A bass run is an
instrumental break in which the main
vocal or
melody line rests (pauses, takes a "break") and the
bass instruments and
line are given the forefront. The technique seems to have
originated in the marches of the "Sousa school", though its
resemblance to call and response techniques familiar to
African American musicians indicates an earlier origin.
(van der Merwe 1989, p.283)
Source
- van der Merwe, Peter (1989). Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0193161214.