Three Pieces for Contrabass
for solo contrabass
date: 1999, rev. 2004
duration: 18'
first performance: 21 April 1999; International House, New York, NY; Karin Hannson, contrabass
availability: score for sale
recording availability: non-commercial recording
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NOTES
The movement titles comprising Three Piece for Contrabass are I. Prelude (Meatheads), II. Distance, and III. Pastoriana.
Distance and Pastoriana were written in the spring of 1999 for my friend Karin Hannson. In 2004, I wrote the Prelude (subtitled Meatheads) for the avante-garde, improv jedi master Mark Dresser, who performed it at a concert in Princeton on May 12, 2004.
The title of the second movement, Distance, takes its name from the recurring, bright harmonic glissando figures (which require a rather lengthy slide on the string up the fingerboard) and which permeate an otherwise slow, dark and muddy texture. The second movement, Pastoriana, takes its name from Jaco Pastorius, the late, great bass player of the fusion band Weather Report.