F. Vattel Cherry is the founder of Vattel cherry's bassrespanse, a collective of four improvising double bassist/composers. Formed on the Web in 1999, the members are some 450 miles apart on the East Coast. Their first recorded effort was an interpretation of "Strange Fruit" for a Billie Holiday tribute CD produced by the Baltimore CityPaper.

Vattel has studied with bassists Linda McKnight, Keter Betts and Fred Hopkins. He has worked with many brilliant musicians including, Charles Gayle, Brother Ah (Robert Northern) , John Tchicai, William Parker, David Murray's Big Band, Cecil Taylor's PTHONGOS and Charli Persip's Superband. On over a dozen CD's as a sideman, Vattel has two CD's as a leader, "is it because i'm black" and "For Those Who Heal" both on Commercial Free Jazz.

Mr. Cherry earned a BA from the Manhattan School of Music. He is the bass instructor at Morgan State University and the Development Assistant at the Children's Chorus of Maryland.

To learn more, visit Vattel's Website, Maraschino Music, or this interview from the Baltimore City Paper.