...schlock are exactly the sort of thing that drove a lot of us into traditional music,...

True, Jack. I was a jazz bassist in my earlier days, until I felt like if I heard one more "ii-V7-I" my head would explode. It's a shame, but I gave up jazz entirely (not because I thought jazz was bad in general...just that you were generally expected to *play*, the bread and butter, was pointless chord progressions). Jazz is good when its about other things, e.g. a compelling dialogue between the musicians. When it's mediocre, it's people chasing around an overabundance of ridiculous chords.

So yes, Futwick, I for one know how jazz bassists "walk the bass." But I find a lot of other bass lines more compelling than the stuff improvised on a bass to follow around the secondary dominant after secondary dominant around and around and round until it finally all ends with a cheesy syncopation. It can feel like an endless game of hopscotch.