Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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In 2007, double bassist and blogger John Grillo and created the extremely popular orchestral excerpt breakdown series for the Contrabass Conversations podcast network. This series includes performances of John playing much of the double bass orchestral audition repertoire, with commentary about each specific excerpt preceding each performance.
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I had the good fortune to be asked to perform a recital in 2006 on Gary Karr’s former bass, formerly attributed to Amati and previously owned by the great Serge Koussevitzky. This recital happened in the very early days of my blogging, and though I covered it previously on the blog, giving it [...]

We will be releasing an interview with Heartland String Bass Shop owner and luthier Chris Threlkeld-Wiegand this weekend on the Contrabass Conversations podcast network.  Chris worked for several years at the Robertson and Sons Violin Shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico prior to opening his own operation.  Chris makes absolutely wonderful basses that, in addition to [...]

 

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We’re chatting with double bassist Anthony Stoops today on Contrabass Conversations. Anthony is the Artist/Teacher of Bass and String Area Chair at the University 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 [...]

I’m a massive podcast junkie (not surprisingly, considering that I produce my own podcast), listening to shows covering a wide range of topics, usually for several hours each day. I think that this new method of content distribution is so cool, and it always surprises me when I discover how in the dark many [...]

This is a post from contributor Bill Harrison. Bill owns and operates the play-along jazz tracks company playjazznow.com , and he maintains a blog called Jazz Underneath. You can read all doublebassblog.org contributions from Bill here.
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Among the many fascinating questions I get asked while wheeling my bass to gigs or waiting for [...]

In late 2007, I wrote a lighthearted (or was it?) dig at Northwestern University and the sorry state of their music facilities:

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Though I doubt that there’s a connection here, I like to think that I did my part in getting the word out about this state of affairs and, if nothing [...]

This is a post from double bassist and music educator Peter Tambroni. Peter is currently a string teacher in suburban Chicago where he teaches string lessons in grades 3 - 8 and conduct the middle school concert and chamber orchestras. He also leads an Irish ensemble and a bass quartet. Learn more about [...]

This is a post from National Symphony Orchestra bassist Jeff Weisner. Jeff also teaches bass at The Peabody Institute in Baltimore and co-authors the blog PeabodyDoubleBass.  Click here for all of Jeff’s doublebassblog.org posts.
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I’m on the plane on the way back from our South Carolina Residency, which seemed to me to be [...]

Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist Greg Sarchet joins his colleagues Andy Anderson  and Steve Lester as the double bass faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.  Greg is a former Contrabass Conversations guest (you can hear him on episodes 19 and 35) and has contributed many news items, videos, and other [...]