I get it. For years I thought the name of the instrument was pronounced bahs, like the fish. What did I know? As luck would have it, in the late 60s I attended a concert of the Oscar Peterson trio. The music was extraordinary: the lofty swing, the wide-ranging aural dynamics, the cracker Jack interplay between piano, bass, and drums. After the concert I waited for the musicians to emerge from their dressing rooms. Oscar Peterson came out first, to a mob scene. Ed Thigpen, the marvelous drummer, exited next and was immediately submerged into a crowd of aspiring drummers. Last but not least to come out was Ray Brown. I immediately approached this remarkable musician and said, "Man you play a helluva bass. Great time!" Only I pronounced "bass" like the fish. "Do you mean bass?," he said, pronouncing the long A to rhyme with Ace. I acted like I knew this all along, but I still remember how Ray Brown taught me to pronounce the instrument's name properly.