Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

Double bassist and ClassicalMusicNews.tv blogger John Grillo wrote a post recently about the New Jersey Symphony and their dubious decision to sell their recently acquired ‘Golden Age’ instrument collection of 30 renowned stringed instruments to investment bankers (and amateur violinists) Seth and Brook Taube.  Although they no longer own the instruments themselves, the New [...]

I have been remiss in mentioning how much I’ve enjoyed reading posts from conductors (and now bloggers) Bill Eddins and Ron Spigelman on their new blog Sticks and Drones. This blog duo packs a very entertaining punch, and I’ve been having fun checking out their various thoughts, observations, and rants.
Ron wrote a very funny [...]

My recent interview with the always entertaining and anecdote-filled Justin Locke prompted me to poke around his site in search of more amusing tales.  There, I found this post about ways in which musicians woefully misrepresent themselves to orchestra contractors.  As a performer-turned-contractor, Justin now finds himself on the other end of the hiring spectrum, [...]

It’s great to see classical music leaders like Deutsche Grammophon enter the modern age of digital distribution.  Alex Ross wrote a post yesterday highlighting some of the features of this new online store, and I received some correspondence from DG representative Bill Hunt as well.  Bill writes:
DG will be the first classical record label to [...]

I had the opportunity to chat with PROJECT bassist Peter Seymour recently, which was a wonderful opportunity for me to get better acquainted with the exciting and unclassifiable new trio. Even the instrumentation for this group is unusual–how many cello, bass, and flute trios have you heard in your life?
Although this [...]

Drew McManus gave me very warm welcome to the Adaptistration family on Monday.  Thanks, Drew!  He writes:
There’s excitement in the air as today marks the launch of the latest installment of a developing three-way mirror of cultural conversation designed to provide a comprehensive view on the field of performing arts. Arts Addict is self described [...]

We hope you enjoyed our interview with Chicago Symphony bassist Brad Opland on this week’s Contrabass Conversations episode.  Brad is an outstanding double bassist and a great interview guest, and I really enjoyed getting a chance to chat with Brad.  You can visit Brad’s Contrabass Conversations page to hear both parts of this interview.
Brad has [...]

I’m hard at work getting my new blog Arts Addict (a new blog project affiliated with Adaptistration’s Drew McManus), and I am really excited about this new thing.  This blog is looking awesome, and I can’t wait to launch it!  It comes out on Monday, and I’ll definitely be letting folks know about it here.
Arts [...]

John Grillo just blogged on www.classicalmusicnews.tv about the upcoming Pennsylvania Ballet tour in which he is participating.  He writes:
I look forward to playing this tour very much. Since so much of the Broadway theater business is shut down this week due to strikes, I hope people hear about this event and substitute their plans for [...]

The Lincoln Park Cultural Center was packed last night for the Chicago Bass Ensemble, with bassists and non-bassists alike congregating in a quaint structure on the north side of Chicago to hear the musical stylings of these four great players. Doug Johnson, Jacque Harper, John Floeter, and Michael Hovnanian (not pictured) performed an [...]