Contrabass Conversations

Don Prell passed away in 2026 at age 97. Born in 1929, Don went on the road with the Frank Ortega Band, played with people like Buddy Rich and Chet Baker, and was in the original Bud Shank Quartet. He played for the San Francisco Symphony for 30 years and, after retirement, formed his own group called the Sea Bop Ensemble, which played at various San Francisco spots, including the legendary Bay Vi...

Noa Eve (NoaBass) joins the podcast to celebrate the long-awaited release of *Late Bloomer ,* a debut album that blends virtuosic arco playing with the rhythmic grit of bluegrass, old-time, and acoustic music-making. We talk about the "10 years in the making" arc from Jason first hearing Noa play in the Bay Area to recording the album over three intense days in Portland, plus what it takes to brin...

Hal Robinson joins the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on bass pedagogy, sound, and the practical fundamentals that actually move the needle. Hal reflects on his path from early studies with Paul Ellison to a career that spans major orchestras and shares how working alongside influential musicians like François Rabbath and Edgar Meyer helped shape a flexible, student-first teaching philoso...

Bassist, composer, and educator Mary Ann McSweeney joins Jason to talk about a career that spans Bay Area roots, L.A. training, and the demanding, ever-shifting world of Broadway and studio work. Mary Ann shares how piano and violin shaped her musicianship, what it took to become a stronger reader, and much more Enjoy, give Mary Ann a follow on Instagram , and check out this feature of her on YouT...

Caleb Quillen returns to the podcast to talk about the path that took him from growing up in Sugar Land, Texas, to principal bass of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Along the way, he reflects on formative teachers, including Dennis Whittaker and Paul Ellison, the influence of the Boston bass tradition, and much more. Check out our text/media version of this conversation and our interview with Caleb...

Photo credit: Oscar Benjamin Berg Bassist, improviser, and genre-crosser Georgia Wartel Collins joins us today to talk about the winding path that led her to New York, via Gothenburg, Trondheim, and Amsterdam, and how a deeply musical family shaped everything from early street performances to a life that's always moved freely between styles. Georgia also shares how rock and grunge became real crea...

Glasgow-based bassist David Bowden joins the show on release day for Unsung Songs , a solo double bass record shaped by years of gigging and arranging. David talks about coming up in London before moving to Glasgow for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, finding a creative home in Scotland's close-knit jazz scene, and how folk music and "sounding like yourself" became central to the way he thinks...

Rosie Moon joins us today to share the story behind *Twelve Bees In A Jar , her* multi-year Dragonetti project exploring his music on gut strings, a three-string bass, and a convex "Dragonetti" bow. Rosie talks about how a chance encounter with a bow at a UK bass shop kicked off a deep dive into historical equipment, technique, and the surprisingly big that happens when you take a string off the i...

Bowen Ha joined the San Francisco Symphony at the start of the 2024–25 season after training at Juilliard with Timothy Cobb and Harold Robinson, and appearing as a substitute with major orchestras. Born in Shanghai, Bowen's path ran from piano to cello and finally to bass, through Interlochen, the Shanghai Conservatory's affiliated program, and Juilliard. We dig into the nuts-and-bolts of what cha...

John Goldsby returns to the podcast to celebrate Big Band Bass , a project that spotlights the double bass at the front of the band alongside the legendary WDR Big Band and arranger/conductor Bob Mintzer . We talk about what it felt like to close a 30-year run in one of the world's rare full-time jazz ensemble jobs, and how stepping away has opened up space for hand-picked gigs, home projects, and...

Valentina Ciardelli , double bass professor at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and an active performer/educator, returns to the podcast to talk about a project that goes way beyond the practice room: fixing the chaos of traveling with large instruments. Check out Valentina's work and latest updates on her website . We dig into Valentina's advocacy work to create clearer, non-discret...

Stephan Crump is a Brooklyn-based bassist, composer, and educator whose work moves fluidly between groove, spacious sound-worlds, and collective improvisation. We dig into the making of Slow Water , the magnetism of deep feel, and how growing up in Memphis—and spending a lot of life near the Mississippi—shaped the way Stephan hears music as ecology, storytelling, and energy in motion. We talk abou...

Michał Bylina is a Polish bassist and composer whose work bridges early music performance and new music for the instrument. In this conversation, Michał shares how a love of the past pulled them toward gut strings, Baroque style, and the Vienna bass tradition, plus the path from studying in Kraków to a year studying in Brussels with Korneel Le Compte. We dig into Michał's composing process, from w...

Isaac Trapkus is a bassist with the New York Philharmonic, rosin maker , and developer of Monkey Wrench DB —a tool that syncs sheet music PDFs with YouTube performances. He's also the creator of a free urtext-style edition of the Koussevitzky Double Bass Concerto, based on a previously unknown personal score copy he discovered at the Library of Congress. We cover a wide range of topics: Isaac's ye...

Bassist and arts administrator Thomas Zera joins us today to share what changed between our first chat years ago and now, including life in the Utah Symphony and the path that led to building his new project, The Sub Pool . We dig into what The Sub Pool is, why orchestra sub lists so often "run dry," and how a centralized, musician-friendly platform can help personnel managers find the right playe...

Casey Lipka is a Los Angeles–based singer, songwriter, bassist, and collaborator with a gift for building community around music. In this episode, Casey shares the winding path that brought her into jazz voice, bass, and a creative life that blends composing, performing, and heartfelt projects. Along the way, Casey talks about how coaching shaped her work supporting other artists, and why creating...

This episode with Johnny Hamil and friends is a celebration of the music of Lloyd Goldstein . Enjoy this, and be sure to join Johnny and company March 21st at 11am Central Time via Zoom . You can visit KC Bass Workshop for more information and details. Connect with DBHQ Join Our Newsletter Double Bass Resources Double Bass Sheet Music Double Bass Merch Gear used to record this podcast Zoom H6 stud...

In this episode, we're joined by bassist, composer, and bandleader Marlonius aka, Marlon Martinez , the creative force behind the Marlonius Jazz Orchestra . We talk about growing up in a deeply musical family, moving through a serious classical conservatory track at Colburn, and the long arc of building a personal sound. We dig into Marlon's early encounters with Stanley Clarke, what it means to l...

John Mietus is a composer, double bassist, and conductor, currently Associate Principal Bass with the Auckland Philharmonia . Born in Hong Kong and raised in Ohio, John started playing bass at age four and went on to study with some legendary teachers while building a career that spans orchestral playing, chamber music, teaching, and composition. In this episode, John and Jason dig into John's wor...

Niklas Lukassen is a German bassist, composer, and doctoral researcher splitting his time between London and Berlin. His bandleader debut album Still Waters releases February 20th on Kurt Rosenwinkel's Heartcore Records with liner notes by Ron Carter. The quartet features Ben Van Gelder on saxophone, Kit Downes on piano, and Francesco Ciniglio on drums, with guest appearances from Rosenwinkel, Wan...

Jon Henriksson is a Stockholm-based double bassist and composer who has become one of the leading voices in the contemporary Scandinavian jazz scene. Born in 1996 in Gothenburg, his path to the bass started when a high school big band director gave him just two months to learn the instrument for a Christmas concert. His 2023 debut album Harmonia placed second in Orkesterjournalen's Golden Album re...

Chris Jennings is a Canadian left-handed double bassist who's been based in Paris since 2002, traveling extensively across jazz and world music projects to all corners of the globe. A D'Addario Orchestral Artist , Chris has carved out a unique niche playing in ensembles where there's often no bass part written, working with artists like Nguyên Lê, Dhafer Youssef, and exploring the rhythmic complex...

Matt Rybicki is a jazz bassist, author, and educator who helps bassists of all levels master jazz bass. Through his online courses and YouTube channel , Matt makes jazz bass education accessible to students worldwide. His new course, 8 Weeks to the Jam Session: First Notes to Walking Like a Pro , takes beginners from their first notes to confidently walking bass lines at jam sessions. Check out th...

Join us for a conversation with two frequent podcast guests, Gaelen McCormick and Michael Geib , as they discuss their recent article Bass Is for Everyone! , published in the American String Teacher journal. Gaelen is the Director of the Eastman Performing Arts Medicine Center and a passionate advocate for inclusive bass pedagogy. Michael teaches at the University of Central Oklahoma as a bass edu...

Rohan Dasika has been a double bassist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2022. From a musical Melbourne family, Rohan started on piano, then played trombone and tuba before finding double bass in high school. He studied with Duncan Allen (Melbourne Opera, jazz), Sylvia Hoskin (MSO), Max McBride (Australian National University, Canberra), Damien Eckersley (Australian National Academy of M...