RISING STAR Bassist Adi Meyerson: Inspired by Sonny Rollins Recordings to Switch from Electric to Upright
“I Would Go to Smalls, the Fat Cat, and All the Downtown Sessions and Play and Make Friends and Connections”
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s a teenager in Israel, Adi Meyerson played the electric bass and was “into fusion and rock, listening to Jaco (Pastorius) and stuff. I was about 17, and I think it was a family friend who gave me a bunch of Sonny Rollins albums. I kinda listened to them and was like, ‘What’s that? How do I get the bass to sound like that?’” The albums were two 1956 Prestige recordings: Saxophone Colossus with Doug Watkins on bass, along with pianist Tommy Flanagan
and drummer Max Roach; and Tenor Madness featuring Paul Chambers on bass in a quintet that also included John Coltrane on saxophone, Red Garland on piano, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Based on those recordings, Meyerson made a decision. “I wanted to start playing upright. I knew I couldn’t get the bass to sound on electric like what I heard the bass sound like on those recordings. So, then I started playing upright bass
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2022
33
PHOTO BY RONAL D STEWART
BY SANFORD JOS E P HSON