The Place of the Bass  In 1947,George Pal made a classic
puppetoon called “Tubby the Tuba,”which was the story of a tuba
that wanted to go beyond oom-pahing all night and get the front-
line attention given to those horns that played the melody.
Dismissed as foolish by a class conscious French horn,Tubby
became despondent until a bullfrog gave him the confidence to
believe in his register; the tale ended with him getting the
lead after showing the conductor he could croon his stuff. It
was another American fable about democratic values.  In the
world of jazz, the Tubby issue has two sides: one good, one bad.
If Tubby was in New York and left after his orchestra gig to go
hear Buster Williams at the Village Vanguard some months back
when he opened a set with an unaccompanied feature on
“Summertime,” the puppetoon hero would have wanted to trade in
his brass for lacquered wood, a bridge and four heroic strings.
Williams marvelously summed up everything that has happened on
his instrument since Charles Mingus,be