Friday, July 4, 1997

Coming From a Bass Place:
Gerald Veasley brings the soul side of jazz out of Philly
By Peter B. King
Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Pittsburghers, I appeal to your better natures.

Yes, this story concerns Philadelphia, but let’s be charitable. Philly may not be nearly as cool as our city, but it does have a thing or two to brag about.

Bass players, for example, like Stanley Clarke, Jymie Merritt, Alphonso Johnson, Nathan East, Victor Bailey, Spanky De Brest and Christian McBride.

To that list, add the name of electric six-string and fretless wizard Gerald Veasley, a longtime sideman with Grover Washington and Joe Zawinul who will celebrate the release of his third CD, “Soul Control,” with a performance Saturday at the Balcony.

Now 42, Veasley was exposed to the music business from an early age. His uncle, Ira Tucker, sings gospel with the famous Dixie Hummingbirds. Veasley’s cousin and his wife owned a traveling R&B revue-carnival — singers, musicians, comedians and dancers — that toured state fairs in New England and Canada in the summer.

“I worked in the carnival, and that’s how I first really met musicians,” Veasley recalls in his soft, soothing voice, on the phone from his Philadelphia home. “I would do stuff like sell ice cream, or just stand outside and watch out for other kids who were trying to sneak in.

“I got to know what a musician’s life was about, a little bit. Some of those musicians became my unofficial teachers.”

Back home in Philly, Veasley studied guitar and bass at local music stores. In his teens, he heard guitarist Wes Montgomery and, a bit later, bassists Ron Carter and Clarke. Well before 20, he was playing in clubs and on recording sessions for his gospel-singing uncle.

But it wasn’t until his early 20s that Veasley turned to music full time he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania, leaning toward studying law, when his father died. Music helped him come to terms with his loss, which persuaded him to go pro, he has said.

In 1978, Veasley joined a legendary Philly electric jazz band called Reverie. The group released three albums but never quite caught on nationally before folding. Nevertheless, the band generated lasting relationships Reverie keyboardist Mark Knox co-produces and writes for Veasley’s records and plays in his band.

Veasley likes to play jazz for children, and one day in the mid-’80s, a few years after Reverie’s breakup, he performed at a school attended by Grover Washington’s kids.

“Grover was the soloist with the band. And he said after we played, ‘I really like your playing. I’m gonna call you. I’m going into the studio, and I’d like to use you.’ And in my mind I said, ‘Yeah right!’ But he did. And he’s been kind of like a mentor to me ever since.

“I watch his example of having a career that spans a couple of decades. He’s just finished his 25th album and has a longevity in this business that’s not really dependent on hit records. At this point in his career, it’s mainly just having developed a following over a long period of time, and just sticking to his guns. He’s not afraid of taking a little heat for his playing, but all his playing is heartfelt. He has a very identifiable sound, and really knows how to groove, and how to combine the soul of R&B with the improvisation of jazz.”

Veasley’s other mentor is Joe Zawinul, the Austrian-born electronic jazz pioneer who founded Weather Report — the group that included the innovative fretless bassist Jaco Pastorius. Veasley toured with Zawinul for more than seven years.

“That was like a dream come true,” he says. “Because my strongest musical influence at that time was probably Weather Report. Zawinul is a risk taker and a real magician with sound and an incredible band leader — a masterful innovator.”

Eventually Veasley went back to work with Washington, who is less of a hard-core road warrior than Zawinul. The sparer schedule gave Veasley time to develop his own band. Veasley plays with Washington to this day, and the saxophonist returns the favor with guest shots on Veasley’s CDs.

Those CDs — 1992’s “Look Ahead,” 1994’s “Signs” and the new recording, which also offers video when played on a CD-ROM drive, owe more to Washington and to Veasley’s R&B/gospel background than to Zawinul’s wild fusion. The disks get played on smooth jazz radio but, Veasley stresses, he tries to balance a contemporary approach with a strong connection to jazz’s roots.

As for his instrument, Veasley says electric bass has come a long way in a few decades — in part because it’s one of the youngest instruments in jazz. Manufacturers are still tweaking it, and musicians are still figuring out how to approach it. Although Wes Montgomery’s brother Monk played electric bass on a record with Lionel Hampton in 1953, it wasn’t until Bob Cranshaw switched to electric, Veasley says, that the instrument gained some legitimacy in jazz.

“It took quite a few years for the electric bass to become recognized, let alone become a solo instrument.” For the solo part, he credits Clarke, “who took that idea of being a bass player and staying in the background and turned it on its head. Instead he’d step forward and take solos along with Chick Corea. And just really be very aggressive with his playing.”

Veasley’s current ax, the six-string bass, has only been around a decade or so. Before that, he used a five-string, and before that a four. Veasley also plays a fretless electric.

Along with playing and composing, Veasley writes lyrics; his gift is evident on a moving inspirational tune from the new CD called “Love is the Cure,” sung by Dianne Reeves.

“The first record I can ever remember buying was by Curtis Mayfield, a song called ‘We’re a Winner.’ Which is really kind of a positive message song. And I’ve always been into this kind of music — lyrically, it always has resonated with me. Of course, my music is primarily instrumental, but when I have a chance to do a vocal tune, I want it to say something. So people like Curtis Mayfield, Earth Wind and Fire, even Bob Dylan — I like these kinds of lyricists.”

Despite hailing from Philly, Veasley has an enlightened Pittsburgh buddy saxophonist Kenny Blake. They both record for the same label — Washington state’s Heads Up, which teamed them with their label mates in the Heads Up Super Band.

“We’ve done a lot of touring. It’s one of those fortuitous match-ups. Sometimes when other people put things together, it doesn’t work. But this is one of those instances where, at the label’s suggestion, we started working together, and man, it’s been really a deep friendship, and we’ve had some great musical experiences out of it.”