Contrabass Conversations

This is an off-the-cuff and laid-back conversation with my friend and fellow podcaster James Newcomb all about what goes on behind the scenes of a podcast.   We get into the business of podcasting, nuts and bolts of approaching content, mindset, and much more. Enjoy, and be sure to check out James' podcast Musicpreneur ! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Ki...

Short Stories , Alison Rayner 's latest album with her quintet, has been getting critical acclaim in the UK and worldwide.   In this interview, we dig into Alison's journey through the music world, how the pandemic has affected the quintet's plans, what it has been like to play gigs again after so any months, what the British jazz scene is like and how it has changed over the years, her London par...

San Francisco Symphony principal bassist and San Francisco Conservatory bass faculty member Scott Pingel had a unique opportunity in 2019 to play a Cliff Burton tribute solo in front of two packed houses with Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony.   Scott and I sat down in the fall of 2019 to talk about this project, the cool backstory behind it, going to play for Metallica and the band's staff...

Mike Bullock is a composer, improviser, visual artist, and writer based in Western Massachusetts.   Mike has been performing since the mid 90s at venues across the US and in Europe, including Fylkingen in Stockholm, Sweden; Instants Chavirés in Paris; Café OTO in London; Experimental Intermedia and ISSUE Project Room in New York City; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; and EMPAC in Troy, NY. In June...

Luke Stewart is a DC/NYC-based musician and organizer of important musical presentations and has a strong presence in the national and international Improvised Music community. He was profiled in the Washington Post in early 2017 as "holding down the jazz scene," selected as "Best Musical Omnivore" in the Washington City Paper's 2017 "Best of DC," chosen as "Jazz Artist of the Year" for 2017 in th...

Daniel Spreadbury is the Product Marketing Manager for Steinberg's professional scoring application Dorico . Before joining Steinberg, Daniel and many members of the Dorico team worked for many years on the Sibelius music notation software. We discuss the innovative approach Dorico takes to user interface, how Adobe Lightroom influenced the initial development of Dorico, lessons learned from legac...

Nicholas Walker faced a vastly different school environment upon returning from his sabbatical from Ithaca College this fall, and he has found several innovative ways to use online teaching to enhance the way he is working with his students.   We chat about the four pedagogical components of his approach (fundamentals, performance, deliberate practice, and lessons), how his weekly program runs, ho...

When Gary Karr reached out to me asking about a piece of software named JackTrip , I was determined to learn more about it and share my findings with the bass community.   I soon found myself on the Networked Music Performance Resources page of UV Irvine professor Michael Dessen ,   and soon thereafter I found myself on a call with Michael and his longtime collaborator Mark Dresser .   I also foun...

When Gary Karr reached out to me asking about a piece of software named JackTrip , I was determined to learn more about it and share my findings with the bass community.   I soon found myself on the Networked Music Performance Resources page of UV Irvine professor Michael Dessen ,   and soon thereafter I found myself on a call with Michael and his longtime collaborator Mark Dresser .   I also foun...

Jason Haaheim , principal timpanist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, joins us again on this episode to dig into one specific topic: What's the value of music school? Instead of going to music school, Jason got a PhD and worked for 10 years as an engineer and researcher for a Chicago-based nanotechnology startup.   During this time, he used principles of deliberate practice to continue improvin...

Zach Finkelstein and Dana Lynne Varga turned a lot of heads earlier this year with their co-authored article An Impossible Choice: Music Majors, COVID-19, and an Uncertain Future . We dig into this complicated topic, plus the unique challenges vocalists face in their career, the concept of a correlating career , the pitfalls of Young Artist Programs , and much more. Enjoy, and be sure to check out...

Derrick Hodge 's latest Blue Note solo album Color of Noize is incredible and is the latest chapter in his multifaceted artistic life.   Since releasing the album, which was co-produced by Don Was , it's his first album to feature a live band throughout. We cover a wide range of topics, including his creative approach to his Color of Noize Instagram Live Sunday Sessions , the thoughtful interview...

Linda May Han Oh 's 2019 album Aventurine on Biophilia Records recently received the award "Best New Work - Jazz" from Art Music Awards , and it's the latest in a series of wide-ranging projects from this innovative artist.   Linda recently relocated to her hometown of Perth, Australia, and she is teaching full-time for the Berklee College of Music .   We talk about the pandemic, travels to Austra...

With the Bass in Mind the debut solo album from Jeff Picker , is being released on October 9th.   This album reimagines the contemporary string band, drawing on the harmonic, metric, and improvisational intrigue of his jazz background, while never straying too far from the front porch.   Past podcast guest Michael Thurber connected us to chat about this cool project.   We dig into how the pandemic...

Honesty Pill is the project of Christopher Still, a trumpet player with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Chris creates focused, actionable plans that help musicians and other creatives address the issues standing between them and their goals. Chris has just launched the Honesty Pill podcast , and his first guest was Trevor Jones from The Scholarship Roadmap and also a member of the Contrabass Convers...

Adam Booker and Miles Brown are launching a new 14 and under jazz competition for the 2021 International Society of Bassists Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska . Miles and Adam share details on this short episode, and you can learn more by visiting the ISB website here .

Ian Hallas has had quite a journey on the road to his position as Principal Bass of the Lyric Opera Orchestra.   We first spoke for the podcast in early 2016 after winning a section bass position, and he won three additional auditions for Lyric for title chairs.   We talk about what it's like auditioning for another job in your same orchestra, how his audition process has evolved since our convers...

Musicians for the World is a non-profit incorporated in the spring of 2020 to give free musical education to students in need globally. So far, they have over 150 students in Haiti, Peru, and Mexico. Bassist Adam Rowton reached out to me about doing an interview with him and co-founders Jesus Saenz and Kelley McGarry , and it was great to learn about this new organization and their inspiring missi...

Fumi Tomita just released a new album called Celebrating Bird: A Tribute To Charlie Parker .   This new release from Fumi explores the ideas of Bird in a fresh and creative way.   We dig into all kinds of topics, like what it was like growing up in New York City, Fumi's move into academia, and his current position at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the surprises and opportunities of this...

Chris Lightcap is a bassist and composer with over 80 album credits and six critically acclaimed albums of original music.   Chris is known for his work with Marc Ribot, Regina Carter, Craig Taborn, and many other noted artists, and his 2019 album SuperBigmouth was listed by Rolling Stone in their Best Jazz of 2019 article.   We dig into Chris' early years, his circuitous path through the music wo...

Here's a deep-dive into the process I used to plan for my Beginner's Classical Bass course on Discover Double Bass . Get course for 25% off until Sunday September 27 by following this link: https://bit.ly/JASON25 LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED Rob Knopper - AuditionHacker https://www.robknopper.com/auditionhacker forScore - https://forscore.co/ Notion - https://www.presonus.com/products/notion Dori...

Heidi Kay Begay is the host of the Flute 360 Podcast as well as a flutist, teacher, and non-profit organizer.   She and I connected to talk about all things podcasting, and she cross-posted this conversation on her podcast as well.   We dig into content creation, daily and weekly routines, social media and marketing, email newsletters, and much more.   Heidi also recently featured my friend and co...

I've had the good fortune to work with Alan Lewine on the International Society of Bassists board for several years, and his artistic journey has always seemed fascinating to me.   The recent release of Sephardic Treasures , his latest album with his wife Ana María Ruimonte , was a good excuse to sit down and chat about his multifaceted career and unconventional journey.   We dig into Alan's path...

Tomoya Amori is truly one of the most well-rounded musicians I've ever met.   Not only is he an incredible bass player, but he also subs as a percussionist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and has a vibrant career as a multi-genre cellist! Tomoya and his wife Julia Kang form AKDuo , which specialize in playing jazz/classical/pop fusions composed or arranged by Tomoya.   They also run performanc...

It's great to have Katie Thiroux back on the podcast to chat about her new show The Hump .   Katie was on the podcast in 2018 , and it is so inspiring to follow along with her artistic career.   We talk about our respective Discover Double Bass courses, including Katie's "baseball card," which I hold up at the beginning of our chat.   We mostly dig into her new show The Hump , online teaching, and...