Click Here to see

Very good, but also very specialist. I wonder whether he could play as well as that while bowing the instrument? I'm not 'into' american modern jazz, so he's not a name I know of, but his skills look as though he's probably a bass guitarist by origin.

For me, the guy who played solo double bass alongside Maxim Vengerov just has to be the most amazing double bass player around. That clip is also on Youtube Here.

Clever - but have to agree with Amanda about the other bassist!

Wow - the first clip is just like he's playing the guitar. And that bit about 2 mins in!! Wish i could pizz that fast on the violin!!
And as for the second clip - Double Wow!! Absolutely amazing - if you shut your eyes you wouldn't know what instrument it was!

Great clips!!

Both of those clips are so amazing!! I went to see a really great string quartet a while ago with a d. bass instead of a cello which was great - I thought that bass player was great but those two are something else!! Really shows off the versatility of the instrument that most people wouldn't guess it had!!

There's a new CD available called Virtuoso Double Bass, available on the Meridian label - I don't think it's possible to get it from somewhere like Virgin or HMV, as it's a bit specialist. I got it through a bass playing friend, but I'll find out where they can be bought commercially and let you all know through the forum

Anyway, Leon Bosch, the bassist who's recorded the CD, grew up in South Africa during the Apartheid. He started on the cello but switched the the double bass when he was about 15. He was then lucky enough to get a place to study in the UK at the Royal Northern College. The rest as they say, is history.

His playing is just incredible. The intonation is spot on and he plays with such a lyrical manner and so fluently, that you'd think he was playing a very low strung cello rather than a bass. The upper notes have clarity and quality and the music itself explodes the myth that the bass is stodgy, slow to speak and only suitable for simple 'oompa oompa' music.

Orchestral bassists who think their repertore is boring, need to listen to this CD. It will put the instrument and its capabilities in a completely new light.

Sounds like an amazing CD, Amanda!