by Martin Simpson

Because I have such a hectic schedule, the way I usually “interview” bassists for the news letter is to give them a piece of paper with some questions on it and ask them to give it back to me when they see me next or e-mail it back to me. Trevor hasn’t got e-mail facilities so he sent me a fax. Trevor ran away with the questions I put to him and I was so entertained by what he had put on paper, I decided to just leave it as it was (ok, I ran it through the spellchecker) and let you have the full entertaining story. Thanks Trevor, you turned a boring question and answer exercise into a truly wonderful bit of reading. So without further ado here is the “Masterpiece”.
Martin
Hello fellow bassists! It just so happens that this month it’s my birthday so I guess it’s appropriate that my story should be in the September edition of the newsletter. No, my birthday is not on the 11th; it’s on the 14th.
I started playing bass in 1977. I was already 25 years old. My interest developed after I heard groups such as Weather Report and Brand X, musicians such as Stanley Clarke, Jeff Berlin, Bunny Brunel and our local band Theta, who had Denny playing with them at the time. Listening to them was very inspirational. There was also a lot of Jazz happening at a venue called Sinatras. All of this was the catalyst that sparked my interest in getting started on bass.
I was basically into the pop thing throughout the 60s and 70s. I’m not that old you know! I bought 7” singles like it was going out of fashion. As I got older (into my teens) my interest in Jazz developed. I listened a lot to Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz and Herbie Mann. I listened to a friend of mine’s band rehearse and I found myself listening more to the bass than any other instrument. The guitarist was Nick Rowlands (Howlin’ Wolf Rowlands) His band was called Birds of A Feather and they were pretty popular at the time. My interest in Jazz-fusion grew as I got older and then of course, along comes Jaco Pastorius, the World’s greatest bass player. The entire universe can’t be wrong! Local bass players who were making their mark at the time were Denny, Nippy, Ashley Kelly, Les Goode, Trevor Gordon etc. They were the players you wanted to listen to.
I use a Peavey Mk 3 bass amp with a 15” Black Widow Spider, I mean Speaker. I also use a Laney valve amp with a 4 x 12” Marshall cab. My main bass is a Fender Jazz bass, which, by the way, is a seasoned traveler, and sometimes an Ibanez Musician, which I turned into a fruitless. I mean fretless. I’m really sorry I’m making so many mistakes so you had better watch out you Jazz players.
What have YOU been doing for the last five years? I played a fair amount of gigs with the late Dave Lithins who was quite fussy about who he used on bass, so I always felt it was quite an honor to be playing with him. Jimmy Gomez figured quite a bit in my life, as did Julian Laxton. I ended up doing the Eric Clapton show with Julian, which has turned out to be very successful. I also met a lot of great musicians from visits to the folk club on Thursday nights and with whom I did quite a lot of work. I’ve played with Waldorf String Band, Bill Dean, Chris Smith, Rael Birns and the infamous Dalviada with whom I am playing today. Come and see us at Vagabonds in Randburg on a Sunday night. My good friend Paul Otten also had to endure me for quite a while. Prior to this it was one cabaret show after another as well as the Blundell family (Keith, Julie and Johnny). I would also like to mention Club 58, which was one of the best cabaret venues in the country. Kai was very busy there at the time and Graeme, yes, the one that takes all the nasty photographs that you see in this news letter / magazine also did a few shows. I did my fair share as well/ Wow! What a venue! Hats off to the late Barbara and Ute.
I’ve done some studio recording but not much. I’m not a great reader. Most of my studio recording was done with Didi Kriel and Snakeshed. A cd with Maria Tyle and the start of a cd with Dalviada.
My low point is playing with musicians who are drunk and this happened when I was playing with a drummer who has since left this earth. It used to embarrass the hell out of me. Also playing with musicians who can’t play. Playing is my strong point. It’s what I’ve been doing for half of my life.
The high point has been playing on the ships. Also touring with Rolf Harris in 1984 for six weeks and playing at Sun City. Doing the legends show in 1990 was also great. I’ve also had my fair share of great gigs with Julian Laxton and Dalviada.
I’ve always strived to become a better musician and because I’m a Virgo, I am also very self analytical and critical. Try to say that with a mouth full of food. I’ll be 51 this month but I never think old. As a gigging musician, you can’t afford to. Good luck to all of you.
Trevor Muller

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