Rory Dempsey / Tom Mason: Double Bass

Rory Dempsey was born in Limerick, Ireland. After taking up the bass at 16, he studied in the Cork School of Music earning a B.Mus degree in 2004. Rory then attended the Royal College of Music in London where he studied with Philharmonia principal bass, Neil Tarlton. He left the RCM with a PGDip in Performance and forgot to go home.

Over the last ten years Rory has built a busy career as a freelance bassist. He performs in a wide range of styles including classical, jazz and tango.

As a jazz and rhythm section bassist he has played with the BBC Big Band and Matthew Herbert’s Brexit Big Band. He is also lucky enough to work with the pioneering young group The Heritage Orchestra and with them has had the opportunity to perform with Tim Minchin, John Cale, Jamie Cullum and UNKLE.

No stranger to the theatre, Rory has worked on the West End productions of Top Hat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The King & I and An American in Paris.

 

Tom Mason developed an interest in jazz at the age of seventeen and attended the Royal Academy of Music, where he gained a First Class Honours degree. He spent a year of his studies at New England Conservatory, studying with renowned bassist Cecil McBee. There, he also played with pianist and ECM recording artist, Michael Cain and award-winning trombonist, Robin Eubanks. He has since built a reputation as one of the most versatile and in-demand bassists in the UK today, and has recorded and performed with artists such as Gwilym Simcock, Billy Cobham, Gerard Presencer, Famoudou Don Moye, BBC Big Band, Kings Cross Hot Club, Nicolas Meier Group and Tim Garland. He has also played bass for singer Jonathan Jeremiah with whom he recorded with legendary drummer Questlove (The Roots).