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Abstract
The project, “From the Bottom Up – A Personal Global Jazz Bass Method” focuses on the music of ensembles that do not feature a chordal instrument (such as a piano or guitar) in the rhythm section and has three different components. The first component is to interview bassists Linda May Han Oh, Ben Street, Marion Hayden and John Patitucci about their experience as bassists in these settings. The second aspect is to compose music for a quartet featuring the instrumentation of Trumpet, Trombone, Double Bass and Drum Kit to explore the findings of the interviews. Third is to create a series of etudes to explore the harmonic language of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute for bass players of the institute. The findings of the interviews and resulting transcriptions are that bass players use the same harmonic language in ensembles featuring or lacking a chordal instrument, yet they have heightened interaction with the soloists in those ensembles. The spontaneous counterpoint created between bassists and soloists is also more prominent due to a lack of a chordal instrument. The compositions for the project featured an emphasis on interaction, counterpoint and the use of space. Etudes explore harmonic motion by major and minor thirds, traditional walking bass lines used in nontraditional sequences, and brightening and lightening tetrachords.
Publication Date
7-1-2024
Campus
Boston Campus
Recommended Citation
Harrison, Douglas. “From The Bottom Up: A Personal Global Jazz Bass Method.” Master's thesis, Berklee College of Music, 2024. https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-global-jazz/164.