Ron Carter

[Durium]

RON CARTER

Previous to this concert was an interview by Dan Quellette with Ron Carter and the members of the quartet in the Volga. Dan Quellette had organized this as a Question & Answer between the three members of the band and their maestro, as Rolando Morales-Matos, Puerto Rico born, labelled Ron in his first question. One of the questions was how it is possible that you always can recognize Ron's bass sound, even when he is not playing on his own double bass. Ron explained that it is very difficult to take your own bass while on tour. "I pay three times the airfare when I take my own instrument with me", Ron explained, "I have to play now on the "bass de jour", the double bass available on the band stand. Normally I only change the tail pin and the pickup, to amplify the sound." Ron explains the different types of strings he has used in the past and nowadays (at home he still uses his 1959 bass used in the Miles Davis Quintet) and about the use of pickup. "I meet my "bass de jour" normally twenty minutes before the concert, so....."

Ron Carter - Bass de Jour

Keep swinging

Durium

[Shrdlu]

Ah, that explains why I saw him on a TV show with a bass without the low C extension on the bottom string. Basses really need a lower note than E (I realized this especially after listening to electro/house where they can easily go below the usual E, and also after getting myself an electric bass) and Ron is the only acoustic player that I know of who has an extended bass fiddle.

I've always wanted to ask Ron why he has that characteristic sound - a sound that is instantly recognizable, which is something that the top players always have. It is very rich and deep, and almost completely lacking in treble, unlike, say, Richard Davis's sound, which is at the other extreme. Why does his tone have little treble? Maybe it is the particular instrument that he plays.

[marcello]

Ah, that explains why I saw him on a TV show with a bass without the low C extension on the bottom string. Basses really need a lower note than E (I realized this especially after listening to electro/house where they can easily go below the usual E, and also after getting myself an electric bass) and Ron is the only acoustic player that I know of who has an extended bass fiddle.

Mike Richmond has that type of bass also.