Mickey Bass

Mickey Bass (born May 2, 1943 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American bassist, composer, arranger, and music educator. He was born Lee Odiss Bass III. He has played with Chico Freeman, John Hicks, Kiane Zawadi among others.

Mickey Bass is a Pittsburgh bassist who has worked with hard bop bandleaders and combos since the ‘60s; he has not recorded often as a leader. His maternal grandmother who performed in minstrel shows taught Mickey and his cousins Barbershop Harmony. He has played and recorded with Sonny Rollins, Bennie Green, Charles Mingus and so on. The New York Times declared: “When Mickey Bass& “The Co-operation” get in the ‘right groove’…it is doubtful if there is another jazz group in town that swings as hard as this one.” He has taught students at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Hartt College of Music from 1975 to 1985. His students at Ellington included Wallace Roney, Gregory Charles Royal, Clarence Seay, and drummer Eric Allen. As a director of “The Jazz Ensemble,” he helped this ensemble gradually to an eventual state of maturity and sophistication. In 1980, he was awarded: A National Endowment for the Arts, Composers’ Grant.