Matthias Heyman
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jazzmatt.bsky.social
Matthias Heyman
@jazzmatt.bsky.social
Double bassist, professor @VUB, researcher @EhB/KCB, into all things B: Beatles, Blanton (Jimmie), bass (playing and researching), and Belgian jazz (history).
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
Jimmie Blanton/ Duke Ellington - Pitter Panther Patter

Recorded: 1940

Jimmie Blanton - bass
Duke Ellington - piano

(Jimmie was his preferred spelling of his name & how he signed his name, although often misspelled as Jimmy. Poor guy passed away at 23 in 1942, who knows what he would have done)
October 25, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
Tune of the day…Jimmie Blanton/ Duke Ellington - Pitter Panther Patter. I put Blanton’s name 1st because it’s clear he’s doing something that hadn’t been done in jazz before with his virtuosity and tone. Duke knew it and offered him a job, the 1st night he heard him. #jazzsky youtu.be/xTA7-U-fjoU
Pitter Panther Patter (take 1) - Duke Ellington / Jimmy Blanton
YouTube video by johnnystaccata
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
"Oh, he just changed it. From black to white. That big a change. He was different. I mean he had the best sound you ever heard. He played the best lines. He played the best solos. He did everything! And everybody was into Jimmy Blanton." - Ray Brown

Happy Birthday Jimmy Blanton
born October 5, 1918
October 5, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
"Well, the piano has always helped me in music. The bass helps you hear the chord, but the piano then spells it out for you, in case you don't know what the other notes are. The piano plays all the notes. So between the bass and the piano you have everything."

Ray Brown
13 Oct 1926 - 2 Jul 2002
July 2, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
My article discusses how I re-enacted the music of Duke Ellington in order to better understand how the unamplified double bass of Jimmie Blanton was (being perceived as) louder than other swing bassists.

Fun to write, even more fun to play! 🎶🎻🎙️ (2/2)
May 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
Publication alert! 🛎️📝

Really pleased to be part of the inaugural issue of ARJAZZ, a brand-new journal—and the first worldwide—on artistic research in jazz: www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2607404... (1/2)
“Blanton’s bass peels the ceiling six blocks away”: Elusive bass tones and historically informed jazz recordings by Matthias Heyman
www.researchcatalogue.net
May 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Publication alert! 🛎️📝

Really pleased to be part of the inaugural issue of ARJAZZ, a brand-new journal—and the first worldwide—on artistic research in jazz: www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2607404... (1/2)
“Blanton’s bass peels the ceiling six blocks away”: Elusive bass tones and historically informed jazz recordings by Matthias Heyman
www.researchcatalogue.net
May 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
Belgische jazzmuzikant Kris Defoort componeert verplicht werk
voor Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd vrtnws.be/p.KKYKNN0nb?t=174... @vrtnws.be
Belgische jazzmuzikant Kris Defoort componeert verplicht werk voor Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd
vrtnws.be
March 20, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
There’s this muppet on TikTok who transcribes and then scats incredibly difficult jazz solos so well and I could not possibly love a thing more
March 18, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Matthias Heyman
Really enjoying this classic Sesame Street segment, two minutes of freestyle jazz riffing on saxophone factory footage
March 13, 2025 at 8:55 PM