Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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Eric Hochberg (heard on Contrabass Conversations #21) passed along the news to me recently that jazz violinist Johnny Frigo just died at age 90. Johnny actually began his performing career as a bassist. This cover from Downbeat Magazine is a rare example of Johnny Frigo with the bass.
All About Jazz states in [...]

 

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This week’s Contrabass Conversations podcast features the first part of our interview with double bassist Ranaan Meyer. John Grillo (a frequent guest and collaborator on the podcast) and I co-interviewed Ranaan, who is the bassist for the band Time for Three and has had a very interesting and multi-faceted career. In addition [...]

August 6th will mark the launch of what promises to be a very interesting new resource for jazz double bassists. JazzDoubleBass.com promises to:

provide a meeting place for exchanges of opinions, ideas and material;
provide an educational resource for all levels of Jazz Double Bassist;
help to maintain and widen interest in Jazz Double Bass

Those sound like [...]

Bassist and PlayJazzNow.com founder Bill Harrison just started a blog called Jazz Underneath, and it is already turning into quite a resource. One of his recent posts highlights beautiful jazz-themed paintings by New Orleans painter Ann deLorge. The work to the left is called Jazz in Red.
Visit Bill’s blog post for more of these [...]

I am wrapping up my portion of the Midsummer’s Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin this week with some fabulous performances. This is my third summer with this ensemble, and it is a great way to decompress after getting up at 4 a.m. and working until 11 p.m. for the past six months. [...]

 

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It is my pleasure to bring you this great interview with Pittsburgh Symphony principal bassist Jeff Turner for this week’s episode of Contrabass Conversations. Jeff has excellent advice for musicians, and he reflects on his early years on the instrument in this very engaging interview. You will also be hearing a double [...]

 

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This week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with and music from Chicago Symphony bassist Rob Kassinger. Rob’s musical interests span many genres and include both the electric bass and the double bass. You will learn about Rob’s early years on the bass and how working in jazz and rock settings led to [...]

I just did a great interview with Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Bassist Jeff Turner yesterday for Contrabass Conversations. I think that folks will really get a lot of this interview, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to sit down wit Jeff and learn his perspectives on the bass and the orchestra business.
This weekend [...]

 

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This week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with double bassist Michael Hovnanian. Michael has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1989, and he serves as the president of Discordia Music (double bass music publisher). Michael also plays for the Gunnelpumpers, Chicago Bass Ensemble, Music of the Baroque, and the [...]

 

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This week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features a continuation of our interview with Indiana University double bass professor Lawrence Hurst plus some music from plus some music from the Italian bass ensemble The Bass Gang. You can check out episode 20 of the podcast for the first part of this interview with Mr. Hurst, and [...]