Throughout, Shelby’s acoustic work is as virtuosic as his orchestral writing, ranging the length of his instrument and the breadth of his imagination while remaining firmly in control of the performance. “Having written the music, I understand the function of the bass in every part of it, and I’m able to play with confidence and freedom,” says the 42-year-old. “You would hope every musician who plays your music could render it that way.”
The son of an Air Force man, Shelby was born in Anchorage, lived for a time in Memphis, and went to high school in Sacramento. For his start in music he credits his mother and the church. “That’s the first place I heard music, the first place I understood that music has a spirit and a power. The first time I picked up an instrument and began to play in an organized group was in the church choir. My mom told me I had to do something in the church, so I figured I might as well play bass,” says Shelby, who notes he has “always played upright only.”
Shelby performed in his high school’s youth orchestra, and in 1991 he entered the California Institute for the Arts on a Charles Mingus Scholarship, studying with bassist Charlie Haden and composer James Newton. Shelby remained in Los Angeles for a time, leading small-group albums for Columbia and Impulse, and moved to San Francisco in 1996. An instructor for the Berkeley Young Musicians Program and at San Francisco State and the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Shelby has numerous scoring credits that include PBS’s Ralph Ellison, An American Hero and King of the Bingo Game. His most recent commission is a suite inspired by Edward Hicks’s 1833 painting The Peaceable Kingdom.
How did you get started working in long-form composition?
At CalArts, James Newton turned me on to Duke Ellington—and even before that, older musicians were telling me, “Check out Ellington.” But I didn’t have the maturity then to understand Ellington’s music—the nuances, the sophistication of the orchestration. I was looking for music that had the most excitement— the fastest, the most notes.
I’d been writing music for small groups, but I didn’t really have an approach. A lot of it was just taking music and organizing it to be played. As I began to study Ellington’s work and the history of the music, I started to see how you could organize music into a narrative story, and that you could say a lot through that vehicle—talk about someone’s story, talk about an incident—in a jazz-orchestra context. History has been a part of me since I was a kid; my mother was a teacher, and she made sure I knew a lot about it. So I had all of these stories inside of me and this burgeoning love of composition, and combining the two gave me a certain fullness as an individual.
Does your perspective as a bass player contribute to the way you compose?
No. I consider all of the voices of the orchestra independent and important. The bass anchors the harmony and the time, and my knowledge of that helps. But I don’t start on the bass—I don’t write from that perspective.
Do you write with your own bass sound in mind?
I do—I write with all the musicians I’ve been working with in mind. I’ve had this band for almost ten years, and many of the players were there in the beginning. So I know their sounds, capabilities, nuances, their tonal qualities. And I know their personalities. It’s like someone writing a screenplay who knows the actors they’ll work with—they know their voices, their strengths, and they’re able to develop a story based on those characteristics. That’s something Ellington and many other people used when they had the luxury of a committed band. So the bass is part of that, but it’s only one of 15 instruments to consider when developing a narrative for a piece.
In Harriet Tubman, the bass anchors the music, but you perform with a lot of freedom.
It’s a little of both. I definitely develop a bass part, but, as is true with our approach in the jazz orchestra, we try to create a lot of freedom in the rhythm section. One way to ensure that you have a fluid rhythm section is to make sure you have a lot of freedom there. So it may sound like I’m playing quite free, but it’s all based on the part I have in front of me. In some cases I have chord changes and in some cases I have written parts, but the written parts are almost improvisational in nature.
Who are your bass influences?
There are mainly three: Oscar Pettiford, Jimmy Blanton, and Paul Chambers—primarily for the sound of their instruments, their fluidity, and their time. Those players’ time is not like a metronome; it emphasizes and gives a feel to the music that brings me closer to it. For me a lot about music is how it feels, no matter the style—rock & roll or R&B or hip-hop or even classical—and that feel has a lot to do with what the bass player is doing. The bass player’s time is so critical that if it breaks down or is not together, it doesn’t really matter what’s on top. It’s almost like your heart: It’s an involuntary muscle that we don’t think about. But if we have to think about it, if there’s something that grabs our attention, it means there’s something wrong with the body. In music, specifically in jazz, if you’re worried about the time, then there’s a problem with the body of the ensemble.
What’s your warm-up and practice routine?
Long tones every day, either pizzicato or arco. To me that’s like stretching for a runner; it helps you get in tune with your instrument. After that, I do several things that are very technique-focused. I may practice the Bach solo cello suites the best I can, particularly the first three—that’s almost like flossing for me. I have my old bass books from school, like a Simandl book I still work out of. [Shelby uses the Simandl left-hand method, in which the 3rd and 4th fingers work together.] Then I work on new material, whether it’s trying to learn a particular melody on bass or developing material I want to be featured on bass. I go through a variety of things, but on a daily basis I try to stay articulate and fluid.
How many fingers do you use for plucking?
When I’m walking slow I might use one finger, and when I’m playing fast I might use two. It depends on the sound I’m trying to project. When I play with a trio I need a certain amount of presence; with an orchestra I’m always concerned about balance. We try to keep our sound as acoustic as possible—meaning no monitors—and that means I need to be sensitive to the bass sound. I don’t use a pickup or an amp. I never have. The musicians in the band have to understand that, so my approach may be a little different with the orchestra. In either case, I’m always trying to play with the biggest amount of sound and the most full tone that I can, and sometimes that comes with two fingers if I’m doing an up-tempo or medium up-tempo. But if I’m playing something slow or medium-slow, I like to get as much meat on the string as possible, and sometimes I can do that most effectively with one finger.
Since you don’t use pickups, do you prefer a particular microphone?
No. I’ve been thinking I should get a dedicated mic, but I haven’t cared that much about that part of it. For me it’s always a struggle to get the best sound I can out of the instrument no matter what’s in front of it. Obviously a better mic is going to give better projection, but it’s always about the sound and the commitment to the sound on my end of the bargain. Usually the places we play have decent mics anyway.
You’re heavily involved in education. What’s your philosophy for working with students?
I’ve worked with kindergartners all the way up to college students, and in each case it’s not about trying to force jazz or blues down anybody’s mouth or mind. I try to teach the history of the music, and I try to show how much I love the music, show the passion I have. And I try to translate that into helping people discover their passion—their passion to create, whether it’s music, dance, anything they do. Everyone has that.
CAN BE HEARD ON
The Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, Harriet Tubman [Noir, 2008]; Port Chicago [Noir, 2006] The Marcus Shelby Trio, The Lights Suite [Noir, 2001]; Midtown Sunset [Noir, 1998]
CURRENTLY SPINNING
“When I was preparing for Harriet Tubman I was listening to a lot of early blues, from Bessie Smith to Leadbelly to gospel and spirituals, all the way to Paul Robeson. As that project came to completion I began to work on another extended composition, and I found myself checking out Mahler—particularly his First Symphony—understanding form, instrumentation, and his incredible use of orchestration. My favorite classical composer is Tchaikovsky. I constantly listen to his symphonies, in particular No. 4 through No. 6.”
GEAR
Bass Chinese-made e-size acoustic upright; gut strings “someone gave me”; French-style bow “My bass was modeled off François Rabbath’s [though without the Rabbath-style angled endpin]. They dropped the shoulders down so there’s much more access in the thumb positions. It’s a light, agile bass. Instead of a big, huge tone, there’s a more direct, round sound.”
Setup Medium
“I used to have really high action on my bass—I was convinced that was where the sound was coming from. I now think that’s a fallacy. I discovered that the trick is to get underneath the strings. So I lowered my strings and began working on really pulling the sound out of there.”
Live sound “I may use a mic, but I try to maintain the purest possible sound. If I don’t have a sound person dedicated to the bass, I try to keep the mic by the ƒ-hole—sometimes on the right, sometimes on the left. That allows me to have a little movement. I’ve also had it placed right in front of the bridge.”
Studio sound For Harriet Tubman (according to engineer Jeremy Goody): Neumann U47 mic on the bridge, AKG 452 on the fingerboard, both through Shadow Hills Gamma preamps
“I try to get as much of the sound of the bass as I can—no DIs or anything like that. Usually I’ve had it miked by the bridge, with another mic around the scroll for the highs and ambience.”