As a bass player of modest ability (and by "modest" I mean "pfft, as if"), I am, of course, Les Claypool's bitch.  Ask pretty much anyone who the best rock bassists are and were, and his name will show up in the top three in an awful lot of lists.

From his work with Primus to his various other bands to his work as a solo artist and author, he's got a skill set to die for and the catalog to back it up.  So all this week I am heaping much praise upon he who is known as Colonel Claypool.