One little cottage industry on YouTube is the phenomenon of “covers.” Instead of a full band playing a cover version of a song, it’s usually a drummer, guitarist or bassist playing along with a favored track.
One star in this industry, frequently getting more than 1 million page views per upload, is a young Catalan bass player living in London named Marta Altesa. She’s adorable, smiling and singing along with the tracks she’s playing, and she can flat-out play.
So I decided to check out bass covers of Uptown Funk, and the best one I saw was this Dutch kid who starts out looking like he’s completely full of himself, unbuttoning a couple of buttons of his silky shirt before the bass kicks in. But he can also flat-out play, adding a couple of funky flourishes. OK, dude — you play like that, you’ve earned the right to wear your shirt however you like.
His name? Mart.
Clearly, I should’ve named one of my kids Martin.