CBC 96: Kells Nollenberger and the Kaleidoscope Trio
We’re featuring two tracks from Contrabass Conversations contributor Kells Nollenberger and his new album with the Kaleidoscope Trio. Kells also has a podcast called The Jazz Exchange and guest hosted an interview with Steve Rodby for us in the past.
We’ll be hearing the first and last tracks from their new album Map to the Ocean, which is available as a free download on the Jazz Exchange website here. If you enjoy this music, please consider making a donation to the Kaleidoscope Trio, which you can do on the page where you download the album. This model of distribution is going to become more and more common in the coming years, and the way to ensure that artists like these continue to great new material is to give them some support, both with a little cash and by checking them out when they perform live.
Tracks performed:
- Horizon
- 19th Century Photograph
This episode is sponsored by The String Emporium
Bass composers -highlights from Contrabass Conversations
Where would we be without double bass composers? These four individuals have made great strides in promoting the double bass and innovating musically. We have more composers in our Contrabass Conversations archives–just dig through and see who else strikes your fancy:
Peter Askim 
Active as a composer, conductor and bassist, Peter Askim is the Music Director and Composer-in-Residence of the Idyllwild Arts Academy. He has been a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and served on the faculty of the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he directed the Contemporary Music Ensemble and taught theory and composition.
Dave Anderson
Dave’s compositions span the gamut from solo double bass to full symphony orchestra, and his Concerto for Double Bass was commissioned and premiered by Hal Robinson and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a former board member of the International Society of Bassists, and his Capriccio No. 2 served as the required solo competition piece at the 1997 ISB convention.
Donovan Stokes
An active soloist, composer, and clinician Stokes is a specialist in the use of amplified and electronically manipulated double bass and performs regularly both as a soloist and a sideman in a variety of musical genres, venues and collaborations.
Bjorn Berkhout
Dr. Berkhout’s music has received attention at many national and international festivals including June in Buffalo, Music Ninety-Eight in Cincinnati, the New Music Symposium 2001 at the Domaine Forget in Canada, and the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany. His music has been recognized through many international awards and contests. In 2005 he was selected as one of six semifinalists for the prestigious Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize. In 2004 he was the winner of the Omaha Symphony Guild’s International Composition Contest for his work REM, a Lucid Dream Fantasy for solo cello and two chamber orchestras. His work Visual Sound, which had its premier in Amsterdam, was nominated for the Gaudeamus Prize 2000 and his work Zapstar was one of six works selected for the ALEA III 2003 International Composers Contest.
CBC 82: Anthony Stoops interview part 2
We’re concluding our chat with double bassist Anthony Stoops today on Contrabass Conversations, which we began on episode 67 of the podcast. Anthony is the Artist/Teacher of Bass and String Area Chair at theUniversity of Oklahoma School of Music. He also won first prize in the International Society of Bassists international solo competition and is the past recipient of a Karr Foundation double bass. Learn more about Anthony by visiting his website atanthonystoops.com.
We’re also featuring Anthony performing his rock medley with the Bad Boyz of Bass, plus some listener feedback, bass news, and shout-outs to some of our Facebook group members. Enjoy!
New double bass composition from Leonardo Presicci
Double bassist Vito Liuzzi recently let me know about a new composition from Italian bassist and composer Leonardo Presicci. Vito writes:
LEONARDO PRESICCI from ITALY and his new composition : CROSS OVER BASS (HR) for db. and orchestraDear Jason,
I’m happy to present you the new composition by maestro LEONARDO PRESICCI
“CROSS OVER BASS” for doublebass and orchestra.
Here the link to listen to all three movements well recording (live).
http://www.myspace.com/leonardopresicci
Maestro Leonardo Presicci is one of the most important doublebass player in South Italy. You can read his “curriculum vitae” on his MySpace. I’ ve played with him in the doublebass quartett called “Bass Sonority” (Michele Cellaro, Leonardo Presicci, Giovanni Rinaldi and Vito Liuzzi). It always was a pleasure to play with Leonardo and listen to his magic db. a Bedocchi 1901. Now this incredible composition.
I would be very and very happy if you tell me your opinion about everything regarding him (sound, technique and so on). As soon as possible maestro Presicci will insert one of his live concert on YouTube, so you will able to better understand his way of playing.
At the end some of my New Photos on my Italian Forum Contrabbasso Italiano I will talk about the my bow holding and exercises on free string to have a better and more focalized sound.
With all my esteem and best regards,
Vito
Vito D. Liuzzi
Professor of Conservatory – Doctor of Law
Journalist FreeLance
CBC 80: Peter Askim interview
We’re featuring double bassist, composer, and conductor Peter Askim on today’s episode of Contrabass Conversations. A former member of the Honolulu Symphony and an internationally acclaimed composer, Peter currently serves as music director and composer-in-residence for the Idyllwild Arts Academy. His Eight Solitudes for Double Bass won the 2002 International Society of Bassists Composition Competition. Learn more about Peter at his website peteraskim.com.
There are some excellent opportunities for high school bassists at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. Bassists study with Chris Hanulik (Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Bass) and Jeremy Kurtz (San Doego Symphony Principal Bass) and recieve a great deal of attention from Peter as well. Learn more about this program at idyllwildarts.org. Enjoy!
CBC 77: Dave Anderson interview part 2
We’re concluding our interview with the multi-talented bassist Dave Anderson on this week’s episode of Contrabass Conversations. In addition to serving as Principal Bass of the Louisiana Philharmonic, Dave is a prolific composer, active teacher, and electric bassist. He serves as Principal Bass of the Britt Festival Orchestra in southern Oregon, and he plays in metropolitan New Orleans and beyond in a variety of bands.We began this interview on episode 75 of the podcast, and we also featured Dave’s music on Eclectic Bass episode 2.
Dave’s compositions span the gamut from solo double bass to full symphony orchestra, and his Concerto for Double Bass was commissioned and premiered by Hal Robinson and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a former board member of the International Society of Bassists, and his Capriccio No. 2 served as the required solo competition piece at the 1997 ISB convention. Check out Dave online at www.myspace.com/symphonyboy.
Scores to Dave’s compositions have been recently re-released, and you can now purchase copies online. Visit the following link to check out many of these compositions:
http://www.reallygoodmusic.com/rgm.jsp?page=composers2&compid=128028
Also, my co-host John Grillo has a recording of the complete Double Bass Duets by Dave with Pittsburgh Symphony bassist Peter Guild. You can check them out here (there are links to each individual duet through the following link):
http://contrabassconversations.com/2007/02/12/john-grillo-recital-showcase/
CBC 76: Jack Budrow interview part 2 and Peter Askim music
We’re continuing our chat (check out part on on episode 73) with Michigan State University and Interlochen Arts Academy double bass instructor Jack Budrow this week on Contrabass Conversations. In addition to helping place students in major orchestras across the globe, Jack has had a very distinguished performance career as a former member of the Houston Symphony, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and as Principal Bass of the North Carolina Symphony.
Jack discussed several topics of great interest to double bass students and performers with co-host John Grillo and me, including:
- musical leadership and qualities of good principal bassists
- qualities found in good conductors
- how music students are seeing fewer and fewer concerts
- emotion in music – country music’s got it
- limitations of rock music in conveying emotion
- body maintenance and how to stay healthy as a bassist
We also feature music from double bass performer and composer Peter Askim. Learn more about Peter at his website www.peteraskim.com. Enjoy!
Eclectic Bass 2 – Dave Anderson music
We’re featuring music from Louisiana Philharmonic Principal Bass Dave Anderson on this week’s Eclectic Bass episode. Learn more about Dave on his MySpace page, order Dave’s compositions here, and check out our interview with Dave here.
Tracks played:
- “Teen Town” by Jaco Pastorius
- “Surf Ride” from Yule Logs by Dave
- “Schweik Fahrt” featuring Dave and Hal Robinson
- Quintet Mvt. 4 by Dave featuring Sid King and the Kentucky Center Chamber Players
- “Blew Cheeze” featuring Dave and pedal steel guitarist Dave Easley
- “12-Tone Hip Bop” by Dave
Special thanks to The Bass Gang for our theme music
More Dave Anderson music and interview coming soon
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the interview segment with Louisiana Philharmonic Principal Bass Dave Anderson that we released this weekend, be sure to visit the show page and give it a listen. Dave’s a very interesting guy with a lot of interesting experiences to share, and he’s a fantastic composer as well. We also featured several tracks on the podcast as well from Dave, including a duet with Dave and Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Bass Hal Robinson.
We’ll be putting out another installment with Dave very soon, and we’ll have several new musical selections within this episode, so stay tuned!
Hear John Grillo and Peter Guild play Dave’s music
We’ve featured Dave’s compositions previously on Contrabass Conversations on John Grillo’s Recital Showcase episode. On this episode, John performs Dave’s Seven Duets for Double Bass along with Pittsburgh Symphony bassist Peter Guild.
Hear Jason play Dave’s music
You can also check out a recording of yours truly (!) performing Dave’s Capriccio No. 2 in both audio and video form here (MP3 link).
CBC 75: Dave Anderson interview
We’re featuring the multi-talented bassist Dave Anderson on this week’s episode of Contrabass Conversations. In addition to serving as Principal Bass of the Louisiana Philharmonic, Dave is a prolific composer, active teacher, and electric bassist. He serves as Principal Bass of the Britt Festival Orchestra in southern Oregon, and he plays in metropolitan New Orleans and beyond in a variety of bands.
Dave’s compositions span the gamut from solo double bass to full symphony orchestra, and his Concerto for Double Bass was commissioned and premiered by Hal Robinson and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a former board member of the International Society of Bassists, and his Capriccio No. 2 served as the required solo competition piece at the 1997 ISB convention. Check out Dave online at www.myspace.com/symphonyboy.
Scores to Dave’s compositions have been recently re-released, and you can now purchase copies online. Visit the following link to check out many of these compositions:
http://www.reallygoodmusic.com/rgm.jsp?page=composers2&compid=128028
Also, my co-host John Grillo has a recording of the complete Double Bass Duets by Dave with Pittsburgh Symphony bassist Peter Guild. You can check them out here (there are links to each individual duet through the following link):
http://contrabassconversations.com/2007/02/12/john-grillo-recital-showcase/
Topics discussed:
- Dave’s early years
- studying with Frank Proto, Barry Green, Stuart Sankey, and Warren Benfield
- his compositional style and how he got into composing
- talking about composing with Maxim Shostakovich
- meeting and taking lessons with Jaco Pastorius
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Recent Podcasts- CBC 124: ISB 2009 Impressions
- CBC 123: Klauss Stoll interview
- Guy Tuneh performs at 2009 Bodenseefestival
- CBC 122: Music School Choices
- CBC 121: Ben Jensen performance
- CBC 120: Ed Barker interview
- CBC 119: David Cardon and the Unfortunate Incident
- CBC 118: Jon Burr interview
- CBC 117: Mark Morton interview 2
- Audio from my appearance at Chicago Music Commission panel
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