Dave Ellis is one of the seminal figures amongst Australian double bass players. For today’s extravaganza, he brings his free-wheeling Double Bass Liberation Orchestra of friends and colleagues to the Wunderkammer. In a playing career that has spanned nearly 50 years, Dave has been a member of the Western Australian (WASO) and Sydney Symphony Orchestras (SSO), the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (Sydney) Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), and the Australian Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). His non-classical work includes Jazz, Rock, Country Music, Cabaret and Experimental and Improvisatory Music. He has performed in concert and cabaret with many artists, including Peggy Lee, George Benson, Antony and the Johnsons, Eartha Kitt, Sir George Martin, and jazz greats Milt Jackson, Phil Woods, and Al Jareau, and he has been bassist for Maestro Tommy Tycho for 37 years. He is a member of the contemporary Flamenco group, Arrebato Ensemble. More variety in a muso’s life is probably not possible!
Anyway, have you ever been in a room with 12 double basses and their players? In the music business, double basses are known as ‘trees’; being physically there amongst these creatures of loved wood and gut is like moving through a forest of deep sound — as good as it gets.