Peter Herbert - Naked Bass II (2024) [Hi-Res]

The title of this recording inspires me to tell you something about the instrument that can be heard. It was built around 250 years ago and a few of the original parts have survived to this day. A number engraved in one of the pegs indicates that it was owned by a Viennese rental company for instruments around 1900, which must not have made its being easy going. It was most likely used at the Viennese premiere of Mahler’s 8th Symphony in 1926, which was executed by a thousand musicians, including numerous bassists who needed a rental instrument. At some point, it ended up in the hands of a cold-hearted Dixieland sideman who always stuck its neck through the open sun roof of his small car driving to gigs, which meant that he sometimes had to scrape off dead insects from the fingerboard first before concerts. In 1982, the man placed an ad in the newspaper offering the poor instrument for sale.

Until the late 1970s, Peter Herbert was heading for a career as a professional climber. But his other passion, the double bass, got in the way. As it was impossible to pursue both professions due to the strain on his fingers, a decision had to be made, and it was in favor of the bass. During his studies in Graz, the young musician was looking for an instrument that would allow him to further develop his personal sound and playing techniques. He followed that newspaper advertisement, was led into a dark parking garage and saw his future companion standing dusty and naked in a damp corner. A passionate luthier took care of the maltreated item and saved its life. Since then, Peter Herbert has performed on stage with this bass at several thousand concerts worldwide. Mostly together with other musicians, very often as a soloist, or as a kind of a climbing team that ventured to heights where hardly anyone else could be found. When I see and hear Peter Herbert perform, I sometimes think that this decision was made for the bass, at the same time not against the mountains. The climber - you can clearly hear his breath in some passages on this album - is still in him. He grips the strings as powerful as he did the rock back then. And he is searching for artistic paths that few have taken before him. The compositions on Naked Bass II show the peaks he has now reached.
(Wolfgang Mörth, Februar 2024)