somewhat_damaged

Jazz - Ray Brown

He is the perfect sideman. He is a slave of the good sound of a band and not the good sound of himself. His playing with the Peterson trio comes very close to perfection - there is a good bass throughout and until the solo no one actually notices ... the master of the "classic style".

Rock - Les Claypool

is the best rock bass player of all time. Anyone disagree?

well as far as rock goes, I'd say Cliff Burton, but only because the song Orion is so fucking great.