Bass player for Pharoah Sanders and Steve Harley
I have played on over 80 albums with jazz artists, singer-songwriters and world music artists as well as film soundtracks and music for tv. Whilst I am mainly a jazz player I have worked with many singer-songwriters and folk artists such as Steve Harley, Lau, Cara Dillon, Polly Paulusma, Martin Simpson and Rosabella Gregory. I also play with the bow. One highlight was playing in the string section for Dionne Warwick at the Royal Albert Hall. Recent tours include Sheridan Smith, Steve Hackett's orchestral project, Alison Balsom and Collabro.
I studied jazz at the Royal Academy of Music under the legendary Jeff Clyne, graduating in 2000. I've been working since then in various bands. I played in Pharoah Sanders' quartet for all his concerts in Europe from 2012 until 2022.
I played with Steve Harley from recording the album 'Uncovered' in 2019, first in his acoustic band and then also in Cockney Rebel, until Steve’s passing in 2024.
I record from home using a vintage C451E and a ribbon microphone into Logic via an Apogee Duet interface. I will send you both tracks so you can blend them to get the bass sound you want.
I also play bass guitar and have an early 70s precision that records really well.
I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.
Credits
Discogs verified credits for Oli Hayhurst- Jason Yarde • Oli Hayhurst • Eddie Prévost
- Anne Sparkes
- Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble
- Various
- Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble
- Tony Bianco
- The HomeMade Orchestra
- Polly Paulusma
- Polly Paulusma
- Polly Paulusma
- Polly Paulusma
- Polly Paulusma
- Reem Kelani
- Justin Quinn's Bakehouse
- Zoe Rahman
- Tim Whitehead Giovanni Mirabassi Quartet
- Blake Wilner Quartet
- John Donaldson
- Tim Whitehead
- Simon Le Fort
- Zoe* & Idris Rahman
- Sam Crockatt Quartet
- Curious Paradise
- Zoe Rahman Trio With Special Guest Idris Rahman
- Chris Allard Band
- Liz Cole (3)
- Tim Whitehead
- Zoe Rahman
- Kate Williams (3)
- Sam Crockatt Quartet
- Julian Siegel Quartet
- Gerd Dudek
- Kate Williams (3)
- Louise Gibbs & The Deadly 7
- Juliet Kelly
- Sam Crockatt Quartet
- Kate Williams (3)
- Hannes Riepler
- Georgia Mancio, Alan Broadbent
- Julian Siegel Quartet
- Kate Williams' Four Plus Three, Georgia Mancio
- Benjamin Harrison (2)
- Steve Harley
- Gerd Dudek + Hans Koller Trio
- Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra
- Hugh Pascall
- Rosabella Gregory
- Respectable Groove
- The Holly Penfield Quintet
- Katya Gorrie
66 Reviews - 13 Repeat Clients
Endorse Oli Hayhurst
check_circleVerifiedWonderful bass player, careful, professional and quick delivery!
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Oli Hayhurst work's are excellent as usual.
It is a great pleasure for us to work with him. 
check_circleVerifiedGreat takes and beautiful bass tones on this song!
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Up tempo jazz swing song and Oli knocked it out of the park. The bass sounds AMAZING!!! Great playing
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It's a pleasure to work with Oli Hayhurst.
Great bass player and always delivery quickly.
Hope we have another opportunity to work with him again. - check_circleVerified
We love his bass tracks.
Great bass player, also very quick delivery.
Hope we have another opportunity to work with him again. - check_circleVerified
Oli ‘feels’ the music. On a very simple melody, he can come up with very melodic bass parts. Very enjoyable to work with.
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very nice playing in a LATIN Samba style. It’s really cool to get a bunch of takes and ALL of them are GREAT :-)
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Excellent work and playing! One of favorite Upright Bass parts we've done yet. Oli was really cool to also lay down an Electric Bass part with which to compare the two
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Excellent playing, nuanced, --things they can't teach in school. The instrument is a knockout. The recording is perfect and captured Oli's human touch. The whole thing was exceptional. I'm very pleased.
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Excellent electric bass track from Oli! Nice tone and great ideas
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Excellent parts and ideas!!! AWESOME!
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Really pretty parts and great bass tone on this track!
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Oli is amazing. Went above and beyond, giving more than enough variation and ideas to try with a very speedy turnaround too! Great sound and feeling to all the playing. Didn't even need anything done more than once. Look forward to working with Oli again in the future
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Great playing by Oli and very musical parts!
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Kick ass playing! Really brought the song to life
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Oli's playing and tone are great! Highly recommended. I look forward to hiring him for the next batch of songs!
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Oli as usual did a great job.Thank you and see you soon
check_circleVerifiedOli was fast, professional, and most importantly he was amazing on the double bass! He executed perfectly on my piece and gave me a few different options sonically to choose from. He also used his expert knowledge to suggest some minor adjustments to my arrangement to get the overall sound that I wanted (which I accepted, and am glad to have done so).
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As usual, Oli did a great job
Interview with Oli Hayhurst
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Steve Harley's Uncovered album. We recorded in 2019 in Rockfield studios. All there for a week. I knew the drummer and the engineer before but had never met Steve or Martin Simpson. We had a lovely time, playing all day, experimenting with different feels for the tunes, Martin trying different instruments and tunings, Tom going between drums and percussion. All mixed in the end with no EQ on anything apparently.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Just slowly getting better...
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: If you are after other musicians I am sure I can make some recommendations
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Oh, I'm not an engineer. I like vinyl but digital is so convenient...
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: Your music will sound better with me playing on it
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I just like to play but the process of going from first hearing a song to finishing recording it is really interesting. You learn so much along the way. Maybe your first idea was perfect or maybe you were hearing it all wrong and it takes time to change your way of thinking.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Can you play with the bow? Yes Can you play bass guitar? Yes Can you do this quickly? Yes
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: It's not a big guitar
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: How quickly do you need it done? Do you have any charts/midi files which will save me transcribing your demos?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Send me a message
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Man, it feels like I am on a desert island with this lockdown. I have my bass, a bow, Spotify for playing along to the greatest musicians and some books of classical etudes. I guess number 5 might be the pocket trumpet I am trying to learn to play.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I played bass guitar in blues, then funk and jazz bands as a teenager. After dropping out of a physics degree I bought a double bass got a place at the Royal Academy of Music in London to study jazz. That was 1995 and I have been playing it ever since.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Someone once described my playing as lyrical and groovy which I am very happy with
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I just want to get back to playing with Pharoah when we can all travel again
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: I guess it's all about making decisions. You can even make decisions about when you make decisions but sometimes you just have to stop thinking and play
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: I am really a jazz musician who is very happy playing great time with a good drummer
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I just play bass
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Hopefully I bring a warm, fat sound which will sit easily in the mix and underpin everything else. I am very happy to experiment with how interactive and busy a bass part should be and often give clients different versions they can edit between so some melodic fills can end up where they are contributing most to the song without getting too much.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: The client sends me whatever instructions, demos, charts they have along with the track with no bass. I may have to do some transcribing from the demo which is no problem, play from a chart or come up with a new bass part. I am very happy improvising off chord charts or a basic groove.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: These days I am mostly just using an SE Voodoo ribbon mic straight into logic via an Apogee Duet interface. I have a DPA 4099 which is a great sound too but I think the ribbon captures the whole bass in a natural and warm way.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: My favourite bass players include Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Danny Thompson, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Garrison and Scott La Faro
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Most people want me to play upright bass on a track to replace a demo, adding subtleties, variety and warmth
I was the Bass player in this production
- Bass UprightAverage price - $125 per song
I will do one revision for free. Nobody ever needed more. I will complete the project within a couple of days as long as I am not away on tour. Say if you are in a hurry I'll get straight onto it.
- 1880s German Double Bass
4 tracks for the price of 3
