Music has always been a huge part of my life. From a very young age, I was surrounded by it. Whether it was afternoons with my grandfather soaking in jazz greats from big band to bop or Saturday mornings with my father listening to the Beatles, Beach Boys and the Stones, music has always been there, providing the soundtrack to my existence. I am enthralled with so many forms of music, and all of them inform me as a musician- something that I became as a natural extension of my love of this art form.
My first truly musical experience (the Rockwell-ian Christmas caroling around the family piano aside) was at about age 12, when I took up the saxophone in the school band. It was a great experience, but that band music wasn't really my thing…I didn't know why at the time, but I made my first mistake as a musician, I sold my sax and called it quits. It was a couple of years later, in 1985, that I first started fooling with the low end. I was a big fan of the Who at the time, and was fascinated with John Entwistle. When some friends' band lost their bass player, it was suggested that I take it up. I was excited by the opportunity, and soon had my first bass (a Hondo P-bass copy) and began taking lessons. I suspect my teacher was a bit surprised when he asked me to bring in a tune I'd like to learn and I showed up with the Who's “Baba O'Reilly”, but hey, think big, right? Well, it was only a couple of months later when I had my first experience playing bass on stage, and there began my undying love for playing live. A few years later, I made my second major mistake as a musician and sold off all my bass gear before going to college. It was a situation that would not soon be rectified.
Despite no longer having a bass to play, I didn't get away from music completely. I had an inexpensive acoustic guitar that I continued to noodle around with and I became a fairly accomplished harmonica player. The harmonica playing kept me on stage as I regularly sat in with local blues, rock and even bluegrass bands over the next few years. Speaking of bluegrass, I had developed in my early 20's a strong affinity for acoustic music and began playing mandolin. Mandolin was the first truly liberating experience of my musical career. Freed from the confines of expectation, I developed my own unique improvisational approach to the instrument, gigging regularly with the Grateful Dead cover band Lobsterz from Marz and my own acoustic duo, ‘Bach & Hunter . Now pay attention, this is all about to come full circle…
‘Bach & Hunter was a great experience for me, and we had a great time making music. But something was missing from the sound and I was itching to make some changes. Then it occurred to me…why not get a bass and switch between mando and bass to broaden our sound? I soon went out and got myself a Martin acoustic bass guitar. It was now 2001, and a dozen plus years had passed since I had last owned a bass (though I had played occasionally over the intervening years). Pleasantly, it came back quickly and I soon was fully committed to being a bass player, returning to my roots as it were. ‘Bach & Hunter soon evolved to an acoustic/electric band called Eft Up and the need for an electric bass became readily apparent. While I searched for the right bass for me, I picked up a cheap P-bass copy and Eft Up started gigging around western Massachusetts. In January of 2003, we went into Signature Sounds Studios and recorded the 4 track EP “Wet Feet.”
Jason plays a JAF Minuteman I 4-string (#009)...
Around this time, I began speaking to Al Heffler and Mike Gagne of JAF Basses about building me my dream bass. Unsatisfied with what I was finding commercially, I was blown away by the photos of the first JAF Minuteman and contracted with JAF to build me a 4 string fretted Minuteman. As the bass evolved, it strongly resembled that first Minuteman, with a few twists. Al's passion for his bass building was evident to me even then, and I can't say how happy I have been with the results. Contacting me to suggest such changes as the purpleheart fretboard, the experience of working with JAF was a joy. When Mike offered me the fretless he had been building for himself, I jumped on that too. It took about a year, but in the spring of 2004 I had the great pleasure of having my new basses hand delivered by Al himself. It is no exaggeration to say that the basses far exceeded my expectations in every way. Al was as wonderful in person as he had been via phone and email, and today I am proud to call him my friend as well as the artist behind my “tools of the trade”.
Musically, I have continued to grow and improve. Sadly, Eft Up is no more, but the JAFs were there for its final gigs. I have also had the opportunity to play these fine basses on stage with the great John Sheldon and with my newest project, Whale , a unique fusion of rock, blues, reggae, jazz and free-form improvisation. I am also at work on a solo album where I will perform a series of original folk-rock tunes, a sort of natural evolution of what we started in Eft Up .
Well, that's about all there is to say about me. Support local music, get out and show your appreciation for the arts, keep the spirit alive!
Peace,
Jason
P.S. Feel free to contact me at basshunter@jafbasses.com
