Who's Your Favorite Bass Players; Why?

Pop/Rock- Billy Sheehan is technically the best. In a group John Entwistle was the best. He was a great antithesis for Keith Moon's erratic brilliance.
Acoustic/Jazz- Scott Lafaro and Eddie Gomez, maybe it's my bias to the Bill Evans Trio.

how about a shout out for Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie's Greg Ridley,Fleetwood Mac's John McVie,ex Dylan and Mike Bloomfield alum,Harvey Brooks and Blood Sweat and Tears original first album bassist, Jim Felder. All had really good drummers to work with

*Best line: Slave's Slide; Pleasure's Glide; Azymuth's Dear Limmertz
*Old school but still rule: Louis Johnson
*Was good, but have nothing else to give: Larry Graham, Stanley Clark, Mark King
*Song writers pretend to be bass players: Sting, Paul McCartney
*Worst, should take lesson: Benny Rietveld
*Boring: Dave Holland, Anthony Jackson
*Should change to playing guitar instead of bass: Wayman Tisdale
*Funkiest Tone: Marcus Miller, Jonas Hellborg
*Impressive speed and/or technique but that's all: Brian Bromberg, Victor Wooten
*Extraordinare technique, incredible live: Michael Manring
*Musicality: Richard Bona, Doky Minh, Renaud Garcia Fons
***MY FAVORITE BASS GUITARIST: Alex Malheiros of Azymuth (Brazillian group); CDs that are 20+ years still so sound so emotional today. Never play the same line twice.
***MY FOVORITE GUITARIST: no list, just one guy = Nguyen Le.

Great choices.I agree with most of the picks in this thread. My personal favorites:

Jazz: Ron Carter, Scott LaFaro, Ray Brown. The first time I heard Scott on "Waltz for Debby" I couldn't believe bass in jazz could be played like that. His so premature death was one of the biggest losses in the history of jazz. I love Ron's thick plucking and the weight he gives to his lines. Ray is a just an all-around tremendous player and composer.

Rock: Tony Levin; he's my Ron Carter of rock bass players. Geezer Butler; "War Pigs" is arguably the best rhythm section work in the history of rock music. Cliff Burton; just like Scott LaFaro in jazz music, his premature death is one of the biggest losses in the history of rock music. As great as Metallica is, I cannot help but wonder how much greater the band would have been had Cliff not have got killed. My third favorite is Steve Harris from Iron Maiden. His speed and technical ability is in my opinion unmatched in heavy metal and beyond. The fact that he doesn't use a pick just makes him one of the best ever.

On the subject of favorite basslines - rock 'n' roll division:

I love the bass line in Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain". It pops up sporadically and adds forward momentum and then just disappears for several measures at a time. Then, the song stops and an all-time classic bass figure kicks off the breakdown - at which time the bass line carries the band as it goes nuts, pretty close to straight noise when performed live. Usually, Buckingham steals the show for me, but that is John McVie's shining moment.

Marty