Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

I definitely identify with Laurel and Hardy in this sketch, playing my bass in the snow with little attention from people passing by, goofing around while simultaneously miserable in the winter weather. Add in a long drive to this ‘gig’ and you’ve captured my life to a T.

Asked by a double bassist who just played a shaky audition, one of the faculty members listening to this player passed along this bit of wisdom:

“Your audition was great….until you started to play the bass.”

Have any choice quotes you’ve heard during your studies (or perhaps….[gulp]… made yourself as a teacher)?  I’ve got reams of them!
Here’s a perennial favorite.  I’m not going to mention who specifically I heard this from:
“I play bass like Ferrari.  You play like monkey with brain damage.”

Ah, the joys of Photoshop!  This picture was sent to me by bassist Vito Liuzzi.  You can also check out video of Vito playing Nino Rota and Bottesini here.

Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist (and Contrabass Conversations guest) Greg Sarchet sent me a link to what is pretty much the greatest bass video of all time. I’m not sure whether to put an ‘explicit’ warning on this one–let’s just say that you may want to skip this one if you have delicate sensibilities.
For [...]

This photo of Domenico Dragonetti’s Gasparo da Salò comes from Italian bassist Vito Liuzzi.  Note the broad shoulders, richly colored varnish, and three string set-up.

A student of mine recently performed the Dragonetti Concerto with orchestra, and he pointed out these very entertaining program notes from Paul Serotsky.  This is not exactly the way most [...]

Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist Greg Sarchet sent me this photo to mark Christmas in 2006, and it certainly deserves another viewing. Merry Christmas!

 

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This week, we bring listeners a very entertaining and interesting interview with Justin Locke, author of Real Men Don’t Rehearse, a book filled with wonderful anecdotes about his life in the music business. Justin was a freelance double bassist in the Boston area for nearly two decades, working regularly during that time with [...]

I was thinking recently about a funny and masterful prank pulled by the principal bass of a very high-quality orchestra while performing Mahler’s First Symphony several years ago.  Now, part of this piece utilizes offstage trumpets, and this particular prank revolved around these musicians.  Mahler was a big fan of the offstage instrumental sound, as [...]

One can’t help but have their interest piqued by the title of Justin Locke’s expose about the inner workings of the music business.  Real Men Don’t Rehearse is the exact sort of book I love to read–witty, lighthearted, yet insightful and full of valuable lessons that those outside the music industry are likely to [...]