Contrabass Conversations double bass life

We are featuring a series of crazy gig stories that I had recorded in the first phase of the podcast. I had a total blast doing these back in the day and hope to do more of these in the near future.

Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from the norm for us. This is a recording of a talk I did for the Illinois American String Teachers Association’s Fall Teacher Enrichment Workshop in October of 2015.  I have been involved with this organization for many years and am their current state chapter president.

We are featuring Bruce Bransby on today’s show. Bruce has been professor of double bass at Indiana University for three decades and has taught bass players who now hold positions in major orchestras worldwide. Bruce has also been a faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival for this same length of time. Prior to that, he served as principal bass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Kansas City Symphony.

Jason talks about his rapidly approaching move to San Francisco and discusses what's in store for the show.

We are featuring Andrew Raciti on this week’s show.  Andy is the acting principal bass of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also the head of the double bass studio of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Before joining the Milwaukee Symphony in 2006, Mr Raciti was associate principal bass of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia.

Today’s episode features Indianapolis Symphony principal bassist Ju-Fang Liu. We had a great conversation about growing up in Taiwan, her years studying at the Interlochen Arts Academy and at Indiana University with Lawrence Hurst and Bruce Bransby, her time in New World, teaching, playing jazz, studying bass overseas, and several other topics.

Today’s episode features longtime collaborator John Grillo performing Mozart’s aria Per questa bella mano. So, today’s episode features John performing Per Questa Bella Mano with John Dennison singing and Andrew Hauze on piano.

Today we are featuring an interview with Marc Ramirez. Originally from New York, Marc is the principal bassist with the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, Portugal.

Today’s episode features Lauren Pierce and Geoff Chalmers, both of whom have been doing some remarkable things online in the world of the bass. What’s really cool is that these two have paired up to do a new web series called Ask Geoff and Lauren.

It is our pleasure to bring you this interview with Paul Ellison. Paul is chair of strings and professor of double bass at Rice University, where he has taught for the past four decades. He is the former principal bass of the Houston Symphony, former president of the International Society of Bassists, and has had a significant impact on the double bass world.

We are featuring Blair Tindall on the podcast today. Blair is the author of the book Mozart in the Jungle, which explores the world of classical musicians in a very compelling narrative.  Blair and I talk about life as a New York freelancer, her journey into a career as a writer, and we take a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the production of the TV series.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Shigeru Ishikawa is one of the foremost double bassists of his generation, both as a performer and a teacher. He is currently He is currently Solo Bass (ie. principal bass) of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.

Today we talk with Los Angeles Philharmonic bassist Brian Johnson, who has just released an app for iOS called Learn Double Bass.  What a cool app!  This app (currently free!) contains over 70 videos that clearly cover a specific bass topic.  These videos range from the very first steps (tuning the bass, rosining the bow) to more advanced concepts like spiccato.  In addition to these videos, the app contains a great number of helpful PDF resources.

We are featuring our complete interview with former Indiana University and University of Michigan double bass professor Lawrence Hurst on this week's Contrabass Conversations episode.  This interview was broadcast in the early days of this show in three separate parts, and we are pleased to present the complete and uninterrupted interview on this week's show.

We're featuring San Francisco Symphony Principal Double Bass and University of Michigan faculty member Scott Pingel on this week's show.  In addition to holding down the principal bass chair for the San Francisco Symphony, Scott taught for several years at the San Francisco Conservatory, and he served as Principal Bass of the Charleston Symphony prior to his appointment in San Francisco.