The Bass Gang

THE BASS GANG is probably the best known double bass quartet in the world

and certainly the most long-lived.

Andrea, Antonio, Amerigo and Alberto have been playing together since the Stone Age and we find evidence of this in the rock iconography of the southern Gargano dating back to the post-Paleolithic period as well as in Egyptian paintings of later date, while of uncertain attribution (scholars are divided on the subject) is the iconography of them playing on the roof of the Tower of Babel.

Their career was only briefly interrupted in the middle of the last century when, abducted by aliens, they were absent from the scene for about six months, a period during which unusual phenomena were recorded: sudden rising tides on the east coast of Japan, uncontrolled population growth on the island of Ponza, increased suicides among male flamingos, and excessive hair growth among the females of the Karajà tribe in the rainforest. After the general dismay following their disappearance, fruitless search parties were organised in every corner of the planet (A.A.A. wanted).

Suddenly reappearing after the alien experience, they have once again returned to the world’s stages, appearing even more stratospheric than before but with a different light in their eyes, so much so that some believe that A.A.A. have been held on other worlds and that in order not to destabilise the planet, they have been returned as enhanced clones. Difficult to verify since A.A.A. are in no way approachable.

Many are their plans for the future, the most intriguing being the one that sees them the subject of a dispute between NASA and Elon Musk who want them to be the first double-bass quartet to land on Mars.