Contrabass Conversations

We're featuring the debut album from Gunnelpumpers in its entirety on this episode of Contrabass Conversations. Enjoy! About Gunnelpumpers Gunnelpumpers is a group of musicians dedicated to the art of progressive, free improvisation. Founded in Chicago in 2002 by bassist/composer Douglas Johnson and percussionist Randy Farr, Gunnelpumpers has had over 50 musicians perform with the group. The core...

We're featuring practice tapes from the hugely influential double bass performer and pedagogue Frederick Zimmermann on this week's Contrabass Conversations episode. Co-host John Grillo unearthed and transferred these tapes of Zimmermann practicing, and he and I briefly chat about how these tapes helped to shape John's concept of sound on the double bass. Enjoy! About Frederick Zimmermann: Frederic...

We're featuring double bassist Leon Bosch performing selections from his latest album on this week's Contrabass Conversations episode. Titled Virtuoso Double Bass Vol. 2 , this album contains a dozen works, both familiar and less familiar, from Giovanni Bottesini. You can purchase this album (as well as Leon's other albums) from Meridian Records here , and learn more about Leon at leonbosch.co.uk...

We're featuring music from jazz and free improvisation bassist Barre Phillips on this week's podcast episode, as well as bass news and updates. Enjoy! About Barre Phillips: Barre Phillips (born October 27, 1934 in San Francisco, California) is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has b...

It's official! Make plans to celebrate the Summer of Bass Love at the 2011 ISB Convention, June 5-11, at San Francisco State University. Stay tuned for details and mark your calendars! We're doing a brief podcast interview today with Barry Green , who we recently featured in an interview/performance episode on Contrabass Conversations. Barry describes the setting for the 2011 convention (which wil...

This week, we're featuring the double bass stylings of Doug Stuart, a former University of Michigan student who is currently active in the San Francisco Bay area. We'll be hearing "Wake Up" and "Gratitude" from The Pear and the Pepper, Doug's latest EP.

Enjoy this New Year's nugget from double bassist Guy Tuneh, featuring a personal greeting for all listeners and readers and a complete performance of Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch. This was recorded live on a borrowed bass during a concert for sick children.

We're featuring double bassist Barry Green on Contrabass Conversations this week. In addition to being an influential bassist and teacher (he served as Principal Bass for the Cincinnati Symphony for 28 years, has written many method books, and currently teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area), Barry is the well-known author of The Inner Game of Music , The Mastery of Music , and Bringing Music to L...

We're chatting with David Cutler, the author of The Savvy Musician , this week on Contrabass Conversations .  This new book is filled with excellent and informative about musical entrepreneurship, product development, branding, marketing, networking, and much more. I hope that you enjoy this interview and check out David's book, and be sure to also visit his blog , which is a great supplement to t...

This week's podcast features an interview with James Knabe , a trumpet performer and teacher who also runs a web consulting service for musicians. Learn more about what musicians can do to effectively market themselves by listening to this short interview, and check out musicianadvice.com for more information about the services James provides. Enjoy!

This week's Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with National Symphony bassist and Peabody Conservatory faculty member Jeff Weisner . In addition to performing and teaching, Jeff is a prolific blogger, writing about all kinds of subjects on PeabodyDoubleBass . Jeff also cross-posts many of these posts on doublebassblog.org, adding his own perspective and enhancing this site. Aft...

We're featuring double bassist Alan Steiner on this week's episode of Contrabass Conversations. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, Alan performs regularly with the Chicago Sinfonietta and Lake Forest Symphony. In addition to maintaining a private double bass studio, Alan teaches bass each summer at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, Wisconsin. The topic of discussion for tod...

This week's episode of Contrabass Conversations features an interview with double bassist David Grossman , a member of the New York Philharmonic bass section and an active jazz bassist. Hosted by John Grillo , this interview covers David's early musical experiences, his dual interest in jazz and classical music, current projects, his philosophy and approach as a teacher, and a variety of other top...

This week's Contrabass Conversations episode features a follow-up interview with bassist Barry Lieberman, double bass faculty at the University of Washington and artistic director of The American String Project , an ensemble that specializes in performing string chamber orchestra arrangements of quartet literature. Barry was previously interviewed on Contrabass Conversations in 2008, and on that o...

We're featuring an interview with jazz bassist Todd Coolman on the podcast. This episode is guest hosted by double bassist Win Hinkle , who interviewed Rufus Reid previously for Contrabass Conversations as well. After listening to this interview, I went out and downloaded Perfect Strangers , Todd's newest album, and I highly recommend it to listeners. Truly top-notch and extremely enjoyable playin...

We're featuring an interview with and music from Joel Quarrington this week of Contrabass Conversations. Joel is the former Principal Bass of the Toronto Symphony and currently serves as Principal Bass for the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. In addition to his orchestral duties, Joel maintains an active career as a solo and chamber artist, touring internationally in this capacity and per...

We're featuring a brief (10 minute) interview with Calgary Philharmonic bassist Matt Heller. Matt is an old friend of mine who, in addition to being an excellent bassist, is the author of the always interesting blog hella frisch . Matt also did extensive coverage of the 2009 International Society of Bassists Convention. It was a real pleasure to get a chance to sit down and do an interview for the...

We're featuring a quick update and some performances from from double bassist Colin Corner , a previous CBC guest . When we first interviewed Colin back in 2007 he was performing in the Minnesota Orchestra, but he now serves as principal bass of the Rochester Philharmonic. In addition to his orchestral duties, Colin maintains an active career as a composer and jazz bassist, and he currently perfor...

We're chatting with Memphis Symphony Principal Bass Scott Best on this week's episode of Contrabass Conversations. Scott is a close personal friend of mine and an outstanding double bassist in both solo and ensemble settings. We played together in the IRIS Orchestra of Memphis, Tennessee, and it is a real pleasure to feature him on the show. Scott was one of the bassists involved in the ISB-coordi...

We're featuring an interview with Los Angeles Philharmonic bassist and University of Southern California bass instructor David Allen Moore on the podcast this week. David also teaches bass during the summer at the Domaine Forget program in Quebec. In this interview, we chat about his early years on the instrument, teachers that have influenced him, his time in the Houston Symphony and Los Angeles...

We're featuring an interview with double bassist Jiri Slavik on Contrabass Conversations this week. Jiri is an extremely accomplished bassist in both jazz and classical styles, as you can see from his biography below, and he gave a truly mesmerizing performance at the 2009 International Society of Bassists Convention. This interview took place just as Jiri was about to leave for Europe, and I feel...

We're featuring composer and bassist P. Kellach Waddle on this week's Contrabass Conversations episode. Actually, we have chatted about doing an interview since 2007, and we got a chance to do so at the 2009 International Society of Bassists Convention. P. Kellach Waddle has had a great deal of recognition as a composer, and he has written numerous works for solo bass or featuring the bass in a pr...

We're featuring a guest interview by bassist Tim Wolfe, Jr . interviewing his former teacher Jim Miller about Art Davis. Tim and Jim discuss Art Davis' life, career, and pedagogical approach. They discuss Art's book and his four-finger approach to the double bass, among other subjects. We're also featuring excerpts from "Duo," a track from the Art Davis Quartet album Life and featuring Art Davis,...

We're featuring some brief interviews I did with people on the floor of the 2009 International Society of Bassists Convention at Penn State in June. Feel free to check out my ISB 2009 Retrospective blog post for even more information on what was happening at this year's convention, and stay tuned for an avalanche of content from this event over the next couple of months! During this episode, I cha...

This week, we're featuring an interview with Klauss Stoll, the recently retired Principal Bass of the Berlin Philharmonic. He has taught for many years in Berlin, Salzburg, and in master classes worldwide, and is regarded as one of the finest teachers of the double bass alive today. This interview was conducted by Jonathan Stefaniak, a former member of the Civic Orchestra who is now playing in an...