RobPin angled endpin for double bass

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Rob Anzelotti’s new angled endpin design is very easy to use. The RobPin’s key feature is the “Bottom Block Rest” which takes on most of the bass’s weight. This eliminates most of the typical stresses on the socket, bottom block, and pin.

Use: Once you have it adjusted to your preference, you only slip it in and out of the socket when you are packing and unpacking the bass. When detached, it might even fit into the accessory pocket of your bag! The set screw in your socket needn’t even be especially tight. The weight of the bass goes onto the “Bottom Block Rest”, keeping the bracket from turning.

Height and angle adjustment: The RobPin is available with interchangeable rods of different lengths. The angle of the pin going to the floor can be set at 25°, 35°, or 45°. If your endpin is not 10mm, then adapters are available. (If it doesn’t come out of the socket, which is the case for most tube endpins, then you naturally need to remove the holding pin).

Soon available at Lando Music / www.kontrabass-atelier.de.

Dutch Double Bass Festival on May, 20. + 21, 2017

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Double Bass legends Gary Karr and John Patitucci will be performing at the first edition of the Dutch Double Bass Festival. The festival is an initiative of double bassist James Oesi and takes place from the 19th to the 21st of May (the 19th being devoted to masterclasses and workshops) in De Electriciteitsfabriek, The Hague.  The program is made up of a diverse line-up of more than ten national and international acts in which the double bass takes the leading role. Classical music as well as jazz, cross-over and contemporary music are all represented in the program.

The Dutch Double Bass Festival offers a broad range of live music: from classical to jazz, cross-over and avant-garde. Friday the 19th will be devoted to masterclasses and workshops while the regular festival days will take place on the 20th and 21st of May. Joining Gary Karr and John Patitucci in the line-up will be a score of double bassists. Including a few world premieres. Principal of the bass section of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dominic Seldis, will be premiering his arrangement of West Side Story. The bass section of the world-renowned Rotterdam Philharmonic will be performing with star bassist, Edicson Ruiz of the Berlin Philharmonic. Asko|Schönberg’s bassist Quirijn van Regteren Altena , after years of development, will be presenting his own Hybrid bass invention: an acoustic bass with the ability to connect to the unlimited world of digital sound.

 

Website: www.ddbf.nl 

The ”chromatic endpin“ project at Kickstarter

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Bassist Emilio Guarino from New Jersey (USA) has designed an angled endpin, and in order to mass-produce this endpin, he asks for support at Kickstarter:

Angled bass endpins were first adopted by Francois Rabbath and his students, but thanks to their many benefits they are becoming more mainstream every year.
Angled endpins are very popular because they make the bass easier to play. The bass feels as if it is floating. It moves with the motion you need to play the instrument, not against it. Straight endpins balance best when the bass is completely vertical. This position is not ideal for actually playing it. If you’ve ever felt like it was difficult to keep the bass in a comfortable position, you know what I’m talking about. Angled endpins keep the bass in a comfortable position in all ranges of the instrument.

I created The Chromatic Endpin to solve these problems. I wanted a solution that I could use on different basses and allow me to experiment without modifying my instrument. Also, it has the added benefit of being very user friendly. No professional installation is necessary. It takes less than two minutes to assemble and it adjusts even faster.

 

Thelonius Monk’s List of Tips for Playing a Gig

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Transcribed by soprano sax player Steve Lacy in a spiral-bound notebook, Thelonious Monk created a primer of do’s and don’ts for club musicians.

Here’s a transcript of the text:

  • Just because you’re not a drummer, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to keep time.
  • Pat your foot and sing the melody in your head when you play.
  • Stop playing all that bullshit, those weird notes, play the melody!
  • Make the drummer sound good.
  • Discrimination is important.
  • You’ve got to dig it to dig it, you dig?
  • All reet!
  • Always know
  • It must be always night, otherwise they wouldn’t need the lights.
  • Let’s lift the band stand!!
  • I want to avoid the hecklers.
  • Don’t play the piano part, I am playing that. Don’t listen to me, I am supposed to be accompanying you!
  • The inside of the tune (the bridge) is the part that makes the outside sound good.
  • Don’t play everything (or everytime); let some things go by. Some music just imagined.
  • What you don’t play can be more important than what you do play.
  • A note can be small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination.
  • Stay in shape! Sometimes a musician waits for a gig & when it comes, he’s out of shape & can’t make it.
  • When you are swinging, swing some more!
  • (What should we wear tonight?) Sharp as possible!
  • Always leave them wanting more.
  • Don’t sound anybody for a gig, just be on the scene.
  • Those pieces were written so as to have something to play & to get cats interested enough to come to rehearsal!
  • You’ve got it! If you don’t want to play, tell a joke or dance, but in any case, you got it! (to a drummer who didn’t want to solo).
  • Whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along & do it. A genius is the one most like himself.
  • They tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along & spoil it.