More thematic weeks and other upcoming experiments for the podcast

It looks like Luthier Week is really working out well this week.  I’ve gotten lots of great feedback already (you can email me at feedback@contrabassconversations.com with any thoughts), and I thought that I’d share some other thoughts that I have in terms of thematic content.

Next week, we will feature three episodes that are put together in a slightly different way.  I’m working on experimenting with the format and flow of each episode, and I’m curious to know what people think about what I’m putting out next week, all of which are in more of a multimedia format:

• We start the week with an episode featuring jazz legend Ron Carter.  I decided that this episode would work well with an intermingling of music, interview, and voice over, so this episode will be a bit of a departure from the traditional interview, but I think that it’s a better way to highlight Ron and all of his contributions to the world of jazz, the bass, and music in general.  This will launch on Monday.
• We will continue next week with an episode documenting Anna’s Promise, which is the final part of a long-term project launched by Barry Green (also a former Contrabass Conversations guest).  This episode will feature commentary from Barry and from Jeff Bradetich (also a former Contrabass Conversations guest).  The music for Anna’s Promise is written by Andrés Martín, who we recently interviewed for the podcast.  You’ll also be hearing clips of various bassists participating in the project.  I think you’ll really enjoy this episode and learning more about this ambitious and exciting project spearheaded by Barry.
• We will wrap up the week with an episode featuring Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist Andy Anderson (also a former Contrabass Conversations guest) performing my arrangement of Czardas with my orchestra.  Andy sounds fantastic, and we go into the behind-the-scenes details about this production, and I think you’ll get a kick out of this recent project of ours.

I have a few more thematic weeks coming up as well:

• “Gary Karr” week – We will feature two episodes with former Gary Karr students (David Murray and Michael Klinghoffer) plus a rebroadcast of our episode featuring Gary Karr interviewed by Barry Lieberman (also a former Contrabass Conversations guest).
• Bass Pioneers week – I’m planning on pairing Bert Turetzky and Inez Wyrick on a week with the theme being people who have spearheaded double bass developments in performance and education.

I have a bunch of other interviews in the can and scheduled for the near future, and if logical pairings (like the former) appear, I’ll continue to experiment with thematic weeks.  Let me know your thoughts (comments are fine, and feedback@contrabassconversations.com always works).