Contrabass Conversations

Jack Unzicker and Martha Walvoord have recently released an album of duos for violin and bass.   Titled The Diaries of Adam and Eve , it features new works for violin and bass by composers Michael Daugherty, Dan Cavanagh, Andrea Clearfield, Tom Knific, and George Chave. Check out this new album through the following links: Albany Records Spotify Apple Music Amazon Prime Music iTunes Amazon Michael...

Diego Zecharies is one of the most inspiring musicians I know. In addition to serving as principal bass of the Galicia Symphony , director of the Contrabajo de Montevideo festival, and director for the Orquesta Juvenil Sodre , he is in the process of releasing his latest album featuring a new concerto by Simón García , Diego's arrangement for bass and strings of Le grand Tango by Astor Piazzolla,...

Grace Lewis is starting an exciting new project in Houston called Collegia: Houston .   Grace and Jason talk about the idea for the project, its goals, challenges and rewards of launching a nonprofit, and much more. Enjoy, and be sure to follow along with Collegia: Houston on Facebook and Instagram !   Also, check out Grace's past podcast appearances from 2018 and 2019 .  Listen to Contrabass Conv...

Today's episode is a quick look back at 2019 in terms of travel, interviews, highlights, and most popular episodes.   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 D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings , which are synthetic core strings that produce an...

Today's conversation features Stephen P. Brown , a conductor of orchestras, choirs, concert bands and musical theater, and the founder of Concert University .   We cover how Stephen woks with musicians, what holds people back in their performing careers, and much more.   Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored...

Today's conversation features a deep-dive with Clarineat host Sean Perrin about how both of our careers have evolved over the past several years.   Sean is a past podcast guest , and this chat was also published on his podcast on episodes 122 and 123 .   Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: D'Addario Str...

This "best of" conversation with world-renowned jazz bassist Gary Peacock has been one of our most popular episodes ever since it aired in 2017 .   It is also one of the first times we crowd-sourced questions, so all the topics we dig into are suggestions from people that follow the podcast.   Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conv...

This "best of" episode features a conversation with the wonderful jazz bassist Christian McBride .   This lighthearted and engaging conversation originally aired in 2018 and has become one of our most popular episodes. 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...

This "best of" episode features our conversation with the outstanding jazz bassist Larry Grenadier .  Larry recently released his solo album The Gleaners , and we talked about the genesis behind this album in this conversation, which originally aired in 2017 .   Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: D'Add...

Angela Beeching 's monumental book Beyond Talent has been hugely influential in the music world, and she's almost ready to launch her third edition.  As the former director of entrepreneurship and career offices at Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Indiana University, Angela has helped countless musicians to understand their potential and options and now works with clients o...

Los Angeles Philharmonic bassist Jory Herman is releasing a new album of pieces that combine narration and bass.   This album, which is an outgrowth of his community engagement work, features a mix of pieces geared toward children with other works like Frank Proto's Mingus - Live in the Underworld and Jon Deak's BB Wolf.   Many of the tracks feature actress and narrator Cloie Wyatt Taylor. Jory wa...

So many people will resonate with the musical journey that Don Messina has had.   He has been a proponent of the music and style of Lennie Tristano ever since meeting him in 1973, and he also spent 14 years studying jazz with tenor saxophonist Fred Amend. In addition to being part of the Kazzrie Jaxen Duo/Trio/Quartet , Don has session and performed with Sal, Mosca, Jimmy Halperin, Larry Bluth, Jo...

I've known Jeremy Baguyos for over 15 years, and I've always found it fascinating how he weaves together the double bass and computer music in his work.   After playing bass full-time with the Orquesta Filarmonica de GC (Spain) and Shreveport Symphony, Jeremy moved to Washington, DC to freelance.   I met him in the early 2000s while playing in the Des Moines Metro Opera, where he serves as princip...

I've been a fan of the music of Dr. Norman Ludwin for years. In fact, his bass ensemble The Love Story led to one of the most entertaining memories of my early years of teaching bass! Norman was in San Francisco doing a talk on orchestration for the American Federation of Musicians Local 6. I had a chance to attend his presentation and also sit down with him the next morning for an in-depth interv...

Susan Hagen is a Boston native and is extremely active in that city's musical scene.   She serves as principal double bassist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, teaches bass at the Berklee College of Music , and is a regular substitute in the Boston Symphony. We talk about the influence of Ed Barker and her studies with him at Boston University, the unique teaching environment of Berklee (400...

Pawel Knapik is a bassist and composer originally from Poland and currently living and working in New York City.   He has been a longtime champion of Polish composers, and he recently performed the American premiere of Tadeusz Kassern's Double Bass Concerto . Pawel is also an accomplished composer, and has written many pieces for the double bass, including his Westbeth Capriccio .   He has also pu...

Roberto Cassani has had a fascinating path through the music world.   Originally from Milan, Italy, Roberto landed a record deal at a young age but walked away from it and moved to Scotland… without speaking any English! Over the years, he has developed a strong following as a folk musician, and he moved from guitar to double bass as his primary instrument about 10 years ago.   Since then, he has...

Brianna Goldberg has quickly become one of the most sought-after bow specialists in Southern California.   After several degrees and years of performing across the country, Brianna became inspired in part by a conversation with bowmaker Sue Lipkins , to look into the world of bow rehairing and repair. We dig into Brianna's backstory, the challenges and rewards of starting a small business, what ha...

Danny Ziemann has recently launched a new music education-focused publishing company called Low Down Publishing .   This team of experienced music educators seeks to help you cut through the clutter by curating the best books for music teachers and independent learners. Danny and his team are in the middle of an Indiegogo campaign to launch their first five titles.   Be sure to check out their web...

Nina Harries is a compelling force in the creative arts, exploring new territory with bass and vocals in an exciting manner.   She recently launched her debut album in an event along with harpist and vocalist Ellie Ford , and she has several extremely groovy solo pieces like Icarus and The Clown Song up on YouTube. We talk about the experience of feeling like a "duck out of water" her first two ye...

Dan Robbins was one of the first bassists I met when I moved to the Bay Area, and I've loved following along with his career and his imaginative musical stylings for years. We finally got a chance to sit down and do an interview during the 2019 Golden Gate Bass Camp , and we dug into topics like what it was like being invited to do "bass duels" with Christian McBride and his big band , the diverse...

I was introduced to Robert Landfermann by WDR Big Band bassist and former podcast guest John Goldsby .  Robert is a mainstay on the German jazz and new music scene. He's played for years with the Pablo Held  Trio, and does his own albums and projects. He teaches at the University in Essen. We dig into topics like what it's like performing free jazz, the influence of Paul Motian, Gensler strings an...

David Neubert has been at the forefront of music technology and how it applies to teaching for decades.   He presented a session about online learning for double bassists and some of the pros and cons of this approach. In addition to being a past president of the International Society of Bassists and former bass faculty The University of Texas at Austin, David is also a pilot.   He is one of the f...

Xavier Foley has been dazzling people with his double bass virtuosity for years, but he's been obsessed with something new now: building an empire. He has been pushing out new content and projects like crazy, ranging from his Airline Musical Instrument Policy App " MusicAir " to publishing his brilliant compositions like Irish Fantasy …and also the backstory behind them! We talk about what made th...

Dan Styffe is constantly pushing new boundaries and exploring new territory on the double bass.   He has been extremely active on a number of fronts since our last podcast with him back in 2017 . We caught up with Dan at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention to chat about some of his many recent premiers and recording projects.   Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our f...