I included DB although the only mention I could find was "pump bass" on Be My Wife, and as I'm not sure what it is, I'm not sure it qualifies as bass. But since 3 of us were maniacally fanatical enough to vote him best drummer and it's not possible to edit a poll... there you go.

Gail Ann Dorsey is one of his best live bass players he has ever had. Earl and Gerry's noisy guitars do over power her sound to much on this tour.

"You'll have to take me just the way that you find me."

The man with the incredible sideburns: Trevor Bolder.

He even joined Uriah Heep later - what more can you expect?

And I want to believe
In the madness that calls 'now'

This was much harder than deciding the drummer... I adore all Visconti, Flowers, Murray, Kizilcay & Dorsey. I finally voted for Erdal just because no-one else probably would.

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

It's got to be Gail, she is so consistantly good.

Beatle boys, all snowy white
Razzle dazzle clubs, every night
Wish I'd sent a Valentine
I love you

Its very unfair to include only one!.
I go for two,Gail Ann Dorsey along with George Murray...

London Bye Ta-Ta...

Didn't you vote for two drummers too?

God know's what you'll do when it comes to favourite lead singer

Beatle boys, all snowy white
Razzle dazzle clubs, every night
Wish I'd sent a Valentine
I love you

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I finally voted for Erdal

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You haven't been taking your Never Let Me Down treatment, have you?
I have to say this for him, and it's a lot, though it goes far beyond bass guitar: The Buddha of Suburbia.
Surprisingly (?), no vote for Murray so far.
Surprisingly again (? again), bass so far seems more favourable to the Spiders than drums. Trevor is at the moment joint-leading with Gail.
Much as I love her, I have a slightly unpleasant feeling Gail is going to be voted favourite bass player on the strength of her (magnificent) singing and (obvious) personal charisma rather than her (excellent) bass playing.

Wear your wound with honour.

I have, which is the reason I voted the way I voted.

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

Vote Dennis Davis and make him not only the best drummer, but the best member of Bowie's band ever!

Cannot believe I'm the first who goes for Murray.

Yeah i did,I told you im quite greedy when it comes to Bowie and Bowie related questions,It really is so difficult to pick just one,But!,If one it has to be?,Then Gail wins hands down.As for lead singers? lol,Wait and see?:-)

London Bye Ta-Ta...

I voted for Dennis Davies. By mistake. I meant George Murray.

Dorsey is no way his best bassist. She's a solid live bassist (except on "Ashes To Ashes") but isn't a patch on Murray or Kizilcay.

Silence Is The Voice Of Complicity

Of course you did... of course you did.

Dennis Davis for President.

I agree completely on Ashes to Ashes. It's definitely lacking without Plati on this tour.

Indeed, I can only assume Gail Ann is running away with this poll more on the basis of her look than anything else.

Live, she's never rises above adequate (and sometimes not even that far) and on record, well, just about any other Bowie bassist you care to mention is preferable.

Slan libh,

Dara

Living means accepting the loss of one joy after another Vladimir Nabokov

"Live, she's never rises above adequate (and sometimes not even that far)" I think you've gone too far. Although I agree with you (she's not the greatest Bowie bassist ever) I think she's not that bad. Otherwise, Bowie woudn't call her up, because the bassist is one of the most important musicians in any band. It's the one who leads the rest, like the floor where the others play. Without a great bass player you can't have a tight, great sounding band, as Bowie has, indeed.

I'll be a rocknrollin' bitch...

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Indeed, I can only assume Gail Ann is running away with this poll more on the basis of her look than anything else.

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bass players have to be team players more than anyone else. so apart from doing great bass stuff doing nothing but playing is also important. also Gail's voice adds a lot to the songs. so i think the band is more than the sum of its parts. so my guess is, that the people vote for her because the band seems more complete with gail ann dorsey.
and probably because most people know her. :-/

"Have you tried... not being a mutant?"

Has anyone played with bowie as long as Gail Ann Dorsey. She to me is heads and tails above his previous bassists. Shes been with him since 95 or so, nearly 10 years...thats probably a record....especially uninterrupted....earl slick and Mike Garson have been around since the 72/74 tours, but were gone for long periods of time

Tourwise she's been there a long time, but on how much of Bowie's recorded output in that time has she played? If she's the best, why does he keep getting other people to play bass on the records?

Slan libh,

Dara

Living means accepting the loss of one joy after another Vladimir Nabokov

Carlos Alomar, probably.
I'm surprised that no-one seems to have voted for Rojas, while Thompson got a few votes. I really enjoy his stuff on Let's Dance and Loving the Alien for instance.

Wear your wound with honour.

I couldn't agree more, Dara! Gail Ann Dorsey is perhaps the least interesting bass-player Bowie's ever had. I think the reason why he keeps her in the band is simply because she's practical.
She plays straight off the record and does nice backing vocals, and there you go: two bandmembers for the price of one.

Amen!

Seriously, I have never spent much thought on who may be the best bass player. But after hearing the Ziggy Motion Pic rendition of Width of a circle, I am sure I will not vote for Trevor. That recording does not sound especially good, namely.

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Without a great bass player you can't have a tight, great sounding band

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Yeah, that's why the Doors sucked.

If you don't have anything nice to say, go to London and say it in front of 2000 people. NM.

Well, one of the reasons, the other two being:
- that they never had the beginning of a nice musical idea between them and
- that their frontman was a pathetic, conceited wino.

Wear your wound with honour.

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Has anyone played with bowie as long as Gail Ann Dorsey.

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Gail-Ann Dorsey = 9 years (1995-, two albums)
Reeves Gabrels = 11 years (1988-1999, six albums)
Carlos Alomar = 14 years (1974-1987, 1995, plus two guest appearances in 2002 & 2003, 10 albums + one live album)
Mike Garson = 15 years (1972-1976, 1993-, 9 albums + two live albums)

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

3D Echo wins because someone else already voted for Kizilcay.

Visitors From Alternate Universes Are People, Too

Yossi Fine sounds so much like a joke name.

Visitors From Alternate Universes Are People, Too

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Has anyone played with bowie as long as Gail Ann Dorsey.

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Toni Visconti = 35 years (1969 -, 6 albums)

And I want to believe
In the madness that calls 'now'

35 years is a bit questionable... I left Visconti out because he hasn't played on tours, and his work with Bowie is actually very fractured. Anyway, here's what I'd make of it:

Tony Visconti = 13 years (1968-70, 1974-75, 1977-1981, 2001-, 8 albums)

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

I wasn't so serious about the 35 years, it's just the span of time they have been in contact and have been working together on and off.

But what are your eight albums? I only count 6: Space Oddity, TMWSTW, Heroes, Lodger, Heathen and Reality. He did not touch his bass on the original releases of Low and Scary Monsters..

And I want to believe
In the madness that calls 'now'

Strings on Diamond Dogs (entire album) and acoustic guitar on Scary Monsters and Up The Hill Backwards, according to TW.

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

Visconti did some production work for Bowie in 1998. Mother, original Skylife, Sector Z and the PlaceBowie track.

BFP

Results:
GA Dorsey - 15 votes
Trevor Bolder - 6 votes
George Murray - 3 votes

Surprising (or just unfair)?
- one paltry vote for Herbie Flowers
- none for Emir Ksasan, Carmine Rojas and Willie Weeks, probably Bowie's funkiest 3 bassists.

Mr Cock-up (that's me) strikes again: seems I eventually forgot David. The silver lining is, it stopped him having more votes than the aforementioned.

Wear your wound with honour.

Dorsey is the only bassist people have heard of. No wonder they're voting for her.
All the girls wanna be her, all the guys wanna be her dog.

Amen!

You're right, I suppose. But then, Let's Dance is Bowie's biggest hit or so, and the bass guitar is so prominent in the mix that you've got to hear it, even on the shittiest radio. You'd think it doesn't take much effort to look up and see that the bassist on it is called Carmine Rojas.
Now, when Plati was in the band, I think I remember he, not Gail, played on Ashes to Ashes. That speaks volumes.

Wear your wound with honour.

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Dorsey is the only bassist people have heard of. No wonder they're voting for her.
All the girls wanna be her, all the guys wanna be her dog.

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Exactly. Without looking at any liner notes, the only names I recognised were Tony Visconti (obviously), Herbie Flowers, Trevor Bolder (because he's mentioned by name on At The Beeb), George Murray, Dennis Davis (names I've seen referred to in passing), Derek Bramble (though I didn't actually know he did anything but production), Erdal Kizilcay (largely for his work on The Buddha Of Suburbia - ditto 3D Echo), Tony Sales (because who doesn't know the members of Tin Machine?), Gail Ann Dorsey and Mark Plati - who, if I'd been serious, would've gained my vote. Like Reeves, I just don't understand why he has such a bad reputation amongst some Bowie fans.

I Forgot To Change It Before

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Without looking at any liner notes, the only names I recognised were Tony Visconti (obviously), Herbie Flowers, Trevor Bolder (because he's mentioned by name on At The Beeb), George Murray, Dennis Davis (names I've seen referred to in passing),

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You don't know much about Bowie history, do you?

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Mark Plati - who, if I'd been serious, would've gained my vote. Like Reeves, I just don't understand why he has such a bad reputation amongst some Bowie fans.

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Perhaps it's not bad reputation. Perhaps it's that they just prefer other legendary players like Carlos Alomar, George Murray or Adrian Belew. Names that surely say nothing to you.

I'll be a rocknrollin' bitch...

It is quite possible to be a Bowie fan - even a hardcore Bowie fan - without knowing too much about his bass players. Surely, your Bowie fandom can become even more interesting if you start to seriously listen and compare the different musicians, but for most of us, Bowie's songwriting, lyrics and singing comes in the first place and is more than material for serious study for many, many years.

Everybody... Of all the posts in this forum, this particular post will remain with me the longest.

I voted Tony Levin not because he's Bowie's best bassist, but because he's one of the best rock bassists ever.

I'm a DUMBASS!

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Bowie's songwriting, lyrics and singing comes in the first place

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I wouldn't phrase it this way because I'm afraid it would be underplaying Bowie's purely musical genius, which for me does not come either after or before his songwriting. I'd say. Somewhat similarly to Miles Davis, he is an exceptional musician both as the player of an instrument(voice for DB, trumpet for MD) and because he has exceptional musical intuitions although he does not have the technical ability to carry them out, so he uses musicians the way they in turn use their instruments. If you're not careful whom he chooses to play this or that instrument, I'm not sure you get a complete grasp of his artistry.

Wear your wound with honour.

Has Bowie ever played bass on his own recordings? I know his did some bass parts on keyboard on the 77/78 material, but that's it.

BFP

I thought he'd played just about everything on Heathen at least once but apparently he didn't venture as far as the bass.

I Forgot To Change It Before

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You don't know much about Bowie history, do you?

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No - but I expect that there would be few, even here, who could name every single musician he's ever worked with.

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Perhaps it's not bad reputation.

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It is, from what I've seen. His association with 'hours...' (and, to a lesser extent, Earthling) seems to be the focus for most of his critics - i.e. his production skills, rather than his playing.

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Perhaps it's that they just prefer other legendary players like Carlos Alomar, George Murray or Adrian Belew. Names that surely say nothing to you.

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Don't be condescending. Of course I know who Carlos Alomar is (even though he wasn't featured on the list) but George Murray I know more as a name than anything else. And Adrian Belew (who was left off, too) - what can I say about a man who's played with Tori Amos, Nine Inch Nails, plus others too numerous to mention, as well as being a member of King Crimson?

I Forgot To Change It Before

They might not be on the list because they aren't bass players.

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

A vote here for George Murray, clearly the best in bass.

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They might not be on the list because they aren't bass players.

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Which is rather what I meant, in a roundabout fashion.

I Forgot To Change It Before