matthew wengerd|bassist

1…If you know Jamey Aebersold, you know he likes to take pictures. He tells me he uses the SnP method of photography - Shoot and Pray. He gets some good shots that are featured throughout the buildings this week. Unfortunately, he snagged one of a visible stunned me and had it placed prominently on the bulletin board in the lobby of the school of music.

It’s been a running deal to place captions below it. I believe the one here is “INCONTHEIVABLE!” Let me know if you have any good captions.

2…At least one camper has come to me and said “you’re the guy with the blog, right?” If you are reading this and attending the Aebersold workshops, come up to me and let me know. It’s very gratifying to meet readers (long time or new) in real life. I’m the guy in the picture above, say hello.

I ran into Chris Fitzgerald in the hall today and he commented on the amusement my posting brought him. I came into this very determined to post consistently, but quickly lost momentum. It’s kinda like watching DJA liveblog BoaC and seeing the fatigue set in, but mine’s not nearly as entertaining. Well, I promise to do my best to be a bit more consistent. I’ve already posted a couple times today. Don’t hold me to it, though.

I haven’t encountered any other livebloggers yet, but I did catch a post by Thomas Howard chronicling his experiences. It is so great to see people with backgrounds in rock, pop, and classical music coming to these workshops and making great headway as jazz musicians. I’m awful with names; when Thomas posted at Talkbass to let me know he wrote this post, I had to check his myspace for pictures to recognize who he was. We had several conversations while he was here and I really enjoyed the bit of time I had to get to know him.

This thing really is a brotherhood.

We had a bit of a respite last night (following Transformers with Anotonio). The week starts back up today. I just had a less than pleasing audition, but this is one of those few low-pressure moments where it doesn’t really matter.

At the end of my audition, Friesen had me play my bass backwards (RH on the neck) for a slow blues. Boy, did it go poorly! Afterwards, Friesen reminded me that this was pretty much how I played when I first picked up the bass. “See how far you’ve come?” he asked. That made my day.

I will not be teaching at Southeastern University for the 2007-2008 Academic Year. Those of you studying bass at SEU will be studying with Mark Neuenschwander. I will continue to teach privately in Lakeland and throughout Central Florida.

Where else can you see Transformers with Antonio Hart?

Things have been much busier than expected and I haven’t had the time to write as I desired. I’ve been recording a lot of my experiences for a big audio dump and possible podcasting. While you’re waiting, here are some bass shots:

Today was move-in day for the first of two week-long Aebersold Workshops. Many of the rhythm section players arrived earlier in the week for the two-day drum and bass workshops in addition to players here for The Man’s two-day improvisation primer. The staff had a very reasonable call of 10:00 am today (after a much-needed early end yesterday) and we prepared for registration.

[interruption]
Lynn Seaton just played an arco/vocal solo a la Slam Stewart on a blues that knocked my socks off! I wish I had recorded it to share with my (few) loyal readers. Wow!

[/interruption]

I took the minors to lunch at Taco Hut (much to their chagrin) for the second day in a row. It’s not agreeing with me one bit. After lunch, there was much moving of furniture. Rooms needed to be re-arranged to accommodate the classes and combos of the camps. This was the part of the day I choose to forget. It was exhausting and I’m glad it’s over.

Tonight was the last dinner on the meal plan. Meals are served on the campus of UofL at Masterson’s, which I am told is not at all unpleasant, but gets tedious for those of us on the two-week plan. Dinners at Masterson’s are accompanied by faculty concerts. Our own Jack Wilkins played in a quintet featuring dueling tenors, guitar, bass, and organ. The truth of the matter is, I was a little too exhausted to give it my full attention. There were, however, a few moments where the quintet burned so hard…well, I’ve never been a very vivid writer, use your own good jazz analogy.

Evenings at the Aebersold camps feature three sets of faculty concerts. I was blessed to miss the first set (it’s not as bad as it sounds) because Rich Armandi pulled me away for a lesson. The best part of this camp is the amazing faculty that avail themselves to us almost non-stop for the entire week. Rich is a Chicago area bassist that, as he says, is focused on being a strong utility player, knowing as many tunes as possible and playing in time and in tune with an excellent sound. We talked a lot about vomit, the Gary Karr exercise that, when played by a room full of bassists, has been known to induce vomiting. We also talked about using large muscles to maximize sound production. I’ll write better notes on the lesson tonight.

The second set was:
Lynn Seaton.b
Phil DeGregg.p
Steve Barnes.d
Tim Armacost.ts
Dave Stryker.g
Jennifer Barnes.voc

You already heard what I think about that.

Starting now is:

Don Braden.ts
David Hazeltine.tp
Antonio Hart.as
Rufus Reid.b
Steve Davis.d
Barry Ries.p

I’ve got more important things to do than type….more later.

It’s funny to see so many musicians playing the same instrument in one room. Campers are rehearsing as I type.

…and the staff fooling around:

I just finished escorting some of our under-age campers to a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut for lunch. Starting Sunday evening, meals will be at Masterson’s (on campus dining) and we will not need to escort anyone off campus. We have been really productive and expect another huge push through tomorrow before settling into some semblance of a routine. It’s invigorating to see such excitement on some of the attendees’ faces.

It was nice to meet Talkbass moderator Chris Fitzgerald, who is on faculty at the University of Louisville. Chris is the second TB moderator I’ve met in person (Jairaj Swann being the other) and has proved consistently that bass playing is a brotherhood. I’m looking forward to lessons with the faculty here. Our very own Jack Wilkins just arrived and I expect Steve Davis to come in shortly, rounding out the USF contingent.

Students are waiting in the hall to attend their second rhythm section session.

I’s seven thirty in the morning, much later than I normally get out of the apartment, but I am not dealing with it well today. We’re getting ready to check people in for the two-day seminars, getting instructions from Ben Gritton. I’ll be checking in people’s gear, but they get to schlep it. Perfect!

We’ll see when things change for the day, but I’ll be off for my a.m. assignment in just a minute.

Very late last night, I arrived in Louisville, KY for the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops. I am in the middle of helping set up for two weeks (and weekends) of camp. Look for updates as I get a bit of downtime.

By far, the most common search string directing people to this site is “Charles Barr.” Charles was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Bass Section and was tragically killed last summer, having been struck by a truck while cycling. Richard Waugh, CO violist, embarked on a project to cement the memory of his dear friend and named it Riding For Charles. Today, Waugh dipped the front tire of his bicycle in the Atlantic Ocean following a 17 day coast-to-coast ride to raise money for the Charles Barr Memorial Chair .

I haven’t even had a chance to read all the posts (Waugh posted daily, via phone dictation to people back home), but I have been deeply moved by this endeavor. It is so uplifting to see someone take up a cause so personal. It’s great to do charity events and arts events, but I believe that depth in our daily lives is achieved in the presence of our friends. Waugh poignantly reflects:

After I left the beach, I did break down for a moment. I’ve been focused on this ride for a long time, and now it’s over. I thought of Charles and the RidingforCharles project and how that project has also come to an end. It’s bitter-sweet. But the Charles Barr Memorial Chair will exist as long as the Cleveland Orchestra does, and through this ride I have come to know Eric and Cathy and am pleased to call them dear friends.

My best wishes to Waugh and the Barrs (pictured), who were able to visit with Waugh during some of the precious down time the riders had. Please consider contributing to the fund.

Win Hinkle veered from his usual topic of discourse to talk about amplification in jazz; recounting his experience at a Ravi Coltrane soundcheck. Win is a tells-it-like-it-is kind of guy and I don’t always agree with him, but his post makes a pretty strong point.

As a bassist, I find I usually need to amplify when playing anything larger than a duo/trio in a small room. Now, there are plenty of purists who go all-acoustic, but I think it’s realistic to use an amp. What I think is absolutely uncalled for is miking drums and horns in small rooms. It’s dismaying to see big-name pros bringing entourages of soundmen to club dates. As a musician, I spend so much time working on playing with sensitivity that I cannot imagine ruining that with trillion-watt sound systems.

Add Win’s blog to your reader; you may not always agree, but it’s bound to be a good read.

DJA was last seen liveblogging the Bang on a Can festival in NYC. Art music with a punk rock ethos (whatever that means).

It’ amusing to read through Darcy’s posts and see the effects of time, caffeine, and sleep deprivation on his posts. It’s commendable to stay the course (oh, brother) for twenty-six hours of challenging music, but DJA stepped it up a notch by liveblogging it. Now, if he had upped his pictures live, too, now that would be the end of it…

Apparently, I have had this link saved on my delicious since Halloween. It was just brought back to my attention by this thread at Talkbass. The generous webmaster of this site has compiled links to listening and purchasing sites (iTunes and amazon.com, chiefly) for every tune in the Real Book 5th edition. I am a firm believer (as it’s been taught to me) to listen to as many examples of tunes you’re learning and I have 3-10 versions of most tunes in the book, but this is a great place for a jazz musician with a small library to find recordings of tunes they want to learn.

It would be nice if the site had multiple (read: dozens, when available) versions of each tune and noted which were the generally agreed upon “definitive” versions. It could be detrimental to a player to only listen to highly-arranged/-stylized versions as their source material.

Bookmark this one in case anyone ever asks, “Where can I go to hear the tunes in the Real Book?”

(I am posting this link as soon as I read it in order to beat Jason Heath to the punch. Jason is a wonderful, prolific blogger who posts things with such speed and regularity (at least way more than I can muster) that I find many things tagged toblog in my delicious on his blog long before I even get the chance to read the whole thing. I hope to say I beat him to it just once!)

Michael Hovnanian’s blog climbed to a new height in my book today with a candid look into the day-to-day workplace issues of life in one of the world’s great orchestras. the CSO has been without Music Director for an entire season and the musicians have worked (sometimes dealt) with a series of guest conductors this year.

Michael relates an amusing story (with a protected identity) culled from this week’s rehearsal. I will only give you a teaser:

The grizzled old principal dragged his eyes from the crossword bedeviling him the past three rehearsals. “Maestro,” he drawled.

Eyes rolled in the orchestra and a kind of ‘here we go again’ sigh started up, just what a weary old-time saloonkeeper might do when he knows his place is about to be busted up and there isn’t darn thing he can do about it.

You owe it yourself to read the rest of this.

I have been in ensembles where things have come just to the brink of falling apart, but I have never found myself in a situation of on-stage restarting. It is comforting to know, however, that I would be in good company if and when that situation arises. My number one, the Cleveland Orchestra, had a restart on-stage recently, as noted by Vivien Schweitzer in Playbillarts: “There must have been something in the Midwestern air last Thursday, as performances in Detroit and Cleveland both came to a grinding halt.” She goes on to quote some of the Donald Rosenberg story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Anyone who has ever played an instrument or sung knows the uncomfortable feeling that creeps in when things don’t quite go as the composer planned.

Listeners aren’t always aware of these discrepancies, but the Cleveland Orchestra’s audience Thursday at Severance Hall was abuzz at intermission about the two interruptions during the last movement of Alban Berg’s Chamber Concerto for Piano, Violin and 13 Wind Instruments.

The piece was moving along when everything suddenly collapsed and music director Franz Welser-Möst uttered, “Sorry.” He took the ensemble back a bunch of bars and tried again, to no better effect.

“You see how difficult this is,” the conductor said to the audience. “It worked this morning.”

Finally, Welser-Möst got his meters straight, and the music proceeded to its inevitable, touching end. One suspects the weekend’s remaining performances will go more smoothly.

Berg’s score deserves the attention. It is a masterpiece of construction and emotional content, albeit one of the most intricate works in the repertoire. The composer flirts with 12-tone techniques as he incorporates hidden codes and the musical names of his close Viennese colleagues Schoenberg and Webern into the fabric.

The opening theme and variations introduce the primary motives and develop them. The second movement is a palindrome that also serves as an impassioned memorial to Schoenberg’s first wife, Mathilde. Material from the first and second movements are combined in the finale, whose tricky textures and rhythms — the cause of Thursday’s distress — are major challenges.

Despite the discomfort, the performance wasn’t an outright disaster, though it also wasn’t very good. Mitsuko Uchida’s forceful, alert pianism and concertmaster William Preucil’s silken violin solos gave vibrant voice to Berg’s profusion of ideas even when the interplay of solo instruments and fine winds failed to achieve coherence or urgency. Welser-Möst’s helpful comments before the performance about the work’s “meaning” often didn’t transfer to the music-making itself.

How mortifying.

Coincidentally, the music (and more) blog, Dragons and Princesses, posted a similar story this week:

Big applause the other night, but the conductor kept going. Low strings didn’t…violins did for a couple notes.

Awkward short silence, then huge cue which most of us correctly understood to be the next forte entrance-so we had skipped a few bars. Fun. Maybe that’s the musical equivalent of things getting lost in cyberspace.

We finished the act, and conductor waves hands in front of face…but we couldn’t figure out if that was an international gesture for “You should really watch me closer next time”, “Something strange just happened on stage”, or “I’m sorry, that was completely my fault”.

It’s only a matter of time for me.

Reneaud Garcia-Fons is a bassist every bassist should know. I was hipped to him by my very first double bass teacher (a classmate of mine who had barely studied the instrument himself) and, like my first exposure to Victor, Edgar, Jaco, I could not even be sure I knew what it was I was hearing.

Garcia-Fons’ technique stretches the concept of the double bass to its boundaries. His extensive use of his high C-string and extended techniques elicit unexpected timbres from what, for all intents and purposes, is a clumsy, cumbersome instrument. Renaud recently released a DVD (from which this video is culled) and it is worth the cost to obtain.

David Howells posted a review of the Arcoluz package at Amazon.com that reads as follows:

J. Hellborg, G. Willis, S. Clarke, D. Holland et al could not begin to dream where Renaud Garcia-Fons journeys on his 5 string double-bass. He is quite easily the greatest bass player of them all and this breath-taking CD (and DVD) is a living testament to his out of this world skills. His bowing technique alone is both bewildering and awesome. The sounds and speeds he gets in the higher register are like those of a maestro violinist and the arrangements are a joy. If you don’t believe me, buy this CD/DVD. The 85 minute DVD alone is worth the asking price (and more!). If you are a bass player, please ensure have a loved one close by to console you. If you want (need) to listen to Renaud in a larger group setting, get hold of a copy of Oriental Bass. Oh, and the guitarist and percussionist are also wonders to behold. PS: If you’re of the opinion that Jaco was the greatest bassist of all time, think again!

It’s been a bit more than a month since I parted ways with my bass so she could get fixed. I posted some pictures of the instrument, post lobotomy, and now have what should be the penultimate post in this saga.

The guys at Upton have done an excellent job of keeping their www.stringrepair.com site up-to-date with pictures of my bass in progress. I have added some of these to my Flickr page to share here. If you are a gear-head like me, you might find these photos fascinating. Otherwise, I’ll have more updates up for you soon.

After repairing the damages corner and doubling the edges of the table, the top gets glued back on. What you are looking at is several dozen string-instrument clamps, made of cork-lined wood tensioned by a bolt and wingnut.

The fingerboard was then removed.

After discussing my thoughts on the sound of the instrument, Gary and I decided to replace the fingerboard with a longer, stiffer one to afford me a more percussive playing position. The fingerboard is getting the Upton setup.

You can see here the difference between the old shape of the saddle and the new shape Eric carved. It’s primarily aesthetic, but a nice touch none-the-less.

A normal tailpiece is way too short for my bass, so the Upton guys made a new one for me. I was using the Marvin tailpiece and Gary suggested I try a tailpiece with more mass to get me closer to the sound I want. I already told you that I liked what the Marvin tailpiece did to my sound, so I wait with baited breath to hear what this will do to my sound.

That’s a double dose of Eric working his magic on my tailpiece.

This is the repair; post-shaping, pre-finish. Allowing the wood to get a little “dirty” will make the finish less conspicuous.

And here you can see the doubled edge, designed to reinforce the slab-cut top in this vulnerable area (the shoulders).

This shop delivers. What a unique tailpiece!

If all goes according to plan, I will have my bass mid-week. I cannot wait to hear her!