Sam Rocha
Acoustic Bass
About
Sam Rocha is a double bassist and multi-instrumentalist from Fresno, California, who has become one of the rising stars of the traditional jazz and gypsy swing circuit. He performs regularly with Tom Rigney and Flambeau, the Blue Street Jazz Band, Carl Sonny Leyland's Boogie Woogie Boys, and the Hot Club of San Francisco. He has also performed with violinist Nora Germain, drummer Izaak Weatherwax, cornetist Clint Baker, drummer Jeff Hamilton, guitarist Duke Robillard, vocalist Dawn Lambeth, and trumpeter Marc Caparone. Beyond bass he also performs on tuba, cornet, and guitar. He is known for his innate musicality, inventive melodic solos, and his command of the acoustic string bass, which he tours with using a Chadwick Folding Bass strung with a hybrid set of gut and steel strings.
Trivia
Rocha began formal music training at age four with piano lessons and later studied viola and bass guitar before falling in love with the acoustic string bass at fifteen. He has closely studied such masters of the instrument as Pops Foster, Al Morgan, Milt Hinton, Bob Haggart, Jimmy Blanton, Ray Brown, Walter Page, and Scott LaFaro. His full name is Samuel Wolfe Rocha.
Early Life
Born in Fresno, California, Sam Rocha began formal music training at age four with piano lessons and went on to study viola and bass guitar. At fifteen he discovered the acoustic string bass and was hooked. Largely self-taught on the instrument, he played his first professional gigs at seventeen with Fresno's Blue Street Jazz Band, an innovative traditional jazz group that had been active since 1983. He went on to establish himself as a full-time musician in the San Francisco Bay Area, performing as both a sideman and bandleader at major jazz festivals including the Redwood Coast Music Festival and the Sun Valley Jazz & Music Festival.
Sam Rocha Solos
2024
Acoustic Bass solo - Happy Jazz - 2024
4/4 swing in B♭ major at 134 BPM
Acoustic Bass solo - Always Your Friend - 2024
4/4 swing in G major at 190 BPM