Russell Hall & Bessie Gear Talk and Solo Performance

Interview and Solo Performance with Russell Hall

In this video, we welcome our jazz bass tutor, the great Russell Hall. Known for his hard-swinging bass lines, creative solos and beautiful tone, Russell is making a huge impact in the bass world as part of the Emmet Cohen Trio and as a sideman and band leader in New York.

We discuss Russell's bass 'Bessie', his gear set up, his vegan strings, and his signature sounds. There's also some awesome playing from Russell, including a beautiful solo piece at the end of video. I hope you enjoy it and if you want to learn more about Russell, please check out the links below.

Russell Hall joined the Discover Double Bass faculty as a jazz bass specialist with his course, Bessie’s Bass Busters which out now!

Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction
00:32 Introducing Bessie
03:36 How long have you had Bessie for?
04:50 Bass demo
06:27 Recent restorations
07:50 String heights
09:25 Animal friendly strings
12:33 Amps and pickups
16:14 Playing with Christian McBride
18:16 Bass case
22:50 Solo performance

Russell Hall Links:

Discussion Links:

Bessie’s Bass Busters

By Russell Hall

In his Discover Double Bass course, Russell Hall teaches the most important lessons from his years of playing and studying jazz bass. The course comprises 45 videos over five hours and covers a wide range of topics on jazz bass playing, including right and left-hand technique, playing popular jazz standards, building bass lines, improvising solos, developing rhythmic skills, and much more. Bessie’s Bass Busters is a fresh approach to jazz bass to help you break new ground and take your playing to the next level!

Learn more