Contrabass Conversations

Today's episode features David White , who works as an upright and electric bassist in the world of musical theatre.  David is based in New York City and is currently on tour with the Bridges of Madison County .  We talk about his time at the Berklee College of Music and working as a bassist for Royal Caribbean, moving to New York City and getting involved with the theatre scene, a week in the lif...

Today's episode features Lloyd Goldstein , who has transitioned from playing in the Florida Orchestra to his current role working as a certified music practitioner at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.  It's so exciting to speak with someone who has continued to evolve so dramatically in his craft and career throughout his life.  Lloyd's path is unconventional and inspirational.   We get into all...

This is a special episode featuring  International Society of Bassists 2017 Convention Chair and Artistic Director  Nicholas Walker discussing plans for the upcoming convention.  This 50th anniversary convention looks like it will be outstanding, with several new developments unique to this event.  Enjoy! International Society of Bassists 2017 Convention  June 5-10 at Ithaca College, New York Othe...

Today's episode features Ithaca College professor and International Society of Bassists president  Nicholas Walker .  In addition to teaching at Ithaca College, Nicholas performs between 170 and 180 concerts a years in a wide variety of musical genres, he is a prolific composer, and he has taught for many years along with Paul Ellison and François Rabbath at Domaine Forget in Quebec.  Nicholas wil...

Today's podcast features an in-depth conversation with  Peter Tambroni .  This is a "round two" conversation that builds upon the topics that we covered in our previous talk on episode 204 .  Today we dig into fallacies surrounding public school teaching, instrument setup, life planning, instrument insurance, practicing ideas, teaching philosophies, and much more.  This episode is a gold mine for...

Today's episode features jazz bassist and vocalist Katie Ernst .  Katie was recently  featured in the Chicago Reader , and Jason Moran  describes her as " a great bassist, composer, and lyricist, she has an uncanny ability to mix traditions... following her voice is like reading a great novel ."  She is one of Chicago's most active young bassists, with two recent album releases: her solo project L...

Today's episode is a live performance of Jon Deak 's quirky quintet Lucy and the Count: Love Dreams from Transylvania .  Written in 1981, this is a theater piece divided into three scenes featuring the solo bass in a dramatic, virtuoso role.  In the first scene, you can hear the creaking of the ship morph into a dramatic first theme.  The second scene is a dinner party and features each instrument...

Today's show features Brandon McLean, who just won the associate principal bass position for the Pittsburgh Symphony.  Brandon has most recently served as principal bass of the Colorado Symphony, and prior to that he held positions in the Vancouver Symphony and the Florida Orchestra.  Originally from Seattle, Brandon did his undergrad at the University of North Texas, his masters at the Boston Con...

It is my pleasure to present this interview with Gabe Katz.  Gabe and I have had so many commonalities in our career trajectory, and we have both ended up finding a really satisfying musical niche in the world of secondary school orchestral conducting.  Now, by the time you're listening to this, I will have moved on from this career, but of the past seven years this is what I did, and this is what...

Today we're chatting with  Gjorgji Cincievski , who is the principal bass of the Malta Philharmonic  and has been putting out some very cool arrangements for Hoffmeister, including an arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations for violin, viola, and double bass.  You'll be hearing excerpts from this piece on Gjorgji's new recording throughout the episode, and we have a link in the show notes where...

Today we feature double bass luthier Arnold Schnitzer.  Arnold has had an interesting career path, from gigging around the East Coast as a youth to entering the corporate world and finally finding his way to the word of instrument repair.  We talk about a wide range of topics, including information versus knowledge, wisdom, and street smarts, and the perils and pitfalls of the information age. We...

Today's episode features double bassist  Jerry Fuller .  I've known Jerry for well over a decade at this point and have found him to be such an interesting person.  Jerry is best known in the music world for his work in period performance—in fact, he won an award for historically informed performance from the International Society of Bassists in 2015, and he is also a former ISB board member.   We...

Today's podcast features an interview with  Todd Coolman , who has just released his latest album Collectibles .  Todd is actually playing a CD release event tonight at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City to celebrate the release of the album, which also features Bill Cunliffe on piano and Dennis Mackrel on drums.  This is the second time Todd has appeared on the podcast—you can hear his  interview w...

Today's episode features Houston Symphony principal bassist Robin Kesselman .  Robin studied with David Allen Moore and Paul Ellison at the Coburn School of Music and the University of Southern California, and with Hal Robinson and Edgar Meyer at the Curtis Institute of Music.  He has also performed as Guest Principal Bass with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, travelled internationally with both...

Today's episode is a tribute to bassist, film composer, and conductor  Terry Plumeri , who was found murdered in his home in Florida on April 1st of this year.  This episode features comments from former Terry Plumeri student Eric Swanson  plus a clip from an early podcast in which I featured the music of Terry.

Leon Bosch  is a remarkable figure in the world of the double bass.  From his early years growing up in South Africa to his long tenure with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and his proliferation of solo projects, Leon has approached each challenge with a focus and determination that are incredibly inspiring. This is a "must listen" episode for any musician eager to realize their greatest po...

Today's episode features an entertaining couple of conversations that I had a few years ago with bassist, author, speaker, and playwright Justin Locke .  These have been some of our all-time most popular and commented upon episodes, and bringing them back into the spotlight seemed like a good idea. Justin has written several books , including: Real Men Don't Rehearse Principles of Applied Stupidit...

Today's episode features  Madeleine Crouch , who has served as general manager of the  International Society of Bassists for the past 25 years.  Madeleine and I talk about her musical background, the value of a liberal arts education, the growth of the ISB over the years, and new developments for the organization like the ISB/George Vance Online Research Library ,  Online Journal of Bass Research...

I'm thrilled to present this complete performance of the Prokofiev Quintet featuring DePaul University faculty member Jeremy Attanaseo on double bass.  This performance was broadcast live in February on the radio in Chicago with the International Chamber Artists .   I've known Jeremy for years—we both play in the Elgin Symphony and used to play in a bass quartet along with Michael Hovnanian of the...

I'm thrilled to bring you this episode featuring Joe Conyers.  Joe is the assistant principal bass for the Philadelphia Orchestra and is the founder of Project 440 , a nonprofit organization that brings music to young people in Philadelphia.  We're joined on this episode by John Grillo , my longtime podcast collaborator. John and I talk with Joe about topics such as: growing up in Savannah studyin...

Today's episode features soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist Guy Tuneh .  Guy was on the podcast way back in 2007, and a lot has changed for him in the intervening years.  His previous interview was one of our most popular episodes of all time, and in this talk we go even deeper, digging into why Guy makes music, how he approaches every single note he plays, and what motivates him to s...

Today we're featuring Claus Freudenstein , who is pushing the boundaries of the double bass in some really interesting ways.  Claus is innovative on a number of fronts.  He joined the world of the bass later in life than many people, and he came to it through heavy metal and the electric bass.  This resonates greatly with me because this is the exact same way  that I arrived at the bass. Claus has...

Trevor Jones and I have done joint clinics in the past, but this is the first one since restarting the podcast, and I figured that it would make sense to put it out this week since we just released our conversation a few days ago. This talk was held at Ravinia's Bennett Gordon Hall as part of the 2016 Chicago Bass Festival, which is an event put on by the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory. Michae...

Today's episode features double bassist Trevor Jones. It actually amazes me that this is the first time that Trevor has been on the podcast. Trevor kind of does it all: he studied classical bass with Rob Kassinger at DePaul University but got a music education degree as well He has played for years in the rock band Molehill but also maintains a full-time performing schedule as a theater musician,...

Today's podcast featuring a conversation with Peter Tambroni , who was an early guest on the podcast back in 2007 on episode 32 .  Pete is the author of An Introduction to Bass Playing , which is now in its seventh edition, and is an active bass performer, teacher, and author.  You can learn more about Pete on his website petertambroni.com . About Peter: Peter Tambroni received his Master of Music...