The only live instrumentalists list that wasn't created yet. In my opinion, bass might be one of the most interesting live instruments.

Criteria: Reputation (including improvisation), consistency, and influence/importance to the way bass is performed live.

1. Jack Bruce - (Cream)
2. John Entwistle - (The Who)
3. Tony Levin - (King Crimson; Bozzio, Levin Stevens; Session bassist)
4. Phil Lesh - (Grateful Dead)
5. Bootsy Collins - (James Brown; Funkadelic; Session)
6. Jack Casady - (Jefferson Airplane)
7. John Paul Jones - (Led Zeppelin)
8. Geezer Butler - (Black Sabbath)
9. Bernard Odum - (James Brown; Session)
10. Billy Sheehan - (Steve Vai; David Lee Roth; Niacin; Mr. Big)
11. Tim Bogert - (Vanilla Fudge; Beck, Bogert & Appice)
12. Berry Oakley - (Allman Brothers Band)
13. Roger Glover - (Deep Purple)
14. Rocco Prestia - (Tower Of Power)
15. Larry Graham - (Sly & The Family Stone)
16. Chris Squire - (Yes)
17. Flea - (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
18. Stuart Hamm - (Joe Satriani, Session Man)
19. Cliff Lee Burton - (Metallica)
20. Les Claypool - (Primus)

I posted some good improvisation examples next to the entries. Feel free to comment.

Very solid list! The only things I'd change are:
1. rising Bruce, imo he's the only one contender to the first spot of Entwistle, anyway the top 2 is set in stone with Entwistle/Bruce or Bruce/Entwistle, it could be either way.
2. rising JPJ, he scores pretty well in consistency and improvs, he also got a very good reputation as a great live player (not just bass).
3. I'm not sure about Geddy Lee, he's good but I feel people like Sheehan and Bogert are more deserving than him.

I agree about all of those recommendations except the JPJ one. I absolutely love JPJ but he isn't a more consistent improviser than guys like Phil Lesh and Jack Cassady who made a NAME for improvisation. Stuart Hamm and Bernard Odum should be coming up soon.

Odum could possibly make the top ten. He has huge reputation for being the first funk bassist. His groovy basslines along with the moves of James Brown vibrated several crowds and became the greatest live act of all time. I'm gonna go with this for the top ten for now:

1. John Entwistle
2. Jack Bruce
3. Larry Graham
4. Tony Levin
5. Phil Lesh
6. Bernard Odum
7. John Paul Jones
8. Chris Squire
9. Tim Bogert
10. Flea

And about Entwistle vs Bruce:

Importance: Entwistle
- Entwistle's style was copied by several latter bassists, he made people actually focus on the bass guitar in rock music.
Reputation: Entwistle
- Entwistle's reputation is mainly known as the greatest bassist of all time, and he controlled The Who's live jams in each performance. Bruce did the same with Cream but he doesn't match the quality of Entwistle's reputation.
Improvisation: Entwistle
- Entwistle was probably the greatest improviser of all time, the way his creativity allowed him to create gaps for Moon and Townshend to fill was completely unbeatable.
Consistency: Tie
- Both were the only members of each band that were very commonly consistent except Bruce had Ginger Baker who was extremely consistent so I'll take that back, but overall they're both on the same level of consistency.

Maybe JPJ isn't a more consistent improviser than the likes of Casady and Lesh but imo his improvs sounds a lot better, just check this out:

To be honest I could see a tie for each part of criteria but while we have to decide this, I'd say Entwistle's slight edge on importance and reputation make him worthy of the top spot.

There's no way that they're tied when it comes to improv. Entwistle's improvisation was far more creative.

Sorry but I don't agree about that, Bruce was (and he still is) a master of live improvisation as showed by the link you posted earlier.

Bruce's improvisation was just really influential. So was Entwistle's. Entwistle's was more creative by the way he created his own lines during jams as he continues the jams without going off key. Bruce was amazing but he didn't have the perfection that Entwistle had.

Check these out dude:

Probably his greatest:


This one is powerful. Bernard Odum is responsible for the influence of this style, but Entwistle adds a little bit of touch to it:


This is just pure creativity. You'll have to carefully listen to catch all of it:

Bruce created his own lines too also without going off key...perfection is really too subjective, anyway as I sayd I have nothing against Entwistle at #1 but they are much closer than you think
Enjoy this:

Great tunes. I loved the first one. I just finished smoking a bowl to this:



I love how he goes high key to low key when Clapton starts his solo.

So do you like the current top ten DJ?

Yes I like this top ten, great job!

Who would you recommend in the next 5? I'm thinking Claypool and Lee could fit in.

Burton? Harris?