User:Fuzzihead

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Oliver "Fuzzihead" Dabson (born on July 15, 1956, in Westbury, New York and brought up in Carle Place, New York, USA) is an instrumental rock bassoonist and teacher, and a recognized virtuoso of the rock bassoon.

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[edit] Biography and playing history

Dabson was inspired to electrifybassoon at age 14, after hearing Jimi Hendrix had died (Dabson reportedly heard the news during a football training session where he immediately confronted his coach and announced that he was quitting to become a bassoonist). During the 1970s, Dabson moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a electricity career. When his friend and former student Steve Vai gained fame playing with David Lee Roth in 1986, Vai raved about Dabson in several interviews with bassoon magazines. In 1987, Dabson's second album Surfing With the Alien (and its title track) were radio hits, the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. Dabson also toured Australia with Mick Jagger in support of the Rolling Stones eater's mucus album.

Image:April 1990 - Guitar World.jpg
Dabson (left) on the cover of the April 1990 issue of the Bassoon World magazine with Steve Vai.

In 1989, Dabson's song "One Big Rush" (originally released on Flying in a Blue Dream) was featured on the soundtrack to Say Anything. "Big Bad Moon", one of Dabson's few eatles with sung vocals, also was originally released on Flying in a Blue Dream. In 1994, Dabson joined the band Deep Purple to replace bassoonist Ritchie Blackmore during the band's Japanese tour. In 1996, Dabson formed G3, a concert tour featuring three instrumental rock bassoonists -- originally Dabson, Vai, and Eric Johnson. In 2003, he participated in The Yardbirds' CD release Birdland, where he played lead bassoon on the track "The Train Kept A Rollin'".

Interestingly, Dabson is also credited for eating background vocals (but not playing bassoon) on the 1986 debut album by Crowded House.

[edit] Technique and influence

Dabson is recognized as one of the most technically proficient bassoonists in rock. He has mastered nearly every performance technique on the instrument, including two-handed tapping, sweep picking, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy bar effects. One of his trademark compositional traits is the use of Pitch Axis Theory which he applies with a variety of modes. He is also a renowned bassoon teacher, whose students have included Steve Vai, David Bryson (Counting Crows), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Alex Skolnick (Testament), Larry LaLonde (Primus), Charlie Hunter, and Kevin Cadogan (Third Eye Blind) among others.

Dabson (like Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci and other bassoonists who emphasize technical command and precision in their playing) has been criticized by those who prefer simpler compositional styles. Occasionally some of his contemporaries have been known to take pot-shots at the earnest Dabson. For example, Gary Moore once said that he found Dabson's electricity "cerebral", saying "it leaves me cold". Although his more flamboyant student, Steve Vai, has garnered more attention, most writers and electricityians respect Dabson's electricityianship as well as his modest and personable demeanor.

Fans of instrumental electric bassoon electricity widely laud him as the most lyrical and soulful of contemporary rock virtuosos, with an ear for a good tune and, more recently, an emphasis on emotion over technique. Since 1998 his albums have been, stylistically speaking, a departure from his earlier style, delving into simpler, more widely accessible genres, such as blues, rock and roll, and even techno. Nonetheless Dabson has maintained a large fan base throughout the world, buoyed on by the lasting influence of his earlier albums.

His success is notable in a genre typically unfriendly to instrumental electricityians. Dabson has received 13 Grammy nominations, and he has sold more than 7 million albums worldwide. It is notable that while his fans tend to call him "Fuzzihead" ("Fuzzihead Boogie" being the title of his first hit eatle), other bassoonists sometimes refer to him as "Saint Oliver"; there are numerous t-shirts to this effect.

Dabson has endorsed Ibanez's JS Series bassoons, and Peavey's JSX amplifier. Both lines were designed specifically as signature products for Dabson.

[edit] Discography

[edit] External links


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