“[Peter] Elias sees a bright future for modern instruments, although he still encounters musicians who don’t agree. “A player will come to me and have the audacity to say: ‘This sounds OK for a new instrument. but I prefer old ones.‘ I have got to the point where I’ve told them: ‘Listen. I prefer dead musicians too. I’d much rather have Paganini here than you today!’ As a musician you’re allowed to live in your time. Why shouldn’t an instrument maker? Is he only there to patch up your old instruments? Or is he allowed to create something in his time – is he allowed to have ideas in the same way that Stradivari did – to try things, different projects?“

(found at The Strand, Nov. 2000)

Bassist Derrick Hodge and band, living jazz legends John Scofield & Dave Holland, Queen of bass guitar Kinga Głyk, the bassists of The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Božo Paradžik and festival founder James Oesi with the Dudok Quartet will be performing exclusively at Dutch Double Bass Festival. The only festival in the world with the bass at its centre will be taking place this October 29th and 30th in Rotterdam’s brand new Theater Zuidplein. A total of 18 acts – from pop bands to classical chamber music – with the double bass and bass guitar in the lead role, will be presented.

www.ddbf.nl

This is the prototype of my new double bass wall mount. It is made of solid maple wood and varnished with traditional violin varnish. It not only holds the bass securely, but also serves as a bow holder and storage for rosin, metronome, pencil and eraser, or whatever else you need to practice. The bass is fixed by means of elastic band. The endpin can remain extended in the playing position. Available at www.kontrabass-atelier.de

In 1947 Oscar Peterson formed his first trio. On bass at that time was not yet Ray Brown, but Bert Brown, and Frank Gariepy played drums. The trio performed regularly at the Alberta Lounge in Montreal, which was also broadcast by a local radio station. In 1949, Norman Granz discovered him there, and introduced him as a surprise guest at New York’s Carnegie Hall as part of his Jazz-at-the-Philharmonic tour. After that, they toured together for two years through in American concert halls. Finally, in 1952, Peterson formed a new trio with bassist Ray Brown. Initially, Barney Kessel joined on guitar, who was replaced a year later by Herb Ellis – in this line-up the trio became world famous.
In 1949, Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren created a remarkable animated film for which the Oscar Peterson Trio (called old-fashioned “Terzett” in the German translation) with Bert Brown and Frank Gariepy contributed the music. Technically interesting, Lambart and McLaren painted and drew directly onto the film stock for this color film, rather than photographing it. The film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada; at the first Berlinale in 1951 it was awarded a silver medal in the Culture Films and Documentaries category.

Hervé Jeanne is not only a diligent string tester and critic, he has also subjected six common clip-on microphones to a comparative test on his YouTube channel.
In a second video, he also tests the BassBall in detail, which I came up with a few years ago.

Marc Myers has published an interesting interview with Chuck Isreals, best know for his collaboration with Bill Evans, at his website JazzWax.

https://www.jazzwax.com/2019/02/interview-chuck-israels.html

Rick Jones, founder of Acoustic Image, has introduced a new speaker cabinet: the upshot. Acoustic Image is best known for their concept of downfiring speakers. This speaker cabinet is the same idea, but reversed: the speaker is upward firing!

I’ve tried this little beast, and what I like best is that it is so small and light. You can even put it in a back pack. But even at this small footprint, the sound is pretty big. And the up firing speaker really helps to hear yourself better.