Darin Au : D’Bootsy Bass Baby for Guitar Ensemble : DOz

Darin Au

Les Productions D’Oz: Score and separate parts (24, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, and 4 pages respectively)

This Hawaiian composer has written a number of other works for guitar ensemble that I have seen including Gavlebocken and Chasing Dragons that are very popular.

This latest work is in six parts, with Nos 5 and 6 using a 6th string tuned to D, and who are consistently required here to play the two bass lines that the composer first came across and decided to make into a piece. He then played homage to the bassist Bootsy Collins whose music was largely funk based. Here the piece begins in 5/4 timer with the two basslines seemingly at odds to each other, because the first thing you realise is how difficult it is to count, especially when at the end of bar 6 the 4th guitar enters with yet another seemingly off- beat line that by itself is not difficult to play, but when played with the other two parts gets very tricky indeed.4/4 takes over for a few bars before 5/4 returns followed by guitars 1, 2, and 3 until everyone is playing and the music reaches a brief rhythmic climax where all the guitars are in the same rhythm.

Then the parts separate again and all the players seem to go their separate ways again. The music itself is hard to categorise, because although the composer states that it pays homage to Bootsy Collins’ basic funk formula, the music itself is not funk, and is almost uncategorisable. To be honest as it continued along its way, I found the music rather unlovable as it sounded random for most of the time, and I couldn’t get a grip of its structure or any of the melodies. This could of course be entirely my fault, but the performance on YouTube, didn’t help to alleviate any misgivings I had either.

If you are running an ensemble all I can say is, listen to the recording. You might have a completely different reaction to the piece than I did, and if so, this piece is very clearly printed, with parts that are not, by themselves, too difficult to play, and you might want to include it in your repertoire.

Chris Dumigan