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Double Bass Paul Warburton

#21
Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield

Is an acoustic low B harder to play - as in, does it take a greater toll on your fingers and is it harder to get a sound consistent (in tone and volume) with the other strings?
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Not really. My Bohmann was designed and built around the five string concept and it's one of the most even sounding basses around. From the low B up to high C in the thumb positions, it's very sensitive and even. I've play other five string double basses that weren't designed with the fifth string in mind. In other words, the B was added on later. These instruments are really hard to play and, as I remember, felt totally out of balance. Adding a fifth string to a bass that was designed for four mutes the top, IMHO. Although, before he went to fifth tuning, I played a five stringer that Red Mitchell had that was originally four, and it was an exception....Alot of that had to do with the fact that the great L.A. luthier Paul Toenniges did the conversion!
 
#24
Originally posted by Jeff Bollbach
Paul=
How well did you know Toenniges? Can you give us any info or anecdotes?
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Jeff, I didn't know him very well. I first met him in about 1969 when I was on the road with Cal Tjader. His shop in Studio city was similar to what David Gage's now...kind of a hang out for bass players. His adjustable bridges were the first that i'd ever seen. He use to have an enormous amount of basses in stock. I took my new wife Barbara out there for a gig in 1976, and the lady working there told us that Paul had sold his total stock of basses to some Japanese business man in one fell swoop!!
There's a thread on TBDB on bassist Victor Gaskin who owned one of Paul's "diamond basses " Basses with diamond shaped holes in the C bouts of the ribs. I did a concert in NYC with Getz and Vic was playing on the same bill with Billy Taylor. We talked about having two of the most unique basses in bassdom!
There was an article, including a nice cover shot, on Paul in an ISB...Winter, 1989, VOL XV #2
This article traces the whereabouts of most of his basses ...at least up to the date of the article in 1989.
 
#26
Originally posted by Jeff Bollbach
Thanks Paul. Yeah, I've seen that article. I think I mentioned it before but believe it or not Kenny Rogers had one of his basses too.
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Really? Kenny probably sold it to pay for that awful plastic surgery on his face! Sorry.
That big Tyrol bass that Red Mitcell had...Paul converted it to a fiver. Red told me that it sounded good before Paul did it, but sounded twice as good after! Paul was also famous for his re-graduations on plates.
John Heard bought that bass from Red and during one of those Gibson parties, the great drummer Bruno Carr and I were getting in the elevator with a bunch of other people..John had just finished his set and jumped in with that bass...half way up, he whacked a few notes on the A and E strings. Granted, we were in an elevator, but I swear that was one of the BIGGEST sounding basses i've ever heard! John played it for a while as a fiver on some records with Oscar Peterson, then had Paul make it back to a four.
In that period when Red was in L.A., there were alot of great bass players out there. All the big movie studios had their own orchestras and I mean BIG orchestras! This was in the early 50s to the mid 60s. Red was the principal bassist for MGM. All these studios had staff players on contract. A whole bunch of bass players were studying with Herman Rhineshagen (SP?) a great legit teacher. They had to be able to read fly-**** and bow as good as any symphonic bassist. Red Mitchell and Red Callender studied with H.R. as did Mingus. Mingus also studied Jazz with Red Callendar. Red Mitchell taught and mentored Scott LaFaro, Gary Peacock and Charlie Haden.
Some of the other bassists from this "Golden Age" of recording in L.A. were: Monty Budwig, Curtis Counce, Ralph Pena, Buddy Clark, Bob Whitlock,Max Bennett, Leroy Vinnegar, Joe Mondragon and prolly many more. Talk about fertile musical ground!
When I was young i'd go out there every chance i'd get to hear all these guys. Then, finally when I started traveling on a regular basis, i'd go out more!
This is that West Coast Jazz VS East Coast Jazz time. I guess the difference ended up being that the easters...Horace Silver, Art Blakey....those harder, funkier quintets....when I think of that word,,,Funk,,,I think of Horace to this day!
The westers...Chet Baker, Mulligan...more mellow, more interplay.
To me, the simple fact was that the general plan for a jazzer was to get your *** together and make some money in L.A. then pack it all up and head for New York!
 
#27
Let us now praise the living! I'm listening yet again to [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].

There's lots of ways to play jazz, y'know, but THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY JAZZ. You listen with your mind and ear. You take chances. You rearrange listeners' internal organs with your low B.

Thank you again, PW.
 
#28
Sam Sherry said:
Let us now praise the living! I'm listening yet again to [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].

There's lots of ways to play jazz, y'know, but THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY JAZZ. You listen with your mind and ear. You take chances. You rearrange listeners' internal organs with your low B.

Thank you again, PW.
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Amen. I've been listening a lot to this CD...in fact, my poor grad jazz theory students just got done transcribing Eric Gunnison and Ron Miles' solos on "Speak Low" this past week. Gave them fits, but they learned a lot (at least, they'll admit it later when my ears stop burning). :D

Thanks again, Mr. WARMBUTTOCKS, for bringing this music into the world....my little patch of it has been much richer for the listening experience.
 
#29
If Paul's CD was a vinyl LP, I'd have worn the grooves off of it by now. When I first got it, I was so amazed I played it over and over again. Definitely one of my all-time favorites. Great playing, great ideas and I love the sound of the bass as well. I've learned a lot just listening to this CD. Thanks Paul!
 
#33
Sam Sherry said:
Let us now praise the living! I'm listening yet again to [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].

There's lots of ways to play jazz, y'know, but THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY JAZZ. You listen with your mind and ear. You take chances. You rearrange listeners' internal organs with your low B.

Thank you again, PW.
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Samuel, thanks for reincarnating this old thread. The minute you think eveybody takes you for granted, along comes a bass brother to remind eveybody that you're still around...thanks you all for chiming in and in particular, our beloved Mod Durrl, who's been using our quartet CD in his classes ever since it was posted.
As usual i'm a bit unhappy with the direct bass sound on the Hindman CD's, but hopefully the music overcomes that puffy bass sound.
I am really happy with the sound on the quartet CD. In particular where the Bohmann plays the melody out on 'My One and Only Love' after we modulate from the original key C to the key of F for the out chorus.
Love you all!!
 
#34
robgrow said:
You can get Paul's "Speak Low" CD here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Also available from eMusic here: http://www.emusic.com/album/10851/10851278.html

As soon as my download quota refreshes I'll be downloading this :)

Note:- just to point out that eMusic is a legal pay-for-download service that pays its artists (or at least it claims to). I wouldn't want to cheat the musicians, particularly such a highly esteemed member of our TB family here. :cool:
 
#37
My download quota at eMusic refreshed just a few minutes ago, so I immediately downloaded Paul's CD - I'll now be able to listen to it while cooking Easter dinner for the family.

Like any good cook (and this is the only thing about me that's like a good cook ;) ) I have a good glass of red wine to keep me company too ...cheers Paul! :cool:
 
#39
I was listening to Lost in a Dream earlier, and suddenly I thought, "Hey, in this tune he sort of sounds like John Clayton, but better."

That scares me! Why isn't Paul Warburton at the Blue Note in NYC so I can go watch his gigs? Whyyyyyy?!

Paul, at least record yourself more often.
:crying:
 
#40
relacey said:
I just got my copy of "Speak Low" the other day. I'm no expert but I know what I like. I like it!

Ron
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Thanks Ron. Being the EGO HEAD I am, along with Fuqua, may I direct you to right after Eric Gunnison's beautiful piano solo where the bass modulates from C into F and then states the melody out. For me, it's the best recorded sound i've achieved.
 

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