Cincinnati
pianist, composer, and lyricist Dave Bass began taking piano lessons at
age seven, and after high school played in bands opening for Captain
Beefheart and Alice Cooper. He then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but chose to continue his private studies with Margaret Chaloff. She taught him Russian technique. Dave then founded his own band, acted as pianist with Brenda Lee, toured Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.
During the seventies and eighties he lived around the bay of San Francisco, where he was a musician full time. In the mid-eighties he had a fall, where doctors told him that playing the piano probably wouldn't work anymore. Dave went to college and then UCLA School of Law. In 1996, he accepted the position of Deputy Attorney General at the California Office of the Attorney General. To his surprise, his injuries had healed and he was able to play the piano again.
His latest CD is a lyrical, free-flowing buffet of solid originals along with an eclectic assortment of compositions ranging from the American Songbook through the Jazz Songbook to a Piazzolla tango.
This is Bass's sixth CD as a leader, and the third with his trio. “In jazz, the piano trio is one of the most demanding and revealing disciplines – perhaps the ultimate challenge for a jazz pianist,” he said. “There is nowhere to hide, and all is revealed. When successful, the trio format allows for a wonderful telepathy between the players, and I am delighted that this has happened with bassist Kerry Kashiwagi and drummer Scott Gordon.”
'As Long As there's Music' opens, which we know in Frank Sinatra's version, followed by the cover 'Criss Cross' by Thelonious Monk. 'Endless Waltz' is an original track, for which he first wrote lyrics, which were sung by Karrin Allyson.
After reading James Joyce's 'Ulysses' he got the inspiration for 'Agenbite of Inwit'. Rodgers & Hart's ‘With a Song in My Heart’ is the next famous cover, followed by the bolero ‘El Ciego’ about a lost love.
'Israel' is of course taken from Miles Davis' album 'Birth of the Cool', and 'Blood' is a track by Annette Peacock, which sounds "out of tune". 'If You Could See Me now' is a quiet ballad, after which the cover 'Played Twice' comes from Monk again. We all know the famous 'Libertango', and 'Another Ending' closes with a romantic version of the bolero with cha-cha.
A CD that will certainly inspire lovers of jazz trios!
Tracks:
Criss Cross
Endless Waltz
Agenbite of Inwit
With a Song in My Heart
El Ciego
Israel
Blood
If You Could See Me now
Played Twice
Libertango
Another Ending