Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - His Sound
Joel Wilson
To our upright Brothers- Two Q's re: NHOP How does this monster get his sound? The instrument? The strings? The pick-up and related gear? The Man himself? Combination of all the above (plus a little of that God-given talent some of us crave)? I've heard other players come close to the NHOP sound,...
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Music Player Network
To our upright Brothers- Two Q's re: NHOP

How does this monster get his sound? The instrument? The strings? The pick-up and related gear? The Man himself? Combination of all the above (plus a little of that God-given talent some of us crave)? I've heard other players come close to the NHOP sound, but like Miles' horn, it may be copied but not duplicated.

And what, in your estimation, puts a player like NHOP so far above the curve in so many areas (sound, technique, improv, solo, accompaniment, etc.) on such a difficult instrument? May seem like silly & transparent questions with an obvious answer ( "Practice, Joel, practice!" ) but when I listen to him play common sense flys out the window. Not trying to start a whole link of homage to NHOP, but open to hearing the thoughts of others about what sets a player like him so far apart from the herd.

-JW

BP did some features on NHOP May 96 and April 98.

He has used a Pierre Josephs String Charger pickup for many years. It's a flexible magnetic pickup that fit on the end of the fingerboard. It sounds very electric to me, but it articulates very fast. Due to it's low feedback potential, it regained popularity during the "swing" boom as a way for upright players to compete with rock...I mean ...."swing" guitarists.

He also plays using a three finger technique, this was addressed in one of those articles. He has been a very big influence on me, I love his swinging bebop lines, his melodic soloing, and chops? Fer days!

I've been using a Rick Turner pickup on my bass for a while and I think it has a very NHOP-ish sound, but less electric. Check out my attempt at sounding like The Man at www.edfriedland.com/turner.html

Maybe in another 30 years or so I'll get it...

It didn't hurt NHOP that he was gigging and recording with Bud Powell at age 16 either....

NHØP is arguably the best bassist on the planet. If you've never heard him - and I'll bet that a lot of you have not - you need to.

I always assumed that the guy played a fretless electric. I still can't quite grasp that he plays that stuff on an upright.

Can anyone recommend some top notch NHØP disks (in print)? My only exposure to him has been on Oscar Peterson's records.