|  | | 
08-18-2008, 11:41 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: West Tennessee | | | Where are they now?
I’ve been reading about the big mess over what became of Bill Monroe’s mandolin after his death. It made me wonder about “famous” basses as well.
Given so many great bassists have passed over the last few years (Ray Brown, Percy Heath, NHOP to name a few), I wondered what became of their instruments? Have they been passed on to another player? Sold? Stuck in the family’s basement? Placed in a museum where folks can see but never hear them?
Sign in to disble this ad
__________________
I have nothing clever or catchy to say.
|
08-18-2008, 12:12 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: south of the Manson-Nixon Line | | | I think someone mentioned here recently that John Clayton had taken possession of Ray's bass. Now... Percy Heath's bass... phew! I saw him at a festival a couple years ago and I couldn't believe that he'd hand that thing over to the airlines. |
08-18-2008, 05:01 PM
| | Supporting Member | | Join Date: May 2008 Location: Cleveland, Ohio | | | NHOP?
Who is NHOP ? |
08-18-2008, 05:08 PM
|  | quid verum atque decens
Builder: Rickett Customs | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Southern Maryland | | Quote:
Originally Posted by CellarDweller  Who is NHOP ? | It's a Jazz thing.
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, the "great Dane with the never-ending name" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels-H...rsted_Pedersen
Last edited by Rickett Customs : 08-18-2008 at 05:11 PM.
|
08-18-2008, 06:01 PM
| | | Usually only collectors want to own a bass with the stigma of being owned by a famous musician.
The stigma being that the sound and look of a famous instrument really belong to another in the public consciousness.
I think the best one could do when confronted with the prospect of coming into possession (legally of course) of a famous players instrument is to make it a well kept secret.
Otherwise the music you make with the instrument might be thought of as a poor forgery.
IMHO.
That being said, I hear that Oscar Pettiford's bass (the one he composed and played Tricotism on) ended up in the office of a used car lot on the Missouri side of Kansas City. Last seen being played by the owners daughter in a Easter Bunny Suit.  |
08-18-2008, 06:13 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Tuscaloosa, AL | | | Wasn't Scott LaFaro's bass restored? I think it's on display somewhere, IIRC.
__________________
MTD USA Club Member #15
Bassists Who Still Have Their 1st Bass Club Member #45
|
08-18-2008, 07:20 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MR PC That being said, I hear that Oscar Pettiford's bass (the one he composed and played Tricotism on) ended up in the office of a used car lot on the Missouri side of Kansas City. Last seen being played by the owners daughter in a Easter Bunny Suit. | Wow. I gotta see a picture of that. |
08-18-2008, 07:24 PM
|  | Steve Boletchek | | Join Date: May 2005 Location: Apex, NC and Woolwine, VA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by DRay521 Wasn't Scott LaFaro's bass restored? I think it's on display somewhere, IIRC. | Based on what I've read, Scott LaFaro's Prescott bass belongs to Barrie Kolstein. Barrie and his father Samuel restored it in the 1980's.
Barrie did let Marc Johnson use the bass recently to record some of the tracks on his latest CD Something For You. BP did a nice article on Marc Johnson not too long ago, and that's where I read about him using Scott LaFaro's bass.
__________________
"Why can't you just dig what you dig without having to dis everyone else?" - IYAMNI
Last edited by bolo : 08-18-2008 at 07:31 PM.
|
08-18-2008, 08:51 PM
| | Supporting Member | | Join Date: May 2008 Location: Cleveland, Ohio | | | Thanks for the NHOP reference--much tastier than IHOP!
I had heard of the bassist, but never saw the abbreviation before. |
08-19-2008, 12:49 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncletoad Wow. I gotta see a picture of that. | Well, it was just a an old fashioned cameo....some things are best left to the imagination! Rumor is that the Polaroids were lost in tornado. |
08-19-2008, 06:13 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MR PC Well, it was just a an old fashioned cameo....some things are best left to the imagination! Rumor is that the Polaroids were lost in tornado. | Hmmn. Polaroids. Was she hot? |
08-19-2008, 06:53 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: Chipping Norton, Oxon, England | | | Yes, I've been suffering from Polaroids lately but have got some cream to put on them. |
08-19-2008, 07:13 AM
|  | Registered User
Endorser Sadowsky string, A-Designs P1,La Bella, Bee Basses,Mike Lull | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Atlanta | | | I know several world-class upright bassists in Los Angeles who have either inherited or bought the basses of famous deceased players and used them for work.
It's not ALWAYS the case that collectors buy these instruments. Very often there is a relationship between players that builds over time..i.e. student/teacher or famous player/less famous player, etc. The famous player or teacher may say to his wife, " I want Dave or Leslie to get first chance at getting my bass when I die". I've seen this happen on several occasions.
Based on my experience, pro players do want to get their hands on prized instruments because they sound so good. They'll use them for studio work very often. ....case in point...Mark Johnson.
__________________
Sadowsky Blue Label strings
Sadowsky UV-70
MTD 535
James Tyler
Bee Basses
Lull PJ5
Music Man SR 4, Fender Am St 5 jz
Upton Lami acoustic upright
Eminence RN4 EUB
Georgia Bassist Club #56
|
08-19-2008, 07:27 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: West Tennessee | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Keyser Soze I think someone mentioned here recently that John Clayton had taken possession of Ray's bass. |
Is that the one with the open open "key" tuners? Quote:
Originally Posted by funkythumb I know several world-class upright bassists in Los Angeles who have either inherited or bought the basses of famous deceased players and used them for work.
It's not ALWAYS the case that collectors buy these instruments. Very often there is a relationship between players that builds over time..i.e. student/teacher or famous player/less famous player, etc. The famous player or teacher may say to his wife, " I want Dave or Leslie to get first chance at getting my bass when I die". I've seen this happen on several occasions. | Specifics?
__________________
I have nothing clever or catchy to say.
Last edited by Steve Killingsworth : 08-19-2008 at 10:58 AM.
|
08-19-2008, 12:55 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncletoad Hmmn. Polaroids. Was she hot? | Easter Bunny Suit, not birthday. Think Disneyland. |
08-19-2008, 01:09 PM
| | Steve Boletchek | | Join Date: May 2005 Location: Apex, NC and Woolwine, VA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by funkythumb Based on my experience, pro players do want to get their hands on prized instruments because they sound so good. They'll use them for studio work very often. ....case in point...Mark Johnson. | Actually in my previous post I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. But Marc Johnson does not own the LaFaro Prescott bass. He didn't even seek the use of it proactively. Here's how the very unusual and very brief loan from Barrie Kolstein came about, taken from the article: Marc Johnson had the unique opportunity to use Scott LaFaro’s Abraham Prescott bass—the same one he had used with Evans—on Something for You. “The bass belongs to Barrie Kolstein, a wonderful luthier in New York,” Marc explains. “I was in his shop and mentioned that I was going to be recording a tribute to Bill Evans. Without missing a beat, he said, ‘Would you like to use Scotty’s bass?’ I was stunned for a minute, and then I became really excited about the prospect.” As it turned out, the bass was available for only two days, as Kolstein was going out of town and didn’t want the instrument handled by anyone but Johnson. Marc used the bass on “My Foolish Heart,” as well as “Re: Person I Knew”; the latter appears only on the Japanese edition of the album. I know it's a little off topic since Scott LaFaro is not recently deceased per the OP. But DRay521 asked about it.
__________________
"Why can't you just dig what you dig without having to dis everyone else?" - IYAMNI
Last edited by bolo : 08-19-2008 at 08:13 PM.
|
08-19-2008, 02:50 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MR PC Easter Bunny Suit, not birthday. Think Disneyland. | Oh.
I get it.
Guess my moniker should change to Unclepervy. |
08-19-2008, 07:57 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncletoad Oh.
I get it.
Guess my moniker should change to Unclepervy. | Nahh, nobody cooler around here than Uncle Toad!
I'm thinking about writing a knockoff of "Accordian Tales" and calling it "Lost in Bass". A series off short stories about the life and times of Domenic Dragonnetti's double bass through the ages. Should make the bargain tables at Borders Books at least. |
08-19-2008, 08:03 PM
| | | | Percy Heath's bass..there is one that probably grew legs to hide from the jazz police when Percy passed over.. Most beautiful tone ever. That kind of beauty is reserved for people like Percy, I think! |
08-20-2008, 06:03 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: West Tennessee | | Quote:
Originally Posted by bolo I know it's a little off topic since Scott LaFaro is not recently deceased per the OP. But DRay521 asked about it. | Not at all off topic. I just used recently passed folks as an example. What about Mingus, Paul Chambers, Milt Hinton, or even back to Jimmy Blanton as other examples?
__________________
I have nothing clever or catchy to say.
|  | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | | |
