76 Trombones? 100 Bassists Take Over Disneyland

When 100 acoustic bassists plunked out a walking bass line in monumental unison for a jazz-tinged number Thursday at Disneyland, the tune didn’t walk--it trampled.

But that was fine with all concerned, for the song was appropriately titled “The Day the Bass Players Took Over the World,” in which singer Lisa Bovey elucidated the musicians’ call-to-arms: “One day the bass players decided to uprise/They were tired of being sidemen for those other guys.”

Striking a blow--or a bow--for recognition of the often-unheralded instrument, dozens of bassists gathered on Disneyland’s Carnation Plaza Gardens stage for a performance given in conjunction with the biannual convention of the International Society of Bassists.

The resulting resonance, if not so explosive as to level nearby Thunder Mountain, was still impressive enough that it likely would have made Meredith (“76 Trombones”) Willson jealous and certainly would have sent Richard Wagner into musical Valhalla.

Although one Disneyland employee joked about how the Magic Kingdom may have hit “a new low” with the brief but forceful conglomeration of bass players, park guests reacted with wide-eyed amazement to what was touted as “the world’s largest assemblage of concert bassists.”

“I always figured that bassists were a separate race of individualists,” said Philip Simpson, vacationing from his home in London. “It’s encouraging to see them come and work together on something like this. I came here (to Disneyland) to sample American popular culture, and it’s great to have an extra bonus like this. You people do these kinds of things so much better than we do.”

The performers ranged in age from under 10 to over 50, many of whom were in Southern California to attend the weeklong ISB convention in Los Angeles. (Related story on Page 3.)

During a warm-up session that sounded like Orpheus Tuning in the Underworld, Trina Kase, a bassist and music teacher from Denver who was attending the convention, said children as young as 5 can begin studying bass on instruments built to 1/10th scale.

The youngest members of the ensemble were given the spotlight in a rendition of Henry Mancini’s “Baby Elephant Walk.”

For the rest of the 30-minute program, ISB convention director Paul Zibits led the bass orchestra through a medley of Disney tunes, a Bach chorale, highlights from Bizet’s “Carmen” and Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

At the ISB’s two previous conventions in 1984 and 1986, Zibits said, similar large-scale bass concerts were staged. “People love it because it’s so unusual. And it’s great for us because we’re usually buried in the back of the orchestra, so this is a chance to celebrate our instrument,” he said.

Seal Beach resident Roger Anthony, who said he visits Disneyland three to four times a week with his wife for dancing to big band music, said he had never seen anything like the concert. “But I don’t think most of the musicians on stage have ever seen anything like this either,” he said.

Standing a few feet away from the edge of the stage, Anthony said he was a little surprised that the large number of musicians didn’t produce greater volume.

“But I’ve heard that large animals like elephants and whales that have a tremendous cranial capacity communicate with such low frequencies that we (humans) can’t hear it,” he said. “So I guess what we’ve got here is a whale of a concert.”

After commenting that the event “really is fantastic,” Anthony was asked if he thought there is a future for the all-bass orchestra. “No,” he said with a laugh. “Not at all.”