How Low Can You Go: Anthology of the String / Various

• Track Listing

The first anthology ever of the string bass; a 3 CD box set in a cardboard box; 96 page book. Original recordings from 1925-1941, from the legendary archival label Dust To Digital (that previously brought the world the beyond elaborate Goodbye, Babylon and Fonotone Records boxsets). 'Not so long ago, the string bass stood tall and proud roughly the length and breadth of a poor man's pine coffin in every musical aggregation throughout the land from Bangor to Buenos Aires, from the highest high life to the lowest lowdown: From tuxedoed symphony ensembles to tipsy Calypso bands to honky-tonkers in oil field dives, from elegantly gelled tango orchestras to Jazz combos in unspeakable speak easys to methed out rockabilly trios right off some flatbed: you can be damned sure Johnny Cash wouldn't have been able to walk the line without bassist Marshall Grant keeping him honest. But somewhere along the line, the upright acoustic bass was snatched from it's hallowed place atop the sedans (special carriage) and show stages and relegated to the trash heap of history in favor of Leo Fender's sleek electric cousin, plugged in to compete with amplified guitar and drums. Now the stand up bass makes it's appearance mostly in limousine liberal Lincoln Center Jazz benefits and hardcore Bluegrass bands or as a comical Hayseed Prop in retro Hillbilly outfits. And yet in that span between the turn of the century tuba blaring from an Edison cylinder and today's synthesized bass loops heaving from every SUV on the pike, the hypnotic pull of the old school string bass remains. A musical craft handed down by calloused, bandaged fingers, it wrought a mighty saga of bottom heavy rhythms that rattled the walls of many a venue and anchored many an historic recording session. Without it, the revolutionary sound of American mongrel music of the last century would have been thin gruel indeed.'

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