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Respecting the Music With Phil Baker : MY Top 10
Meet Phil Baker –
Apple isn’t knocking down my door to do my top ten list for iTunes so I’m going to subject you guys to it. So here it goes:
1. Hide and Seek – Imogen Heap
This is probably the best and most artistic use of new technology I have heard in a long time. I heard this song for the first time on a TV show and spent days trying to find it on Itunes.
2. In A Silent Way – Weather Report
3. In A Silent Way – Miles Davis
This is a two parter. I was stunned when I heard the Weather Report’s version (both live and recorded). Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter are both iconic musicians that are brilliantly unpredictable. Zawinul’s chords on this song are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. Miles’ version, conversely, is stripped of all chords except for a drone E provided by the bass with just a sprinkling of Rhodes on top. This was Miles’ genius: distillation to perfection.
Even though John McLaughlin’s guitar is out of tune (unusual!) Wayne Shorter plays perfectly in tune. This is the mark of high musicianship: intonation or good time amidst the lack of either.
4. The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines – Joni Mitchell
It’s hard to imagine that all this music is coming from three musicians. Joni’s stunning vocals are perfectly complimented by Jaco and Mike Brecker’s adrenaline driven romp.
5. Don’t Let It Bring You Down – Neil Young
This song knocked me out the first time I heard it. The best songs are usually simple and seem to have written themselves. This one has both melody and haunting lyrics. I love the simplicity of the rhythm section on Neil Young’s “After the Goldrush” and “Harvest” albums.
6. A Map Of The World – Pat Metheny
Again, just a great tune, beautifully recorded, brilliantly played, and masterfully orchestrated. Very moving.
7. Madan – Salif Keita
I’ve been getting into world music quite a bit lately, especially African music. Salif Keita and Youssou N’Dour are my two favorites. Writing about this song does not do it justice. Just check it out.
8. Come To The Well – Gino Vannelli
OK, everybody who does one of these lists works in something they played on. Diana Ross, my former boss, had only her songs on her list. I wouldn’t have included this if I wasn’t proud of it and if the tune wasn’t great. Gino is one of the most brilliant musicians I’ve ever met. It was like musical boot-camp to work with him. It didn’t kill me so I guess it made me stronger. Randy Porter came up with the sublime voicings on the piano and I played a Caruthers electric upright bass.
9. Bag Lady – Todd Rundgren
Todd, like Stevie Wonder on his “Talking Book” album, played virtually every instrument on his “Hermit Of Mink Hollow” album. This song is one of my favorites. This CD sounds amazing enough but is still even more stunning when you realize that it, like the Steely Dan classics, was recorded in the 70s.
10. I Was Made To Love Her – Stevie Wonder
Speaking of Stevie… I couldn’t let this list go by without having something James Jamerson played on. This song makes me pull over to the side of the road every time it comes on.
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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