Alex Andrews’s latest passion project is all about that bass.
The Orillia woman has set out to restore the double, or upright, bass her great-grandfather played when he led the Andrews Orchestra, a popular big band group that performed in and around Orillia from the late 1920s to the early ’60s.
Charlie Andrews founded the band with his wife, Anne, who played piano. They performed two concerts a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The five-cent shows were often family affairs, with Charlie Andrews’s son, Ross, playing saxophone and clarinet.
“They got so popular that it warranted building a dance hall on Memorial Avenue,” said Alex Andrews of what became the Rainbow Room.
The band even had a future folk hero on stage for a few performances, when Gordon Lightfoot took to the mic in the 1950s.
When her grandmother moved out of the house, Alex Andrews came across the bass – dubbed “The Professor” by Hawkes & Son, which made the instrument in 1910. She decided it would no longer collect dust.
“I thought it could use some TLC,” she said.
She took it to George Heinl & Co. in Toronto to see what it would take to return The Professor to its former glory. Turns out it’s a $5,600 makeover.
She determined she wanted to take it a step further, do more than simply restore a piece of Orillia and Andrews family history.
“When they told me that it would be in playing condition, I thought, ‘How cool would it be to learn this one?’” said Alex Andrews, a trained violist who also plays violin.
Once The Professor is back in her hands – later this month, she expects – she will get to work on learning how to play it.
She recognizes its value is more than monetary, both to her and to the community.
“My grandfather was one of the people who inspired me musically as a kid,” she said. “Also, it was an instrument that was played for so many people in town.”
To bring it back to a condition that will allow Orillians to once again hear those strings being plucked, she is looking for help. A GoFundMe page has been created, where people can donate toward the cost of restoration.
A fundraiser has also been planned. It will take place Sept. 30 at the Brownstone in downtown Orillia. The event will start at 1:30 p.m. with a silent auction. It will also feature live music from Alex Andrews, Blair Bailey, Jakob Pearce and Alex Rabbitson. Attendees will also get to listen to original Andrews Orchestra recordings.
To donate items to the silent auction, email Alex Andrews at [email protected]. To follow the restoration journey, check out the Charles Andrews Bass Project page on Facebook.
