Bob Maize, 59; Bassist Performed With Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughn

Bassist Bob Maize, 59, who played with Mose Allison, Herb Ellis and Billy Eckstine and toured with Sarah Vaughn and Mel Torme, has died.

Maize died Nov. 20 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after suffering a heart attack at home, according to bassist Putter Smith.

Born in San Diego on Jan. 15, 1945, Maize studied piano as a child before taking up the bass, which he played professionally at the age of 13 in a band led by his father.

While still in his teens, he moved to San Francisco, where he played with house bands at the Soulville Club and other places. It was at the Soulville, Maize told Times music writer Zan Stewart in 1997, that he “learned passion.”

“I was on stage, playing with guys who were older than I was, and I had to deliver right then,” Maize told Stewart, who described Maize as “one of the most facile and dynamic of jazz bass soloists.”

“There were no amps in those days,” Maize said. “It was all acoustic music, and you had to play the feeling.”

He later performed with many other greats, including Anita O’Day, Rosemary Clooney and pianists Horace Silver and Hank Jones.