Listening to solo DB albums, no backing, just one bass player

[Rob MacKillop]

I love all sorts of bass playing, but never really thought I would enjoy listening to a whole album of solo DB, but recent Spotify listening has changed my mind. 

 

I'm not a fan of Spotify, but recently joined it for a month - surprised to find some of my own albums there! - and the bots suggested I might like a playlist called "Solo Double Bass Jazz". First there's an album by Marc Johnson, Overpass, which was a great way into the genre, especially starting with Freedom Jazz Dance. Then came a player I knew little of, Anders Jormin, called Alone. This one has some deep stuff, literally and figuratively. Very Impressive. 

 

Then came Miroslav Vitous, whose playing I've know for decades. The album is Emergence. Then Larry Grenadier, Dave Holland, John Patitucci, Eberhard Weber, Gary Peacock, Michael Formanek, Barre Phillips, Carlos Barretto, and Arild Andersen. Wow, each one a great player. 

 

And then there's a playlist called Classical Double Bass, with some amazing solo and ensemble recordings, which I want to explore further.

 

It's all too much all at once, of course, but I'm loving what I'm hearing.

 

My own double-bass career didn't last very long. I snuck into the musical instrument cupboard at my Scottish secondary (high) school, was amazed at finding this giant of an instrument, managed to work out a few simple melodies - Christmas Carols, that kind of thing - and a major scale. Then the Head of Music came in, was outraged at my being there, and gave me six lashes of the leather belt, from which my hands still tremble at the memory of 50 years later. It was only the students whose parents could afford to buy an instrument who got lessons. Others were not allowed anywhere near the department. Fast forward 15 years later, and I sent the same Head of Music a press clipping showing I was at the No. 1 spot in the Scottish Classical Music Chart, with a solo lute album. A few years later I read that he had been dismissed for having sexual relations with one of his students. Clearly he didn't fancy me!  

 

I've played bass guitar on and off over the decades (now 66 years old) but have always wanted to play the double bass. I've developed a very light and sensitive nailless fingerstyle playing, and as such DB playing is out of the question, but I have just bought a new Godin A5 Ultra bass guitar, with which I can play while pretending it's a DB, and make some connection with that 14-year old school kid who made a connection with the sound all those years ago. 

 

Anyway, enough of me, I'm wondering how many of you enjoy listening to solo DB albums, Jazz or Classical? And if you have any recommendations? 

Edited 2 hours ago by Rob MacKillop
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