Nate Sabat is an award-winning bassist, singer-songwriter, arranger and instructor based in Brooklyn, NY. A native-New Yorker, he attended LaGuardia High School as a vocal principal and went on to study upright bass at the Berklee College of Music. He has performed on stages throughout Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States, at festivals and venues including Celtic Connections, Savannah Music Festival, ROMP and Carnegie Hall.
Nate's bass playing ---- while rooted in
American folk music — goes far beyond any preconceived notions of the instrument's role within the genre. With
a relaxed, vocal sound and equal fluency with pizzicato and the bow, Nate takes full advantage of the never-ending variety of sounds and textures the bass has to offer. Recently, he has begun performing solo, with upright bass as his lone tool for accompaniment.
With his ability to pay close attention to detail and quickly internalize musical form and feeling, Nate has become an
in-demand sideman on stage and in the studio. He has worked with artists such as the T Sisters, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Tony Trischka, Darol Anger, The Foreign Landers and Eliza Edens. In fall 2020 he had his first moment in the producer's chair, bringing Deviant Folk ---- the debut album of Boston-area singer-songwriter Mark Abruzzese ---- to life.
Nate has written and arranged music for NPR's Radio Lab, the Young People's Chorus of New York City and the Heifetz International Music Institute. Additionally, a number of his songs are in rotation on Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction channel. The debut project under his own name, Walking Away, was released in the fall of 2018. Roots music journal No Depression says, "...it becomes clear that within only six tunes, Sabat has effectively constructed a short but dense epic through the mind of a man looking to forgive his past and travel fearlessly into his future". A wide variety of artistic influences -- from the Stanley Brothers to Dvořák, from Joni Mitchell to XTC -- come together, leaving the listener with a clear, original statement at the record's completion. It's available for streaming and purchase here.
Nate offers instruction in upright and electric bass, songwriting, music theory, ear training, and arranging. For more information, please contact him here. He also offers low-cost upright bass instruction via Patreon, which you can learn more about here. In early 2021, Nate released his first instructional book -- Dirt Simple: Upright Bass -- via Mel Bay Publications. It's available for purchase here.
