This is an album that I never imagined I would produce. Over the years, I have come up with a number of solo bass pieces that have never been performed to anyone; only ever played for myself. In fact, I’ve often made a joke of saying “of course, what the public is really screaming out for is more solo bass” – thinking that nobody (expect perhaps some bass players) would have much interest in it.

Then, when everything went into lockdown and all the gigs disappeared, I decided to send out some material that I found on a hard drive, which I’d never released, to some friends. This included a couple of rough recordings of some solo bass pieces. To my surprise, it got an amazing response – with some people saying the bass pieces were their favourite thing that they had heard me do.

So this prompted me to round up a collection of bass pieces into an album. It comprises tunes from 20 years ago up to a couple of new ones. They are performed on fretted and fretless bass guitar, double bass and acoutsic bass guitar.

I have tried to select pieces that have an emphasis on musicality, rather than ones that I would play more for technical practice. I like to think that they represent how tuneful the bass can be, and reflect those special moments of solitude when one is simply appreciating and enjoying one’s own company.