The Pino Palladino appreciation thread.

[ibanez2005]

Ok i thought i'd start this as there is very little info on the guy, even from his own website which hasnt been updated for months (june 06).
He is the reason i bought my Stingray. After listeneing to Paul Young for the last few months, i finally cracked and had to buy a Stingray.
I dont know if anybody has heard Call Me by Go West but that is Pino at his finest, one of the best bass parts ive ever heard.
Anyway, feel free to post pictures, stories or whatever.

[GassieBall]

He was featured in both Bass Guitar and Bass Player recently. I really didn't know much about him until reading those articles. And now he plays with the Who and John Mayer. Impressive.

[ibanez2005]

Ive learnt some of the songs he's played on and they really do challange your technique and ear. His fretless playing is incredible, so precise but it still sounds like a fretless.

[Rod Trussbroken]

His 1979 Rosewood Fretless

(Pic from the "Bass Book")

[ibanez2005]

Ive got that book, it hardly mentions Palladino. That is one cool bass, i wonder if he still takes it on tour or even plays it, hes gone fretted F3nder now, i thought he's have stuck with a Stingray at least.

[prickly_pete]

Originally Posted by ibanez2005

Ive got that book, it hardly mentions Palladino. That is one cool bass, i wonder if he still takes it on tour or even plays it, hes gone fretted F3nder now, i though he's have stuck with a Stingray at least.

Guys like Pino are true artists and don't become obsessed with tools like we do I remember reading that Pino went with a fretless Ray, because he wanted to play fretless, but didn't want to be compared to Jaco.

[ibanez2005]

How can you not fall in love with the sound of a Stingray though, i owned a Jazz bass a while ago and compared to the MM it was very weak sounding. Not bashing J basses but thats how they compared to me.
I think its a testament to the fact that The Who chose him to replace the Ox.

[prickly_pete]

Hey, no argument from me, Stingrays do sound great! I have a few myself

[NoFrets80]

Pino is the man. He is my greatest inspiration and my benchmark as to what a great, modern, versatile player should be. He can fit into any style honestly, but doesn't showboat, and always seems to find the right part. He makes melodic fills that are quite difficult sound remarkably easy. I remember first checking out some of the notable recordings he's been on and playing along... I was amazed at how tricky the placement of some of the phrases were, yet they sounded so natural. He's definitely the man. Now if we can just get a 'Ray back in his hands, no?

[ibanez2005]

Too right, put down that salmon pink P-bass and get back to a MM.

[bassmonkey]

Originally Posted by ibanez2005

He is the reason i bought my Stingray. After listeneing to Paul Young for the last few months, i finally cracked and had to buy a Stingray.

Me too. My first Ray was a fretless, bought after a prolonged period of listening to his 80s fretless stuff.

Agree with Nofrets too, incredible in the pocket player. No-one like him.

[ibanez2005]

Easily a world class bass player, i'd love to see him alongside some of the other greats to see what his soloing skills on the bass are like.

[kompressaur]

Pino's playing on Gary Numan's "I,Assassin" album from 1982 was top drawer,
especially love his slap fretless work on "White Boys and Heros".Numan's previous album had Mick Karn on fretless and Pino even back then was at least as good. and this was before he got the gig with Paul Young.
Wherever I lay my hat has that great fretless intro but Come back and Stay is killer(tone and mwah to die for)
Komp

[Spudmurphy]

Pino comes from my home town and is a couple of years younger than me.

We both played in separate bands in the 70's in a club in Cardiff called the Moon club.

It was Cardiff's equivalent of London's Marquee and we both had residencys there.

He was in a band called Trapper and played rhythm guitar. No great shakes as a guitarist, the story went that he had had some classical training.

He was more famous for playing a 6/12 string double neck - cos there weren't many around. This he used when Trapper played "Stairway to Heaven" and I can tell you now it was an awesome rendition.

They had a Robert Plant look alike on vocals that sang and had all the moves of Plant - he was awesome. He went on to sing for Lone Star and Uriah Heep - his name was John Sloman. They had a great drummer too called Mugsy - he too went on to "stardom" with Lone Star.

Trapper spilt and we were in desperate need of a bass player. We auditioned a few down the Moon club and Pino had just switched over to Bass.
He didn't get the call as at that time he wasn't quite the polished performer ha! and we recruited the original bass player from Trapper.

I last saw Pino face to face about 8 years ago and we had a laugh about it!!

His parents have a Restaurant in Cardiff.

Pino is an ace guy, plays one of the best sounding bass lines and his pedigree is awesome - when I called up his history a while back there wasn't many people he hadn't played with - period.

Wish he had stuck with Musicman - I don't know why he left (apart from the fact that Fender gave him a sig guitar) and I don't really want to know.

We Cardiff musicians from the 70's are proud of Mr Palladino - long may he prosper!!

[Chris C]

Spudmurphy,
What a cool story! Thanks for sharing it. I love reading the "where were they before they were 'stars'" histories. It's interesting to find out where these killer players came from and what their background is.