Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

Double bassist Doug Johnson has a great gig story that I’d like to share with blog readers. Doug is an active double bassist in the Chicago area, and he performs with ensembles raging from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to the excellent bass and percussion band Gunnelpumpers.
Here’s Doug’s story. Enjoy!_______________
So I have freelanced [...]

I mentioned in a recent Contrabass Conversations episode that I would be sharing Canadian bassist Meredith Nelson’s experiences with double bass plane travel over the years. It is a great reflection of all the garbage we bassists have to deal with just to bring the tools we need to perform our craft. [...]

In early 2004 my new Saturn abruptly caught fire as I was driving home from an orchestra rehearsal. I pulled the flaming carriage over, got my instrument out, and ran away just before it exploded. You can check out that part of the story here.
This was, to put it mildly, an unexpected [...]

I played some summer outreach concerts for the Grant Park Music Festival last summer which featured one of my all-time worst verbal gaffes ever. Every once in a while you’ve got to put your foot in your mouth to keep your ego in check, and boy, did I ever put my foot in my [...]

Bassist Dan Pliskow sent me this funny gig story a couple of weeks ago, and I thought that readers would get a kick out of it:
In 2001 I got a call to work a quartet job at Greenfield Village thatmeant playing seven days a week from noon to 3 PM. Part of the [...]

 

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There is also a audio version of this story!  Check it out here or click the audio player at the top of this post!
Driving the Conductor Crazy
This is a story about an unfortunate concert experience that one of the former members of The Louisville Orchestra told me a few years back. I’ve witnessed a [...]

Most bassists who don’t hold the principal chair in a major symphony orchestra can count on one had the times that they get to play a solo in orchestra. Double bass is an instrument that does not usually fall into the solo spotlight during your typical orchestra concert, and any occasion to play a [...]

Listen to the audio version of this story here, and check out the video version as well!
This is the worst gig story ever.
 

I’ve told a lot of gig stories on this blog. Some of them are humorous, some are annoying or cringe-worthy, but none even [...]

As I was wrapping up my Masters degree from Northwestern University in 2000, reality started to set in. I needed to pay my bills as a musician! I had won a position in the Milwaukee Ballet and in the IRIS Chamber Orchestra (I ended up getting a position in the Elgin Symphony that [...]

A couple of years ago a very funny thing happened at the Lyric Opera of Chicago involving orchestra musicians, administrators, and wacky street musician hustlers. I did not witness any of this, but I have heard the same tale from several Lyric musicians, so I hope I’ve got all of my facts right. [...]