A double bass is the best instrument to pair with vocals

Here is an example of double bass & voice that shows it’s not at all crazy and can be incredible, at least if the bassist is Ron Carter:

@hickamore - Speaking of mopey male vocals, how do you feel about Leonard Cohen?

@hickamore - Thanks for clarifying that. We will disagree about Cohen’s singing forever; but I will look for some covers of his songs to see if anyone else sings them more to my taste. (While no one’s music can be happy all the time (Haydn and Mozart came close), I have found LC’s work dreary and mopey and draggy -- but that’s just me, and I'm not much of judge of pop music.)

@hickamore - Thanks; I'll check them out.

Re: Mozart & Haydn, I do like Shostakovitch, too. No one ever accused his music of being happy all the time!