In this video, we feature our wonderful jazz bass specialist, Olivier Babaz. He’s a French double bassist and composer living in Montreal, Canada. Renowned for his incredible jazz bowing technique, as well as for his stunning performances of double bass and kalimba.

Olivier is joined by guitarist Sam Dunn for a duo performance based on the jazz standard, Stella by Starlight, composed by Victor Young. The performance was to be used in a promotional video, so it only needed to be a couple of minutes long, but I think it's such a strong improvisation that I wanted to share it here.

There are only three choruses of Stella, with Olivier's opening bass solo playing with themes from the melody; the 2nd chorus features an interactive bass line to accompany the guitar solo, and the third and final chorus is a conversational improvisation from both. Olivier and Sam were improvising and hadn't prepared or rehearsed in advance. Both are playing lines which challenge the listener (and each other) but always manage to keep true to the form. It's a masterclass in conversational and modern jazz language, which I hope you will enjoy!

If you are a fan of Olivier’s approach to improvisation, be sure to check out his five-hour video course, The Creative Improvisor.

Jazz Bowing' by Olivier Babaz comprises 61 lessons over 5 hours and is a step-by-step method teaching jazz bowing technique. It's a great fit if you improvise with the bow and find classical method books aren't giving you what you need.