By Paula Edelstein

Just as men and women differ in their conversational styles, so do jazz bassists. Whether on electric or acoustic bass, just listening to the converations between such brilliant bassists as Stanley Clarke, Gary Willis, Alphonso Johnson, Avishai Cohen and their fellow musicians, is enough to fill volumes on the subject of bass styles. Victor Bailey lives and plays in many worlds and offers a totally new approach to a peace treaty in the battle of the bassists with this statement. “The main thing I’m trying to show as a recording artist -- is that I’m not a bass player. I don’t play the bass, I play music. It just so happens that the instrument I play is the bass.” Believe me, he can and does play music. Whether at work with The Zawinul Syndicate or recording his new CD for Zebra Records released this month simply titled LOWBLOW, Bailey has carried this anthem onto many stages around the world. The result of his cross-cultural bass communications has left many an audience in wonderment, with completely different impressions of his “bass-ic” conversations. His ability to combine bass chops with the way people speak, signals Victor’s rare power of originality. It is this rare power that makes his playing such a fascinating conversation to watch, to hear and most of all, enjoy. The language of Victor’s music shows the music he has inside, that he is more than a bass player, but also a writer, arranger and composer.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Victor grew up in a musical household. His father, Morris Bailey is a respected saxophonist and was a writer/arranger for many of the acts on Philadelphia International Records including Patti LaBelle, The Stylistics, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes and as a result, Victor was exposed to a constant flow of great musicians. “I can’t say that I really had any mentors, per se, but I’d come home from school and my father would be there rehearsing with guys like Tyrone Brown, the current bassist for drummer Max Roach. So naturally, hearing somebody like that when you’re 16 and you’d been playing for only a year...it was inspiring to me. After Tyrone would leave, I’d stay up practicing until midnight...about six hours!” Other early influences include jazz organist Shirley Scott, Mickey Rocker, the jazz drummer and his bass hero, Larry Graham. “I was a Larry Graham nut before I ever played bass,” says Victor.

Victor Bailey’s talent on the electric bass guitar is highly valued by his fellow musicians and composers. As a member of many award-winning bands, including Weather Report, Weather Update, Joe Zawinul and The Zawinul Syndicate, Madonna, Steps Ahead and as a sideman for jazzmen like Bill Evans, Michael Brecker or Lenny White, Victor Bailey has eliminated any doubts about his artistic popularity. His world-renowned bass improvs literally lend the life giving freedom of personal expression to many performances and with the all-important release of LOWBLOW in September, Victor ends a ten year hiatus from solo recording. In an interview for ALL ABOUT JAZZ.COM, we traded e-mail about his latest solo project, LOWBLOW, improvisation, and his conversational bass techniques after a sensational show at the Catalina Bar & Grill, in Hollywood,California.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Hello Victor, it’s a pleasure meeting you. I enjoyed the show and appreciate your doing this interview.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Not nearly enough importance is given to the bass man in many groups. As the man that keeps the rhythms tight and conversational, what practice techniques are necessary to maintain the full expanse of originality to go from pop to funk to jazz to world to fusion, etc?

VICTOR BAILEY: There are no practice techniques for learning to play different styles. At the core, some people have the ability to feel different styles and some people don't. If you have this ability the only thing that can develop it is experience -- playing that style with people that really know it. But there's no way to practice being funky or how to swing. You can practice AND master the techniques but it don't mean a swing if it ain't got that thing (sic)! You either got it or you don't.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Your conversational style is distinctively different from the sonics laid down by Avishai Cohen when he's on electric bass, Stanley Clarke of Vertu or say, Gary Willis of Tribal Tech. What forms do your improvisations take that make them sound so original, that is, not memorized?

VICTOR BAILEY: Some people are original, some are not. A big part of being original is attitude. Some cats get so hung up in someone else's style that they never even think of being original. Then there are those like myself who, while they may be influenced by other musicians, are determined to find their own path. In my case I'll borrow ideas from another musician in a minute but I refuse to copy anything anyone has done before. When you listen to "Lowblow," the influence of Alphonso Johnson and Jaco Pastorius is obvious, but I never copy them.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: You’ve been around the world many times. Do different settings and locales cause you to improvise differently, that is, do you play differently for the various types of “audience vibe” you must get along your musical journeys?

VICTOR BAILEY: No, different locales don't cause me to improvise differently. Different days do. You can play on the same stage in front of the same people every night for a week straight and every set can be different. There are, of course, certain places where the audience response to a particular artist has an extra special vibe that can push you emotionally to another level, but music is just like life. You never know what the next day has to bring.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Then of course your bandmates will take their cue from that “emotional push” and jump on the spontaneous rhythms. Have you ever had a humorous incident happen as a result of an improvisation?

VICTOR BAILEY: No.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: These improvisations are often the freshest aspects of a musical interpretation, simple, pure artistic intuition. How do you keep them from taking over the original essence of the song?

VICTOR BAILEY: I don't know if I can give you a definitive answer to that question. Sometimes I might WANT to get away from the "original essence" of the song. In instances where I don't, I simply stick to the form or the vibe of the song and improvise on that. It's hard to answer these kinds of questions. I don't think about this kind of stuff. I just do it!

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: You have been extremely busy with The Zawinul Syndicate and are its bass-ic lifeblood. How do you prepare for all the physical and mental work that a world tour of its magnitude exacts?

VICTOR BAILEY: Good question. If anyone has a clear answer to that please let me know! Once again I don't know how to answer that. How does a nine-to-five person prepare to go to work Monday morning? Who can say? It's my job. When it's time to go, you pack your bags, get on that plane and go. That’s it.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Let’s talk about your new CD, LOWBLOW. The title has many connotations. What is it about and what brought back the desire to do the solo project?

VICTOR BAILEY: What brought BACK the desire to do a solo record? You think it ever left? I could have twelve solo records by now. The fact that I don't doesn't have anything to do with a lack of desire on my part. Just a refusal to do anything other than what I feel. Everywhere I went in the last ten years, everyone wanted to know if I had anything for the radio. I'm not interested in going out and getting the latest "smooth jazz" star saxophonist to be on my record so people can hear them for five minutes on the radio and then at the end hear someone say "Victor Bailey". I haven't been practicing everyday for twenty five years for that. I doubted for a while that the industry would be interested in what I'm doing but I never doubted myself. As far as the title LOWBLOW, I'd love to give you some elaborate story as to its origin, but in fact, I just thought it was a good title for a bass player record. Like my first record was called BOTTOMS UP now this one is called LOWBLOW. The next one might be "Don't Look Down" or something, know what I mean?

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: The title track features your vocal scatting in perfect unison with those infamous staccato basslines of yours and result in a very creative conversational technique. Please discuss.

VICTOR BAILEY: What's to discuss? I sing along with my bassline, that's all. I'm glad so many people seem to like it so much. But really there's not much to say about what I do. It's all feel. I'm a natural. But I'm an educated natural. So the things that I do may be technically and theoretically on a higher level than is generally thought of when we talk about someone being "natural" but the method of getting there is exactly the same. All feel!

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Drummer Omar Hakim shares his rhythm and pulsating grooves on LOWBLOW in a way that you’ve described as “instant communication.” Your “bass-ic” conversations with him are spectacular. Let’s talk about your sixth sense with Omar.

VICTOR BAILEY: Every drummer or bass player has his special guy that he just has an automatic hookup with. Omar’s that guy for me. From the first time we ever played together, which was on guitarist Bobby Broom's first record "Clean Sweep," there was just a vibe there. Over the years we've played together so much, from Weather Report to Madonna and hundreds of records together, so when it's time to play, it's automatic. I never have to think about the time or the feel or groove with Omar. It's just there. I've always thought he was the exact equivalent on the drums to what I am on the bass. We’re "funky" but not "funk" guys, and "jazzy" but not "jazz" guys. When I play with cats who are one of those things to the extreme I sometimes feel like my style is unorthodox, but with my brother Hakim, I always feel right at home. On a personal level whenever we talk, we keep each other cracking up, which translates into us always having fun when we work together. Anytime I get a call and Omar's the drummer I know I'm gonna have fun and excuse me if it sounds egotistical, but I also know we gon' kill! That's the other thing I love about him, the attitude he brings to the music. No fear! When we get on our instruments we give each other a look that says "time to kill" and that's it. Omar rocks the house, PERIOD! That's my man! A bad mother for ya'.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Dennis Chambers, another fine drummer, and Jim Beard on keyboards, really get down with you on “Babytalk.” Is this jazz-funk fusion your first collaboration with Dennis and Jim?

VICTOR BAILEY: No. As a matter of fact Jim, Dennis and I played together in saxophonist Bill Evans’ band back in the late eighties. I've played on a ton of records that Jim has produced and he played on my first record. I really haven't played with Dennis that much, just with Bill. But it's the same vibe as with Omar, that "thing" is just there. It looks like I'm going to have him on my tour and I'm looking forward to playing with him every night. If we can get the kind of vibe we have on this record having played together very little, imagine if we play together for a while!

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Your moving tribute to Jaco Pastorious “Do You Know Who/Continuum” goes beyond what you must have felt for him as a musician and as a person. I believe this is the first vocalese that many of our readers have heard for “Continuum.” How did the idea come about?

VICTOR BAILEY: I transcribed “Continuum” from Jaco's first solo record back in 1976 when I was a kid. It's one of the things I practiced every day when I was a kid so I've known it by heart for years. About a week after he died, I was on a plane and out of the clear blue sky, no pun intended, I said, "I'm going to write lyrics to “Continuum." I took out a pen and in ten minutes it was done, exactly the way you hear it now. Never changed one word. It's like I didn't really write it, it just channeled through me. If you listen to his original version, you'll hear that those lyrics are actually there. I just dug them up, that's all.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Your muse obviously liked Jaco too! Another of your bass heroes is recognized on LOWBLOW, the great Larry Graham. His influence still runs deep in your “bass-ic” conversations on the super funky jazz fusion track, “Graham Cracker.” Any plans to hook up with him at some point and record a bass duet album?

VICTOR BAILEY: A bass duet record? Nah! Double nah! I don't need to hear that much bass, I need to hear MUSIC.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: “Feels Like A Hug,” is one of my favorites on the CD. Do you have a favorite cut on the CD?

VICTOR BAILEY: No. I don't hear it as a series of individual cuts, I hear it as a single body of work.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Now that you’ve released your first solo project since BOTTOMS UP, what touring band can we expect to enjoy when you go back on the road?

VICTOR BAILEY: Well the band I'm working on now would be Kenny Garret, Jim Beard, Dave Fuczinsky and Dennis Chambers. Of course these things are subject to change, but if I could keep this band together I'd be a happy man!

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Thanks so much, Victor. It’s been a pleasure talking to you and all our best to you with your Zebra Records debut, LOWBLOW and your upcoming tour.

Victor Bailey has stated that he eagerly awaits the opportunity to spread the bass gospel on tour with his own band. “There is a whole new generation of kids out there...a whole new audience that I can turn on to that genre, that thing.” He’s right about that because here, at All About Jazz.com, he’s only a click away from a generation eager to hear his “bass-ic” conversations. Keep in touch with Victor’s happenings and LOWBLOW at http://www.zebradisc.com. ~ PAULA EDELSTEIN, ALL ABOUT JAZZ.COM