Last May, when Jane Little died at the age of 87, a world record came to an end.
Standing only 4’11” and weighing only 98 pounds, Little began playing a double bass in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1945, at the age of 16. And she continued playing that bass for the orchestra for the next 71 years, giving her the longest professional tenure with the same orchestra. Fittingly, she died onstage, collapsing during an encore performance of ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business.’
This week, The New Yorker has a short profile on Jane Little and an accompanying video, which you can watch above. It’s entitled “The Longest Shortest Double Bassist.”
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She had a good career and life, and a long one..let her go in peace.