Making the Low Notes: A Life in Music, Bill Harrison. Saint Louis: Open Books Press, 2023.

Summary: A memoir of an accomplished former bass player, from his beginnings of learning to play an upright bass, learning from and studying with other players, playing with jazz greats, and the physical and financial challenges of making it.

It began in sixth grade music, when there were too many drummers and his teacher pointed him toward the upright double bass. First concerts playing “Yankee Doodle.” Listening to virtuosi and what they could do with the instrument. Lessons with Mr. Bruno. A first gig playing at a bowling alley. Music camps. College decisions. From New York to Northwestern. Deciding to focus on the instrument. More jazz gigs and the Chicago music scene. Better instruments. Traveling. Teaching younger players and playing with jazz greats. Performing at Montreux and playing in pit orchestras for stage shows.

All of this is part of Bill Harrison’s memoir of life as a musician, a bass player (especially the upright, but also various electric basses–ya gotta be versatile). He chronicles the peculiar life of a bass player–on stage in the background, laying down the musical foundation along with the percussion for the other players, on the edge of most people’s awareness, except for the other players. It’s a role that fits this somewhat introverted man who later realizes that he has struggled with depression for much of his life.

He describes the magical moments of playing in a jazz quartet where each anticipates the other and the highlights of meeting truly great players like Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach, who praised his playing. He shares the joy of finding a beautiful old instrument with a wonderful sound that just fits him. Harrison also helps us understand that along with playing music one loves at a high level comes the wedding and corporate gigs, theatre jobs that offer a steady income, and giving a lot of lessons.

We also hear of the other side of this life. The challenge of scraping together a living. Fallings out with other musicians. The physical challenges that eventually ended his career. The knife edge between brilliance and disaster in playing in a pit orchestra. The challenge of making a career change in one’s fifties.

I learned a lot about an instrument for which I had little appreciation. His narrative of listening to Miles Davis’ Kinda Blue helped me listen to it with fresh awareness of the extraordinary bass playing that is one part of this great album. His account rang true with the stories of musician friends I’ve known–both the moments that make it all worth it and the challenges of making a living for all but the most elite players. His memoir reminds us that it is not the instrument alone that makes the music but the human being who plays it. More than most, Harrison underscores the physicality of this work as well as the matters of the psyche.

Harrison gives us the romance without romanticizing the life of a musician. It’s a good book for an aspiring musician, offering an honest look at what they are signing up for. And it is a good book for anyone who loves jazz, or music more generally and wants to know more of what goes into playing that huge thing that looks like a giant violin.

________________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer Program.