Concept 001

1. Miles

Part I: Miles

I was on stage playing double bass to an old tune. Airegin. It was called Airegin. Nigeria backwards. Surprisingly, I can't remember the artist. The whole time, though, all I thought of were these Bing Crosby tunes, or Billie Holliday songs. It made me feel like I lived in that time period, playing on stage like this - Actually IN the 'thirties, or 'forties. I almost wish I did. I wish I lived a hundred years ago. What a vibe.

I loved being a student at Berklee. Always something interesting to learn. Small classes. Expensive? Kinda. But my family never needed to worry about money and I had a full four year scholarship. I graduate this year. But anyways. My gig was over. Yeah. Playing old Jazz tunes at Boston clubs for spare money but moreso the fun of it. Fifty bucks a night or so. Some extra pocket change just in case.

It was myself and a couple of mates. Thomas on drums. Tama drumset. This custom signature set ifrom this old, Old Metal musician named Matt Greiner from the turn of the century. Dark, wooden looking, raw polished finish. He loved those drums. They sounded great, too. He loved both that music and this music. Old Metal, as it was now called, and the Blues. Jazz. Classical. Something you could almost never find nowadays. He was a very versatile soul.

Vinnie was on guitar. Gibson ES-335. He loved that guitar just as Thomas loved his set. Red one. He loved the Jazz tone it was known for putting out. Smooth, clean, and bluesy. He also had one of those double neck Gibsons that Jimmy Page used, from that even older band Led Zeppelin. He actually recently just died, about a hundred years old, he was, older than the great Les Paul was. He passed away in the early century, though, Les Paul, nearly forty years ago. Vinnie made Jimmy into a huge deal around Berklee when he passed.

Anyways. It was an aged EDS-1275. Also cherry red like the 335. I know this because he talks about instruments non-stop. Plus I'm a bit of a guitar aficionado myself, as is my father.

So, then there's me, myself and I on the fretless bass guitar now (A 2013 Yamaha 5 string RBX-375 that I modified myself to have no frets), and occasionally the real thing. Seven, eight foot tall double bass. I call him 'Plunky' for the percussive, slapping sound those instruments can make, as well as the 'forties vibe I get for naming my instruments. He had a soul all right.

Then Airegin ended. And Vinnie picked up the EDS, whispered a couple words to us and we played something new that we usually don't - a Zeppelin tune, in remembrance of Page. I hadn't really listened to them much ever except to study in classes, but I agreed to do it for him as did Thomas, and we were off playing a simple tune, Bron-Yr-Aur. Very simple acoustic song we decided to revamp. We added in some free-form solos to the acoustic riff. I played some Jaco-esque licks. Thomas played some traditional snare beats, and intricate ones where needed. The audience seemed pleasantly pleased at our change of pace and loved it. I found it hard to believe, but it was a success. I enjoyed playing it too. We continued our set as normal from then.

I own many electric bass guitars. They were all gifts. Except for the Yamaha. I bought him, and worked on him myself. Defretted. I'll tell you about some. So there was my Yamaha, a dark blue vintage 1975 Rickenbacker 4001, a Höfner "Beatle Bass" - The one Paul McCartney always used - He used Rick's too, I believe. There was also my sunburst 1978 Univox Hi-Flyer bass modeled after their Phase IV Hi-Flyer guitar, which in turn was modeled off of the 1960's Mosrite Ventures guitar. They were very rare, built only from 1976-1978, though Univox produced guitars for a total of about fifteen years or more.

My dad bought it for me to go with his guitar. Yeah. He owned the Hi-Flyer guitar. He was real happy to find it, in my Freshman year of high school. You should have seen the look on his face. He was happier than I was. Right now, they both reside together, calling their home in the "Music Room" - The insulated, locked and vaulted (Huge) room under the basement, that's essentially a bomb shelter. Actually, it was our bomb shelter, but it was a rather large one and had been modified. I don't know how my dad did it, but it got done.