Bassmasse 13 (Germany)

In the moment when I’m improvising as a musician and create my music on the fly I’m, so to say, an instant composer. I got to know Sebastian Gramss through this project. We have common friends and colleagues with whom we have worked before on various projects and we’ve finally met and it turned out that even though we come from different musical backgrounds, we think and work in a similar way, and that was… phew… a sign… yes, and there you go! The moment I met Rodrigo it became clear: He is exactly what we need – He understands my sound language and he’s interested in conducting us, and ultimately he conducted the 50 double basses at the Moers festival in 2014 and now the ‘small’ Bassmasse with 13 players. He’s an integral part of the group now and it’s been a very productive collaboration. The setup is: there are 11 bass players in semicircle and two soloists in the middle. As a result the communication is tricky at times between soloists in the front and the group standing in the back. For example, in a moment when two players in the back are enjoying some detail I don’t necessarily get this fully. Of course, I get their mood and vibes, and I look back sometimes, but we need Rodrigo for this who is our core coordination point, on whom all eyes are set. When the music is improvised, things can develop very differently from one concert to the other. It could happen that we play again the same tune one week later and something unexpected happens on stage, so it always stays exciting and fresh. No concert is like the other.