Just heard that Terry Plumeri was murdered at his home in Florida. What a tragedy, absolutely beautiful player. I hope they find whoever committed this horrible crime and bring them to justice.
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Double Bass RIP Terry Plumeri
- Thread starter dieterdiettrich
- Start date
This is a terrible tragedy.
Terry was a huge influence to me as well.
Heart felt condolences to friends and family.
Terry was a huge influence to me as well.
Heart felt condolences to friends and family.
I just heard about this. His first name wasn't "Don" but he would have appreciated the humor in the newspaper getting it wrong; it was "John."
I studied with Terry for about four years, roughly '78 to '83, with a break in between when I tried a year at conservatory.
He got me ready for my MSM audition and helped me get a full scholarship. I dropped out after a year and went back to studying with him.
He taught me for free, two lessons a week, two hours per lesson, for about three years. He gave me my Morizot bow, which had been his "number three" stick.
He always pushed me to play just a bit better than I could. He always treated me as an equal, even when I couldn't do half of what he could do.
We became friends, eventually, as time passed. It has been over thirty years since I studied with him regularly, but I still think of things he taught me every day when I pick up the bass.
For the past few years, I visited him every April, for a lesson and to play duets, in Florida. I talked with him just last week.
I will always think of him as the Coltrane of the bass; pushing it all to another level. I think that one day, people will marvel at what he did.
I'll never forget the first time I saw him playing with a trio of Michael Smith on drums and Marc Cohen (now known as Marc Copeland) on piano. It was the same band that recorded "Ongoing" with John Abercrombie (with whom Terry was room mates in NY). Anyway, it was at a club in D.C. called "One Step Down." 1978. They came out and he starting bowing his bass, playing like a sax, with Michael Smith and Marc Cohen/Copland setting fire to the music behind him. Gives me chills, even now, when I think about it.
At this point, what he's done is so far ahead and so far out that few folks can hear it or care to. Chromatic harmony, in arco solos, in jazz, on the bass.
With a lovely tone. And swing. Easy to critique; harder to do. And he'd been doing it for decades.
Here he is with Roberta Flack, from "Chapter Two," circa 1970. He was in her band during the whole "Killing Me Softly," and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" period of her career:
He was also a solid "legit" player, when he put the time into practicing that repertoire. He played in the National Symphony section for awhile, in the late '70's.
He was pushing me to learn Bach 'Cello Suites back in 1978, long before most bassists were playing them routinely. He'd say, "Nothing will improve your bebop soloing like Bach. You know, you should really practice phrases from the Suites in every key..."
Here's Boguslaw Furtok playing "Across A River's Dream;" a piece for solo bass and piano:
Here's a duet with Herbie Hancock, from Terry's first solo album. Notice that the vibrato only appears late in the piece:
Terry's main bass teacher was Robert Brennand, the long time NYPhil Principal. Mr. Brennand was generous and giving to Terry, who passed the generosity on to all of his students. Terry studied composition and conducting with Antal Dorati, who was one of Bartok's students.
He was relentless and rigorously honest in his musical pursuits. He was an incisive, profoundly thoughtful, articulate, driven, and terrifically supportive teacher. He talked about playing the bass in the most practical, fundamental, helpful ways. Never an ego spin or load of fluff; pure "how to" from start to finish, in the most fundamental ways, whether he was talking about developing a phrase or getting a good sound from either hand.
I have notebooks full of notes from lessons from him that I am still getting great stuff from. I don't think there will be another like him, in this life...
Here he is with the Moscow Philharmonic, conducting an oboe/orchestra piece he wrote, "Windflower:"
And "Pride of Baltimore:"
Here's a nice interview with him, from "For Bass Players Only:"
Invalid Link Removed
RIP, Terry. Thank you for the music, the faith, the love, and the laughs.
When we spoke last week he told me a joke that had me chuckling to myself all day.
All I can say is that I think that we should all practice more, play more joyfully, and and push ahead even more fearlessly, as the best way to honor his memory.
He put a lot of beauty into the world. As far as I can tell, that seems to be immortality at its best.
I studied with Terry for about four years, roughly '78 to '83, with a break in between when I tried a year at conservatory.
He got me ready for my MSM audition and helped me get a full scholarship. I dropped out after a year and went back to studying with him.
He taught me for free, two lessons a week, two hours per lesson, for about three years. He gave me my Morizot bow, which had been his "number three" stick.
He always pushed me to play just a bit better than I could. He always treated me as an equal, even when I couldn't do half of what he could do.
We became friends, eventually, as time passed. It has been over thirty years since I studied with him regularly, but I still think of things he taught me every day when I pick up the bass.
For the past few years, I visited him every April, for a lesson and to play duets, in Florida. I talked with him just last week.
I will always think of him as the Coltrane of the bass; pushing it all to another level. I think that one day, people will marvel at what he did.
I'll never forget the first time I saw him playing with a trio of Michael Smith on drums and Marc Cohen (now known as Marc Copeland) on piano. It was the same band that recorded "Ongoing" with John Abercrombie (with whom Terry was room mates in NY). Anyway, it was at a club in D.C. called "One Step Down." 1978. They came out and he starting bowing his bass, playing like a sax, with Michael Smith and Marc Cohen/Copland setting fire to the music behind him. Gives me chills, even now, when I think about it.
At this point, what he's done is so far ahead and so far out that few folks can hear it or care to. Chromatic harmony, in arco solos, in jazz, on the bass.
With a lovely tone. And swing. Easy to critique; harder to do. And he'd been doing it for decades.
Here he is with Roberta Flack, from "Chapter Two," circa 1970. He was in her band during the whole "Killing Me Softly," and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" period of her career:
He was also a solid "legit" player, when he put the time into practicing that repertoire. He played in the National Symphony section for awhile, in the late '70's.
He was pushing me to learn Bach 'Cello Suites back in 1978, long before most bassists were playing them routinely. He'd say, "Nothing will improve your bebop soloing like Bach. You know, you should really practice phrases from the Suites in every key..."
Here's Boguslaw Furtok playing "Across A River's Dream;" a piece for solo bass and piano:
Here's a duet with Herbie Hancock, from Terry's first solo album. Notice that the vibrato only appears late in the piece:
Terry's main bass teacher was Robert Brennand, the long time NYPhil Principal. Mr. Brennand was generous and giving to Terry, who passed the generosity on to all of his students. Terry studied composition and conducting with Antal Dorati, who was one of Bartok's students.
He was relentless and rigorously honest in his musical pursuits. He was an incisive, profoundly thoughtful, articulate, driven, and terrifically supportive teacher. He talked about playing the bass in the most practical, fundamental, helpful ways. Never an ego spin or load of fluff; pure "how to" from start to finish, in the most fundamental ways, whether he was talking about developing a phrase or getting a good sound from either hand.
I have notebooks full of notes from lessons from him that I am still getting great stuff from. I don't think there will be another like him, in this life...
Here he is with the Moscow Philharmonic, conducting an oboe/orchestra piece he wrote, "Windflower:"
And "Pride of Baltimore:"
Here's a nice interview with him, from "For Bass Players Only:"
Invalid Link Removed
RIP, Terry. Thank you for the music, the faith, the love, and the laughs.
When we spoke last week he told me a joke that had me chuckling to myself all day.
All I can say is that I think that we should all practice more, play more joyfully, and and push ahead even more fearlessly, as the best way to honor his memory.
He put a lot of beauty into the world. As far as I can tell, that seems to be immortality at its best.
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Eric,
I am truly so sorry for your loss of a personal friend and mentor. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with this great man, I'm sure it must have been difficult and painful. I never met him, I knew him only through the music he graciously shared, and I am devastated.
Joe
I am truly so sorry for your loss of a personal friend and mentor. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with this great man, I'm sure it must have been difficult and painful. I never met him, I knew him only through the music he graciously shared, and I am devastated.
Joe
I first saw Terry in 1973 playing in Virginia with John D'Earth, Dawn Thompson and crew (including John Abercrombie) on a one off gig I believe. They gave him a lot of feature room and he bowed a ton. I had not seen or heard anything like it.
A band I was in had a weekly gig at Harold's Rogue and Jar off of DuPont Circle in DC. Terry also had a regular night of the week there and I would go hear his band, which I loved. It was a quartet: Terry playing arco fronting a rhythm section of Rhodes piano, Fender bass, and drums. Wish I had a recording of that.
I don't know how Terry amplified his bass in the 70's, but he managed to sound good on stage while other great upright players struggled to get a decent sound with the bass pickups (Barcus-Berry, Polytone, etc.) that were primarily being used at the time.
A band I was in had a weekly gig at Harold's Rogue and Jar off of DuPont Circle in DC. Terry also had a regular night of the week there and I would go hear his band, which I loved. It was a quartet: Terry playing arco fronting a rhythm section of Rhodes piano, Fender bass, and drums. Wish I had a recording of that.
I don't know how Terry amplified his bass in the 70's, but he managed to sound good on stage while other great upright players struggled to get a decent sound with the bass pickups (Barcus-Berry, Polytone, etc.) that were primarily being used at the time.
I was in D.C. at the same time, as a teenager. I started studying with him soon after that. I may be bit younger, but I remember Harold's. I don't know what he was using in '73 for a pickup, but I believe he was an "early adopter" of the Underwood; it may have been that. Those massive brass Polytones and early Barcus Berry's were a drag!
By the time I heard/saw him first (1978), he was using a Fender Bassman head with an Ampeg B15 cabinet. He also used an Underwood pickup and an MXR 10 band graphic equalizer.
After that time, he stuck with the Underwood, but switched to a Walter Woods amp through an Ampeg 4x10 cab in the late 80's/early 90's as I recall. The last time I heard him play amplified, live, a couple of years ago, it was Underwood straight into the Walter Woods/Ampeg 4 x 10 rig; the MXR equalizer was gone
He always used Spiro Weichs and Pops rosin. In the late 70's, 80's, and 90's he was using white bow hair; he switched to black hair more recently.
A place to hear the sound of that time was originally released as "Ongoing," later re-released as "Water Garden" (which was a song name on the original vinyl LP).
Its available at Amazon: Amazon.com: terry plumeri water garden
Or CD Baby:[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
The tracks "Gypsy" and "Ongoing" both reflect that sound; the bowed bass up front, in front of the trio or quartet. Drummer Mike Smith (who passed several years ago) was simply amazing. Abercrombie and Cohen/Copeland are no jokes, either.
That record has two string quintets played by members of the National Symphony, "Rush Hour" and "Dusk" that are still favorite pieces for me, all these years later...
Another record of his '70's sound; the front line bowed bass (through a wah wah pedal), out in front of a Fender Rhodes (Herbie Hancock), drums (Mike Smith), percussion (Eric Gravatt), and guitar (John Abercrombie) rhythm section is the tune "Bees" from "He Who Lives in Many Places" from 1971:
Terry Plumeri - He Who Lives In Many Places - Amazon.com Music
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I've attached a couple of photos from the '70's; the hair and beard were red, then.
Attachments
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First of all, I know this is a huge loss for you, condolences. You brought his work to the attention of many of us, so thanks for that. Secondly, both of the above pick ups were a bummer through Polytone and other old amps, but both are fantastic through GK or better amps!
I am using the old Barcus Berry through a GK 200MB and it is my favorite pick up I've ever owned. It barely affects the acoustic tone so I can use it with a volume pedal and it can easily get a very warm and full tone.
The brass Polytones are great, too. They are hard to find, hard to ground and gouge the inside of the bridge but have a great sound through modern amps.
Wow; I had no idea! Thank you for the updated info.
All I can report is that Terry used an Underwood from at least the late '70's (if not the early '70's) until he died.
BTW, Terry was also using a wah-wah pedal from time to time in the '70's. You can hear it on "He Who Lives in Many Places." The amplified bass with the wah-wah, distorted a bit through a tube amp...it was a trip.
His work is not about me, or even him, ultimately. He always said that the music came through him; he was merely the channel.
He was a skilled, fearless, and dedicated musician. He had the courage to play and compose what he heard and the talent, faith, understanding, vision, and abilities to pull it off.
I'm glad that this forum helped more people hear music come through him. It is up to us now to all do what we can...he certainly did his share!
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This guy is the real deal, he's brilliant. They're all Top A List gifted musicians. I'm not a jazz guy and I I'll definately be youtube/pandora more of him. It'd be very cool to own an instrument with his intensity. Terrible loss.
Very cool! The sound of those D.C. bands is captured well in the tunes "Gypsy" and "Ongoing."
"Ongoing" was written as a counterpoint exercise, then developed into a tune for ensemble.
The string quintets, "Dawn" and "Dusk" were his first finished compositions for string ensembles; he asked musicians from the National Symphony to play them for this album.
Not to turn the thread into something, but Youtube and streaming sites should be used as reference materials - if you really like the music then physical copy or a paying for a download is the best way to hear the music in good quality audio and get $ to the musicians!
If you didn't want to turn this into something then why did you? We are expressing our thoughts on the loss of his great talent. I'm off to create a Terry Plumeri Pandora radio station. Have a nice day.
That is great for him - better that more people hear his music, but Pandora/Spotify don't pay fair rates to living musicians, FYI.
