John Edwards Double Bass Man

John Edwards Double Bass Man
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When John Edwards plays his double bass, he is extraordinarily engaging. He plucks, tweaks, bows, hits and hums aloud. So engrossed is he that it is difficult to look away. One memorable gig, I overheard a member of the audience say " It's almost pornographic what he does with that bass."

I first came across Edwards whilst watching him as part of a trio in London. I kept finding myself watching this incredible musician, completely absorbed in playing or listening to the other musicians when his hand or bow was not busy. So, sometime later we met outside a café in London for some serious discussion.

Edwards has played with many musicians as well as had his own bands and projects. He is, perhaps, one of the hardest working bass players in the free jazz scene today.

Edwards was born in Hounslow, west London. Even as a small boy he says he, "heard the bass" in music. He distinctly remembers going to see the Walt Disney film, Bambi in the local cinema when he was just 4 years old. "The music,"he says, "especially the low ends, had a particular effect on me and I realized even then that the deep notes set the tone, gave a sense of drama and added to melodies." When he was about 13, his older brother played drums and Edwards would listen to the rhythms. He spent many hours sitting on a chair, playing rhythms on the arms.

When his brother was 18 he formed a small punk band with a drummer so bad that Edwards thought, "I can do that" and had a go. A little later on, with Edwards still only 14 years old, his brother, then 19, played at gigs while Edwards would go along and found himself drawn to the music, especially the bass lines. He began to listen to tapes and records and even made recordings of his own, using a reel to reel machine and anything available that made a noise.

Edwards knew from early on he would never get a 'job' as such. "It just was not in me" he says, "to do the nine to five and initially I wanted to be an artist, perhaps specializing in visual art but by the time I was a teenager the buzz and energy I felt when listening to music began to override my passion even for art and I realized this was where my heart lay. It was part of who I was. I was lucky enough to have parents who supported their sons in doing whatever they wanted to try so there was no pressure to do this, that or any particular career."

Edwards began to pick up instruments whenever he could and tested the sounds he could create with them. "There was," he says, "an old ukulele with 2 strings always knocking around at home and I would pick it up and play it like a bass guitar, finding different rhythms and sounds."

Edwards went to art school when he was 16 and, together with friends, played music whenever he could. They played wherever they could, in garages or other peoples' front rooms using whatever they found, like a granddad's keyboard. Edwards bought his first electric bass and discovered by playing it unplugged he could find new sounds, ways to tweak notes. "I didn't know what I was doing really, but I did it a lot," he told me with a grin.

Edwards left home amicably at 18. He never really worried about money or achieving success. For a while he lived in various squats, signing on and learning more about music. He discovered music libraries and spent hours looking at the collections. He checked out anything and everything, and listened every kind of music he could lay his hands on, including Copeland Schoenberg, classical, jazz,folk, Asian,African,and Indian.

When he was 22 Edward's nan died, leaving him the princely sum of around 350 pounds, with which he decided to buy a double bass. He had recently decided that was his instrument because of the low shifts, rich tones, and dynamics and textures which could be added. Once he bought the double bass he says, "That was that." He began learning, playing, practicing and developing a unique style. He slowly built a reputation for himself and got work as a double bassist. Amazingly perhaps, up to this point, Edwards had not learned to read or write music. It was just something he never did. With the increased work came opportunities. "There was one time,"' he remembers, "when I got a call to do a recording at Abbey Road Studios. I went along but could not read the music—it was a nightmare." So, he learned to read the music and write it down.

"Inspiration," Edwards says, "comes from everything. First it was 50s and 60s pop music, then Lol Coxhill in the late '80s and people like Bruce Turner—10 years older than Coxhill but he had played with many of the great jazz musicians. Now, almost everything inspires me."

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