King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, Chicago, May 1923
Front Row: Honore Dutrey, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds - Back Row: Baby Dodds, King Oliver, Bill Johnson, Lil Hardin (Armstrong’s Wife)
Taken from: How Low Can You Go? Anthology of the String Bass, 1925-1941, Dust-to-Digital
The double bass, which stands beside its player at the rear of the band, is larger than the player himself. Like the cello, it has a spike which rests upon the floor. Owing to the thickness of the strings and because of the great size of the instrument, exceptional strength is required to press down the heavy strings. The bow must be very sturdy. Solo playing on the double bass would seem at first sight to have all the delicacy of an elephant dancing, yet there have been many great solo players. The very deep tones of the double bass are essential as support for the other instruments. The tone color of the double bass is heavy, gruff and ponderous.
Indiana Weekly Messenger- April 18, 1935. Excerpts from “Double Bass Is Larger Than the Player Himself”
It seems to me that the bass is an instrument like all the others that has always been defined by its players. It’s the thunder, the engine room, the rolling highway. Where would music be without it? It provides us with the atmosphere of a tune at the core. You listen to a stringband that starts out a tune with the banjo playing the first measure alone, then guitar kicking in on the second and the fiddle on the third measure, just knowing the bass is gonna kick in any second now. They play one full round and still no bass. You sit there waiting. Waiting patiently. Waiting not so patiently. You’re starting to get real… Wait! The bass player is moving! He’s getting his hands into position… and BOOM! Everybody just left their tables for the dance floor. Feet are stomping, hands are clapping and the dance is on. Like the quote says above, the bass plays an essential part in supporting the band. I wanted to give some due to the masters of the thunder strings with a little history on the early days of the bass.
This was the result of some research that I was doing around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was trying to fatten my 78 collection of bass players and did a lot of reading of the old (sadly out of print) 78 Quarterly magazine, Gennett Records Complete Recorded Inventory, Dust-to-Digital’s String Bass Anthology and various extensive notes in oldtime jazz collections I have accumulated over the years . I was looking for any 78s with Bill Johnson of King Oliver’s band (pictured at top). I may be hunting for years to come. Bill played bass for King Oliver when they recorded in Richmond, but for the recordings he played banjo. I wanted to find out if Gennett Records of Richmond, IN. was perhaps the first company to record the string bass to shellac, since they already have an impressive list of firsts in music. This would not be the case. Why does this matter you may ask? Well, before 1925 all records were made acoustically, meaning that the low end register of a bass could not be picked up through the recording systems that were being used at the time. Most bands, (stringbands, jazz bands) were using tubas for their recordings.
The first jazz bass record was made June 22, 1925 by Harry Barth of Natchez, Mississippi. Harry played bass for Ted Lewis and His Band at the time of the recording. The tune was “Milenburg Joys”. An historical achievement that interestingly enough was made by a man that would never play on any of Ted Lewis’ records again after that recording.
The bass however, would not really catch on for a few more years due to bands being generally used to the volume the tuba offered while perfoming at dances and festivals with a lot of crowd noise. This would continue on into the 1930s, with popular dance bands of the time switching gradually from tuba to bass.
It wasn’t until guys like Milt Hinton and Wilson Myers mastered there basses and began a revolution equal to the Beatles’ in the Dance Band Era. The tuba was just getting to be to much. Just as awkward as the bass the tuba was truly limited as to what it could do with a band. The bass was a more pleasing instrument to listen to during a solo.Thanks to Dru for the (Judge) reference the other day. Here’s Milt!
The bass has evolved from the early days into an instrument that is at the front of the stage, side by side with the guitars, sharing solos. Whether one string or six, the bass is an instrument that music cannot be without. Just like the human body needing it’s heartbeat, once the bass player is done, it’s time to go.
Well, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this edition of Oldtime Crossroads. We’ll see you soon.
This one’s for you B.
References:
How Low Can You Go? Anthology of the String Bass 1925-1941 Dust-to-Digital, Atlanta, Georgia 2006
The Jazz Records, Bookends Press 1976
78 Quarterly (back issues)
