Contrabass Conversations

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...

Stephanie Patterson specializes in teaching adult learners.   After playing professionally for a period of time, she developed an overuse injury and had to leave her symphonic career. Her teaching career began by accident about 10 years ago when her former hairdresser wanted to learn to play bass to do rockabilly.   Around the same time, she began corresponding with New York Philharmonic bassist a...

Cory Palmer recently won the position of Principal Bass with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.   We first met in person at the 2019 Pittsburgh Double Bass Symposium , and it was great to sit down and do a deep dive on his career thus far. We cover a variety of topics, including: studying at Peabody with John Hood studying with Orin O'Brien at the Manhattan School of Music Cory's path from Carn...

Sascha Jacobsen recently put out a super-cool new video titled Un Bajo de Magia / The Magic Bass .   This new release was a great excuse to connect in person with Sascha, who also lives here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sascha has an incredibly diverse creative life, and we dig into a whole bunch of topics about various projects, including: his Musical Art Quintet his Trio Garufa getting project...

Olivier Babaz recently released his first course with Discover Double Bass .   Titled Jazz Bowing, this incredibly cool course explores all kinds of cool bowing techniques that Olivier uses in his playing. Lessons cover topics like: Fundamentals of Bow Technique Basic Bow Strokes Slurs Developing Arco Technique Left Hand Technique and the Bow Bowed Walking Bass Lines Bowed Melodies Improvisation W...

Justin Carney recently started a new podcast called Kill The Bass .   It's all about exploring various concepts of musical practice from the perspective of jazz bassists. Justin has been planning this podcast for several years, and it was great to have a chance to sit down with him and talk about life, musical highs and lows, how musical practice relates to other areas of life, and many other topi...

Krista Kopper recently launched a podcast called The Backstage Creative focusing on the people who work behind the scenes of theater to create the scenes, music, costumes, props, and everything else that goes into live productions. We chat about her background, starting a podcast, and the benefits that come from tackling a project like this.   Be sure to check out this cool new podcast , and a hug...

James Oesi will be hosting the second Dutch Double Bass Festival this June 8th and 9th in Rotterdam.   The line-up for the event is spectacular, including: Francois and Sylvan Rabbath Rick Stotijn Renaud Garcia Fons Richard Bona Check out the full line-up of guests and get your tickets on the festival website , and check out my previous conversation with James for more on his cool musical backgrou...

Hans Sturm and I go way back.   In fact, it was 25 years ago that I first heard him play at our mutual alma mater Northwestern University.  Since then, we've done a ton of things together: We shot an old-school video about the Rabbath technique in my old apartment in Chicagoland (note the cat participating in the background) Hans invited me to join the board of the International Society of Bassist...

John Goldsby has recently released a new course on Discover Double Bass called Building Up . This course contains four hours of video in 45 different lessons. Many of the tracks feature piano and drum accompaniment and also include tracks without the bass so you can practice along. The course is perfect for intermediate to advanced jazz bassists who want to solidify their technique and learn new a...

Kiyoe Kaimana Delphine Wellington is on an inspiring journey through the music world.   After picking up the violin at an early age, Kiyoe switched to bass at age six and began daily lessons on the instrument with her renowned grandfather George Wellington. Kiyoe was a part of the Hawaii Contrabass Festival as she grew up, and she has been attending International Society of Bassists conventions fo...

Ranaan Meyer is launching a new camp called the Utah Symposium for Double Bass .  It will be taking place in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah June 7-9, and it's open for registration for anyone ages 12 and up.  This new event is a full scholarship, immersive program which provides participants with the opportunity to explore the entire spectrum of the double bass. From orchestra, to solo,...

It is such a pleasure to have Phoebe Russell on the podcast! Phoebe joined the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 2017 as Principal Bass after graduating from the Berlin Philharmonic's Karajan Academy.   Phoebe is originally from Melbourne, Australia. She has worked with a remarkable number of professional orchestras across the globe, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orches...