Friday night, Rob and I hiked up to NYC to catch another round of the Bass Extremes show. This time around, Victor, Steve, Oteil and Derico were joined by the living legend Anthony Jackson.

This was the first time I had ever been to the Iridium. It's a small, underground venue, reminding me much of Blues Alley with it's setup. The band was playing three sets for the night, but we we were only going to stay for the first set.

On the one hand, this show was not as enjoyable as the Birchmere outing. The time constraints did not allow for the musicians to stretch as much or be as comfortable with their playing.

On the other hand, Anthony Jackson sat in for two songs. Jackson is one of the most influential bass players around, innovative beyond words (he pretty much singlehandedly invented the six string and contrabass, he's played for just about everyone in New York — Chaka Khan, Steely Dan, Buddy Rich for three quick examples). If you can't think of why I'm talking about, go listen to this clip — that's Anthony Jackson. He also doesn't play out all that much anymore, so the opportunity to see not only the masters of Bass Extremes and Anthony Jackson on top was too much to resist.

Jackson joined the group for two songs, What Jamacian? and a free form jam. He didn't have the pyrotechnics that the rest of the group did, but he was all about rock solid, thunderous groove. His playing style was interesting, too; as he got into his playing, he would dance around a little, jerking his head to the beat. What a treat to catch one of his rare outings.