Music Preview: Bassist Steuart Liebig joins singer and flutist Emily Hay in Eagle Rock on July 3

The bass is the workhorse of the music ensemble — providing a pulse, serving as the bottom, strengthening the rhythm with the drums and underscoring the piano’s chords. As such, even its most gifted practitioners can often be taken for granted. If composer Steuart Liebig is not recognized as a bass virtuoso, it’s not for lack of effort.

Though trained on the upright double bass, Liebig plays the electric six-string model. “I play the contrabass guitar,” the 59-year-old points out. “The extra strings allow me to go lower and higher, and they offer more chordal possibilities.”

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Though he’s well recorded with a number of bands and leaders, Liebig shines in intimate settings or even as a solo player. He uses a number of electronic pedal devices to sonically expand his sound palette. He’ll do that Sunday at the Open Gate Theater series at the Eagle Rock Arts Center. Liebig will collaborate with flute and voice specialist Emily Hay.

“I’ve known her for a long time,” Liebig says, speaking from his Los Angeles home. “We played in a trio for a long time with drummer Rich West, and I was in her Hay Fever band; eventually we started doing duos.”

Speaking of their modus operandi and improvisational frameworks, he elaborates: “We have a pretty good wavelength between us. We just let it go. We pretty much just take it as it comes and create in the moment.”

It’s a surprising admission from a musician who is a huge fan of composer Gustav Mahler. For his senior recital at Cal State Northridge, Liebig played a Bach piece on double bass, and then picked up the electric to breeze through Charlie Parker’s “Ornithology.” The eventual transition to the six-string was pragmatic: “I could have gone for my masters and tried to become an eighth chair player in a symphony,” Liebig deadpans. “Or I could start a rock band.”

Before that, at 18, he jammed casually with keyboardist Les McCann. “He said, ‘You wanna go on the road this summer?’” Liebig recalls. “I thought he meant as a roadie, but he bought me some sound equipment and threw me into the deep end with no rehearsal.” Liebig played second guitar and recorded with McCann.

In 1984, Liebig joined composer/saxophonist Julius Hemphill’s JAH band, along with guitarist Nels Cline and his twin brother, drummer Alex. The move signaled that a generation of new music players from Los Angeles had come of age to play with one of the leading lights of the New York loft scene. “That was just an astonishing situation,” remarks reed omnivore Vinny Golia. “Steuart knew that music better than some of the people who professed to know it.”

Liebig adds: “A lot of people were mad at the use of an electric bass in that band, but Julius loved the way we played his ‘Dogon A.D.,’ for example.”

Golia sees Liebig’s two musical currents — playing heavy rhythm on the contrabass guitar and creating audio washes and backdrops with electronics — as “not a gulf but a gigantic isthmus. And Steu travels from one end to the other with ease. He’s played with the Drifters and the Four Tops but he also does all this pedal stuff that shows tremendous compositional skills.”

Of Liebig’s electronic pivots, producer/composer/keyboardist Wayne Peet has a perspective. “All that stuff just gives his playing more depth,” Peet says. “It comes through the electronics, rather than become a sonic veil. And that all works because of Steuart’s superb listening skills and ability to interact with other musicians.”

McCann imparted philosophical points to his players, including fresh approaches to sound. “He talked about sounding like a bird or a French horn,” Liebig notes. “But one thing I learned from him was simple and powerful. You can only play one note, but when you do, make it The Note!”

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What: Emily Hay and Steuart Liebig

Where: Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock

When: Sunday, July 3, 7 p.m.

Admission: $10

More info: (626) 795-4989, centerartseaglerock.org

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KIRK SILSBEE writes about jazz and culture for Marquee.