leon Chancelor, Chris Beckers, Saskia Laroo, Neil Larson, Richard Elliot, Frank McComb, Jing Chi, The Rippingtons, Ray Gomez, Otmaro Ruiz, Nigel Olsen, Gerald Albright, Bruce Willis, Chuck Loeb, Kurt Elling, Jonathan Butler, Jean Baylor, Max Carl, Lori Perry, Glenn Jones, Robert Cray, Dwight Sils Luis Conte, Larry Goldings, Dave Samuels, Matthew von Doran, The Paley Brothers, Eye to Eye, Phil Perry, Native Vibe, Mitchell Froom, Jorge Estrada, Sandro Albert, Michiel Bortslap, Warren Sneed, Victor Wooten, Edsel Gomez, Bela Fleck, Terri Lynn Carrington, Patrice Rushen, The Perry Sisters, George Harrison, Roger Burn and Shapes, Jon Anderson, Robben Ford, Joshua Redman, Victor Wooten,
Gerald Veasley, Rita Coolidge, Brandon Fields, Stefan Oberhoff,
The Jaco Pastorius Word of Mouth Big band, Take 6, Michael McDonald, Pauline Wilson, Andy Summers, Bobby McFerrin, Anita Baker, Donald Fagen and Bruce Hornsby
Now Spinning: Here is what Jimmy has been listening to lately: Gonzalo Rubalcaba “Antigua”and “Paseo”, Salif Keita “Moffou”, ”, Michael Brecker “Wide Angles”, Jaco Pastorius “Twins I & II” and “Holiday For Pans”, Bob Mintzer “Big Band Live at MCG”, Miles Davis “Miles Smiles”, Bruce Hornsby “Halcyon Days”,“Big Swing Face”, Dapp Theory “Ya’ll Just Don’t Know”, Terrence Blanchard “Bounce”, Pat Metheny “The Way Up”, U2 “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”.
Other influential recordings in Jimmy’s musical library include: Anything by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Mozart to start with. I have the entire Frank Zappa catalogue, the entire Earth, Wind and Fire catalogue, all of Little Feat’s recordings, almost everything that John Coltrane recorded, Segovia solo guitar recordings, a lot of Mahler, Pablo Casals and Mistislav Rostopovich's cello works, anything by Joni Mitchell, Alban Berg's "The Lulu Suite", Penderecki's Cello Concerto #2, and any classical piece that has
ever been recorded is worth listening to in my opinion! Les McCann /Eddie Harris "Swiss Movement", Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago "I" and "II", The Police "Synchronicity", Eric Dolphy" Out to Lunch", all of Ornette Coleman's catalogue, The Band" Music from Big Pink", Stanley Clarke "School Days", Herbie Hancock "Thrust" and "Empyrean Isles", Wayne Shorter "Speak No Evil"and “Atlantis”,
Mongo Santamaria "El Gato", everything by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Robert Johnson, Jeff Beck "Blow by Blow" and "Wired", Areosmith "Pandora's Box", King Crimson box set, James Brown box set, Crosby, Stills & Nash box set, Eric Clapton "Derek and the Dominos", Peter Gabriel "So" and "Us", anything by the Beatles, I have every recording by Tower of Power, Salif Keita"Soro", Donald Fagan "Nightfly", Blue Nile "Hats", Jaco Pastorius "Word of Mouth", Don Henley" End of Innocence", Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation", Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life", everything by Charlie Parker, anything by John Coltrane especially “Ballads” “Love Supreme” and “Sunship”, Alan Holdsworth "Sand", Ralph Towner "Blue Sun", Steve Khan "Casa Loco", Chaka Khan "I FeelFor You" and "Whatcha Gonna Do For Me", Vince Mendoza "Instructions Inside", Michael Franks "Blue Pacific", "Dragonfly Summer" and " abandoned Garden", Cesaria Evora, Sting "Ten Summoners Tales", Neil Young "Harvest", Stevie Winwood "Back in the High Life", Steely Dan "Aja" and "Gaucho", Cream "Disreali Gears", Gino Vannelli "Brother to Brother" and "Inconsolable Man", Emmylou Harris "Wrecking Ball", Weather Report "Heavy Weather" and "Night Passage", Chick Corea "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs", Bobby McFerrin "Bang Zoom", Sly and the Family Stone "Fresh" and anything else by them, the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds", James Taylor "Fire and Rain", Yes "Fragile", anything by Bruce Hornsby, The Zeppelin box set and anything by the Keith Jarrett trio with Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock again just to name a few.
Equipment: For Live Performance I play and endorse MTD basses made in Woodstock, New York and Keith Roscoe basses made in Greensboro, North Carolina. . . . .
I use many different basses in the studio for recording: A Yamaha TRB 5-string fretted bass, a BB 1200s 8-string fretted bass, a Yamaha Acoustic 5 string bass, a Jim Tyler 5-string fretted bass, Tobias 5 & 6-string fretless', a Tobias 6-string fretted, a Moon 4-string fretted bass, a Reverand 4 string bass, an MTD 7-string fretled bass and a Keith Roscoe 7 string fretted bass as well.
I mainly use and endorse D’Addario Prisms.
I’ve also used Dean Markley, Super Round, Medium Light, SR 2000 strings.
For amplification I use and endorse SWR Engineering power amps and speaker cabinets. With the Yellowjackets, my usual setup is an SM 500 or an SM 750 power amp and either two Goliath Juniors with two 10 inch speakers in each cabinet or a Goliath 4x10 cabinet.
In the studio I usually just plug straight into a direct box (preferably a Cabletek Radial JDV box for achieving the ultimate warm/acoustic-like bass sound). Occasionally I will use an amp in the studio (mostly by request). So I will usually use an SWR Engineering Red Head Combo amp or a Baby Blue Combo amp. These amps have an extremely clean sound and a very strong, powerful punch for their size. A great recording amp for studio work!
As for other instruments:
I do dabble on the guitar, harmonica
and piano/synthesizers, in order to write music.
Home Life and Other Interests
Outside of his career, Jimmy spends time with his wife Nancy and his three children—a 25-year-old stepson named Jason, a 22-year-old stepson named Noah, and an adorable ten year-old daughter named Gabriela in Southern California.
Non-musical interests: I'm a big sports fan. You can pretty much get me interested in just about any sport. Basketball, Football, Hockey, LaCrosse, Baseball, Track and Field, Boxing, Gymnastics, Tennis, Golf, Curling, Weight Lifting, Australian Rules Football, Rugby, Rugby Football League, Soccer, Swimming, Diving, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Downhill Ski Racing, Cycling . . .
I love old classic films and like to study film scores. I have over one hundred black and white films on video and I've studied my favorite film composers from the 40's; Bernard Herrmann and Max Steiner extensively.
I love going to museums, art galleries, and really enjoy travel and exploring new places. I especially enjoy my family trips and spending quality time with my family.
My favorite reads are about Astronomy and Space Exploration and anything to do with the Mediphysical aspects of life. I also like reading and study World History.
My biggest rave is Ethnomusicology which I've been doing a study on for the last 18 years. It seems to me that this is an inexhaustible subject that will continue to produce and unveil new music for my creative library.
You can find more information about Jimmy Haslip and his activities at the official Jimmy Haslip Web site. www.jimmyhaslip.com
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