Larry Grenadier: Oceanic
Ever since the release of his solo bass album, The Gleaners, I’ve seen Larry Grenadier’s playing in a new light. The jazz bassist spent a year exploring the instrument and its possibilities before recording it for ECM.
I keep coming back to the opening track, “Oceanic,” which creates an indescribable atmosphere. Part of the ambience is created by an alternate tuning – D, A, D, F# – that affects the bass.
“Exploring it myself, I tended to like the warmth of the sound when I tuned down,” he told us in an interview. “Watching how the whole bass resonated differently with different tunings would inspire me just in that the bass sounded like another instrument: a bassoon or some darker woodwind. Those things were enough to make the music come out. That’s such a bass geeky thing to do, but that’s enough. Then you go from there and be inspired by that.”
Here’s a live performance of “Oceanic” from his concert at the Zürcher Gallery earlier this year:
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
