To my surprise there is no thread here on TB honoring the career of Max Bennett. His is an outstanding bassist with a resume that is staggering.
Let me begin with how I came to know of Max. When I was in high school in the early seventies we were listening to all kinds of great bands and musicians that were producing spectacular works: Stevie Wonder (Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life), Earth Wind and Fire, Pat Metheny (Bright Size Life, Watercolors, Pat Metheny Group), The Crusaders, Michael Franks, Herbie Hancock (Head Hunters), Weather Report (with this incredible new bassist named Jaco...), Billy Cobham (Spectrum), Return to Forever, all kinds of albums on the ECM and CTI labels, and the list seems to go on-and-on.
Joni Mitchell recorded her first album with a band, Court and Spark. Shortly beforehand, Max Bennett and Tom Scott co-founded a band with some guys they were gigging with. Tom was thinking of it focusing on bebop, but Max suggested a different repertoire and they became what we thought of at the time as "jazz rock". The band was called Tom Scott and the LA Express. Apparently they were quite the sensation, with lineups several blocks long at the Baked Potato. Early on other members were Larry Carlton, Joe Sample and a really great drummer named John Guerin. Joni was living in LA at the time and when she decided to perform with an ensemble, there was her solution. The album court and spark has Max on Bass on eight of eleven tunes. This album received considerable acclaim.
Shortly afterwards Joni release Miles of Aisles, a live album - half solo and half with the band. By that time Carleton and Sample had moved on and a young Robben Ford and Larry Nash filled their slots.
There were a number of LA Express albums that came out, including my favorite Tom Cat with a really great tune called Rock Island Rocket Max wrote.
Max also played on Joni's Hissing of Summer Lawns and two tunes on Hejira (with Jaco on 4 and Chuck Domanico playing double bass on 1).
There was also the Crusaders live album Scratch that Max played on. On studio albums Wilton Felder played sax and bass, but obviously they needed a bassist for live performances. (If the name Wilton Felder is not ringing any bells, don't worry - you know his playing. He was a regular LA session guy on bass for years, and recorded a bunch Jackson 5 tunes (ABC, I'll Be There, and a killer bass line on I Want You Back, and numerous others). Max recorded with Michael Franks, and Frank Zappa (Hot Rats), so he was very much a part of the scene.
So, since my high school days I've always known of Max as this as a jazz rock bass guitarists up there with the best of them. Well fast forward to about 6 or 8 years ago when I do a youtube search on Max Bennett and up pops this video of what looked like a high schooler playing double bass with some female vocalists. I thought - could this be Max?
I came to hear that Max lived in SoCal so I googled him in about 2010 and found out that he lived in Dana Point and frequently played gigs in local establishments up there. I went to see him in 2011 at the Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach. It was an outdoor event and he performed with some excellent SoCal musicians. It was a casual thing and during the intermission I went over and spoke with him. I was very impressed by how humble and real the man is. He mentioned that he had just launched his new website. I already knew this, because I had visited it a couple of days after it went up. I noticed that on its first day up, who posted to pay respects to Max - none other than Nathan East "Congratulations on an amazing website and even more so a wonderful and compelling life and career!! You are truly a legend and major source of inspiration for me. Thanks for blazing such a trail and may God continue to bless you!"
Something else I learned from that website is that young looking guy in that video was for sure Max Bennett. His career began well before the 70s. He played double bass with Billy Holiday, Peggy Lee, Miles Davis, Elvis Presley, and the list goes on and-on and-on and-on. I mean he had a completely successful career even before he picked up the bass guitar.
Getting back to the evening in Laguna. I asked Max what prompted him to switch to bass guitar. Very few accomplished jazz double bassists have done this, (pretty much the only one I know of that completely switched to bass guitar is Steve Swallow). Max told me that he was playing a gig at an outdoor venue and rain was forecast so he did the gig with a bass guitar because he didn't want to get his double bass wet. He liked it so much he switched to bass guitar.
Now that I think of it, three of my favorite bass guitarists came to the BG from a jazz background on other instruments - James Jamerson - Double Bass, Wilton Felder - Sax, and Max. (I wondered too whether Wilton had played double bass before taking up BG, and I asked Rob Whitlock (a San Diego keyboard player who plays with Max and other ensembles I've seen in SD, and is originally out of Florida and knew Jaco back in the day). He said he didn't think so. He said, "he probably just got tired of telling the bass guitarists what he wanted to hear and decided to do it himself...")
So Max Bennett is the real deal and those here on the forum who don't know his music should definitely check it out. Especially younger players, who aren't familiar with the music from that seventies time-frame - it really was a golden age.
Max retired from studio work but still plays out in SoCal. You can go to a restaurant, order a meal, and listen to some great music from a bass legend - and all with no cover charge... can't beat that.
Anyone else who has knowledge of Max, or stories, credits etc. Please feel free to Max-Out this thread.
My two cents worth,
Jim
Rock Island Rocket
Let me begin with how I came to know of Max. When I was in high school in the early seventies we were listening to all kinds of great bands and musicians that were producing spectacular works: Stevie Wonder (Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life), Earth Wind and Fire, Pat Metheny (Bright Size Life, Watercolors, Pat Metheny Group), The Crusaders, Michael Franks, Herbie Hancock (Head Hunters), Weather Report (with this incredible new bassist named Jaco...), Billy Cobham (Spectrum), Return to Forever, all kinds of albums on the ECM and CTI labels, and the list seems to go on-and-on.
Joni Mitchell recorded her first album with a band, Court and Spark. Shortly beforehand, Max Bennett and Tom Scott co-founded a band with some guys they were gigging with. Tom was thinking of it focusing on bebop, but Max suggested a different repertoire and they became what we thought of at the time as "jazz rock". The band was called Tom Scott and the LA Express. Apparently they were quite the sensation, with lineups several blocks long at the Baked Potato. Early on other members were Larry Carlton, Joe Sample and a really great drummer named John Guerin. Joni was living in LA at the time and when she decided to perform with an ensemble, there was her solution. The album court and spark has Max on Bass on eight of eleven tunes. This album received considerable acclaim.
Shortly afterwards Joni release Miles of Aisles, a live album - half solo and half with the band. By that time Carleton and Sample had moved on and a young Robben Ford and Larry Nash filled their slots.
There were a number of LA Express albums that came out, including my favorite Tom Cat with a really great tune called Rock Island Rocket Max wrote.
Max also played on Joni's Hissing of Summer Lawns and two tunes on Hejira (with Jaco on 4 and Chuck Domanico playing double bass on 1).
There was also the Crusaders live album Scratch that Max played on. On studio albums Wilton Felder played sax and bass, but obviously they needed a bassist for live performances. (If the name Wilton Felder is not ringing any bells, don't worry - you know his playing. He was a regular LA session guy on bass for years, and recorded a bunch Jackson 5 tunes (ABC, I'll Be There, and a killer bass line on I Want You Back, and numerous others). Max recorded with Michael Franks, and Frank Zappa (Hot Rats), so he was very much a part of the scene.
So, since my high school days I've always known of Max as this as a jazz rock bass guitarists up there with the best of them. Well fast forward to about 6 or 8 years ago when I do a youtube search on Max Bennett and up pops this video of what looked like a high schooler playing double bass with some female vocalists. I thought - could this be Max?
I came to hear that Max lived in SoCal so I googled him in about 2010 and found out that he lived in Dana Point and frequently played gigs in local establishments up there. I went to see him in 2011 at the Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach. It was an outdoor event and he performed with some excellent SoCal musicians. It was a casual thing and during the intermission I went over and spoke with him. I was very impressed by how humble and real the man is. He mentioned that he had just launched his new website. I already knew this, because I had visited it a couple of days after it went up. I noticed that on its first day up, who posted to pay respects to Max - none other than Nathan East "Congratulations on an amazing website and even more so a wonderful and compelling life and career!! You are truly a legend and major source of inspiration for me. Thanks for blazing such a trail and may God continue to bless you!"
Something else I learned from that website is that young looking guy in that video was for sure Max Bennett. His career began well before the 70s. He played double bass with Billy Holiday, Peggy Lee, Miles Davis, Elvis Presley, and the list goes on and-on and-on and-on. I mean he had a completely successful career even before he picked up the bass guitar.
Getting back to the evening in Laguna. I asked Max what prompted him to switch to bass guitar. Very few accomplished jazz double bassists have done this, (pretty much the only one I know of that completely switched to bass guitar is Steve Swallow). Max told me that he was playing a gig at an outdoor venue and rain was forecast so he did the gig with a bass guitar because he didn't want to get his double bass wet. He liked it so much he switched to bass guitar.
Now that I think of it, three of my favorite bass guitarists came to the BG from a jazz background on other instruments - James Jamerson - Double Bass, Wilton Felder - Sax, and Max. (I wondered too whether Wilton had played double bass before taking up BG, and I asked Rob Whitlock (a San Diego keyboard player who plays with Max and other ensembles I've seen in SD, and is originally out of Florida and knew Jaco back in the day). He said he didn't think so. He said, "he probably just got tired of telling the bass guitarists what he wanted to hear and decided to do it himself...")
So Max Bennett is the real deal and those here on the forum who don't know his music should definitely check it out. Especially younger players, who aren't familiar with the music from that seventies time-frame - it really was a golden age.
Max retired from studio work but still plays out in SoCal. You can go to a restaurant, order a meal, and listen to some great music from a bass legend - and all with no cover charge... can't beat that.
Anyone else who has knowledge of Max, or stories, credits etc. Please feel free to Max-Out this thread.
My two cents worth,
Jim
Rock Island Rocket
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