Contrabass Conversations

I had a great time chatting with Dallas Symphony bassist and Southern Methodist University faculty member Brian Perry!  Brian is also on the Board of Directors for the Bradetich Foundation and the In…

Former podcast guest Donovan Stokes recommended that I contact Zach Rowden and dig into what his musical journey looks like.

I did just that, and the result was a fascinating conversation about caree…

It was great to chat with Miles Brown about what it's like playing with Alarm Will Sound, learning massively complicated music for this group, and how to be versatile in today's music world!

Miles ra…

Cleveland Orchestra principal bassist Max Dimoff and Time for Three bassist Ranaan Meyer are the new teaching team at the University of Michigan!  Both Max and Ranaan have been featured on past podca…

Where do you even start when you're talking with John Goldsby?  I mean, this is the person who literally wrote the book on jazz bass playing with his groundbreaking work The Jazz Bass Book.

I've been…

It is an honor and a pleasure to welcome Orin O'Brien to the show!  I've been hoping to have Orin as a guest for years, and I want to give a big shout-out to Chris Mathers for connecting the two of u…

What is it about the energy of Nashville?

How has the technology surrounding us changed the way we musicians do what we do?

How does a person go from being down to their last pot of coffee to touring…

On September 22, Simply Three is releasing Undefined, their first album of all-original music.  You can pre-order it here.

Jason chats with bassist Nick Villalobos about this new release and what the…

Jennifer Rosenfeld is a leader in the world of music entrepreneurship and has been helping musicians “level up” their career since 2009.

We go “inside baseball” on the whole podcasting thing.  I’ll b…

What does a jazz education in the 21st century look like? And what should it look like?

Why would a working bassist decide to drop it all and go to school?

How does focusing deeply on contemporary mu…

When you’re playing, do you think about what you want to say, or what the music wants of you?

Do you remember the process you went through learning how to speak?

What happens when you lose half your …

What’s it like working with four of the most famous bass teachers all at the same school?

How does eye movement affects learning and performing?

Why is mastering the bow so crucial for a bass player’…

How is it that Larry Grenadier, Christian McBride, and Esperanza Spalding all play basses from the same luthier?

What’s the difference, really, between a round back and flat back bass?

How do you get a student excited to play the bass?

What does it mean to go slow now so that you can go twice as fast later?

We answer these questions and much more on …

I'm so thankful that Eric at Upton Bass connected me with Lucia Turino!

Lucia is the bassist for The Devil Makes Three and has the best crazy gig stories.  She's been rained out, nearly blown over, h…

Being able to sit down with outstanding artists and thinkers like Larry Grenadier is one of the true pleasures of doing this podcast.

Larry is a longtime member of the Brad Mehldau Trio and Pat Methe…

Saxophonist and educator Nick Mainella is the host of the 10 Minute Jazz Lesson Podcast.  Each podcast focuses on a particular aspect of jazz and includes a downloadable PDF.

Dennis Tobenski is a composer of acoustic new music whose work has been described by Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times as “distinctive and engaging”. He is also a vocalist and a strong advocate…

Earlier this summer, I read an article from Matthew Waters that caught my attention.  Titled The Orchestral Dream is Dead, it outlined Matt's experiences going through school at UCLA and trying to de…

This episode takes a look at the benefits and drawbacks to seated and standing approaches to playing the double bass. 

• Part 1 - sitting
• Part 2 - standing
• Part 3 - transitioning from sitting to stand…