Contrabass Conversations

Christian Dillingham is a longtime friend and musical collaborator of mine.   He and I played together in a bass quartet when we were both living in Chicago, and he has continued to develop an interesting career in the classical and jazz worlds. We dig into our shared history, what it has been like living in Chicago, life on the South Side, and much more in this in-person chat at the 2019 Internat...

Erica Bramham is a critically acclaimed vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Melbourne, Australia.   She has recently taken up the bass and has been studying with Anita Hustas .   For her, playing the bass has been a uniquely challenging experience, and one that she has become deeply passionate about. Erica has developed several interesting projects in recent years, including: The Son...

Bassist and composer Ehud Ettun has been on a fascinating musical journey.   Originally from Israel, where he studied with Michael Klinghoffer , Ehud went on to   study at New England Conservatory. He has developed a thriving career as a jazz artist and also as an educator.   We talk about his path through the music world, starting a music school in rural Israel, the dramatic roots of his latest a...

Lloyd Goldstein is one of my favorite people on the planet.   I've been a huge fan of his ever since chatting with him back in 2016 for the podcast. Lloyd works as a certified music practitioner at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.   He's also one heck of a composer, and I've played several of his pieces from his great collection The Way Back for the past few years. It was an honor to sit down w...

Departure Duo is an innovative collaboration between soprano Nina Guo and double bassist Edward Kass.   Eddie and Nina have dedicated themselves to performing, commissioning, and researching music for soprano and double bass, and the results have been fascinating. We talk about their 30 by '30 project (30 hours of soprano+bass music by 2030), how they became enthralled by this musical combination,...

Amanda Rice-Johnston and I finally met in person after over a decade of being online friends.   She has a vibrant career as a double bass performer and a down to earth perspective on what a life in music is really like. We cover a wide array of topics, from her path through the music world to how she balances working in a cheese shop with a performing career.   It was a pleasure to connect with he...

Larry Hutchinson recently retired from the Detroit Symphony after 34 years in the bass section.   A leading proponent of double bass education in the state of Michigan, Larry has organized countless bass events over the years.   He has also served on the faculties of Western Michigan University and Wayne State University and is in demand nationally as a clinician. We chat with Larry about his care...

Brett Shurtliffe is the Associate Principal Bassist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.   Brett is a former student of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with James VanDemark, and of Duquesne University, where he studied with Jeffrey Turner. In 2003, Brett was the Top American Prizewinner at the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition, and two years later took 1st Prize at...

Naj Qureshi of Ottawa Imports has an interesting business model.  Naj has made it his mission to get the highest quality hand carved Italian basses into the hands of bassists at prices that are unbeatable for the quality of Ottava's Inventory. His priority starting Ottava has been to make sure that any bassist has access to marvelous instruments crafted in the Old World Tradition at realistic, fai...

Chris Kosky is a former bassist for the Air Force Band and just came out with a book titled The Thumb Transition Zone .   Designed for intermediate and advanced students, this book focuses on the middle area of the double bass fingerboard, providing exercises for playing more effortlessly and musically in this region of the bass. You can pick up a copy of this new book at the International Society...

Hector Tirado can't hear, but uses the the technique of proprioception to play the double bass by feeling the vibrations of the double bass through his skin.  He has presented at several International Society of Bassists conventions, and he has a great collection of videos on his YouTube Channel demonstrating how he plays the bass Here's a video of Hector playing the introduction of the Bach Chora...

Tom Knific leads a full life as a bassist, composer, and educator.   He has taught at Western Michigan University since 1987 and was appointed Director of Jazz Studies in 2000.   He is also extremely active as a composer and touring musician. Tom has also been involved in the double bass community for many years as a past president of the International Society of Bassists and host of the 2005 ISB...

Audrey Jo Williams is the owner of Music with Audrey and teaches string lessons in Bloomington, Indiana.   We had the chance to sit down with her at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention and chat about her career, teaching, starting a business, and more. Enjoy, and learn more about Audrey and what she does through the following links: student testimonials bass videos Music with Aud...

Claus Freudenstein has recently released a new album with the Bassmonsters called UNIO .   Learn more in this short chat with Claus live from the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention, and check out the video version here . Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: D'Addario Strings This episode is broug...

Today's show, recorded live at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention, is a look inside the inner workings of the Contrabass Conversations brand and business with Trevor Jones . Trevor joined the team in 2017 and has been instrumental in tightening up what we do here on the podcast.   What we talk about here can be applied to many projects in life, and if you'd like to chat with Tre...

Sarah Hogan Kaiser has been a member of the St. Louis Symphony since 2004.   Prior to that, she performed in the New World Symphony, and she received her Bachelor of Music from Indiana University and her Master of Music from Rice University. Sarah and I shared a stand in the Spoleto USA Orchestra many years ago, and it was great to reconnect and talk about her career, life in the St. Louis Symphon...

Maggie Cox is an undergraduate student at Rice University and co-authored an article last year which sparked controversy in the double bass world.   This article led to the creation of the Project for All Gender Equality, which is focused on the unique experiences of gender minorities in the bass community. We chat about this and more in this engaging conversation live from the 2019 International...

Joel Braun is taking over at the University of Texas at Austin as bass professor, and he joined me and San Diego Symphony principal bass Jeremy Kurtz-Harris for a freewheeling conversation on competitions, auditions, learning modalities, living in an age of distraction, and much more. Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is spo...

Jay Starkes and I caught up live at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention to chat about the passing of his friend, colleague, and mentor Lisle Atkinson . Jay discusses the wealth of musical collaborations that Lisle experienced in his life and the memorial concert being planned for fall 2019 to commemorate his life and artistic contributions. Listen to Contrabass Conversations with...

Desmond Bratton has had an interesting career so far, and he's only in the early stages of his professional bass life.   He has studied with Lloyd Goldstein and Nicholas Walker , two of my favorite past podcast guests. We talk about his artistic pursuits, meditation, and pivot points we all encounter in our lives.   Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and...

Both Danny Ziemann and Adam Booker have appeared on the podcast before, and I thought that it would be fun and valuable to sit down with both of them and chat about the state of the union in terms of jazz education.   This is a great conversation that covers all kinds of important topics like mindset, professionalism, challenges unique to jazz bass education, and much more.   Enjoy!   Learn more:...

Aaron Olguin is one of my favorite people, and it has been such fun following along with his projects and successes in the music world.   Aaron was the opening classical headliner for the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention, and he and I also played on Andrés Martín's recital at the convention. We talk about what he played on is recital, what his new job in the Trondheim Symphony Orc...

Today's episode was recorded live at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention with Dr. Randy Kertz , Chi-chi Nwanoku , John Patitucci , and Steve Bailey about how to stay healthy on the bass as you age. Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: D'Addario Strings This episode is brought to you by...

Blake Hilley just finished his freshman year at the Juilliard School, and he's already done more than many people do during their entire undergraduate careers.   Here are just a few of the projects he has accomplished in this short period of time: he premiered a solo work for bass titled Bass Heart by composer Bishu Chattopadhyay he released a recording of himself performing Kol Nidrei he put out...

Sélène Saint-Aime is a young Afro-French bassist, singer, and composer with Caribbean and West African origins.  She has spent the last few years traveling the world and absorbing the musical cultures of places like Cuba, North Africa, Spain, Italy, and the West Indes. Sélène has studied with Ron Carter and Lonnie Plaxico as well as saxophonist and conceptualist Steve Coleman.  Her upcoming EP Mar...