___________________________________________________ | | |CONTRABASS-L | | An email list for discussion of bass and | | contrabass instruments of all kinds. | | Contact gdgreen@crl.com for subscription. | | See www.crl.com/~gdgreen/c-arch1.html for | | back issues. | |___________________________________________________|
Vol. 1, No. 69
24 December 1996
EDITOR'S NOTES: First off, let's welcome another new subscriber, Stan Elias < elias@capecod.net >. Welcome aboard!
Second, this may be the last digest of 1996 (depending on my holiday schedule). In any event, there should be another digest sometime the first week of January.
Third, I've arranged to move the Contrabass-L list and most of my web site to .... contrabass.com! Right now we're (Scott Hirsch and I) waiting for domain registration and propagation, so don't rush out and update your links yet. With the domain change comes real software for mailing list management, which means that you'll get digests or individual posts (your choice, or both) automatically, without having to wait for me to wrap them up. Using the Principle of Least Change, I'll subscribe all current subscribers to the digest form initially. The first digest sent out under the new software will include instructions on how to change to the "individual post" style, etc. The address for the list will be "contrabass-L@contrabass.com", and my personal address will be gdgreen@contrabass.com. That way, there won't be any confusion between messages for me and messages for the list. The new domain should also make it possible to upgrade the web site: I'm hunting around for stuff like streaming audio now.
And another sousaphone from the usenet...
>From: epucci1023@aol.com (EPucci1023)
>Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.marketplace
>Subject: For Sale Holton 3valve Eb Sousaphone
>Date: 22 Dec 1996 23:07:36 GMT
>
>Lacquer is about half off, small characteristic denting no major dents,
>bell looks good-- valves OK, no case $350 plus shipping.
>Bob Pucci
Author: "Stan Elias"
<elias@capecod.net>
Date: 12/22/96 7:38
PM
Subject: subscribe contrabass-l
Stan Elias
<elias@capecod.net>
Author: tjohnson@akcache.com (Johnson; Tim)
Date:
12/21/96 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: Contrabass-L No. 68
Speaking of records, I've good a recording that has a tour de force for the BBb Contrabass. The album is High Places by Walter Zuber Armstrong. Plays bass clarinet, doubling on Contrabass. There is a ten-minute unaccompanied solo on the contrabass that is hard-edged, vaguely oriental in tonality (but no real key center) and as aggressive as a rock bass guitar solo. He plays from all the down to the range of the alto sax, and has a full-bodied upper/high register presence.
The rest of the album (with piano accompanment only) is also wonderful. I would be happy to share tapes, the record is a bit scratchy, all the more reason to keep those sounds around, I have no idea what happened to Walter Zuber Armstrong. I think it is recorded in 1979.
His instrument is, I believe, a straight (not looped) model, and sounds like it is of either wood or more probably plastic.
And speaking of instruments, I have a book by Anthony Baines called "Woodwind instruments and their history", published 1957, rev. 1962. In it, Baines writes admiringly about the Huler BBb contrabass clarinet. I've seen no reference to that model in this column. The photograph of the Huler shows a straight instrument with a much larger bell than what I have seen in other straight contrabasses, and a much longer "gooseneck" (from the mouthpiece to the barrel) than what I have seen in any other contrabass. According to Baines, it stands 57 inches tall.
I was browsing through the Woodwind & Brasswind site this morning, and noticed that they now have lists of "used" and "scratch & dent" instruments for sale on their site ( http://www.wwandbw.com ). Since this is otherwise a pretty short digest, I'll post a summary of some of the more interesting horns there:
End Contrabass-L No. 69