Contrabass Conversations double bass life

Normand Guilbeault has been active on the Montreal jazz scene since the mid-80’s and works in an incredibly wide variety of genres.  

Bob Nieske teaches at Brandeis University and the New England Conservatory. He has worked with George Russell, Stephane Grappelli, and many other jazz luminaries. As bassist, composer, and bandleader, his projects include a suite for his jazz trio, and the Lydian String Quartet, documented on his critically acclaimed CD Simplicity.

Dr. Don Greene is a sports psychologist and performance coach who has who has taught at The Juilliard School, New World Symphony, and The Colburn School.

Today we catch up with International Society of Bassists convention chair and president-elect Nicholas Walker and talk through all sorts of offerings for the upcoming convention.  I'll be at this event, and I hope to see you there as well!

Dr. Randy Kertz is the primary physician at Health Care Specialists, Ltd in suburban Chicago. He is also a bass player and has presented several times at the International Society of Bassists conventions.

Clair Condit is the founder of The Marketed Musician, which is a service for musicians who are ready to up their impact and their income. Clair has worked in marketing for the National Repertory Orchestra and Houston Symphony, and she now works in the corporate world.

Today’s episode is a deep dive into the concept of abstract technique—what we work on each and every day on the instrument, both to stay in shape technically and keep moving forward in terms of skill.

Paul Cannon has been a member of the Frankfurt-based group Ensemble Modern since 2014. A graduate of Rice University, Paul spends his days performing contemporary music of all genres.

Ranaan Meyer is the bassist for the dynamic trio Time for Three.  I had Ranaan on the podcast back in the early days of the show, almost ten years ago.

Nick Villalobos is the bassist for Simply Three, a classical crossover trio that has which has garnered millions of YouTube views and praise from publications like Rolling Stone, the Huffington Post, and RyanSeacrest.com.

Steve Metcalf is the new principal bassist for the Colorado Symphony.  I first became acquainted with Steve several years ago when he was an undergrad student at Indiana University creating cool cover videos of pop songs for his YouTube Channel.

Artem Chirkov is the principal bassist of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and was the winner of the 2010 Bradetich International Double Bass Competition.

Stories covered: 3 Sigma Audio - Upright Bass Impulses Jon McColough-Benner joins Roosevelt University faculty Curtis features Mary Javian Vivo el Bajo May 19-21 - South Texas Double Bass Festival organized by George Amorim Lloyd Goldstein will be a clinician

Michael Valerio is one of the most in-demand bassists in the Los Angeles studio scene. In fact, you’ve probably listened to Mike play bass more than just about any bass player. If you’ve ever heard a soundtrack from John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Danny Elfman in the past couple of decades, you’ve probably heard Mike playing bass on it.

Stories covered: New podcast - Classical Break from Tyler Alderson Lee Starovich - bass teacher at Indiana University summer music clinic The Strad Masterclass: Leon Bosch on Dragonetti’s ‘Famous Solo’ for double bass check out Leon Bosch on the podcast Nina Harries plays Icarus from Barrie Kolstein - how to open and close a seam hear Barrie on the podcast