Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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The following excerpts are from an upcoming book by double bassist and educator Peter Tambroni. Peter has written an excellent double bass method book titled An Introduction to String Playing, and he has been a guest on Contrabass Conversations as well. In addition to a career as an active double bass performer and teacher, [...]

We’ve got a new poll up on doublebassblog.org–how often do you take a day off from playing? No gigs. No lessons. No practicing. Just a 100% instrument-free day. Let us know!

Double bassist Kate Nettleman, a previous Contrabass Conversations guest and a frequent extra musician with the Chicago Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra, has recetly accepted a position as Principal Bass of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. This is exciting news for Kate, and I am really happy that this outstanding musician has been put in place in [...]

The wonderfully helpful bassist Satoru Tagawa just finished transcribing episode 20 of Contrabass Conversations, which featured co-host John Grillo and I interviewing Indiana University bass professor Lawrence Hurst. Check out the transcript here, and check out Satoru at www.myspace.com/eiahto38.

 

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We’re concluding our interview with double bass soloist and University of Texas-Austin bass professorDaXun Zhang today, as well as featuring more tracks from this stellar musician. Check out episode 92 for the first part of this interview.
Along with the conclusion of our interview, we’ll be featuring DaXun performing a very cool Chinese piece for bass [...]

Calgary Philharmonic bassist Matt Heller (a frequent subject of posts here at doublebassblog.org) recently put out an excellent audition preperation breakdown on his blog hellafrisch.blogspot.com. Matt is an excellent bassist and blogger (and a swell guy to boot–we’ve been friends for years) who was featured in the New York Times by columnist Dan Wakin while [...]

Double bassist, blogger, and entrepreneur John Grillo has been a pivotal part of Contrabass Conversations since its inception in early 2007. John was one of our very first guests on the podcast, and his role quickly grew to that of collaborator and co-host. John and I have now co-hosted many of the Contrabass Conversations podcasts, [...]

 

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We’re featuring an interview with and music from double bass soloist DaXun Zhang this week on Contrabass Conversations. The winner of numerous prestigious solo competitions, DaXun is a true virtuoso, capable of a level of musical expression and technical dexterity rarely seen on the instrument.
In this first segment of our interview (which we will conclude [...]

The following is a short excerpt from the E-Bass Line Newsletter from the International Society of Bassists. Receiving this newsletter each month is one of the many benefits for ISB members, including special rates on instrument insurance, the excellent journal Bass World, the paper edition of the Bass Line, and much more! Check out the [...]

Double bassist Vito Liuzzi sent me a link to this excellent performance of the Rossini Duetto featuring the incomparable bassist Franco Petracchi with Italian cellist Vittorio Ceccanti: