Bass on Top a column by Bass Is vs. For All It Is Before George Foreman and Muhammad Ali’s 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” or Ali and Joe Frazier’s 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” was the even more brutal “Slugfest in Bass Clef.” Okay, not really, but this issue’s column will dive into two of the most important albums in the multi-bass ensemble genre: Peter Warren’s Bass Is (celebrating its 55th anniversary last month) and Barre Phillips’ For All It Is, released on Enja and JAPO, respectively. But first it is necessary to go back even further, to December 1947. Duke Ellington, that innovator of innovators, used Oscar Pettiford and Junior Raglin in his orchestra for a week. The Ellingtonian connection continued in January 1955, when trumpeter Clark Terry used Wendell Marshall and Pettiford (the latter mostly on cello) as part of a septet for his eponymous EmArcy release, notably on the tune “Double Play.” At the 1957 Brandeis University Jazz Festival organized by Gunther Schuller, Fred Zimmerman and Joe Benjamin played alongside each other in large ensembles led by Bill Evans and Charles Mingus (who also led a band with Henry Grimes in 1962 heard on radio broadcasts). A similar exploration came at the end of 1960 and the John Lewis album Jazz Abstractions. On this collection of Lewis and Schuller pieces, performed by large groups of varying sizes and personnel (including Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy), Scott LaFaro is matched with either Alvin Broehm (Schuller) or George Duvivier (Lewis). In 1958, bassist brothers Keith Moore “Red” and Gordon “Whitey” Mitchell made a septet album (Get Those Elephants Out’a Here, the title referencing their mother beseeching them to get the instruments out of the living room). The first instance of multiple basses being truly featured came in 1957 via the once-obscure-then-made-famous-through-the-2018-film-dramatization-Green Book pianist Don Shirley: Don Shirley with 2 Basses (with Jimmy Bond, Ken Fricker and a hilarious cover). It would take 13 years (to the best of this author’s knowledge) for this particular format to be repeated, this time with the 1970 album Sans Tambour Ni Trompette by French pianist Martial Solal and compatriots Jean-Francois Jenny-Clarke and Gilbert Rovére. Up to this point, multiple basses had been used either to thicken a straightahead jazz date or explore the nascent Third Stream. That would all change at the end of 1960. On December 21st, 1960, right after the two days that produced Jazz Abstractions, Coleman, another innovator of innovators, went into A&R Studios in New York to record what would become Free Jazz. Alongside himself/Dolphy, Don Cherry/Freddie Hubbard and Billy Higgins/Ed Blackwell were Scott LaFaro and Charlie Haden. [side note: Dolphy was in the New Jersey studio of Rudy Van Gelder on the same day, either before or after, to record Far Cry.] Now multiple basses had a different purpose, less about accompaniment and rhythm and more about being another color in the sound palette. Once Coleman did it – which he only did twice again, with a quartet including Haden and David Izenzon from Spring 1967-Spring 1968 and at a quartet concert in 2006 in Germany with Greg Cohen and Tony Falanga – lots of others started doing it through the end of the decade. Many were saxophonists: Johnny Griffin (Change of Pace with Bill Lee and Larry Gales); John Coltrane (Olé Coltrane with Reggie Workman and Art Davis, an alternate version of A Love Supreme, and Ascension, the latter two with Art Davis and Jimmy Garrison); Albert Ayler (Spirits Rejoice with Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock and Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village with Bill Folwell and either Alan Silva or Henry Grimes); Archie Shepp (Three for a Quarter, One for a Dime and Live in San Francisco, both with Donald Garrett and Lewis Worrell); Roland Kirk (Kirk in Copenhagen with Don Moore and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen); Marion Brown (one track on his eponymous ESP-Disk album with Reggie Johnson and Ronnie Boykins); Marzette Watts (Marzette and Company with Grimes and Juini Booth); Robin Kenyatta (one track on Until with Walter Booker and Worrell); Maurice McIntyre (Humility in the Light of the Creator with Malachi Favors and Mchaka Uba); Pharoah Sanders (Karma with Workman and either Richard Davis or Ron Carter and Jewels of Thought with Cecil McBee and Richard Davis); and others. Instrumentalists other than saxophonists also liked the idea: pianists Andrew Hill (Smokestack with Richard Davis and Eddie Khan and one track on Compulsion!!!!! with McBee and Richard Davis) and Cecil Taylor (Unit Structures with Grimes and Alan Silva); trumpeter Bill Dixon (Bill Dixon 7-tette with David Izenzon and Hal Dodson, and Intents and Purposes with Jimmy Garrison and Reggie Workman); and trombonists Roswell Rudd (Everywhere with Worrell and Haden) and Clifford Thornton (Freedom & Unity with Don Moore and either Garrison or Tyrone Crabb). Two interesting takes were by Miles Davis sidemen, who, it should be said, never had two upright players in his groups: bassist Ron Carter (the inaccurately titled “Bass Duet” with George Duvivier from Where?, as it has piano and drums) and drummer Tony Williams (parts of Life Time with Gary Peacock and Richard Davis). Mention should be made of large ensembles that utilized multiple basses, such as the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra (Eddie Gomez, Kent Carter, Steve Swallow) and the bands of Don Ellis (Ray Neopolitan, Chuck Domanico, Frank De La Rosa, Dave Parlato). Multiple basses were also widely used throughout Europe in the orchestras of the UK’s Mike Westbrook (Harry Miller, Barre Phillips, Chris Laurence), Germany’s Alexander von Schlippenbach (Buschi Niebergall, Peter Kowald) and Switzerland’s George Gruntz (Eberhard Weber, Beb Guérin). Multiple basses were also featured on a wide array of recordings: Italian pianist Giorgio Gaslini (Nuovi Sentimenti with Jean-Francois Jenny-Clarke and Kent Carter and his 1968-69 Big Band with Bruno Provetto and Carlo Milano); Britain’s Spontaneous Music Ensemble (Challenge with Jeff Clyne and Bruce Cale and an unissued session from March 10th, 1968 with Dave Holland and Peter Kowald) and Amalgam (a single track on Prayer for Peace with Jeff Clyne and Barry Guy); and German pianist Wolfgang Dauner (Für with Eberhard Weber and Jürgen Karg) and saxophonist Peter Brötzmann (Machine Gun, on record with Kowald and Buschi Niebergall, live adding Arjen Gorter). The use of multiple basses was especially common among various expatriates based in Paris in 1969-70 and recording for the shady twosome of BYG-Actuel and America: pianist Burton Greene (Aquariana with Guérin and Dieter Gewissler); Jamaican saxophonist Kenneth Terroade (Love Rejoice with Guérin and Earl Freeman); drummer Sunny Murray (Sunshine with Favors and Silva); Silva (Luna Surface and Seasons, both with Guérin and Favors); and Thornton once more (Ketchaoua with Guérin and Freeman). This would come to a glorious head in mid-December 1969 with members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Burrell, and drummer Steve McCall taking part in the Euro-Scandinavian Baden-Baden Free Jazz Orchestra, Barre Phillips and Swede Palle Danielsson among the many doubled instrumentalists. Before Warren and Phillips’ excursions was a strange predecessor: Bill Lee’s New York Bass Violin Choir, established in 1967, debuting live in 1968 and whose sole eponymous album came out on Strata-East, but not until 1980, comprising live recordings from 1969-1970 and 1975 studio takes. It was an odd band, with Lee, Lisle Atkinson, Michael Fleming, Milt Hinton, Richard Davis, Ron Carter, and Sam Jones, with drummer Sonny Brown on one tune and pianist Harold Mabern and saxophonist George Coleman on two others. It functioned mostly in an orchestral fashion, with the bassists supporting a soloist through unison arco lines. Their version of “The House Of The Rising Sun” is one of the strangest things you will ever hear. Finally, to the subject at hand. Peter Warren – attempts to reach him were unsuccessful and it is not clear whether he is still living – was born in Long Island in 1935. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, he studied bass with Chuck Israels in New York, was in Dionne Warwick’s 1965-67 touring band and was a one of ten bassists (along with Izenzon) in the New York Bass Revolution. He was based in Europe starting around 1971 and that is where he gathered his early discography, before returning to the States in the mid ‘70s. Bass Is was released in 1972 but is actually Warren’s earliest extant recording. It was recorded at something called Broadway Palace on May 25th, 1970 and, according to Warren’s notes: “My original conception was a bass quartet with percussion. John and Stu were visiting New York and Chick, Barry and Dave (who later formed Circle) were at the downtown loft where I picked up Barry. Everybody came by and brought their horns.” Alongside Warren is British bassist Dave Holland, two years after his move to New York and in the midst of his tenure with Miles Davis, with the shows compiled into Miles Davis at Fillmore less than a month away. Then there is Glen Moore, right around the time of the founding of Oregon. The final bassist is the mysterious one, Jamie Faunt. He played psychedelic rock before this session and later had several credits with Chick Corea. The pianist, who was also part of Davis’ period band, is also on board (maybe this is where he and Faunt met). Visiting from England were baritone saxophonist John Surman, an old pal of Holland’s, and American expatriate drummer Stu Martin. Rounding out the personnel are two drummers in Barry Altschul and Steve Hauss, the latter in his only known appearance. To correct Warren on a point, Holland, Corea, and Altschul had already formed Circle and made their first recording seven weeks earlier. We also have two-thirds of The Trio in Surman and Martin, the other member of that band being Barre Phillips. Bass Is has five tracks. The opening title piece is the first pure bass quartet known to exist, heavy arco supporting solos by Faunt and Warren. “Interlude” is a brief Warren solo performance. “Subra Har” is a dense drone, grounded by Altschul on tabla, and having solos from the four bassists. Side B loses Faunt but adds Surman, Corea, Hauss, and Martin. The aptly titled “Welcome To New York” opens with piano before becoming a feature for baritone, bassists a churning maelstrom underneath, finally moving into a more balanced group improvisation. The closing “Instrumental No.2” feels like a continuation of the end of the latter track, though they are unconnected. It is unclear whether Warren had any plans for this to be released initially. It is like what must have been hundreds of similar jam sessions taking place around the city at the time, with the then-porous jazz borders allowing for fascinating meetings like this. Maybe it was an encounter with the Enja team of Horst Weber and Matthias Winckelmann in November 1971 when Warren was cutting dates with two visiting Japanese, trumpeter Terumasa Hino and pianist Masahiko Sato, that got him mentioning a tape he had and would they maybe want to put it out? 292 days later, on March 12th, 1971, Barre Phillips would enter the Alster Film-Tonstudio in Hamburg, to record For All It is. His path to Europe started in his native San Francisco, then time spent in New York and finally what was supposed to be a brief stay in London but that became a permanent move to Europe through his 2024 death at 90. Unlike Bass Is, For All It Is seems to have developed along a narrative arc. On November 30th, 1968 Phillips made what is usually acknowledged as the first solo bass recording, Journal Violone (though British bassist Peter Ind made one the same month, released as Improvisation – Contrabass). Then on February 15th, 1971 he and Holland recorded what is also usually acknowledged as the first bass duet album, Music from Two Basses. It would seem logical that Phillips, already having seen what he could do by himself and then with a partner would be eager to delve more deeply, pun intended. It also is not unreasonable to think that Martin, who was back in Europe in Summer 1970 and working with Phillips in The Trio, had mentioned the session with Warren, then the same thing happening with Holland during the Music from Two Basses session. However it came about – we lament a lack of explanatory notes like Warren’s – Phillips decided to include Martin in the ensemble. Likely he wanted Holland as well but he was probably busy with Circle so Phillips reached out to his partner from Baden-Baden, Palle Danielsson (this their second and final recording together), then London associate Barry Guy (Phillips later to be part of his London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra and also a duet partner) and, finally, in their only documented meeting, Frenchman Jean-François Jenny-Clark. Unlike Bass Is, the ensemble is recording, not just playing, Phillips’ compositions and the balance and focus are palpable. “Just 8” is bouncy and dense, followed by the contrapuntal weave of “Whoop.” “Few Too” is oozing and dolorous, a precursor to later examples of this format. “La Palette,” as its name implies is the sound, texture and technique explorations of Journal Violone quintupled, including Martin’s cymbal washes. “Y en A” could be a soundtrack to a noir-esque stage play, replete with strong blocking and forward motion. “Dribble” is playfully lumbering, akin the ballerina elephants in Fantasia. The album closes with “Y.M.,” sounding impossibly like “Just 8” turned upside down and inside out. As a postscript to For All It Is and a nice degrees-of-separation exercise joining Ornette Coleman and Barre Phillips, last December Josh Haden, son of Coleman bassist Charlie, posted an audio recording sent to his father of an absolutely stunning bass trio of Phillips, France’s Beb Guérin and Switzerland’s Léon Francioli in Paris on June 19th, 1976, wherein some of the tunes from For All It Is are played. (Check it out here: https://acousticalswing.substack.com/p/out-there-unissued-barre-phillips) Peter Warren would not return to work with other bassists. Phillips, however, continued to work solo and in various duo, trio and quartet situations. He and Guy even took part in Sebastian Gramss’ new millennium, dozens-strong Bassmasse project. By now, there have been dozens of multi-bass ensembles playing and recording and not only in the avant garde realm. Hell, even Oscar Peterson recorded in Montreux in 1977 with both Ray Brown and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. As we ring the Round 12 bell on this battle between Bass Is and For All It Is, the winner is clear. It is the audience at large, who get to enjoy this unique and compelling genre.
For further reading: Thomas Andrew Babin’s 2021 UC-San Diego dissertation, “Double Down!: The Use Of Two Basses in the Jazz Avant-Garde of the 1960s”: https://escholarship.org/content/qt8bp8z2v0/qt8bp8z2v0_noSplash_eba3121d985ab6e580c60ba166052aca.pdf.
© 2025 Andrey Henkin
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