Tuba and Bass duets?

[dershem]

My brother is a bass player. Both of us are primarily jazz players.

Has anyone ever written a piece for Bass and Tuba?
If so, was it any good?
What tunes would lay well for bass and tuba, d'ye think?

[imperialbari]

If you are jazz players, why don’t just get going on a head arrangement based on a lead sheet?

I am no jazz player myself, but I have been trained in writing for big band. Only I don’t dare writing any arrangement any more because of the copyright issues.

If sight reading the melody from treble clef causes problems, then rewrite it in bass clef.

Select a chord sequence suited for an intro. Come up with a line over those chords, learn it and play it in unison, with an ostinato pattern on top or below, or apply whatever ideas you have. Distribute the roles as melody versus bass and soloist versus bass. Make interludes in unison, tenths, ninths, seventh, tritones, or whatever interval your ears dictate. Make sure changing your roles regularly.

Seen that YouTube video, where Sam Pilafian is in a shop and tests a huge marching euph? Pat Sheridan joins in on a sousaphone. OK, those two have a huge box of professional tools to rely on, but you have to develop your own tools. Finding a full repertoire of pre-made stuff for your constellation hardly ever will happen.

25 years ago I had the good fortune to hear Jack deJohnette and his 2nd Edition band live. Howard Johnson soloed on low reeds and on tuba. When he went really low on the tuba, Rufus Reid played walking bass just about as high as the fingerboard on his upright allowed for.

Have you worked on your talking tuba or other extended techniques? You may let yourself inspire by some of the funny articulations of Oystein Baadsvik.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

We have a Danish orchestra conductor of Italian roots, Giordano Bellincampi, famous for his extremely good ears and very secure time keeping. He started out as a bassboner, and I saw a feature on him and a fellow graduate of his on trumpet. He complained much of the solo repertoire rather displaying the upper than the lower range of the bassbone.

There are reasons for that. Research has shown the human ear unable to discern closer intervals than a fourth, when both notes are below F in the bass stave. Roughly that is of course, but still the main point is valid. Low instruments playing together have to spread out over the range.

In that context it is no surprise at all that Wade had success with playing the Mozart horn duets together with a bass. Mozart’s horns were natural (valveless) horns. Whenever they descended in their range their intervals became fifths and octaves.

Klaus

[dershem]

The Bach suggestion has some potential. Some of the 2-part inventions are very nice, and would be fun.
We're mostly jazz players, yes, and have been goofing around with some tunes. I was just trying to not re-invent the wheel.

[BopEuph]

If your brother is an upright player, like has been previously mentioned, you both could trade off on bassline and melody. If he plays electric, well, this is the perfect time to work on chord playing. And you both can still trade melody and bassline between each other. There are so many ideas going through my mind for this! I might give it a shot if I find another guy willing to try it with me sometime.

There is a Rossini bass/cello duet I once owned, but loaned it out before I ever got the chance to play it, and never saw it again. I don't know how easy that might be for tuba/bass.

By the way, if you and your brother are serious musicians, this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about being the player on the bottom end. Learn basslines from all of his bass player CDs, and he could learn tuba lines from Rich Matteson or even Nat McIntosh. It's interesting to learn from both.

Nick

[imperialbari]

The Rossini duet may be downloaded for free from here:

http://216.129.110.22/files/imglnks/usi ... s_in_D.pdf

The scan has very little margin, but somehow you likely will make it print OK. I guess it will challenge you a bit at least at the first reading. Close double stop take their tubist to come out well.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

and if you can read treble clef concert offset an octave or two plus find a pianist then this one may also work for you:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg ... ossini.pdf

Klaus