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Danton Boller : Enabling Excellence
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 INDIANA NATIVE DANTON BOLLER
played electric bass in teenage rock bands
in Southern California, but a switch to
upright under the tutelage of Dave Brubeck
Quartet bassist Eugene Wright sent him in
entirely new directions. Boller has since
applied lessons from Wright and California
State University Long Beach instructor
Chris Kollgaard to high-profile gigs with
Roy Hargrove, Seamus Blake, Robert
Glasper, and Anthony Wilson. A New
Yorker since 1997, Boller has focused lately
on his own recordings, a forthcoming duo
release with Wright, and a new piano trio
project. He also works with drummer Ari
Hoenig and singer Kat Edmondson.
Is there a particular New York jazz bass
sound you’ve gravitated toward?
When I first moved here, a lot of the guys
I was watching were heavily influenced by
Paul Chambers. I was too … and still am.
But then I started checking out guys like
Richard Davis, Doug Watkins, Jimmy Merritt,
Eddie Jones, Buster Williams—styles that
I wasn’t hearing so much from younger guys.
What lessons did you learn from Eugene
Wright?
He wouldn’t necessarily say, “play these
lines,” or “play these notes,” but there’s one
thing that has stuck with me: I asked him
why he played what he did on Dave
Brubeck’s “Take Five.” He said, “I just picked
something that would be easy for everyone
to latch onto.” That’s kind of the way I
approach playing. I try to think of what’s
going to enable everyone to play their best.
What was it like recording duos with
Wright?
Playing in the correct range so the melody
would sit well over another bass is something
I never had to think about before in a
recording situation. It was incredibly fun to
shift gears, and to get the opportunity to play
over Eugene’s undeniable groove. “Theme
For My Ladies” [a three-movement composition
by Wright] captures a lot of different
moods. We got into trading solo phrases
where I was playing arco and he was playing
pizz. That is one of my personal highlights,
because it sounds so conversational.
 How do you approach soloing?
I try to tell a story with a good melody,
and let it develop naturally. I’ve never considered
myself to be a great soloist—I want
to be a really good rhythm-section player
first. Soloing is the icing on the cake.  HEAR HIM ON
Roy Hargrove Big Band,
Emergence [EmArcy, 2009];
Seamus Blake, Live in Italy
[Jazz Eyes, 2009]; Roy
Hargrove Quintet, Earfood [EmArcy, 2008]
GEAR
Basses Alfred Meyer e-size upright,
Thomastik Spirocore orchestragauge
strings, and David Gage
Realist pickup; German bow by
Marco Raposo; Fender ’62
Reissue Precision Bass,
medium-gauge GHS boomers
Rig Eden WT400 head;
Bergantino HT-112 cabinet;
Eden D210XLT cabinet
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