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Double Bass Historic Red Interviews.

#21
Again, the only reason that I'm doing this here, rather than in a PM, is in case other members have the same problem.
My spam stuff is clear, Chris. I do have Comcast and haven't gotten a response....I'll PM my email to you.
Thanks, man.
 
#23
Red with the bow on that one. Five strings tuned in 4ths. (low B).

If you pull the slider on the music player on the upper right down to the bottom on Red's site, to "You'd Be So Nice To come home to" you can hear a rare clip of Red playing 4th tuned jazz cello. Filth, personified. With Jim Hall, Frank Strazzeri, Jimmy Bond (bass) and Frank Butler.
Some new pics of Red with Tony Bennet, Charlie Haden, Niels and Edgar Myer.
The chat feature still isn't up the last time I looked. I sent in a test a few months back with no response and have talked with Diane about it.

EDIT and side point of interest to bassists: Ron, I don't know if the original pic from the Red/Harold "Hear Ye! Hear Ye!" (A Red comp, in which he bows the head in unison with Harold's dark tenor sound) is on your copy. I have it on vinyl so the pic is pretty big. That bass is a big old Tyrol that Red had the great L.A. luthier Paul Toenniges adapt to a fiver. If you look closely the tunng plates are a four string version of Joeseph Bohmann's. (maker of my five stringer with the only five string versions in the world). Paul pirated them from a Bohmann that couldn't be saved and added a fifth French style machine. I played that bass with Red playing piano and jazz cello and actually, I took a couple turns on the cello too, at a session in Hollywood at "Sherri's". To this day that bass was by far the loudest, most acoustically projecting bass I ever played. Strung with the fabulous Lycon strings that Doc (DRURB) and I are always talking about here @TB.
 
#27
Paul Warburton said:
EDIT and side point of interest to bassists: Ron, I don't know if the original pic from the Red/Harold "Hear Ye! Hear Ye!" (A Red comp, in which he bows the head in unison with Harold's dark tenor sound) is on your copy. I have it on vinyl so the pic is pretty big. That bass is a big old Tyrol that Red had the great L.A. luthier Paul Toenniges adapt to a fiver. If you look closely the tunng plates are a four string version of Joeseph Bohmann's. (maker of my five stringer with the only five string versions in the world). Paul pirated them from a Bohmann that couldn't be saved and added a fifth French style machine. I played that bass with Red playing piano and jazz cello and actually, I took a couple turns on the cello too, at a session in Hollywood at "Sherri's". To this day that bass was by far the loudest, most acoustically projecting bass I ever played. Strung with the fabulous Lycon strings that Doc (DRURB) and I are always talking about here @TB.
Click to expand...

Here's the pic that is with the electronic download version
512D64oo3aL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Unfortunately it's not big enough to see any detail. The story of my life. ;)

EDIT: emusic has a bigger image of the cover available
 
#28
What a great interview. Thanks so much for this.

A Lester Lanin sidenote. When I moved to NYC in 85 my upstairs neighbor used to play bass in one of Lanin's band and he told me of a society gig he did out in Michigan that he had to fly out to, rent a car and drive with Lanin to. It was a long, long drive and Ross and Lester started chatting. Lester was getting on in age and apparently he started ranting about having invented rock n roll and all kinds of other nonsense. After a while Ross couldn't take it anymore so he put on his Walkman (remember those) for the rest of the drive, didn't speak another word to him and had another cat drive him back to the airport after the gig. That was the beginning of his exit from the society world.
 
#29
Well, I guess I kinda dig this Red Mitchell fella. I've always appreciated his playing, but it has never really been anything that I have had a desire to emulate. But, I was listening to the radio today, and there was a swingin' version of Yardbird Suite. The bass player was a solid old school kinda player. Big sound, simple notes, driving swing and soloed like a bass player. Was totally diggin' it. Then, low and behold, the announcer said it was Hampton Hawes and Barney Kessel with Red Mitchell on bass. So crap, I guess I'm gonna have to go buy that album now.

I spose what impressed me the most was his intonation. They said the album was recorded in '58, so this was before the steel strings, the amps, the 5ths and the awesome haircuts. Being a gut string/no amp guy you realize how hard it is to play in tune when you have no amp and you're strings are a mile off the fingerboard. Red's intonation was ridiculously on. That guy must have elephant ears. And his solo was beautiful. Perfectly simple and tasty.

So, I guess I'm gonna have to go buy some old albums that Red played on.
 
#30
I did emulate him back in the 50's when I started. That's how I learned, Nathan.
I started with "The Hampton Trio" Vols. 1-3 with Check Thomson on drums. Then went to "All Night Session" Vols. 1-3 with Hamp, Red, Jim Hall and Bruz Freeman on drums.
Maybe I've said this 50 times here on the site......
"Presenting Red Mitchell" is great as well from that same period and just "Red Mitchell". All guts in 4ths.
 

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