Ida Nielsen grew up in the 1980s, and anyone who was a child of the 1980s and was fascinated by the slap bass, the rhythmic striking and snapping of the strings, would have a hard time avoiding Mark King. But because Nielsen paid attention to subtleties even as a girl, her verdict on the power-thumping Level 42 musician whom she admired is now more objective: “A phenomenal bassist, but Level 42 are less funk and more the European pop version of Funk.” Young Ida quickly began to turn to 1970s: Larry Graham of Sly & The Family Stone. And bought her own bass.
The 47-year-old has come a long way from girl with an early interest in funk to respected studio and live musician who now markets her own signature instrument with a suitably formidable hi-tech name: the Sandberg California VM5 Ida Nielsen SA BLK. With “More Sauce, Please!” she has now released her sixth solo album as a singer and bass player. A mixture of wonderfully upbeat American large-ensemble funk (“Been Trying”), bass solos for expert ears (“Bounce Back”) and neo-soul (“It’s Gone”). There are also collaborations with rather unknown virtuosos such as the Congolese DJ Amazulu Nanga and the Finnish beat boxer Felix Zangerin, who are allowed to set counterpoints in Nielsen’s songs, which she arranges and produces mostly on her own. “They have their liberties,” says Nielsen, “but my band is a bass band. My instrument should be allowed to breathe.”
Nielsen is a teacher as she produces bass tutorial videos, but she is also a student: “After I met Prince it kind of went back to school. I was able to learn a lot from him.” She directs the conversation to the mentor, knowing what she owes to the genius who died in 2016. Prince brought her into his band New Power Generation, and more importantly, she became a member of his band 3rdEyeGirl, with whom he released the album Plectrumelectrum in 2014.
There have been a number of formations accompanying Prince in his life, but 3rdEyeGirl combines two salient features. It was the last group he founded – and, with him as the fourth musician, the smallest. The master was known for the military drill of his people, and the smaller the band, the more important it is that every note hits the spot; just when four instruments become just three, Prince put down his guitar and started dancing. “But afraid of Prince? No, I never had. He appreciated my abilities and liked me as a person.” His golden rule for working together: “Learn your part and play it – don’t play around!”. Nevertheless, Nielsen had to be vigilant, because for him the motto was: play around! When Prince was done with his show, there were times when he wanted to strap on Nielsen’s bass and start playing, or he’d strap on his own and do a “bass duel.” He needed the competition. Nielsen sounds wistful when she reports about it. Of moments that will never come again.
Her Sandberg bass model in the 3rdEyeGirl colors black and gold is reminiscent of the old days, and her “Musician’s Musician” claim is reminiscent of an even earlier time, the golden funk era of the seventies: if you’re very good at something you do, it is best to do as much as possible yourself, even if you ignore trends. “Of course I could ask a hip production team what kinds of funk are hot right now,” says Nielsen. “But I don’t want to. Maybe that’s why I haven’t had a real chart hit yet. But I can make the music that suits me, with the people I like, and I play on stages all over the world.”
But what makes slapping, whether it’s by Mark King, Larry Graham or Ida Nielsen herself, so irresistible? Her answer is more intuitive than cerebral, because because she can play she rarely has to talk about it: “Slapping has a cool sound. And you hit without hurting anyone. It’s like this with Funk: Funk either tells you who you are or what you can learn from life. That’s how it looks. That’s why funk is the best genre of all.”