Rob Adams charts the colourful career of solo bassist Eberhard Weber,
who appears in Glasgow tonight
IT'S a universal story with endless permutations, the one about the
chap who didn't want to become a musician so instead he became a
drummer, joined Des O'Connor's backing band, etc, etc.
In Eberhard Weber's case, he didn't want to become a musician so he
became a singer with German bandleader Horst Jankowski -- he whose big
hit, the insidiously jaunty A Walk In The Black Forest, seemed to hang
in the air like midges during the 1960s. Weber can't remember for sure
if he appeared on that record but he certainly recalls singing it many
times during his 10 years with Jankowski. ''Ten years,'' he reiterates.
''That was far too long, a youthful aberration.''
He had been dissuaded from the professional musician's life by his
protective, cello-playing father, who nevertheless started his son on
cello at the age of six. In his teens Weber switched to double bass and
later played jazz in his spare time while working for a company making
television commercials. It was his sister who got him involved in the
Jankowski choir.
After his escape from choral duties he began taking jazz more
seriously. He turned professional in 1972, when he discovered his
electrobass, a customised five-string solid-bodied instrument whose
instantly recognisable sound featured on a whole string of albums for
the ECM label, including his own award-winning Colours of Chloe and the
two still very listenable Solstice albums with guitarist Ralph Towner.
For 10 years Weber led his own group, the popular Colours, but since
1982 he has been a member of saxophonist Jan Garbarek's regular touring
group. This satisfies his need to play with other musicians and allows
him time to concentrate on playing solo, which he has become more and
more interested in, not for any ego gratification purposes (''well,
maybe just a little bit''), but to see how far the instrument can go.
The idea of solo bass concerts, he readily acknowledges, can frighten
people off. ''Because it's not a recognised solo instrument you're seen
as some sort of weirdo. People think it's going to be all
art-for-art's-sake, after which everyone says 'so what'. But I try to
give them something that they will remember hours, maybe even days after
the concert. It's important that we all get pleasure from the music.''
Weber's ''the bass as orchestra'' approach is aided by technology such
as digital delay which enables him to build a composition from a simple
bassline, adding melodies, chords, rhythm patterns, whatever, as he
goes. Although there is an element of improvisation, he works to a
programme which he has evolved over 10 years and two albums, the more
recent of which, Pendulum, ranges in tone between the hauntingly
evocative and the frankly mischievous.
''I'm a little more confident about these concerts now,'' he says.
''It's a struggle to begin with because you worry if you might run out
of ideas. But through time, as the programme builds up, you get more
relaxed and the only thing I might worry about now is if something
breaks down, which is out of my control.
''I can change the programme here and there but whereas I used to
think that people wanted to hear something different every time, now I'm
not so sure. I think they mostly want to hear what they know. They want
to be surprised, also, but not too much.''
The last time Weber played solo in Scotland the surprise was how one
man and his bass, albeit technologically assisted, could hold the
attention for ninety minutes. Give them something they'll remember hours
afterwards? That last concert was five years ago and some people I know
are talking about it still.
Eberhard Weber plays City Hall, Glasgow, tonight; Queen's Hall,
Edinburgh, Friday; Music Hall, Aberdeen, Saturday.
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