the R-Word

As a parent of someone with special needs, I always have some trouble with the use of the word retard or retarded, regardless of the context. My friends know this and avoid use of the word.
The Special Olympics has launched a campaign to eliminate the use of the word. I encourage everyone to pledge on their website: R-word.org.

Bass Picture of the Week (March 30th)

Here's another photo from the Life photo archive on Google. The caption reads "A man playing the bass at the Refuge Temple.(New York, NY, April 1958)"

The R-word

As a parent of an autistic boy, I've always been sensitive to the use of the word "retard" regardless of context. With the recent brouhaha regarding President Obama's reference to the Special Olympics, there has been increased attention to the Special Olympics, and particularly their campaign to eliminate the use of the "R-word". Here's the article from CNN, and the web site of the Special Olympics where you can pledge to stop using the word.

Bass Picture of the Week (March 23rd)

I'm out of town next week so here's and early posting of Edith Piaf. I can only hope she's expressing her intense joy over the bassist engaging in what looks like a slap.

Another Great Paul Chambers Video

Here's another video of Paul Chamber (a follow-up to a previous post). This one with the John Coltrane Quartet playing On Green Dolphin Street. Again, check out Paul's acro solo. I found it interesting where he placed slurs and hooked bowings. I'll have to watch it a few more times to get the ideas written down in my transcription of this solo.

Great Video of Paul Chambers

I recently came across the video below of John Coltrane with Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers. I've always thought that Paul Chambers deserves more credit than he receives (something echoed by Marcus Miller in a recent blurb in Down Beat).

What makes this video intriguing to me is that Chambers takes two solos in the video. The first (at about 3:00) is an arco solo. This gives a chance to see his bowing technique. There are books of transcribed arco solos (e.g., Jim Stinnett's books), but these don't tell you much about how Chambers articulated the notes or what his bowings looked like. The second solo (at about 6:30) is a pizzicato solo. Both solos are great, along with the playing of Kelly and the others. Enjoy.

Solo to Orchestral Transcriptions

I'm often faced with the following problem: I play in orchestral tuning but have a piece I want to play (e.g. Hindemith sonata) that is written for solo tuning. I don't want to re-tune my bass and can't afford the time/money of switching to a set of solo strings (which I think sound much better than an orchestral set ratcheted up a notch) just to play a few pieces. So what do I do?

For Bottesini's Elegy, there is a Frank Proto edition in which he includes two piano scores: one to accompany each of a bassist in orchestral and solo tuning. This seems to me like a great solution. Well, I just cam across Douglas Mapp Music which offers piano transcriptions for many of the pieces in the repetoire. The pieces look good and seem, to me, reasonably priced.

I'll let you know how my first order goes.