Music: Voice From the Deep

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WHAT ARE THE THREE most difficult years in a bass player's life?

Second grade. Ba-dump-bump.

It's so easy to pick on bassists, who often pluck away anonymously behind the all-star instrumentalists.

But Per Zanussi, double bassist, composer and leader of the Zanussi Five, not only guides a fantastic band, he's a smarty-pants with a master's in music from the Conservatory in Trondheim and the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo.

"The problem with leading a band from the bass chair is that as a bass player you traditionally play nearly all the time," Zanussi said. "You use both hands to play, so visual cues can be difficult. Usually, we have musical cues or one of the sax players' cues. If all else fails, I whistle or shout."

The Five features an all-sax front line with Kjetil Moster (tenor sax), Rolf-Erik Nystrom (alto) and Eirik Hegdal (baritone and alto).

"I've always been fascinated with the timbral possibilities of saxophones — with multiphonics, overblowing, etc.," Zanussi said. "There is a range from really romantic, sweet sounds to electronic-sounding and distorted noise."

And because these saxophonists' styles range from rock-ish (Moster) to classical (Hegdal), Zanussi said, "I feel that there are so many possibilities with these the sax players that I really don't need a chord instrument, and I use them orchestrally."

Drummer Per Oddvar Johansen rounds out the Five, which released its second CD, "Alborado," last fall.

"'Alborado' feels like a clearer record to me," Zanussi said. "The ideas are more clearly presented. ... There is a lot of improvisation on ‘Alborado,' too, but I feel that the composed parts are stricter and the improvised parts opener, allowing each element to come out better. I also was less afraid to let the ugly parts be ugly and the melodic parts be melodic."

In other words, the Zanussi Five makes exquisitely ripe modern jazz.

"I like to have an element of surprise and contrast in my music," Zanussi said. "There are also some surrealist references in there. I like music that has some kind of strange, unknown feeling mixed with the things we already know."

» Twins Jazz, 1344 U St. NW; Thu., 8 p.m., $15; 202-234-0072.(U St.-Cardozo)

Photo courtesy Charlotte Blom