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I was wondering who was the first fretless player you ever heard that made you think"I want to play a fretless"...it may be interesting comparing the differences...in my personal experience, when I was a little kid I was alot into heavy metal, and the first ones I heard were two players named Steve DiGiorgio and Sean Malone, they were amazing!
Then I bought a Weather Report album and discovered Jaco,then it was Gary Willis with Tribal Tech ecc...who were your first favorites and influences?

The first ever fretless playing I heard was Barbary Coast, I remember trying to work out the intro part ...ahhh memories . I then thought it would be really cool if i defretted my very cheap Vox Clubman bass which sounded awful, you understand I must have been about 13 or 14 years old, I had no Idea what I was doing. Come to think of It I still puzzle over many things concerning bass playing...an ongoing challenge for me.

The next stuff I got my hands on was Stanley Clarke an Upright solo called A Sombre Moment, that's really a wonderful piece

I wanted to sound more like an Upright player without the hassel of the Doghouse. A goal which I have finally acheived after many years (see post on Make Your Piezo Fretless Sound Like an Upright).

In 1968 I went into an Ampeg dealer outlet in Hollywood and played their AUB-1. I was hooked immediately, I just knew this was the sound for me.

I remember hearing the bassist with The Band on fretless in the early '70s but I was already into it for several years by then.

It was really [bowing to the master] Ray Brown who was my inspiration.

bakhiti kumalo's low-end did it for me. although i got into jaco much later, it was really bakhiti's tasteful melodic lines, which included double-stops, on paul simon's graceland album that got me hooked to the fretless.

Mark Griffiths on Cliff Richard's Discovery (Now You See Me album) 1982. Haunting legato cello-like tones, making the atmosphere of the song.

Fortunately the credits specified fretless. At that point in my life I did not even know what a fretless bass was. But I was hypnotised by that sound. Having left school and no longer playing tuba (brass bass!) I was considering taking up something new. So I had my answer! I went straight out and found a solitary 'CMI' Precision copy sunburst / maple neck reduced in the nearest guitar shop. I spent my meagre savings on it and have been in love ever since.

Apparently Mark G was first a lead guiatrist, so perhaps had a particular melodic approach. An obscure choice from me, but his tone was awesome and is still pretty much unmatched in my listening experience. I cannot understand why this style of fretless seems to have dropped off the radar somewhat. Perhaps people think it is too 'eighties?

I knew I wanted a sound like that before I knew he played a fretless.

Every fretless player needs to give him a listen.

So sad he's no longer with us.

Jeroen Thesseling playing with Obscura on their Cosmogenesis album!
I had heard fretless bass before, but never really explored it until I heard this album.

Jeroen also played with Pestilence, Esamble Salazhar (I think you will all like this, check them out on YouTube!) and several other bands.

Jeroen Thesseling playing with Obscura on their Cosmogenesis album!
I had heard fretless bass before, but never really explored it until I heard this album.

Jeroen also played with Pestilence, Esamble Salazhar (I think you will all like this, check them out on YouTube!) and several other bands.

Same as OP (if I recall).
Steve Digiorgio on Death's Human album and Malone on Cynic's Focus. Ironically I wouldn't play bass until a decade or so later (I'm a guitar player first).

But the bass player I was in a band with at the time introduced me to Jaco's album (Donna Lee... WOW!). I was also into Patrick O'Hearn's new age records.

Of course, later Jeroen Thesseling, Forest Lapointe, Willis, Franklin, and more I can't think of.

So, 2004 ish, bought my first bass... fretless of course! And currently up to 4 basses (one fretted though). Love the instrument.

Tony Franklin with The Firm, and later with Blue Murder.

Alain Caron with Uzeb The "Live in Bracknell" especially the song Tribecca . It made me loving the fretless bass. This song is hummm ...

Also Jaco with his eponymous album and Weather Report...
Special Efx with Chieli Minucci and Tribal Tech.

For me, it was Percy Jones in the late '70s, and the one-two punch of Brand X's "Nightmare Patrol" and Brian Eno's "No One Receiving." I couldn't believe a human being was making those sounds.

In fact, for the longest time Jones' virtuosity scared me away from even picking UP a fretless, much less trying to play one. Then I screwed up my courage, took an Ibanez SR-400 fretless off its hanger at Sam Ash, played a few notes and..."hmm, I might be able to do this."

The first player I heard was when I was a kid and I heard Pino Palladino on Don Henley's great solo hits like Boys of Summer and New York Minute. Then I heard him and Leland Sklar on Phil Collins' solo songs like I Wish It Would Rain Down and Do You Remember? which have a lot of emotion from the fretless. I also remember hearing Sting's fretless tone all over The Police and his early solo work and then got into fretless jazz players like Steve Bailey, Bunny Brunel, Michael Manring and Alain Caron not to mention upright guys like Ray Brown, Charles Mingus and Brian Bromberg. All of those guys still move me to this day.

I have some embarrassing stuff about this: (hope it's ok to renew this thread)

Anyhow - my first experiences of hearing what I thought was fretless bass were all probably examples of fretted basses that sounded fretless to my unknowing ears: bass throughout Jesus Christ Superstar original cast soundtrack album (such brilliant playing eh? but I'm assuming it's fretted now that I listen to it fresh), led zep 1 (same comment), The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's album, many hits by duran duran (His aria bass always sounded slightly sharp and fretless LoL... cool playing and sound though) - they all sounded fretless to me back then.

But my first honest experience was the amazing session player on chuck mangione's album Main Squeeze - who as a more educated bassist later in life I found out was one of my all time idols (by then), Tony Levin.

So Tony Levin was first, in his instrumental mellow jazz fusion days.

then came the police - sting started playing fretless a fair bit in their later stuff when I was becoming a huge fan of theirs, on their last two studio albums. He made a big impact on me too.

Then someone told me about Jaco and the heavy weather album.

That was it. Upon graduating from high school (I was already making money recording and gigging as a bassist thanks to skipping class constantly so I could practice and work with older musicians outside of school) my dad bought me a japanese ibanez musician bass used as a grad gift and I immediately had it professionally defretted - and owned/played only that one fretless bass for most of my career as a full time bassist in the late 80s early 90s.

The first fretted bass I ever found after that time which I actually wanted to own (and did buy) was a used Alembic Series I from a local music store.... but otherwise I was through and through a fretless bassist.

I like 'em both now and mostly own fretted basses these days, but my EBMM sub 5 fretless (USA) is one heck of a nice fretless when I just want to PLAY and ENJOY music

Cheers