Updated 10 April 2004
My apologies for no current updates. My schedule sometimes does not provide sufficient space to maintain pages such as this one regularly. If you read on, however, you will get a fair idea of my involvement in music and music education.
Finally its here! The CD titled Those Were The Days by Wilf Jones (violin), Anton Wurzer (accordion) and George Urbaszek (bass), the trio known as WAG. The CD looks great and sounds excellent - all 55 minutes of it. We are very pleased with the product. If you would like to purchase Those Were The Days, Contact me via E-Mail The price of the CD is AUS $25.00 incl. postage & packaging.
After many hours of arranging and rehearsing carefully chosen items, our CD titled Those Were The Days is now available. We started this project in late January and a number of very fine artists have been involved in its production.
Before the master disc was sent to Sydney for duplication, a number of personalities with a profound knowledge of the industry listened to the innovative and distinctive sound we produce. They were universal in their expression of high praise.
Whilst there are many new releases in the classical and contemporary mediums, light and popular music albums are few and far between. When audiences hear the performances of WAG (Wilf, Anton, George) they know they are going to hear beautiful melodies and fascinating rhythms in the most attractive manner.
Here is a list of the tunes you will hear on Those Were The Days: Brazil, Tea for Two, A Man and a Woman, Hernando's Hideaway, Moon River, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Those Were The Days, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Spanish Gypsy Dance, The Toy Trumpet, I'll Remember April, Tico Tico, Blue Moon, Tango Bolero, Two Guitars - 15 wonderful tunes you will want to hear over and over again.
SWEET MISCHIEF has just completed their debut CD. It will be available in early August. The CD has exceeded our expectations in all ways. Upcoming CD-related performances include an ABC Snapshot, a Media Launch (29 August) and the big PARTY Public Launch on 1 September at the National Press Club in Canberra. SWEET MISCHIEF now has a Website which has three sample tracks for their CD for you to hear
I recently recorded bass grooves to loops for a house/dance mix/funk cd. The recording is being produced in Sydney. Now it is in the hands of the producers, DJs, writers etc. to make me sound nothing like me. I'm looking forward to it!
Good news from and about some former students: Kim Khahn has just completed her stint (tour of UK and Europe) with former Spice Girl, Mel C. Kim has now signed up with Natalie Imbruglia. Their first gig together was on the Dave Letterman Show and recently Kim performed with Natalies's band at the televised Australian Record Industry Awards (ARIA) ceremony. Also performing at the ARIAs was Rory Quirk, the new bass player in the John Butler Trio, who received an ARIA for "Best Independent Release". Great news about Zoe Hauptmann and Brendan Clarke. Both have reached the finals of the Wangaratta Jazz Festival "National Jazz Awards" competition. Guess what? Brendan Clarke won! Yeah!!! Congratulations to all!
In September 2001 nine-piece band Sweet Mischief returned from a very successful headlining stint at the Samoa Island Jazz Festival. Besides the festival spots, we did various other performances from cafes to hotels and nightclubs, playing anything from jazz to soul and funk. We all had a great time which was especially enhanced by the friendliness of the islanders. One week (and a few more gigs) after our return we headed back to Sydney for a spot at the Manly International Jazz Festival. There I caught up with several former students who are now playing with some of the top jazz cats in the country (or should that be the city?).
June 2002:
Sweet Mischief performed at the Australian Sports Awards on 27 March 2002. The event was televised nationally by SBS. We opened the ceremony with our original Movin' Up and later performed our version of the Enriqe Iglesias hit Hero.
I have just returned from a tour of Canada and the USA. This time I wore my conductor's hat for the Radford College Jazz Band. We all had an exceptionally good time, ending with a workshop and performance in Disneyland.
After the Canada/USA tour we formed two new jazz bands at Radford College. After four rehearsals we entered in the National Eisteddfod with the Junior Jazz Band getting a highly commended second place and the Senior Jazz Band getting a well-deserved FIRST in their category. Congratulations to all involved!
Sweet Mischief played a very successful concert displaying our new direction with funky originals at the Southern Cross Club in Canberra on 21 June 2002. Thanks to all supporters, especially to producer Richard Lush who came from Sydney to check out the band.
How Can all of this benefit you? Well, my experience tells me to let you work it out.
See ya ... and STAY IN THE GROOVE!
George Urbaszek
Here are a couple of my newsletters.
George Urbaszek - NEWSLETTER - April 2003
Hello ... and welcome to my newsletter. It has been some time since my last newsletter (October 2002) and since then there have been some changes. Our move to The Channon (a village in northern New South Wales, Australia) went very well and my wife, Duwike, our cat, Sally, and myself have settled in. This is mostly due to the warm welcomes we have received from the community.
I have about 18 new face-to-face bass students, 4 new correspondence students, am conducting 2 new ensembles at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium and Arts Centre (NRCAC) in Lismore, with some guest teaching coming up at the Southern Cross University. All this has developed within three months and I would like to thank the music community for the excellent reception and support of my activities.
Recently I ventured a bit further from my new home and went to Brisbane to record some top quality demo songs with Canberra band Sweet Mischief. Chartsong producer Stuart Stuart will present the songs to record labels. It was a great buzz working with Stuart, who is able to create a relaxed yet productive environment. The least Sweet Mischief will get out of this venture is an EP of 4 or 5 new original tracks. I'll keep you posted.
I have now registered a dot com for my website. It is www.creativebass.com. If you want to check out some of my background, get mp3 downloads or a free online lesson, please go to www.creativebass.com. The latest addition to the online lessons is titled Groove Creation. This has got to be useful to us all.
The aspect of playing live is beginning to take more form. I have been communicating with several musicians and have started some rehearsing. I will certainly let you know when gigs and concerts come up. The Gig Guide page on my website is a place to check out, possibly from May onwards. There will be an informal concert at the NRCAC in the evening of May 8. Both groups I look after, the Improvisation Ensemble and the Conservatory Big Band will perform at least one piece each.
Finally I have begun experimenting with computer-based recording software. The first item to be made public should be a ready-made bass lesson, due in May. I certainly welcome suggestions for lesson topics, so if you have any ideas, please email bassbytape@austarmetro.com.au. I do consider all input.
That's all for this newsletter. Stay in the groove. That way you'll stay safe.
George Urbaszek
Creative Bass Newsletter Number 4, 9 April 2004
Welcome to the fourth edition of my EMag. As is becoming the norm, I am too busy to publish a monthly EMag, but will get one out as often as possible.
News
The Advanced Diploma of Jazz Studies at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium Arts Centre in Lismore has kicked off on a high with seventeen students enrolled. Some have come from as far as Melbourne and New Zealand and many have come from nearby Byron Bay. In week three, some of the teachers, including yours truly, performed at a lunchtime concert. The buzz created by the students was phenomenal, and the playing lived up to the expectation - a performance to remember. Weekly masterclasses and workshops are a regular event of this one-year course; they attract well-known touring and local artists willing to give it up for the sake of the continuation of the oral and aural tradition of jazz.
If you would like information about the Advanced Diploma of Jazz Studies, please email and I will forward the course outline. You can also phone the Conservatorium on 02 66212266 or me on 02 66886143. In addition to taking some classes, I am Jazz Studies Coordinator and will be able to assist with your queries.
As reported in my last Emag, Enable Bass has been released and will soon be reviewed by Bass Player magazine. Check out Enable Bass and download free samples at Creative Music Lessons. It is the most comprehensive bass tuition CD-ROM on the market.
I have just completed the first seven weeks of my semester of teaching bass students at Southern Cross University in Lismore. It has been a thrill, with excellent, appreciative and dedicated students; they have given me some new inspiration, too!
To read a review and see pictures of my newly acquired Belman Classic 5-String Bass, see the autumn edition of Australian Musician magazine.
I have now published Fundamental Concepts for Walking Bass - A Systematic Method. It is a 106 page treatise on learning how to play improvised walking bass, suitable for jazz, country, blues, composition students, guitarists, keyboard players and more. Click here for samples and purchase information. The price is AUS $25.00 (incl. pph).
Gigs and Bands
The tour with Crankenstein went very well. No wonder, with world travelling world music musicians such as Tungi Beyer (percussion), Matthias Loibner (Austria, hurdy gurdy), Barb Dwyer (Canada, bandleader, hurdy gurdy and vocals) and Tasmanian clown and all-round entertainer, Jeff Turpin. I have done several gigs with Darya's Jazz Tea Trio, a very relaxed outfit featuring Darya Schrueder on vocals and Ben Rogers on guitar. The Conservatorium Big Band is up and running again this year with around 50% new members, some from the jazz course. Our latest addition is Gordon Yemm, who does a great job at playing the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) enabling him to play the parts of almost any instrument - a great asset and a great musician!
Playing Tips
Try this: Take one of your stock standard lines and play it in at least 20 different ways. Think laterally. Hit the strings a lot harder than you have ever done before, play softer, play very legato, play very staccato, mix the two, play the line a lot faster, play it a lot slower, play it in a different position, a different key, a different register, slap it pop it, pick it, mute it, change the feel from straight to swung or vice versa, use a completely different fingering for both left and right hands, change the line from major to minor or vice versa, play it with your eyes closed, imagine a scene to suit the mood of the line, hold the bass in a completely different position and so on. If you have not discovered at least one new and potentially useful thing through this experiment, start all over again with an open mind.
As Marty of Global Bass loves to say, enjoy whatever happens!
George Urbaszek
Please visit again. Thanks.