I’ve been fortunate to catch several performances in the past few weeks – various group sizes – from trios to octets. And of course there is a variety of instruments; but there are two that are constant – drums and bass.
The bass – correctly called the double bass – was not originally part of what became jazz in New Orleans. Indeed, the early jazz groups were marching bands. It wasn’t until the 1890’s, when jazz moved indoors (check out the history of Storeyville), that the double bass, sometimes labeled the upright bass, began to replace the tuba in jazz bands.
For some fifty years the bass was a rhythm instrument – until early bebop bassists, Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford began expanding it’s repertoire to exploring the melody and chord changes.
And, as with Jazz itself, the role of the bass keeps changing. Blanton and Pettiford begat Ray Brown and George Duvivier – who begat Wilbur Ware, Paul Chambers and Ron Carter – followed by Charles Mingus and Christian McBride.
Our area is blessed with a number of exciting bassists – the ones I’ve seen and enjoyed recently include Greg Feingold, Jeff Johnson, Michael Glynn and Adam Thomas are spread between Seattle and Vancouver BC – and all get into NW Washington on a regular basis.
Live Jazz performances are all around us – help keep it alive be attending performances. You’ll have a great time and the musicians will love it.
Jeff Johnson