[78-L] Use of double bass in dance bands

[David Lewis]

Belated response to this thread, and apologies for that. My experience has been, and that comes from merely from listening to lots and lots of dance records from 1918-34, is that while the brass bass dominates before 1928 both brass bass and string bass are used interchangeably inthis whole period. There are very early dance records from around 1920 that use bass clarinet or bassoon in that role as well. And the brassbass doesn't necessarily disappear from the scene after 1928; witness this Fletcher Henderson recording from 1931: https://www.box.com/s/f6hiw1l0crf83tm60jv7 It seems most bass players in jazz/dance bands in that period were capable of playing both, much as a saxophone player in the 1920s wasexpected to know clarinet too, and several kinds of saxophones and if needed, other reeds such as oboe. If there was a conscious transitionfrom brass bass to string bass, and I'm not sure that it was "conscious" per se, before that it was up to the player or arranger to determinewhich option sounded better within a given piece. Vince Giordano is the bassist in the Nighthawks and he crams into his little spot on the'stage at the Edison Hotel a bass sax, tuba and a metal string bass. You do see similar configurations in old photos of dance bands; I reallythink it was up to the discretion of the player. Possibly the pluckier sound of the string bass "won" by 1935 simply because it fit better with the tempo of swing music, but note that in theHenderson file the brass bass has no trouble swinging this chart. I play the electric bass regularly and I can attest, yes, if you are a bassplayer it is easy to detect mistakes in the bass line. But the upside of that is that you can better appreciate really outstanding bass playingwhen it happens.  

Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis at hotmail.com