Contrabass Conversations

Larry Hutchinson recently retired from the Detroit Symphony after 34 years in the bass section.  A leading proponent of double bass education in the state of Michigan, Larry has organized countless b…

Brett Shurtliffe is the Associate Principal Bassist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.  Brett is a former student of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with James VanDemark, and of Duq…

Naj Qureshi of Ottawa Imports has an interesting business model. 

Naj has made it his mission to get the highest quality hand carved Italian basses into the hands of bassists at prices that are unbea…

Chris Kosky is a former bassist for the Air Force Band and just came out with a book titled The Thumb Transition Zone.  Designed for intermediate and advanced students, this book focuses on the middl…

Hector Tirado can’t hear, but uses the the technique of proprioception to play the double bass by feeling the vibrations of the double bass through his skin. 

He has presented at several Internationa…

Tom Knific leads a full life as a bassist, composer, and educator.  He has taught at Western Michigan University since 1987 and was appointed Director of Jazz Studies in 2000.  He is also extremely a…

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 Conventi…

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 …

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 …

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 …

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…

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 competi…

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 mu…

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 p…

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…

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 Interna…

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 bas…

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 h…

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 culture…

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 ca…