French Basses

[Ken Smith]

In 1971 I took a trip to Philly from NY with my friend Stanley Clarke. I met his old teacher and also visited a Bass shop. For sale there was a beautiful wine colored French Cello shaped Bass. The dealer said it was a Bernardel. I ended up buying it a month or so later and had it for quite a number of years until I got my Italian Bass and favored it instead. Eventually, I sold the Bernardel to a well know Jazz player in NY.

The shape was very similar to the Lion head Gand Bernardels we have seen but this had just a bit more grace. Sam Kolstein had appraised it as a Gustave Bernardel c.1859. I still have the appraisal in my collection. My teacher at that time was Lew Norton and he had remarked how fast the notes responded when playing. Just the lightest attack and the note would jump right out. The only problem was the size. I was learning the Dragonetti and I didn't carry around a step ladder. Long arms and fingers were not enough for this big Bass.

A few years later, I found another French Bass but in a Gamba shape. It was similar to the Barbe type Basses in the Elgar book so I called it a Barbe. It was restored a bit mainly by me but with the help of Paul Biase and then I sold it as well. At that time I was just buying, fixing and selling basses as a hobby. Being a freelance Bassist in NY was not always a 24/7 job so I needed a hobby to fill in my spare time. Basses was my hobby!

Recently I have seen two very fine upper end French Basses in NY only to learn one was not made in France. The first was a Derazey who made Basses for Vuillaume. The other which I thought was a Bernardel was actually a George Gemunder who just prior to moving to USA worked for Vuillaume making Basses for him as well. This Bass for all intensive purposes is a French Bass as would be considered a Panormo made a year after arriving in England from Italy. Or, would it be an English Bass?

My Loveri Bass was cut down in 1937 to look like a French Pear shaped Bass in the style of Quenoil so we know they were becoming popular around that time. Jacquet was another large family making Basses as well as the Gands. Several merges existed as well. Gand & Bernardel, Jacquet Gand, Jacquet-Pillament, Riviere & Hawkes and Collin-Mezin (20th c.) to name a few.

If you have a French Bass, please tell us about it and post some pics if you can.