Wow, that’s really fun: I’ve just downloaded Apple’s brand new Garage Band iApp for the iPad. It comes with a couple of instruments – an Upright Bass among them. It not only looks cool, it also sounds great. Not as good as a real double bass, but not bad at all – for an electronic device. Well done, Apple!
Last October at Berlin2010, I attended a concert of bassist Andreas Bennetzen from Copenhagen/Danmark. He demonstrated and explained his concept of working with live recorded digital loops and electronical effects. I was really courious about his concept, since I also own a Digitech Jam Man Looper and soon figured out that working with loops on stage is much more demanding than expected …For me, the foremost problem is to isolate a loop recording from the loops you’ve already recorded before. When you use them as a playback, the bass (as the large microphone that it is) captures them again, along with the new loop, resulting in a unwanted multiplication … That’s why Andy uses a rather ugly solidbody electric upright bass that doesn’t capture any feedback. Besides that, Andy doesn’t use anthing special: a e-guitar effects processor (phaser, flanger, echo, reverb etc.) with integrated volume pedal, and a digital looper.Andy has recently put some of his tracks at SoundCloud, where you can hear and download them.
In 1940, LIFE magazine published a pictured home story about the famous double bass virtuoso (so called “bill fiddler”) and conductor Sergej Koussevitzky. This interesting article and hundreds of other issues of LIFE are available at Google Books. (I really *love* the old advertisings, too …)
![[Portrait of Jack Lesberg, Max Kaminsky, and Peanuts Hucko, Eddie Condon's, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947] (LOC)](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/4843751690_c91c3657ff.jpg)
Jack Lesberg, Max Kaminsky, and Peanuts Hucko, Eddie Condon’s, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947
More photos of the GottliebCollection at Flickr.
The Emanuel Wilfer Master Workshop has recently relaunched their website. The website now features German, English, Italian and Chinese language informations, detailed photos of the Wilfer double basses, celli and violins, and a photo gallery of the workshop, showing Roland and Rudi Wilfer making double basses.
Unfortunately, I can’t afford and don’t have time to visit New York frequently.
So I was very happy to discover that the Smalls Club’s website features a live webcam with real time video and sound. Broadcasting times is from 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. Which is usually too late, or too early for me: due to the time shift, the shows end at my breakfast time.
The legendary Village Vanguard, world-known for many great recordings that have been made there, has a live radio show at WBGO. Some of the concerts are available for download as podcast.
100 years ago, on June 23., 1910, Milt “The Judge” Hinton was born. And 20 years ago, “a choir of first-call bassists canceled whatever to come together“ – and celebrate Milt’s 80. birthday at Town Hall, New York: Lynn Seaton, Lonnie Plaxico, Charnett Moffett, Jack Lesberg, Bob Haggart, Milt Hinton, John Clayton, Eddie Gomez, Richard Davis, Bill Crow, Major Holley, Ron Carter and Rufus Reid.
… photo and live recording at the WBGO weblog.
Diego Stocco – Experibass from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.
Today, Johannes has sent me the link to Daryl Johns’ website. Daryl is a 12-years-old double bassist from New Jersey/USA, and a real cat. Unbelievable!
More from Daryl and his great fellow musicians can be found at YouTube (this link is his pianist’s channel, scroll down for videos with Daryl on bass).
This clip at YouTube shows the use of Everyday Looper, a really cool iPhone app. My iPod touch doesn’t have a microphone, so I guess I really need to buy an iPhone now.