Hal Robinson

[Abe Gumroyan]

Ken (or anyone else),

Do you know what Hal is playing on currently ?.... I saw him at a master class recently with a gamba cornered bass and then what seemed to be a very LARGE, and very English looking double bass in a picture. Thanks in advance

[Ken Smith]

Ken (or anyone else),

Do you know what Hal is playing on currently ?.... I saw him at a master class recently with a gamba cornered bass and then what seemed to be a very LARGE, and very English looking double bass in a picture. Thanks in advance

There are 4 Basses that I know of.

One is a Gamba French Bass like a Jacquet style but don't know the maker. Only seen it in pics. I don't know if he still has that bass.

One is a French Solo Bass that belonged to his father Keith Robinson in Texas. My old teacher Lew Norton from the '70s studied with Keith as did Hal.

One is a Bass left to the Orchestra by Torello I believe. It's huge but not everyone likes playing it from what I've heard. I have not seen that Bass personally.

and one is his Lions head or Gargoil headed bass that seems to be Italian but the head was from another Bass I think. No one I know has any idea who made the Bass including Hal when I asked him.

There could be others but this is all that I know about. I have met him a couple of times around the stage but thats it. The first time was in my area at a Chamber Concert. He let me see his Bass and I plucked a note or two on it. The Bow (Vitale) was under the E and A strings so I just worked around it while he grabbed the cover to pack it up a minute later.

Another time I saw a student of his perform a Bottesini solo (don't recall which one) using his Solo French Bass with the Philly Orch.. That's when he told me about that bass before they left the stage at the end of the concert.

On the English looking Bass remember that the English were mainly copyists or the Italians and Germans so maybe it was and maybe it wasn't.

[Abe Gumroyan]

The instrument that Torello left behind may have been the one I saw in this photo archive from Curtis. Very large, violin cornered instrument, amber in color and just plain beautiful. Has a da'Salo/Maginni flavor to it. Even from the picture it seems like the Bass has insanely deep ribs. Perhaps it was never cut down ? I have heard from many sources that Torello brought over many fine instruments to the US, Particularly Gagliano & Busan. 3 out of the 4 authentic Busans that I have seen personally were brought over by Torello. These basses belong to Tim Pitts, Ralph Jones, & Jeremy McCoy. The 4th Busan I speak of belongs to Joe Guastafeste. I believe the Gaglianos are in the possesion of the estate of Oscar Zimmermann. Roger Scott also purchased his Vangelisti bass from Torello as well.

[Ken Smith]

The instrument that Torello left behind may have been the one I saw in this photo archive from Curtis. Very large, violin cornered instrument, amber in color and just plain beautiful. Has a da'Salo/Maginni flavor to it. Even from the picture it seems like the Bass has insanely deep ribs. Perhaps it was never cut down ? I have heard from many sources that Torello brought over many fine instruments to the US, Particularly Gagliano & Busan. 3 out of the 4 authentic Busans that I have seen personally were brought over by Torello. These basses belong to Tim Pitts, Ralph Jones, & Jeremy McCoy. The 4th Busan I speak of belongs to Joe Guastafeste. I believe the Gaglianos are in the possesion of the estate of Oscar Zimmermann. Roger Scott also purchased his Vangelisti bass from Torello as well.

That's a nice bass and a recent picture because of the Evah Pirazzi strings which I was told by a Curtis student that he recently switched to.

I don't know about the Basses Torello brought over or which are authentic but I do know this, many more basses are not what they claim to be than are.

[Anselm Hauke]

Even from the picture it seems like the Bass has insanely deep ribs.

i think the photo was taken with a wide-angle-lens. that makes the ribs look deeper. if you look at the bridge and the scroll you can see the optical distortion.

but nonetheless a great looking bass!

[Joel Larsson]

I also like the brightly colored grip on his bow! First I thought it was his thumb sticking out at a strange angle. :D