Category Archives: News

Leonard Gaskin †

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Leonard Gaskin died Saturday morning, January 24, 2009. According to workers  at Ozanam Hall, the nursing home in Bayside, Queens where Mr. Gaskin had  been living for the last several years, he did not experience any prolonged illness, but died of natural causes.
Gaskin has worked with Dizzy Gillespie and other beboppers in the mid-1940ies. In the 1950ies, he became one of the favourite bassplayers of the neo-traditional-movement around Eddie Condon, Bud Freeman and Ruby Braff. In the 1960ies, he worked with Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Stitt and Brother Jack McDuff.

New: The adjustable soundpost

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adjustable soundpost

In the catalogue of a tool supplier, I just found this great invention: an adjustable double bass soundpost. This soundpost offers exact adjustment of the soundpost length, even from the outside of the bass. No need for using two soundposts for summer and winter seasons anymore. And it’s easy to use for both players and luthiers.

Update: Somebody just clarified that this tool is rather a guitar repair tool than an adjustable double bass soundpost. Sorry for the above incorrect information. My fault 😉

Double Bass Workshop: website Relaunch

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The Double Bass Workshop (Madison, Wisconsin), formerly run by Henry Boehm and now handed over to Vince Jesse, has recently relaunched their website. The site not only shows their inventory, but also gives ”some thoughts on“ double bass related topics like bass construction, setup, strings, etc.
(hey, the Christopher Busseto doublebass header graphic resembles another website I know …)

Update: Vince has replaced my bass’ photo at the website recently. Thanks!

ISB Convention 2009

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The 2009 ISB Convention will be hosted by the Penn State University’s School of Music. Located in the College town of State College, the University (one of the ‘big ten’) is located right in the middle of Pennsylvania.
Details of the Convention Headliners will be available in early 2009.

New fractional strings from Presto

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Balance Fractional Presto has introduced a new line of strings for fractional sized double basses: the Balance Fractional (Green Label) strings.
The Balance Fractional strings  have a low tension and small diameters, so they are easy to play even for children. They have a steel rope core, wrapped with tungsten and chromesteel.
Presto Balance Fractional strings are now available in 1/4, 1/8 string lengths (1/2 and 1/10 will follow soon).

YouTube auditions for Carnegie Hall concert

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Do you dream of playing with a symphony at Carnegie Hall? YouTube invites you to audition: “Professionals and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments are welcome to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). (…) Finalists will be chosen by a judging panel and YouTube users to travel to New York in April 2009, to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra summit, and play at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.”

The deadline for all video submissions is January 28, 2009. Website: www.youtube.com/symphony. The double bass masterclass can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NS8s199fxU

The LIFE magazine archive hosted by Google

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I really love old photos, so I’m quite happy that Google and the LIFE magazine have published millions of photos of the LIFE magazine archive. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google. The photos can easily be searched by keywords, like you’d expect from Google. The first keyword I’ve googled was “Jazz”, and I immediately found treasures like Percy Heath or Paul Chambers in colour.