OK, so you came up with the money, and you bought yourself the bass saxophone that you've always wanted. Now where do you you actually get to play it? .... Other than in the privacy of your own home that is...
Many bass players are faced with that exact same dilemma. When I first bought my bass, I was the bari player in a saxophone quintet, so that gave me a place to express my fondness for the lower end of the sound spectrum. Unfortunately that quintet folded, so I was left with no place to play the horn that had traveled on the seat next to me all the way from New Orleans. Now what? I phoned the local community band. I was told in no uncertain terms they didn't want a behemoth (the person I spoke with actually used that term!) like that in the band. Besides, they had no music for me to play anyway, since their scores were all more recent than my horn, the person went on to say proudly. Yeah, whatever...Rude people are everywhere.
A couple months after that rather rude exchange with the community band guy, an opportunity presented itself. I was asked to join a Latin band fronted by a bass guitar player who was quite famous in his home country of El Salvador. I felt honored just to be asked to play with Cesar. I was blown away when he asked me to help him with the arrangements, and was open to listening to my ideas. On a lark, I suggested we try using my bass on a song, not really thinking that he would go for it. He did, and we decided to use the bass on an original arrangement of the traditional version of La Bamba...which was about to get very much more original. After only a couple of festival performances, the bass sax became the star of the show. It sat in its stand all night long, until I wheeled it over to play "its song".
The Latino community was very supportive of us, and we were their unofficial band, and the official entertainment at most Latino events in the province. The crowds knew us, knew our music, and came to know the sound of the horn extremely well. They loved it. They cheered whenever I rolled "the behemoth" underneath the microphone. They went nuts after the song was over. The horn become the icon of the band. It was very weird.
We even had a photo journalist show up at a noon time show in a local mall that was set up to promote the upcoming multi-cultural festival. The photo journalist waited patiently for nearly an hour until I played the bass. A full colour photo of me playing the bass appeared on the top half of the front page of the provincial paper a day later.
But alas...All good things...I moved from the east coast, back to BC. Here I have had a number gigging offers, mostly old time Dixieland, but by the time I crunch the numbers, it would cost me to play it in a band due to the travel to rehearsals and such. So for now, my poor bass is waiting patiently.
When my own jazz band does larger shows, I do take it with me occasionally. But for smaller venues I'm already playing S,A,T, & B, so the bass just adds to an already crowed stage. In the blues band I work in, there is just not enough room on most stages we play. We are doing some festivals this summer, so I might drag it out for that...that is if I get my chops for it back into shape...
So I guess what I'm thinking is that if you're a bass saxophone player, you pretty much have to create your own opportunities to play.
What do you guys think? Share some of your stories. I am interested in hearing what your experiences have been. Where have you, and are you currently playing your "behemoth"?
Many bass players are faced with that exact same dilemma. When I first bought my bass, I was the bari player in a saxophone quintet, so that gave me a place to express my fondness for the lower end of the sound spectrum. Unfortunately that quintet folded, so I was left with no place to play the horn that had traveled on the seat next to me all the way from New Orleans. Now what? I phoned the local community band. I was told in no uncertain terms they didn't want a behemoth (the person I spoke with actually used that term!) like that in the band. Besides, they had no music for me to play anyway, since their scores were all more recent than my horn, the person went on to say proudly. Yeah, whatever...Rude people are everywhere.
A couple months after that rather rude exchange with the community band guy, an opportunity presented itself. I was asked to join a Latin band fronted by a bass guitar player who was quite famous in his home country of El Salvador. I felt honored just to be asked to play with Cesar. I was blown away when he asked me to help him with the arrangements, and was open to listening to my ideas. On a lark, I suggested we try using my bass on a song, not really thinking that he would go for it. He did, and we decided to use the bass on an original arrangement of the traditional version of La Bamba...which was about to get very much more original. After only a couple of festival performances, the bass sax became the star of the show. It sat in its stand all night long, until I wheeled it over to play "its song".
The Latino community was very supportive of us, and we were their unofficial band, and the official entertainment at most Latino events in the province. The crowds knew us, knew our music, and came to know the sound of the horn extremely well. They loved it. They cheered whenever I rolled "the behemoth" underneath the microphone. They went nuts after the song was over. The horn become the icon of the band. It was very weird.
We even had a photo journalist show up at a noon time show in a local mall that was set up to promote the upcoming multi-cultural festival. The photo journalist waited patiently for nearly an hour until I played the bass. A full colour photo of me playing the bass appeared on the top half of the front page of the provincial paper a day later.
But alas...All good things...I moved from the east coast, back to BC. Here I have had a number gigging offers, mostly old time Dixieland, but by the time I crunch the numbers, it would cost me to play it in a band due to the travel to rehearsals and such. So for now, my poor bass is waiting patiently.
When my own jazz band does larger shows, I do take it with me occasionally. But for smaller venues I'm already playing S,A,T, & B, so the bass just adds to an already crowed stage. In the blues band I work in, there is just not enough room on most stages we play. We are doing some festivals this summer, so I might drag it out for that...that is if I get my chops for it back into shape...
So I guess what I'm thinking is that if you're a bass saxophone player, you pretty much have to create your own opportunities to play.
What do you guys think? Share some of your stories. I am interested in hearing what your experiences have been. Where have you, and are you currently playing your "behemoth"?
