Brandi Disterheft

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Brandi DisterheftWhile I’m looking forward to see bassist/singer Esperanza Spaldings (mentioned in my blog before several times …) on her concert tour in Germany next month, I just stumpled upon another young and promising female jazz bassist this morning: Brandi Disterheft from Canada. Oscar Peterson said about her: “She has the same lope or rhythmic pulse as my bass player, Ray Brown. She is what we call serious.” So I listened to some tracks of her first CD Debut (Superfran Records, 2007; samples availabale at Brandi’s website), and she really sounds great! On Debut, Brandi Disterheft not only plays bass, she also wrote the music, influenced by Charles Mingus and Bjørk. “They are not just original, but appear to have come from a voice so distinctive that one can safely say, ‘You’ve never heard anything like this before.’”, says Raul d’Gama Rose at AllAboutJazz about Brandi’s music.

Washtub Bass Page

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The Washtub Bass Page is a focal point and clearinghouse for information on all aspects of the washtub bass – who plays one, where to hear one, how to make one, and so on. The page offers links, building tips, sound clips, picture galleries amd many more. “We’re not narrow-minded (washtub bass people can’t afford to be), so our scope includes the tea-chest bass, the gas-tank bass and the like, and even the occasional cigarbox guitar or fiddle.“

We all are getting older.

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While cleaning up my backup CD shelf, I’ve found a very early version of my DoubleBassGuide website from 1997. Wow, this is more than ten years ago! I remember that back then, I used a HTML-editor called Page Spinner and Photoshop 2.5 with Mac OS 7 or 8 running on a Quadra 950 …
As far as I remember, Spam wasn’t invented yet at this time, either. Good old times 😉

My new electric bass

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Apple has finally launched the iPhone/iPod software update last week, which makes it possible to run a couple of new applications. The first software I downloaded for my iPod touch was, of course,  “Band”. This little application has a virtual drum set, keyboard, guitar and – and electric bass. So I don’t need to leave home without a bass at all anymore …

Direct link for downloading “Band” from iTunes

Chinese Folk Bass

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chinese folk bass

In our western countries, most people use to know very little about the Chinese music and instrument making tradition.
At the website of chinese maker Shan Jiang, I’ve found this picture of a Gu Pin Hu, a Chinese folk bass. It was made by his father, Mr.Yun Kai Jiang, who taught violin making in the Conservatory of Music in Shen Yang.
This bass instrument has rather the size of a cello, but a very deep rib depth. It also has a flap on it’s right side – an adjustable soundhole?

Quote of the day

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“Every once in a while, if I see a beautiful double bass lying backstage at a festival, like Charlie Haden’s bass, I’ll pick it up and hit the E string, just to feel it vibrate against my body. It’s one of the great feelings in life.”

Steve Swallow
(answering the question if he ever picks up the upright instead of an electric bass guitar, e. g. “for old-times sake” …). Found at All about Jazz.

NHØP’s gravestone

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Grabstein

Denis Prosenc, amateur bassplayer and professional stone cutter from Germany, has come across this picture of NHØP’s gravestone. He explains: “A very beautiful gravestone. The material is probably marble from Portugal. The scroll and the letters are cut from the solid stone, and not cut separately and applied later. As well as the area below the letters; the names of other family mambers will be cut there later. The scroll was sanded with fine sandpaper, which makes the stone smoother and darker for better contrast. The gravestone is surrounded by beautiful, square stones. Of course, the planting is allowed to grow out of the joints. A very suitable and clear gravestone for the sympathic Dane.”