[bobsax]

Who Is your favorite bass saxophone player and do you know anybody that actually does the bass job on the bass saxophone ? I play the saxophone and the upright bass and I would love to hear a bass SaxoPhone taking the place of the upright bass in a traditional jazz group. I tried doing this with the contrabass clarinet but the instrument was difficult to amplify and it sounded more like a bass being bowed then plucked.

 

[turf3]

Go to You Tuba and look for Adrian Rollini (own name and Bix Beiderbecke), Min Leibrook (with Bix), Joe Rushton (with Red Nichols), and Spencer Clark for excellent examples of that kind of playing.

Because of the nature of the bass sax compared to tuba and string bass, they don't just play the straight two-beat pumps, but also more extended notes, and taking solos as well.

I too am a sax and upright bass player; I do play bass sax occasionally; I just finished a gig on bass sax doing traditional New Orleans gospel songs, and this Saturday I'm taking it to a trad jazz jam session.

Among players active today on bass sax in the trad jazz role are Vince Giordano (though few of the You Boot videos with him feature the bass sax, mostly upright and tuba) and Matt Tolentino (haven't seen a Youtube of him, though).

Four beat stuff is harder to play because there's no place to breathe. You would have to invent more inventive lines than the four quarter notes in every bar that bass players play.

I am still learning and growing on bass sax. I wish I had a regular gig or session so I could come better to grips with it. It's an extremely neat and interesting instrument.

 

[LiAm84]

Lots of great Scott Robinson on bass on youtube with Jon Kellso's earregulars:

 

[saxtek]

Lots of great Scott Robinson on bass on youtube with Jon Kellso's earregulars:

Thanks for that post. I am a fan of Scott Robinson and those are some great bass sax clips.
Here is one of my bass sax recordings on Youtube. I wish I had a video.

 

[mrpeebee]

Adrian Rollini (as already mentoned by turf3) is of course the trend setter for this instrument.

Here in The Netherlands we have Trio Grande with bass sax (Alex de Leeuw), trumpet and guitar/singing.
Check here for more information and example video's:
http://www.triogrande.nl/en

Klaas Hekman is another (more modern) bass sax player from my country (NL):
https://www.klaashekman.nl/index.html

You might want to check this bass sax quartet from Germany too:
http://www.deepschrott.de/?PG=contact&Lang=en

Charlie Ventura didn't only play great tenor, but also bass sax:

Check SOTW member Brian Landrus:
https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?229458-Bass-Sax-Solo

 

[Hipparion]

Colin Stetson, but it's... not the usual sax playing.

 

[lydian]

My favorite Colin Stetson solo:

 

[paulwl]

Bert Brandsma from Holland is a marvelous traditional jazz guy.

Andy Schumm is best known as a trumpeter but is a multi instrumentalist (so many of the best bass saxophonists are NOT woodwind specialists!!). He does baseline with a difference, adding fills everywhere he can. Look him up on YT.

 

[martybarisax]

I like James Carter's version of Nuages

I also like Adrian Rollini.

Marty...

 

[bobsax]

Wow I just got to say Scott Robinson is in another league. Just amazing how he covers the bass job. I think this is the only guy who’s actually doing it? Imagine the endurance that he has to sit there and oompah the whole tune, no breaks.. then take a screaming solo.

 

[turf3]

Wow I just got to say Scott Robinson is in another league. Just amazing how he covers the bass job. I think this is the only guy who's actually doing it? Imagine the endurance that he has to sit there and oompah the whole tune, no breaks.. then take a screaming solo.

No doubt that Scott Robinson is a great player, but just above in this thread are multiple lists of other bass sax players who also take the bass role and play solos. I see no one mentioned Uwe Ladwig yet. Check out his videos, especially with his trio "Bixology".