Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Orto bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 16.03.2008
Attendance: 110
Ticket price: €10.00
The year has turned, March has rolled around again, and it’s time to host a musical virtuoso who makes his living traveling the world giving music clinics. Last year, under the wing of the Muzikaviva music school, Orto Bar welcomed Kiko Loureiro, guitarist of the Brazilian progressive metal band Angra (RockLine report HERE), and this year the tradition continues with bassists. Stuart Hamm gave his bass clinic in Slovenia.
In his career, Stuart Hamm certainly didn’t skip the famous Berklee College Of Music in Boston. There he naturally met none other than Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, and made a name for himself with his excellent contributions to their records. In the past, the man has also worked with Michael Schenker Group, Frank Gambale and Richie Kotzen, whom we caught live in Vrba in Carinthia just a week earlier (RockLine report HERE).
The organizers laid on a varied evening with a nicely seasoned program. The announced Stu Hamm clinic set was no longer than an hour, so they invited musicians who are products of the Muzikaviva music school to play, giving them a chance to get some stage seasoning. The first ear massage came with an arranged version of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven, played on stage by four young flutists with guitar accompaniment. A short follow-up came from a band with a female duo, where stage fright was far ahead of the actual performance of the two chosen numbers. The first real rock detonation, though, came with the instrumental set from Tadej Košir (guitar), Marko Menart (guitar) and Žiga Kožar on drums (Neisha, Traja Imer Brizani), who showed off their rich musical repertoire by playing pieces by Miles Davis (Tutu), Toto (Dave’s Gone Skiing) and Joe Satriani (Satch’s Boogie).
Around ten o’clock, the magnificent bassist Stu Hamm finally wandered onto the stage! He didn’t look around much, just grabbed his famous Fender bass, breathed out a “Dober vecher” and started caressing the neck of the instrument. We’re talking, of course, about the technique of tapping on the bass with both hands at once, which Stu Hamm, as a real oddball among bassists, drove in his search for harmonies to one of its highest points of development.
Orto bar was happily filled with music connoisseurs. Plenty of curious folks, including members of Slovenian bands, came to see their idol. All in all, some 80 people filled the room comfortably and snugly, since at last year’s Kiko Loureiro clinic you literally couldn’t breathe in the little hall, that’s how many curious souls showed up.
My Boss Drives a Mercedes While I Get Paid Minimum Wage was Stu’s overture to the clinic. Then came one blazing number after another: a reworked Beatles classic, Lucy In The Sky With The Diamonds, Te Extraño, Count Zero, Flow My Tears, and especially the Beatles–Beethoven fold-out Abbey Road / Moonlight Sonata, whose soft playing and the drift of delicate harmonies made even the hair on your skin stand up. Stu Hamm had a nice dose of humor that he used to spice up the show, which was a winning move for the man, considering he arrived at Orto Bar straight from Frankfurt, supposedly dead tired and worn out. Evidently he managed to recharge in time.
Then came the standard break, with Stu answering a few questions. After it the concert continued with just ten more minutes of material, where we got to enjoy one more medley in which Stu wove in the piece Nostalgia and poured it into a seriously interesting take on the Led Zeppelin classic Going To California. With Lone Star, Mr. Hamm’s hour-long solo set came to an end, and he was joined on stage for a group “jam” by Tadej Košir (guitar), Marko Menart (guitar), Žiga Kožar (drums) and Franci Zabukovec, otherwise the guitarist of the band Magnifico. The central figure of this part of the evening, though, was Muzikaviva boss Janez Hostnik with his black Fender Telecaster, who modestly took his place on the stage, saying he hasn’t been practicing guitar at all lately. Stu Hamm “reassured” him to pick any tune. Naturally, Janez wished for some honest blues, since he didn’t play in the Don Mentono band for nothing, and so this colorful musical display of rich know-how got its proper “accent” and the dot on the “i” at the finish.
A unique chance to see Stu Hamm and enjoy his bass-playing technique, to learn how powerful and important an instrument the bass guitar can be, and how many great melodies and multi-voice harmonies you can squeeze out of just four strings, will be hard to get served up on a platter like this again. Huge thanks go to the excellent, attentive organization by Janez Hostnik and the rest of the Muzikaviva crew, who put together a colorful, relaxed and witty evening of music, the kind we hope to witness here again many more times.
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