Review

David Fetter
Bass Lines:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 1993 / 2023
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - unaccompanied

David Fetter’s career in music has spanned seven decades. Long-time trombonist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (including 10 years as principal), he was also a member of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell, and Fetter taught at Peabody Institute in Baltimore for over 45 years. A student of Emory Remington at Eastman School of Music during his undergraduate years, Fetter has composed and arranged a prodigious catalog of music.
Among his compositions are several for unaccompanied bass trombone, and as a trombonist himself, Fetter understands the instrument well. His popular Variations on Palestrina’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” (recorded by this writer on the CD recording, Proclamation) was originally published for tenor trombone in the key of G, but it is also available in lower-key versions for bass trombone in E-flat and C. Profile (also recorded by this writer, on the CD recording, Take 1) and Something to Play are in three movements, each with evocative titles that tell stories. Fetter composed his four movement Bass Lines in 1993, and its second movement, Spain, was popularized by Blair Bollinger on his CD recording, Music for Bass Trombone.
Bass Lines has been published in three editions: the original by Fetter’s own Music for Brass in 1993 and a revised edition of 2023, and a new edition published by Cherry Classics in 2024. It is this most recent version that is the subject of this review. Each of Bass Lines’ four movements has a title that describes its character. Boogie-Woogie—with its faint echo of Tommy Dorsey’s Trombonology—has a repeated figure in swing style that travels through eight keys, and puts the bass trombonist through the low register of the instrument, down to pedal D. Spain, with its nod to Georges Bizet’s Carmen, is a superb, rollicking movement that functions well as a stand-alone movement for performance. Spain has ample room for personal expression and even a little theater. Flowing features arpeggios of all shapes and sizes, with whispers of the Prelude to J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1. Rock, like Spain, is a nice stand-alone movement that covers the full range of the bass trombone, from an optional double-pedal B-flat to high A-flat. The A-B-A format of Rock includes mellow middle section with a cadenza that contrasts with the opening and closing sections that are marked, “Insistent.”
Like all of David Fetter’s unaccompanied works for bass trombone, Bass Lines is fun to play while delivering solid challenges. To work on any of these movements is to hone skills in low register legato playing as well as both light and heavy articulation, to say nothing of the sheer delight of capturing the character of each piece. This new edition by Cherry Classics is nicely laid out so each movement covers two pages (in Fetter’s original 1993 edition, two movements—Spain and Flowing—each occupied three pages), and the notation is clean and clear. Measure numbers—which are always helpful in any piece of music—also make an appearance in all four movements. In addition, a few bits of unclear notation and a wrong note that found their way into previous editions of Bass Lines have been corrected, and several small changes by the composer are included. For bass trombonists looking for engaging unaccompanied works for practice or performance, there is something in David Fetter’s output for you. Bass Lines stands tall among equals in Fetter’s catalog of unaccompanied bass trombone solos, and this new edition of Bass Lines by Cherry Classics (available in either digital or print formats) ensures that a new generation of bass trombonists have a superb edition of what has become an iconic work. Highly recommended.