Arizona Bass Players Festival Review by Matthew Aussprung

More Than Your Bass-ic Weekend: The Third Arizona Bass Players Festival
By Matthew Aussprung

Bassists-of-all-ages traveled from around the globe for the Third Arizona Bass Players Festival on March 6-9, 2008. This year, the highly-anticipated Festival was held at the schools of music at both the University of Arizona in Tucson, and Arizona State University in Tempe. The first half of the esteemed clinicians were: Patrick Neher, President of the ABP and professor at University of Arizona; Joel DiBartolo, professor at Northern Arizona University; and Catalin Rotaru who directs the bass program at ASU. The remaining half of the Festival’s clinicians infused international flare into the bass-filled weekend with: Rufus Reid, famous jazz bassist recognized all around the world; Robert Kassinger, a current member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Miloslav Jelinek, the famous classical solo bassist from the Czech Republic.

The Festival officially began on Thursday as Reid and Kassinger arrived in Tucson, Arizona, giving master classes during the morning and afternoon at the UA School of Music. Traversing the distance of over one-hundred miles, the Festival then traveled north to Tempe where the first evening concert went underway, featuring Jelinek, with Rotaru, in a classical concert in Katzin Hall, showcasing many solo talents of Jelinek. The evening included a marvelous performance of Bottesini’s Passione Amarosa by Jelinek and Rotaru, with Chai-I Chen on piano.

The next morning, a forest of participants, clad in specially-designed green ABP tee-shirts, eagerly crowded the hallways of ASU, waiting for the fun-filled day to start. By 10:00am the Festival was in full swing as each clinician hosted individual performance classes throughout the day. Each artist offered wisdom on his own specialty (like classical music, jazz, and even rock), as well as teaching the participants important bass techniques. That evening, Rotaru, Neher, and Jelinek performed a stirring “classical” concert. All three clinicians showed off their mesmerizing style: Rotaru performed an incredible version of Tchaikovsky’s Roccoco Variations, to which the entire hall applauded him with a standing ovation; Neher performed a world premiere of his piece, Crystals, for double bass and prepared electronics; and wrapping-up the concert, Jelinek's ending highlight was a melodious performance of Haydn’s Concerto for cello in C major.

On Saturday, the participants got the special opportunity to engage in master classes in all music styles, where some of them performed a solo piece for a clinician. This was a truly educational experience as the participants learned from and laughed along with the experienced and intuitive ears of the bass masters. The day of studious classes took a rousing detour into jazz music, as the highlight of the evening was an up-beat concert featuring Reid, DiBartolo, and Kassinger. Joining the bassists on stage was ASU’s Mike Kocour on piano and Dom Moio on percussion. All together, the concert resonated with bopping tunes and was a groovy way to end the night.

Sunday became an exhilarating day for the participants as the 1st ABP Double Bass Solo Competition went underway. Tension was high since the grand prize was a beautiful Shen bass, which was graciously donated by Robertsons and Sons Violin Shop. Performing alongside the piano accompanist, Chai-I Chen, a slew of participants-turned-contestants took their turn on the stage, musically battling it out in an attempt to out-bow each other. In the end, only one could take home the BIG prize---and congratulations to Chunyang Wang! Wang is a student at the Juilliard School of Music; John Sims came in a close second and Alexander Jacobsen in third. Through great musicianship and charisma, the solo competition was a roaring success; hopefully, this amazing opportunity will be extended to the 4th ABP Festival next March!

Once again, the nighttime became the right time for a mind-blowing concert, which was aptly called the “All Clinician Bass Jamm.” All six wonderful and talented clinicians---Jelinek, Neher, Reid, DiBartolo, Kassinger, and Rotaru---performed together on one crazy, bass-filled stage, accompanied again by Kocour and Moio. Jazz duets and solos occupied most of the concert, but there were several arrangements for the entire group, including DiBartolo’s own arrangement of Bottesini’s Elegy. And in good fashion, the musical numbers of the night rocked back-and-forth from classical to jazz, with plenty of serious improv and hip jazz skills. The amazing final concert showcased the versatile power of the bass and ended the all-star 3rd Arizona Bass Players Festival with a bang.