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 Wednesday at 17:36 by Rob MacKillop
spelling.

[Burns-bass]

Hi Rob, I’ve come to classical bass relatively late (44) but I’ve been loving it. Personally I really enjoy the baroque stuff as it’s very logical but also undoubtedly beautiful.

 

This may not be the vibe you’re after, but I’ve loved my ongoing journey.

 

I have a PDF of a wonderful baroque bass book which I can share if you’d like it? They sound amazing on double bass and would be as really rewarding on your new Godin.

 

Best 

[Beedster]

3 hours ago, Rob MacKillop said:

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? 

Nailless fingerstyle? Not sure why that makes DB out of the question? 
 

Get yourself a 4/4 and a bow, spend a few weeks enduring frustrating squeals, and then experience the sublime moment at which the bow finally speaks and the whole system - instrument, player, and room - resonates, and you won’t look back 👍

[Rob MacKillop]

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I’m happy doing what I’m doing. But I’m more interested in this thread about solo bass albums, what people listen to, or think of the genre, what to look out for. 

[chris_b]

Check out Francois Rabbath The Sound Of A Bass

 

I bought this album in the late 60's. As a bass player it stopped me dead in my tracks.

 

 

[chris_b]

. . . also check out Renaud Garcia-Fons. He's an amazing bass player and even got his own Tiny Desk concert.

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks for that, Chris. I just skipped through it just now as it’s past my bedtime, but I’ll give it a proper listen tomorrow. Sounds intriguing. 

[Rob MacKillop]

1 minute ago, chris_b said:

. . . also check out Renaud Garcia-Fons. He's an amazing bass player and even got his own Tiny Desk concert.

 

Will do!

[NickA]

Don't think of the dB as a solo instrument really. Not even keen on bass solos in jazz tbh.

 

I did once see Eberhardt Weber live; it was brill.  But does very clever use of a looper, chorus and reverb on an eub count as solo double bass?

 

Cello on the other hand, well ....Bach 6 suites, Britten, Kodaly... 

 

..off to widen my horizons, and thanks for the tips👍

 

Ps: I got a bollocking at school for messing with the music depts new synth...  Despite being a kid who'd been bought an instrument and given lessons to play it ( dad was a cellist). Its just that some school teachers were ( are?) in it to be fontrol freaky with smaller people.

Edited 8 hours ago by NickA

[Hellzero]

Rob, don't forget Lars Danielsson, Kyle Eastwood (yes, the son of Clint), Charlie Haden and, in classical music, the Fantaisie-concerto for double bass and orchestra, op. 65 from Thomas de Hartmann.

[Rob MacKillop]

Really digging Anders Jormin tonight. A real antidote to the sliding harmonics brigade, with their array of sound controllers. Jaco was brilliant, a real revolutionary, but his influence is reaching a dead end - not his fault. I was in a conversation with a student of composition at an English University, and he was moaning that the composition teachers were more interested in texture than ideas. Similar situation.
 

Give me an acoustic instrument like a DB or acoustic guitar. There’s a resonance that really reaches places electric instruments cannot reach. I know: what do I know 🤪 Each to their own. 😀

[Rob MacKillop]

11 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Rob, don't forget Lars Danielsson, Kyle Eastwood (yes, the son of Clint), Charlie Haden and, in classical music, the Fantaisie-concerto for double bass and orchestra, op. 65 from Thomas de Hartmann.

Oh, I’m a big fan of Charlie Haden - going back forty years. I’ll look out for the others. 
 

I like the DB concerto by Hans Werner Henze, and attended the first performance of the DB concerto by Peter Maxwell Davis. I like that area between contemporary classical and experimental jazz.