matthew wengerd|bassist

1_The Bad Plus on Conan Friday 14 March 2008. I normally tape Conan, as I don’t tend to stay up that late, but this one was worth the loss of sleep. Pics and a post here.

2_Matt Heller’s adventures on Calgary’s public transportation system beat any bit of the 45 minute commute I’ve been doing for almost two years!

I certainly wasn’t happy about losing it, so I began frantically waving to stop the bus. No effect. It was heading down 9th Avenue, with only the perpetually red stoplights and rush-hour gridlock to slow it down. Now I was still carrying my bass, and I briefly considered popping on the wheel and chasing it down. You may recall my plan to write an action movie screenplay about an intelligence agent / musician, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to test out a chase sequence.

3_I’ve stayed silent on Dennis’ passing for reasons I don’t really understand. I was with two of his bandmates the weekend before he passed and hadn’t realized just how bad things had become. When people pass, their survivors often re-write history. It’s always bugged me that it becomes verboten to speak the truth about unpleasant people after they die. This doesn’t seem to be necessary with Dennis. I’ve never heard a mean thing about Dennis.

Pat on Dennis
Darcy on Dennis
Doug Ramsey on Dennis and Phil Bodner
TBP on Dennis

Some people may not find this to be of any real significance, but a jazz artist just won Album of the Year at the GRAMMY’s! Herbie Hancock’s River:The Joni Letters received the nod after 44 years of jazz-absence in the category. Absolutely amazing!

You’ll be missed.

I love when someone has vision for a tired old song or two:

via

On Thursday, the wife and I, two cats, my brother-in-law, and his newlywed bride will all take a road trip to Cleveland to spend Christmas with our families. It just so happens that both of the jazz clubs in town are featuring bassists while I’m home. Unfortunately, they’re both the same night!

Dave Morgan, Youngstown State faculty member and Cleveland Jazz Orchestra composer/bassist will be performing his tunes with a nonet at the Bop Stop this Friday. As Dave and Jack performed at our wedding reception, I had to give top bill to the Tom Knific Quartet, which is playing at Night Town Friday night. Tom is the chair of Western Michigan’s jazz department. I’ve secured a lesson with Tom for Saturday morning, pending schedules and Dave Morgan pointed me in the direction of a very generous Jared Craig, who is lending me a bass with which to practice for the week and a half I’m home. I’d love to get a lesson with Dave, too, if time permits.

When it rains it pours! I spend so much time at home laying around, watching TV - this will be a good opportunity to practice, learn and hear some live music! I wish I lived in a town with a real jazz club or two.

The Double Bass Guide has the most exhaustive list of double bass pickups I’ve ever seen. My particular favorites (not because I’ve heard them, just because they look interesting) include the Schaller pictured to the left, which looks like someone took the hood ornamant off of a 1957 cruise-mobile and wedged it onto the end of a bass fingerboard.

The Wilson has always looked interesting to me, but I’m so afraid of a pickup that requires sending my bridge away for installation. It’s also never seemed convenient to spend time with a bass, but no bridge.

I think the most interesting-looking is the Japanese Yamahiko, whick looks a lot like the nearly ubiquitous Full Circle, but convenient in the fact that you can actually turn the wheel conveniently.

I have been very happy with my Upton Rev Solo II, which I’ve had for over a year now. I think, like many bass players, I’d love to have a mic setup, but am happy to find a rather neutral-sounding piezo system to fill in the gap.

In Central Florida, keeping your bass humidified is not really a great concern. More often than not, I’m more worried about the heat and humidity causing my bass to literally fall apart at the seams. I’m pretty sure that it won’t be long before I’m in an environment that requires constant humidity to keep my bass safe. To that end, the Peabody Double Bass Blog’s Jeffrey Weisner posted a recipe for a bass humidification system that looks as though it may be a much more effective upgrade from the ubiquitous Dampit (whose “m” is often removed when its users refer to it).

Jason Phillips’ Bass Humidifiers

2 large kitchen sponges
2 plastic Ziploc-type bags. (I used to use a type that was sold as “breathable” and had lots of teeny holes in them to allow air to circulate. These must have not been very commercially successful, since I haven’t seen them in stores for awhile. If you can find them, buy them and give some to bassists everywhere… If not, follow the instructions below.)
4-6 feet of nylon fishing line, available at any sporting goods store
1 safety pin

Tie the line fairly tightly around each sponge, then moisten the sponges and squeeze them out enough to that they won’t drip into your bass. If you don’t have the breathable bags, poke lots of holes into your plastic bags with the safety pin. Then slip the bags over the sponges, and insert the sponges into your f-holes. The nylon line should rest on the bridge.

Corner Violin Shop is a great example of blogging to give your customer base the ability to peek into your world. Lately, they’ve been lamenting their lack of posts and inability to keep up with their good intentions (seems a little familiar, huh?). Well, this post took the cake. What upstanding string player wouldn’t want a tree decorated with tailpieces or a wreath of chinrests?

OK, I have no use for a chinrest and my tailiece would cause the tree to fall over, but this picture brought a nice close to this very busy, sometimes quite unmusical week.

DJA is taking a trip north for a Secret Society North hit at IAJE 2008. I’m really excited to see him on a panel discussion with Neil Tesser (Listen Here) and others entitled “The Blog.” It’s disappointing that there aren’t more people involved in major scenes blogging the way Darcy does. It seems like he’s out every night, either playing or attending another great hit in NYC.

I’ve mentioned before that I first met Darcy at the last IAJE conference, where we were often internet kiosk neighbors. I intend to liveblog this year’s conference, if the schedule accompanying my new position with the CJC permits.

All this is meant to serve as introduction to something I want to spend more time looking at: Darcy is using a service called Fractured Atlas to assist with travel to IAJE Toronto. Fractured Atlas is a non-profit organization that…well, here’s what they say:

Fractured Atlas is
a non-profit organization that provides services and support to artists and arts organizations.
Fractured Atlas is
a community of artists and arts groups from every discipline across the country and around the world.
Fractured Atlas is
an innovator in the use of technology and 21st century business models to empower the community we serve.

Your donation to Fractured Atlas, on behalf of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society North, is a tax-deductible way to assist these deserving artists make their way north. This is an amazing service I will be looking into for future use myself. In the meantime, I’ll be sending a few dollars Darcy’s way to ensure we get to see DJA’s Secret Society at IAJE.

Good to see Michael Formanek becoming an active member of the Peabody Bass Blog. I’m looking forward to his addition to an already superb collective bass blog.

I’m well aware of the excellent Rufus Reid interview videos at jazzdoublebass.com, but was not aware of last month’s article at allaboutjazz.com. Rufus is a giant among bass players. His book, “The Evolving Bassist” taught countless jazz bassists how to fulfill their role in an ensemble.

If you study consistently and are thorough, you should know when you are in control. All members in the group desire a positive, confident and consistent posture by the bassist. The desired musician has what everyone wants and needs to make the ensemble the best.

I’ve heard Rufus say it in person, and he repeats it here: The bassist has the power to destroy an otherwise excellent ensemble.

When one says they are a jazz bassist, it is assumed they know how to ‘swing’, can play the ‘blues and rhythm changes’, know numerous standards and jazz tunes, can play fast, can play in any key well, etc. Those attributes become crystal clear rather quickly if they are, in fact, under control. Your musical savvy is known immediately or not.

I’ve spent plenty of times fooling myself into thinking I possessed these qualities only to be called out for not having my “stuff” together. It’s humiliating and can be a real turning point is a musician’s career - it was in mine. I’m still working on getting it together and have appreciated direct help from Mr. Reid in doing so.

In the article, Reid outlines four important facets of effective jazz bass playing:

PULSE
SATISFY
CLARITY
RECALL

“The pulse is intangible to the touch but can be felt incredibly when executed properly.”

“When the bassist plays a song ‘a cappella’, one should be able to render the melody and harmony as suggested by the music. ”

“All bassists must be clear to one’s self before one can be truly clear to our listeners.”

“(It) is the player’s choice to respond or not, but actually hearing the event go by while you are doing what is expected of you is the important thing to establish a musical thread throughout the group.”

Please do youself a favor and read the whole article. In the meantime, I’ll include the www.jazzdoublebass.com videos here:

A classmate of mine and I are both preparing “Three Short Stories” for Double Bass and Piano, written by Bill Mays and recorded by the composer and John Goldsby
on Goldsby’s “Tale of the Fingers.” The first two “stories” of this suite both involve challenging arco sections (both written and improvised). Because of this, the idea of jazz arco playing has been at the fore of my mind for some time.

Goldsby and Lynn Seaton gave a great pair of demonstrations on the subject at the Aebersold camps and I’ve been working to apply some of their principals (particularly in the blowing section) to this piece (and my playing in general). I’ve had three great classical bass teachers over the last several years and considered the right-hand portion of this piece a given; not quite the case.

The anecdotal evidence seems to be that jazzers prefer German bow to French and I find myself among the presumed majority. All things relating to the German bow and it’s earthy grip pique my interest; there are myriad ways to unlock the musicality of the larger-frogged stick. The PBDB blog’s “Great German Bow Guide” took me to a website I’ve bookmarked but not yet explored: Robert Oppelt’s personal site. On his “Get A Grip” page, he outlines eleven different grip-types for the German bow and, next to the demonstrative photo, explains what he considers the weaknesses and benefits of each grip. Among these is a Streicher-style grip and my predominant grip (#11). I would have preferred he more detailed descriptions of each grip, including their origins and names, but this serves an an excellent resource that was not available when I first picked up the bow.

Whatever way you choose to play your double bass, I would highly recommend Paul Brun’s book “A New History of the Double Bass.” In it, he outlines one of the most nagging questions in the string family - why in the world do bassists play with that funny-looking bow?!

By the way - while you’re at Bob’s site, check out his tips.

I’ve been in seclusion for a while now, trying to keep my proverbial head above the proverbial water. Well, this was worth braking the silence for:

One of my students told me he saw me on the USF Music webpage so I had to check it out for myself:

Isn’t that funny! I’m also in the flash video on the site. Go here to see more of my ugly mug.

via, via

***offensive language ahead***

Loosely transcribed at AAJ:

”I don’t speak Italian, but I hope that somebody who speaks English tell those a**holes to shut off those f***ing cameras. Until you don’t do it, music won’t be at its best and you will have spent your money for nothing. I’m speaking to you, you, you, and you, and also you up there. If I see one single flash during the concert, I and Gary and Jack reserve to ourselves the right to stop playing and leave this goddamn city. It’s your privilege to be here, not mine”.

What is the performer’s relationship with the audience? Do musicians of a certain caliber possess the right to castigate their audience? Daniel Biro doesn’t think so and expressed his views here.

It’s amazing to think that audience members put up with this.

The following is probably one of my favorite jazz bass Youtube finds. It’s a nine-part feature of a Ray Brown masterclass with English students. It has a watermark in the top left corner, some credits at the end, and is dubbed in French. The cuts appear to consider only filesize, as no effort appears to be made to create cuts that fit the flow of the video.

All that said, there are so many jewels from Brown in this video. Even without the lecture portion, this video is an education in jazz bass. Brown’s wit and charm allow him to lay down the law with his charges while maintaining a light, friendly discourse.

Do yourself a favor and stop to watch them all right now:

I:

II:

III:

IV:

V:

VI:

VII:

IIX:

IX:

There’s a discussion about it at Talkbass in this thread.

It seems like there is a dearth of information about the German bow. I don’t quite know what causes this, but there just seem to be many more French players and information out there.

Imagine my joy and surprise when I read Stan Haskins’ Budget German bow roundup. He seems to give reasonably high marks to the Arcos Brazil bows, one of which I own. The bow is stamped “H. Cirillo” and is a very well-made, well-balanced bow. I paid less than $800 for it and have kept my eyes open for another bow in that range, but haven’t found anything yet.

If you’re looking for a bow in the sub-$800 range, read Haskins’ post and check out the bows he discusses.

The ClickForLessons blog had another interesting post (I was reading back into the archives) I thought worth mentioning. The issue of pricing lessons has always been a vexing one. How do you prevent undervaluing yourself without pricing yourself out of the market? I think these figures wouldn’t fly in my market:

If you want to make $100,000 this year, you can get 200 students to pay you $500 ($20 for half hour lessons, twice a month). You’d also be working your rear-end off - 6 days a week - and needing a support staff.

Or, you can have 60 students that will take two 1-hour lessons a month at $70 an hour. In the latter scenario, you could work Mon-Thurs and have a three day weekend every week - while making $100K. Typically, the person paying $70 vs. $20 also tends to be more serious and stay with you longer (thus avoiding churn and turnover).

I recently “gave myself a raise” and am charging $17/half, $30/hour. Upon obtaining my MM, it’s a sure bet that’ll go up. I could see charging $70 after a decade of pro experience, but don’t read the CFL blog and get the idea that you can demand those prices fresh out of school.

I do indeed like this reality check, though:

The average plumber charges $85 for a house call - whether it’s 10 minutes or an hour - then $85-$100 per hour thereafter. I’d say you’re adding more long-term value than my local plumber, wouldn’t you?

I’m in David Baker’s theory class right now. Baker is the chair of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Department of Jazz Studies. Just check out the first paragraph of his IU bio:

David Baker studied with J.J. Johnson, Janos Starker, and George Russell. He has been honored with nominations for the Pulitzer Prize and the Grammy Award. Mr. Baker has received the Down Beat Magazine’s New Star Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Jazz Education Hall of Fame Award, the National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award, and the National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters Award.

Baker is tough and demanding, but one of the sweetest people you’ve ever met. If you don’t get him on the phone, there’s a good chance you won’t be getting in touch with him. He’s an extremely active teacher who has better things to do than sit a computer all day (I know what you’re thinking…). He and his wife, Lida, are the royal family of the camps. It is such an honor to get to spend time with them. I told Dr. Baker last night that, even though my chops (and ears) aren’t up to his theory class, I am getting so much from it and will be taking it home to shed. My Sony MD recorder is sitting beside me, capturing every story and moment. This is one of the great treasures of the workshops.

The house was packed for Moody, but let up ever so slightly for subsequent sets. I’ve been trying to get a shot like this all week.

This week’s Wednesday night concert at Masterson’s features the incomparable James Moody. Also playing are drummer Jonathan Higgins, guitarist Dave Stryker, and Organist Bobby Floyd. You should be here right now.

Moody conducted a saxophone masterclass today and will be hosting a flute masterclass on Thursday. We are honored to have such a living legend here with us for the week.

Only at Aebersold!