Contrabass Conversations

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...

Nick Scales and I have known each other for years, and it was great to finally get a chance to sit down and do an interview.   Nicholas has been on the faculty of West Texas A&M University since 2005 and is a frequent guest artist and presenter at various conferences. We cover some very fun memories of his time playing with Inez Wyrick and David Murray back in the Amarillo Symphony (where Nick is...

Fausto Borém is the Grand Prize winner of the 2018 International Society of Bassists Research Competition. His document, titled Intonation in the Performance of the Double Bass , was presented at the 2019 ISB Convention. Fausto has been on my "to interview" list for years, and it was great to have the opportunity to connect with him in person for the podcast!   We talk about his ISB presentation a...

I was introduced to Helen Svoboda by jazz bass mainstay and past podcast guest John Goldsby .   Helen is exploring a variety of interesting solo and collaborative projects on the bass, including her Vegetable Bass series , her bass and tenor sax duo Meatshell , her chamber-oriented Sprout project, and more. Helen is pushing into fascinating new territory on the bass and is a compelling and origina...

Vassilis Papavassiliou presented a session titled Vibrato Revisited part 2 at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention, and we had the chance to sit down for a few minutes and explore some of his new findings. Vassilis appeared on the podcast in 2018 to cover this topic, and he has created an excellent website that digs into his research and findings on the topic.   I hope you enjoy t...

Documentary filmmaker and bassist Nick Wells has assembled footage from nearly 30 of the most well-known names in jazz bass, including Dave Holland, Larry Grenadier, Ron Carter, and Christian McBride into a new project called Walking the Changes . Through the month of October, Nick is running a Kickstarter to take this mountain of footage and turn it into a completed film. The results are sure to...

Bert Witzel is the latest addition to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra bass section.   He served as principal bass of the Louisville Orchestra for many years prior to winning an audition for his current position.   Bert is also the author of Scales for the Double Bass . We dig into Bert's journey through the music world, the highs and lows of auditioning, and what Bert has learned in the proces...

Michael Trowbridge is a former public school orchestra director and an active bass teacher, presenter, and author.   He is the co-author of Measures of Success for String Orchestra and the author of Everybody's Electric Bass Method , both published by FJH Music. Mike and I dig into some of my favorite interview topics, like life in the trenches as an orchestra director, how the teaching world has...

The third annual Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Double Bass Day and Competition will be taking place Nov 26th.   Jason chats with University of Melbourne bass faculty Rob Nairn about the event.  Learn more on their Facebook page , and we'd love to see you at this event!

Andrés Martín is a longtime friend and collaborator of mine.   Even though we regularly see each other at events like his Latin American Bass Festival , the Golden Gate Bass Camp , the International Society of Bassists Convention , and Galicia Graves , it have been over three years since he appeared on the podcast . In this episode, recorded live at the 2019 Golden Gate Bass Camp , Andrés and I ch...

Elisa Janson Jones is an entrepreneur, author, educator and the founder of the International Music Educator Summit.   I was introduced to her through an appearance on Andrew Hitz's The Entrepreneurial Musician podcast , and I know that she's be a great person to have on this podcast. This is an honest, raw, and different kind of episode, and Elisa and I talk about successes and failures, how caree...

Brian Bromberg has been on my "to interview" list for years, and it finally happened in person at the 2019 Golden Gate Bass Camp .  In this conversation, we talk about Brian's early career, lessons learned from drums and how starting with drums affected his bass playing, what most people don't know about recording a bass, and much more.   Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app...

I had the pleasure of meeting Jean-Philippe Viret in person and interviewing him during Cielito de Jesus ' wonderful Rabbath Institute Los Angeles .   Jean-Philippe is one of the founding members of l'Orchestre de contrebasses and has had a rich career as a jazz bassist and composer in Paris for decades. We talk about his early years, the founding of l'Orchestre de contrebasses, exploring creativi...

Valentina Ciardelli is one of my favorite young bass artists, and she and I share a passion for the music of Frank Zappa.   Valentina is launching her first CD , titled Zappa, Puccini, Tabakov, Ciardelli: Music from the Sphinx , on September 20th, 2019. We talk about a wide array of topics, ranging from her recent arrangements and recording of Cletus Awreetus Awrightus and many other works to how...