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My Favorite Bass Recordings

By Dr. Hans Strum, Assistant Professor of Bass

First, on virtually every great jazz record, there is a great jazz bassist.

Second, there are so many, many great bassists and beautiful recordings with more are coming out

everyday. A list like this one is not meant to be in any way deﬁnitive, it is only designed to serve as

a resource – if you’re looking to be inspired and you don’t know a name or a recording on this

list, then by all means check it out. I have also included several of my favorite classical bass

records as well.

(N.B. The ﬁrst three bassists, Jeff Bradetich, François Rabbath, and Richard Davis, were my

teachers – I still see Franois Rabbath when I can make my way to Paris.)

Jeff Bradetich

–

Portraits.

Jeff is a brilliant pedagogue and performer.

Portraits

showcases both

his exceptional virtuosity (Monti

Czardas)

and his graceful singing tone (Bloch

Meditation

Hebraique).

François Rabbath

Live Around the World, Rabbath Plays Bach.

Simply put, François Rabbath has

changed the world of the bass as Paganini changed the world of the violin.

Live Round the World

has

been a bestseller since it’s original release over 40 years ago. Taken from live concerts, the

recording features breathtaking versions of some of his most popular pieces including

Poucha-

Dass, Briez, Reitba,

and

Ode D’ Espagne.

The LP

Rabbath Plays Bach

has been out of print for many

years, but Rabbath’s playing of Bach captured by Frank Proto in a church in Covington, Kentucky

is absolutely sublime and on a level of any of the great cellists. If you ever come across a copy of

the vinyl – don’t hesitate, grab it.

Richard Davis

The New York Bass Violin Choir, The Hub of Hubbard

(Freddie Hubbard),

Musique

du Bois

(Phil Woods),

Conversations, Iron Man

and

Live At the 5 Spot

(Eric Dolphy),

Improvisations

(Don Shirley),). Perennial poll winner and one of the world’s most creative bassists, Richard Davis

has played with artists at the highest levels in virually every musical style including Igor Stravinsky,

Leonard Bernstein, Sarah Vaughn, Eric Dolphy, and Bruce Springsteen.

The New York Bass Violin Choir

features his gorgeous upper register arco technique soaring above Ron Carter, Milt Hinton, Sam

Jones et al.

The Hub of Hubbard

has one of the fastest recorded tempos of all time on

Just One of

Those Things,

well over mm 300! For some of the most creative duos every recorded check out

his duet on

Along Together

with Eric Dolphy on

Conversations

and anything with the long over

looked pianist Don Shirley.

Ray Brown

Oscar Peterson Trio + One, Black Orpheus

(Ray Brown Trio),

This One's For Blanton

(Duke Ellington). The hardest swinging bassist in the business. Perhaps best known for his long

tenure in the Oscar Peterson Trio, Ray Brown played with almost every major artist in jazz from

1945 onwards including his early years with Dizzy Gillespie which led to dates with Art Tatum and

Charlie Parker. He led his own trio beginning in the 1980’s and his infectous swing is present on

every cut. Some of my favorites include the live recording of

Days of Wine and Roses

from the

Black Orpheus

CD recorded live in Japan

with pianist Gene Harris and drummer

Jeff Hamilton and

Mumbles

with the

iconic Clark Terry on

Oscar Peterson Trio +

One.

Ron Carter

–

Pastels, The State of the Tenor

(Joe Henderson),

Alone Together

(Jim Hall),

Out There

(Dolphy) (cello),

Live At the Plugged Nickel

and

Filles De Killimanjaro

(Miles Davis),

At the Village

Vanguard

(The Great Jazz Trio). Ron Carter is well known as a member of arguably the most

important rhythm section in the history of jazz, that belonging to trumpeter Miles Davis from

1963-1968 with pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams. 1965 was a pivotal year for

the group. They recorded

Filles De Killimanjaro

in January and showcased an elastic music that

sounded telepathic. In December of the same year the group recorded

Live At the Plugged Nickel

featuring standards treated to the same creative freedoms.

The State of the Tenor,

recorded live at

the Village Vanguard in 1985 features a piano-less trio fronted by Joe Henderson with drummer Al

Foster. My favorite cut has to be

Beatrice,

the gentle swinging tune by Sam Rivers. Ron’s solo

glows. To hear Carter’s bass as a solo voice with string orchestra accompaniment, the 1991

release

Pastels

features beautiful arrangements by Don Sebesky, a ﬁtting frame for Ron’s brilliant

playing.

Jimmy Blanton

Duke Ellington: Solos, Duets, and Trios

(Duke Ellington). Jimmy Blanton joined

Duke Ellington in 1939 when he was only 21 years old. He became very ill with TB in 1941 and

shortly thereafter the following year. The great tenor saxophonist Ben Webster joined the band as

a full time member in 1940 and with the incredibly high level of creative virtosity that Blanton and

Webster brought to his music, Duke was inspired to write, perform, and record some of his most

memorable tunes. The Ellington/Blanton duets are some of the most important recording in jazz

history including

Pitter, Patter, Panther

and

Body and Soul.

Dave Holland

–

Bitches Brew

(Miles Davis),

All's One, Homecoming

(Gateway Trio),

Conference of

the Birds.

One of the most versitile jazz bassists, Dave Holland has played with musicians at the

forefront of creative jazz dating back to when he was 20 and the house bassist at Ronnie Scott’s

Jazz Club in London. His own groups explore a vast array of odd meters and polyrhythms in a

free-blowing context and with the very highest musicianship. His bass is the acoustic one on

Bitches Brew

and it is his voice begins the title track’s journey. His long relationship with Sam

Rivers led to many collaborations, the most scintillating being

Conference of the Birds,

an intense

blowing session with percussionist Barry Altschul and the incredible multi-instrumentalist

Anthony Braxton.

Miroslav Vitous

First Meeting, Now He Sings Now He Sobs

(Chick Corea),

I Sing the Body

Electric

(Weather Report). A student of the late great Frantisek Posta in Czech, Miroslav Vitous

was equally at home performing arco or pizzicato. His contribution to the Chick Corea recording

Now He Sings Now He Sobs

with drum great Roy Haynes is a lnadmark recording. Listen to his

ﬂying unaccompanied solo on

Matrix.

Miroslav preceded Jaco in Weather Report just as the

group ﬁrst began exploring the bounderies between acoustic and electronic music with jazz

improvisation and rock inﬂuences. For me, some of his most beautiful music making can be found

on his recording

First Meeting

with the wonderful pianist Kenny Kirkland, saxophonist John

Surman, and percussionist Jon Christenson – open, relaxed and stunningly beautiful.

Paul Chambers

–

Whims of Chambers, Bass On Top, Cool Strutin’

(Sonny Clark),

Blue Train

(John

Coltrane),

Kind of Blue

(Miles Davis),

The Blues and the Abstract Truth

(Oliver Nelson). Arguably the

greatest bebop bassist, Paul Chambers deﬁned swinging bass solos when he came to prominence

with Miles Davis in the mid-1950’s. While there are so many termendous examples to choose

from (Chambers recorded 16 dates with Davis, including the famous quartet: Cookin’, Relaxin’,

Steamin’, and Workin’ series recorded in two days),

So What

from

Kind of Blue

is our anthem.

Chambers was also not afraid of picking up the bow, as he aptly demonstrates on

Moment’s Notice

from the

Blue Train

recording. For more

bass solos,

Whims

and

Bass on Top

feature

the bass on every track. One of my all-

time favorite loose, swinging sides is

Cool

Strutin’

with pianist Sonny Clark and

drum legend Philly Joe Jones.

Bozo Paradik

Elephant oder Schwann.

Quite simply one of the greatest recordings of the

Gliere

Four Pieces.

The fact that it was recorded live on the radio makes the feat that much more

astounding.

Edgar Meyer

Work in Progress.

Let’s face it, if you’re a breathing bassist you’ve heard of Edgar,

the most celebrated soloist of our day. He has graced many inventive collaborations, blurring the

lines between bluegrass and classical virtuosity. While there are so many terriﬁc recordings to

choose from (Goat

Rodeo

and

Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites

for two), I keep coming back to

The

Great Green Sea Snake

from

Work in Progress.

Too cool.

Stefano Sciascia

–

Concerto.

From one of the most unabashed Italian romantics – a uniquely

lyric Koussevitsky

Concerto.

Bravo!

Scott LaFaro

Waltz for Debby

(Bill Evans),

Art of the Improvisers

(Ornette Coleman). LaFaro is

best known for his virtosic interactive lines with the Bill Evans Trio and nowhere is this on better

display than on the title track from

Waltz for Debby.

At the time of his death Scott was also

beginning to experiment with the new wave of the so-called free jazz players. Saxophonist

Ornette Coleman’s release

Art of the Improvisers

features Scott on

The Alchemy of Scott LaFaro,

well as the bassists Jimmy Garrison on

Harlem’s Manhattan

and Charlie Haden on

The Cirle with a

Hole in the Middle.

George Duvivier

Out There

(Eric Dolphy),

Sonny Clark Trio

(1960 recording),

Love Gloom Cash

Love

(Herbie Nichols Trio). An unsung hero of the bass, George was one of the most highly

respected. To read more about his amazing story, read his biography

Basically Speaking: An Oral

History of George Duvivier.

Fluid and fearless, comfortable in all styles, George’s playing is always

inspiring. He holds down the bass lines beneath Ron Carter’s cello on Dolphy’s

Out There,

and

plays Herbie Nichols’ complex piano trio arrangements with Mingus drummer Danny Richmond

in such a relaxed fashion that you can hear the music breathe.

Pops Foster

–

The Best of Sydney Bechet, VSOP

(Louis Armstrong). To read

The Autobiography of

Pops Foster: New Orleans Jazzman

is to read a ﬁrst hand account of one the earliest jazz greats –

and what a career – from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, Pops played with

them all!

Renaud Garcia Fons

Oriental Bass, Les Cargos

(L'Orchestre de Contrebasses). A former

student of Rabbath’s, Renaud has deﬁned a new paradigm in double bass solo virtosity. His writing

combines inﬂuences from European classical and American jazz traditions with North African

rhythms and Persian melodies and performs as the soloist over ﬂamenco guitar, percussion – and

then at times baroque lute, clarinet, African percussion, and more. His ﬁve-string bass soars above

the rich tapestry, at times sweetly lyric and others rhythmically complex. He doubles impossibly

fast runs with the clarinet on the title track of

Oriental Bass

and contributes a singing voice to the

incredible L’Orchestre de Contrebasses quintet.

Barre Philips

Barry Guy

Arcus

(together),

Fizzles

(Guy),

Aquarian Rain

(Phillips),

Ode

(London Jazz Composer's Orchestra - together). It is really unfair to list these two major ﬁgures

of the avant-garde together, however their careers overlap in such wonderful ways that it feels

natural. Listen to the amazing velocity and pointillism of Barry’s

Fizzles,

no surprise that he says he

likes to envision the neck of the bass as being as small as a single grain of sand. Barre’s haunting

Aquarian Rain

is comprised of free improvisations recorded in a stone castle with a huge natural

reberb which are then transformed electronically and then improvised over a second time – a

remarkable acheivement.

Red Mitchell

Jim Hall and Red Mitchell

(Artist House). The most lyrical mainstream jazz bassist

of them all, Red tuned his bass in 5ths and gives us lovely unexpected gems in his solos and

walking lines alike. The title of one of his compositions reﬂects his concept beautifully,

Simple Isn’t

Easy.

While this duo recording is now out of print, it remains one of the most intimate live

recordings ever made. Sadly the venue, Sweet Basil’s Jazz Club in New York, is gone as well.

Rufus Reid

Michael Moore

Double Bass Delights

(together),

The Gait Keeper

(Reid),

Two In

Time

(Moore with Gene Bertoncini). These two masters of the instrument came together for a

short while to create an inspiring body of straight ahead jazz bass duets. Rufus has been leading

his own ensembles for years, notably with drummer Akira Tana in the 1990s and more recently

with pianist Steve Allee and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca. He has been working frequently now

as a composer in larger group settings. His 2003 release

Gait Keeper

with pianist John Stech and

monster tenor saxophonist Rich Perry is pure genius. Michael Moore, on the other hand, has

been working with the Dave Brubaker Quartet since the mid 2000’s, but his melodic duets with

Gene Bertoncini interlace classical and jazz standards with great grace and reﬁnement. He can

also be heard with saxophonist great Lew Tabakin.

Charles Mingus

Ah Um, Reincarnation of a Lovebird, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady,

Pithecanthropus Erectus, Money Jungle

(with Duke Ellington and Max Roach!). Many critics have said

that Mingus’ compositions are greater than his playing. Don’t believe it. His compositions are the

perfect methods of delivery for his complex, wild, and by turns violent then tender brilliance on

the instrument. Anything Mingus wrote or played on is incredibly focused, passionate and

cathartic.

Stefano Scodanibbio

The Voyage That Never Ends.

John Cage’s favorite bassist. Scodanibbio

invented his own techniques and

Voyage

is the perfect 45 minute introduction to one of the

greatest ﬁgures in modern bass playing.

Milt Hinton

- Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, Joe Venuti, Clark Terry, oh man! Milt is the most

recorded musician in the history of western music. Period. From Art Tatum in the 20’s through

Cab Calloway in the 30’s to Dizzy Gillespie and even beside Mingus. Milt’s book

Bass Lines

with

David Berger showcases his story and the intimate black and white photographs he took of his

colleagues over many years.

Oscar Pettiford

Freedom Suite

(Sonny Rollins),

The Art of Tatum

(Art Tatum),

Deep Passion

(O.P. Big Band). Just as volatile as Mingus and as ferocious a bebop bassist as Chambers, Pettiford

contributed many of the most inﬂuential jazz bass solos in the history of our instrument.

Numerous transcription books feature Pettiford’s imaginative and ﬂowing bebop solos include

The Bass Tradition

by Todd Coolman and

The Music of Oscar Pettiford

by Volker Nahrmann.

William Parker

Malachi Favors

Piercing the Veil

(Parker with percussionist Hamid

Drake),

Urban Bushman

(Favors with The Art Ensemble of Chicago). While William came up in

New York and worked with Cecil Taylor for years, Malachi followed a similar path in Chicago,

working with The Art Ensemble of Chicago for decades. Both bassists fall loosely into the

category of avant-garde jazz, although they are both capable of playing in a great variety of genres.

Gary Karr

The Spirit of Koussevitsky, Dvorak Cello Concerto

(Japan release). The great one.

Founder of the International Society of Bassists. The most inﬂuential classical solo double bassist

of the 20

Century.

Slam Stewart

–

Shut Yo’ Mouth

(with Major Holley),

I Got Rhythm

(1945 duo with Don Byas),

Got Rhythm

(Art Tatum,Vol 3). Slam was the singing bassist, humming an octave above his bass (as

opposed to Major Holley who sang in the same register). He used the bow to solo frequently

and is famously mimicked by Ella Fitzgerald during her recorded scat solo on

Oh, Lady Be Good.

His perfect pitch and quick wit made him the perfect partner for Art Tatum, who would

frequently modulate and play in non-standard keys.

Eddie Gomez

–

Bill Evans at the Montreauz Jazz Festival, Three Quartets

(Chick Corea),

Steps

Ahead.

In a way it could be said that Eddie followed in the footsteps of Scott LaFaro, joining the

interactive conversations with pianist Bill Evans for years and then venturing off into adventerous

waters. His solo on the tune

Pools

from

Steps Ahead

and his entire performance on

Someday My

Prince Will Come

from the live

Bill Evans at the Montreaux Jazz Festival

are perfect examples of his

virtuosity and inventiveness.

Charlie Haden

Rejoicing

(Pat Metheny),

The Golden Number, The Shape of Jazz to Come

(Ornette Coleman),

Liberation Music Orchestra.

While many jazz bassists strive to perform at ever

increasing levels of virtuosity, creating gymnastic horn-like lines, Charlie has always opted for the

more introverted, lyrical lower registers. His early inﬂuences from childhood, singing country and

folk songs on his family’s radio program, never seem to have left his musical being. Known for his

early work with Ornette Coleman that helped to usher in the avant-garde in jazz, he has

continued to explore music with an open ear and sensibility.

Buster Williams

–

VSOP

(Herbie Hancock),

Four In One

(Sphere),

The Moontrane

(Woody

Shaw),

The Art of the Song

(Quartet West). No one has yet to match the rich buttery tones of

Buster William’s bass. His propelling walking lines seem to glide forward with a will of their own.

My personal favorites are his recordings with Sphere, the group dedicated to the performance of

Thelonious Monks’s music and founded by his former sidemen, tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse

and drummer Ben Riley.

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Ray Brown SturmCDList.pdf

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