ISB E-Bass Line October 2010

The great jazz bassist Oscar Pettiford died on September 8, 1960, just before his 38^th birthday, in Copenhagen, where he had his last permanent residence. Ture Damhus, an amateur bassist living in Copenhagen, reports that 50 years later, Pettiford was remembered in his adopted town at a September 20th concert that featured his music, his bass (now owned by bass player Lars Clemmensen of the Royal Danish Opera) and his bass colleague from the old days, Erik Moseholm (co-author with Pettiford of Jazz Bass Facing). B

assists Jesper Lundgaard and Hugo Rasmussen played Blues in the Closet and other Pettiford favorites arranged for one and two basses. Moseholm and visual artist Per Arnoldi are restoring the stie of Pettiford's grave in Frederiksberg (just outside central Copenhagen) and there will be a rededication of the site soon.

Han Han Cho has completed her doctorate studies with Mark Dresser at the University of California - San Diego, and recently appeared at the La Jolla (CA) Summer Fest. She has also been invited to appear at the Fifth Beijing International Double Bass Music Festival in November, and in December, Han Han will perform Bottesini's "Fantasia La Sonnambula" with orchestra in Taiwan.

There will be a number of sessions of interest to bass makers at the 2010 VSA Convention, November 7-12 in Cleveland, OH: Robbie McIntosh, "Re-arching a Bass Top," November 8th, 3:30-4:15 PM; Jim Ham, David Gage, and Jay VandeKopple, "Report on the First VSA/Oberlin Bass Workshop," on November 9th, 1:30-2:15 PM; a Bass "Show-and-Tell" Forum, November 9th, 3:30-4:30 PM; David Gage, "Contemporary Setup for String Bass," November 10th, 2:45-3:30 PM; Arnold Schnitzer, "Up from the Depths," November 12th, 2:30-3:15 PM; Jim Ham, "The Lighter Side of Ergonomics," November 12th, 3:15-4:30 PM. For information go to www.vsa.to.

Anthony Manzo, bassist with the New Century Chamber Orchestra and faculty member at the University of Maryland School of Music, will perform the Mozart concert aria "Per Questa Bella Mano" with bass/baritone Thomas Quasthoff and Camerata Salzburg on October 26th in the Salle Pleyel in Paris, and October 29th and 31st in the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Edgar Meyer will perform Bach and Bottesini with the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco on October 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th. For more information go to http://ncco.org.

This fall the Vecchione/Erdahl Duo (Carrie Vecchione, oboe, and Rolf Erdahl, bass) is presenting recitals of original new music: October 17, 2 PM at the Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth, MN; October 21, 2 PM at Ohio University School of Music, Athens, OH, hosted by Garry Wasserman; October 22, 7 PM at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, hosted by Tom Knific; November 3, Noon, at the St Paul Conservatory of Music, St Paul, MN. On December 10th, 7 PM, they perform Tim Goplerud's Fantasia on Three French Carols and Margi Grieblig-Haigh's Story of Babar the Little Elephant at the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul, MN as part of Minnesota Public Radio's Holiday Concert celebrating the centennial of the Fitzgerald Theater.

Sybarite5

The New York-based string quintet Sybarite5 (Sami Merdinian and Sarah Whitney, violins, Angela Pickett, viola, Laura Metcalf, cello, and Louis Levitt, double bass) returns from its post as the Alumni Ensemble for the 2010 Aspen Music Festival to set up two residencies at the Cell Theatre in New York City, October 22-24 and December 1-12. The first residency in October is "explore/innovate/advance." The quintet will perform works from the 20th and 21st centuries, including the New York premiere of a new arrangement of "Turceasca" by Matt Van Brink. In December, "juxtapose/contrast/shuffle" will showcase Sybarite5's eclectic influences as they perform works by Mozart, Radiohead, Stravinsky, Dvorak, Led Zeppelin, Visconti and others. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com/event/131628 or call 1-800-838-3006, $10 for students, $20 for general admission, $48 VIP Reserved seating with reception.

Renaud Garcia-Fons returns to North America for a tour:
November 12 - Montréal, L'Astral
November 14 - Los Angeles, Skirball Cultural Center
November 16 - Laramie, University of Wyoming
November 17 - Laramie, University of Wyoming
Nov. 19 & 20 - Costa Mesa (CA), Orange Cty Performing Arts Center

Read a preview of an article by ISB founder Gary Karr that will be featured in the Fall, 2010 issue of Bass World, the ISB's membership magazine. In "Nueve: How I Was in Two Places at One Time," Gary describes how he performed virtually, from his home studio, with the Bournemouth Symphony in England as guest soloist for a new recording of works by composer José Serebrier's, released this month on the Naxos label.

Catch of the day: In March, 2009, Ron Carter was invited to give one of the most eclectic concerts ever. His jazz trio (with Russell Malone, guitar, and pianist Jacky Terrasson) was engaged to play for a university audience in Wroclaw, Poland, with the understanding that Ron would also play Schubert's "Trout" quintet with faculty members for the first half of the show. So, after only two brief rehearsals and playing with borrowed double bass and bow, you can listen to Ron Carter's "Trout," with Andrzej Ladomirski, violin, Tomasz Pstrokonski-Nawratil, viola, Urszula Marciniec-Mazur, cello, and Magadalena Blum, piano.