I think it is very important, in such a small music market such as Denver to share positive experiences.  I have had really good experiences working with Mark over at Tenoriowerx.

He has saved me a couple of times, and really takes a lot of time to work with each client to not only understand what their playing style is, but also to educate about the intricacies of bass and guitar setup.

The first time I met Mark I had just purchased a used Alembic that had some neck issues.  He setup it up perfectly, and saved me a bunch of money.  He sat with me for almost two hours talking about setup and why certain things happen with regards to the neck of a bass, it was extremely enlightening and extremely cool that I got an on-the-spot setup clinic.  I thought it was worth a bottle of XO Cognac :)  More recently I knocked over a MTD 5-string I picked up and severely damaged the 0-fret (they do use a traditional nut, but also a 0-fret that is made of metal.)  I embedded the strings into the fret, and damaged everything up to the third fret.  He was able to get it back in working order without replacing all of the frets, only the 0-fret.  And the setup is perfect of course.

He teaches clinics on guitar and bass setup, and based on the mini-clinic I got from him, I would highly suggest attending one.

Now if I could only find someone so dedicated to his craft that works on double basses I would be ecstatic.  I have two luthiers very close to me but they are very busy and less inclined to work on basses (read financial penalty haha.)

It is so rare that I stumble upon a Jazz album that makes my jaw hang open, slightly askew.  The Watts album is one of those.  Aside from the heavy hitting lineup throwing down some of the best Jazz I have heard in a while–the audio production on this album is absolute perfection.  Every nuance of some of the best musicians around is very clear, and the drums, ahhh the drums sound so good.

Did I mention the lineup isn’t exactly bad either:

I made the decision to leave the band I have been in for about the last year: Hellbound Billy.  My last show was on May 23rd.  It was a hard decision, but what it came down to was that I don’t want to travel, and if you are going to have a successful rock band–you absolutely have to go on the road (unless you are in a cover band.)

After thinking very hard about what I want to do I have decided to jump in with both feet and focus on getting my Jazz chops together.  Jazz is a very different beast.  I don’t have any desire to be the next Christian McBride, but I would like to be able to throw down some nice walking bass lines.  I also want to study more on the production and sound engineering side of things too.

I have signed up for an online Jazz bass class through the “International Institute of Bass“.  I am very skeptical of online music classes, but I have taken a music history class through a local college and it was actually quite fun.  I will post my impressions as the class progresses, keeping in mind that with something like this you can only get out what you put in.  I figured with a the price being so low ($25 for a 12 week class!) I had very little to lose.

Next up is back to lessons, locally I have found a very talented Bassist Robin Ruscio, who excels at Jazz.  The one on one coaching is very useful.

I found an audio production class through Colorado Free University (no, it isn’t free though) hosted at Helmet Room studio in Denver.  I am pretty sure they use pro-tools (and I am a logic user) but you can’t learn unless you step outside your boundaries.

In a month or so I will work on getting some time in an ensemble, probably in a classroom setting before I start sitting in in public.  I will keep posting back here with my impressions of the various classes and groups I run into.

It’s been a while since I dropped an update on my blog.  Playing in the band had been taking a lot of my time.  We did a bit of traveling, and like most bands have some incredible stories from those trips.  It sounds like we will be winding down for the summer, and to be honest I really need a break.  One last show booked right now, May 23rd at the Beer Depot Lounge in Denver, it is a long story–we were booked at another place and things got messed up.  Five bands which translated into a 30 minute set, less pay than promised, and some other things that I wouldn’t mention on a public website.  Anyways, it’s my birthday, so come down and celebrate with me!  Info here.

For the time being I am experimenting with a website I found: kompoz.com.  Pretty fun site, allows songwriters and musicians to collaborate over the Internet.

I am also planning on an experiment using a couple of “Rock Band” drum kits for the Wii and an assortment of tubing to create a midi-capable drum kit for fooling around on.  I will post pictures and maybe some video (you really don’t want to watch me play drums, really) once I get it working.

I also see that I have more than 1500 comments waiting for approval, so if you dropped a note recently sorry–it was lost in the deluge of spam.  It should be appearing soon!

We have posted some rough mixes from the recoding studio.  We are planning to go back and record a real album, but for now you can here the demos we have been sending for booking the band.

A little about the bass you will hear on the tracks: it is a 1950’s Karl Knilling made in Germany.  It has a carved top, and laminate sides/back.  It really projects well–nice mid-tone response and is particularly good when played arco.  If the bass wasn’t so good for playing in bars I would swap it into rotation for orchestral playing, but the laminate construction makes it so much more resistant to getting cracks and it resists feeback so well, that, despite sounding better than my carved bass I will probably keep it setup for playing rock for now.  I picked it up in a trade for a couple of electric basses, an American made Tobias Growler and an Alembic Essence.  It was hard to give up those basses, especially the Tobias because I have had that in my arsenal since 1996 and it was so fun to play slap on.  The strings are Tomastik Spirocore Mediums, not exactly a great choice for playing slap unless you enjoy pain (I do!)  And the recordings were done with just a condensor mic placed about 18 inches from the left F-hole.

I had never recorded an upright bass before, so when we went to the studio, at the request of our engineer, I brought everthing I had to throw at it.  I ran with a magentic pickup, the K&K golden trinity mic, a realist pickup, and the regular condensor mic.  I also had a couple of differnt pre-amps thrown in there too for good measure. No suprise that the studio’s condensor sounded best. What was suprising was that given the nature of digital recording we were able to look at the waveforms from different pickups and see what frequency ranges and phasing effects we ended up with.  It turns out that the setup I have been playing live with is out of phase (the Krivo magnetic and Realist) which explains why it was more resistant to feedback.  Though after being able to hear them compared to various other setups in a controlled environment I have decided to change my live setup once again.

The studio we recorded at was Module Overload in south Denver.  It was wonderful!  We were able to lay down tracks for six songs in a single day, and didn’t go broke in the process.

Enough of my ranting . . . here is the music: www.hellboundbilly.com

Here is a cool group, consisting of flute player Greg Pattillo, bass player Peter Seymour, and cellist Eric Stephenson. They combine Jazz, Classical and other styles to form a very unique sound. I wouldn’t call it fusion, because that has a negative connotation to most Jazz fans–perhaps a better term is an amalgamation.

Here is a youtube clip of these guys playing Mingus’ Faubus Fables (you DO know who Faubus is don’t you?)

They released an album in 2007, and according to their website they are dropping another one later this year. I can’t wait!

I have found a few sources of free sheet music on the Internet. Most of it is public domain, which means that the copyright has expired. These sites are under constant pressure from music publishers, they have tried different tactics to shut these sites down. A few times they have been successful: for example, earlier this year the International Music Score Library Project was temporarily off line after running into legal troubles. Fortunately a few folks stepped up to the challenge and did what it took to get them back online. If you have some cash to spare, be sure to donate to these guys to help them stay in business.

Here is my list of free sheet music resources that I have found on the web:

• International Music Score Library Project
• Kreusch Sheet Music
• Free Scores
  
• Choral Public Domain Library
• The Mutopia Project
  
• Project Gutenberg
• Musopen

Send me a message if any of these sites move or are unreachable–the nature of what they do makes them constant targets for corporations that think their business models are threatened by these web sites (they aren’t.)

Updated September 5th, 2008: Added Musopen Project link.

If you have ever sat and talked to me about classical music, then I have doubtlessly brought up Krzysztof Penderecki. My favorite compositions of his are the 3rd Symphony and Polish Requiem. Have a listen:

I saw in one of the last issues of Double Bassist magazine (before they killed it, which was saddening) a rumor that he is working on a double bass concerto. I am very excited for the release!

Sheet Music:

The other night (okay maybe a few months ago now . . .) I was riding to rehearsal and listening to my satellite radio. A super groovy mutli-bass piece came on–it had two double bassists trading back and forth, and was really slamming. By the time I made it to rehearsal the song wasn’t over, so I sat in my ride just listening. You know, as much as I love music I don’t get enough of those magical moments where the music you listen to consumes you and you just really feel it. It happens only a few times a year to me, unfortunately. The DJ didn’t announce the artist so I had to wait until I got home and looked it up online–since it made me late to rehearsal I knew roughly what time the song was on the air

Ironically it turns out that it was Ron Carter doing an old Oscar Pettiford song. I think maybe a lot of us discount Ron Carter, but this was such a wonderful song that I had to share it with you. You should be able to listen to a sample on this site:

Cool Music: Crooked Still

I don’t listen to much bluegrass, but occasionally I will find a group that is fun to listen to. Crooked Still has a slightly different bent than most bluegrass groups–they have a double bass, cello, banjo and vocalist. The combination gives them a very nice growling bottom end–great for bass-clef junkies. The music itself doesn’t break any new ground, but is a a great choice for a lazy afternoon.