Over the past few days I’ve had the enormous pleasure of helping two of my favourite bassists record some new music. Nicholas Walker wrote a set of 8 Duos for basses which were premiered at last year’s ISB convention by Matthew McDonald and Rick Stotijn. The duets, in my opinion, are some of the best original music out there for two double basses. They are idiomatic, interesting, and do so much to take advantage of what our instrument offers with resonance and tone. They push boundaries while remaining accessible to both players and audience, and present all parties with something wholesome to engage with.
For our project, Nic teamed up with Joel Quarrington to record what will surely be considered the difinitive performance of all eight duos. It was absolutely delightful to listen to them explore these pieces, and to become acquainted with the music in this way. Post-session beer time also helped!
The video recording will be released in the coming year, but until then, I strongly encourage you to check out Nic’s pieces for yourself. They can be found in the ISB store, and probably elsewhere as well.