Like most people I know, I’d hoped for years to make my way to Australia.
When I learned that Rob Nairn would be hosting the third annual Melbourne Bass Day and was having my good friend Andrés Martín as a guest artist along with many of Australia’s leading bassists, I knew that I had to go.
Rob and I chatted on my podcast in September about the details of event, and I started planning out an itinerary and potential guests for the podcast.
Here’s a look at this wonderful trip with accompanying photos and videos from my travels, the Melbourne Bass Day on November 24th, a special soiree that Ben Puglisi hosted at his shop Atelier Puglisi, and more.
A big thanks to everyone who made this trip such a pleasure for me, and thank you also to Kevin Peterson for taking many of the bass-related photos!
Friday, November 15: Heading to Australia
I made my way to San Francisco International Airport Friday evening for what would be the longest flight of my life. I suppose Australians get used to flying 17 or more hours to get to the United States or Europe, but it was quite a shock to the system for me.
Luckily, I was seated next to a fascinating Australian guy who had, among other things, sailed from the Caribbean through the Panama Canal and all the way to New Zealand, braving storms and weeks of not seeing land. His tales of travel adventure helped to pass the time for sure.
Sunday, November 17: Must… stay… awake…
I landed early in the morning in Sydney, having crossed the International Date Line and lost a day. Somehow I made my way through customs and onto a local flight to Melbourne, then catching an Uber to my Airbnb in Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD).
I’d heard that the key to thwarting this particular jet lag was to stay up the entire day, not going to bed until a “normal” time that evening. Luckily, I was able to drop off my bag and head out to explore the city.
It’s amazing to travel so far and to feel so at home and comfortable. Australia reminds me quite a bit of the United States. Though I love living in San Francisco, I forget how dirty and chaotic that city can often be. Both Melbourne and Sydney feel like world-class destinations, modern and civilized.
Somehow, I stayed up until the evening, walking about 10 miles all around the CBD, Southbank, and the hipster towns of Fitzroy and Colingwood.
Monday, November 18: Meeting new Australian bass friends
Rob Nairn had shared a list of people to connect with for interviews during my trip. I had made plans to meet Ben Robertson, who is one of Australia’s leading jazz bassists. Ben got me a ticket for a performance of his at Hamer Hall, and we headed off to chat for the podcast in the nearby gardens.
I also met up with Stephen Newton, who I had the chance to hang out with several times during my trip. In addition to being a great bassist, Stevie is one heck of a composer, and I had a blast getting to spend time with him in person.
Tuesday, November 19: Visiting Ben Puglisi’s shop
After wandering around Melbourne for a bit in the morning, I headed over to Ben Puglisi’s shop Atelier Puglisi. It was a real pleasure chatting with Ben for my podcast a couple years ago, and getting to see his shop in person was incredible. Ben is making fantastic basses and working on all kinds of different basses in his Hawthorn shop.
It was fascinating seeing all kind of unfamiliar birds in Australia, and also realizing how noisy they all are. Ben has a family of magpies living in his neighborhood, and while I wasn’t quite able to get them to eat out of my hand, I go pretty darned close.
Ben and I also had lunch with Jamin Smedes, who runs Eastman Strings Australia. I’m the Double Bass Product Manager for Eastman Strings, and though I’ve corresponded with Jamin over the years, this is the first time we met in person. We had a great lunch right next to Ben’s shop before I had to split for the airport.
Another thing that I noticed throughout Australia was how little cash was being used. Nearly every service (including the Sydney train) takes Apple Pay. Australians seem to be quite used to contactless payment systems, which I quickly realized didn’t work on my old-school American credit cards. Still, Apple Pay was a breeze, and I found myself barely using any of the Australian dollars I’d withdrawn.
I made the quick flight from Melbourne to Sydney, hopping on Sydney’s excellent public rail transit for a zippy ride to my Airbnb downtown. This was quite possibly the noisiest place I’ve ever stayed in. It was directly across from an all-night construction site, and I found sleep to be pretty challenging those nights in Sydney!
Wednesday, November 20: Exploring Sydney and Bresque Basses
I started this morning in Sydney off with a walk to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Opera House.
OK—this city is cool.
Unfortunately, the bush fires were in full force during my visit, reminding me of some of the massive and tragic fires we’ve had out here in California in recent years.
The haze would come and go throughout the day depending on the prevailing winds, and it looks like it has gotten worse since my visit. At times, it was quite dense, and it was hard to see more than a couple of block. At other times, the wind would kick in and things would clear up.
After a good wander around the city, I hopped on the train and headed to Marrickville to visit Matthew Tucker’s shop Bresque Basses. Matthew and I had an interesting chat about his innovative flatback bracing system back in 2018, and it was great to spend time checking out his shop and hanging out.
I also got to spend some time with longtime Australian double bassist Dave Ellis. Dave has played all over the country in an interesting and varied career, and he also works these days as a luthier and bass maker.
Later, I headed to Sydney’s City Recital Hall to check out a performance of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. ACO Principal Bass Maxime Bibeau had arranged for a ticket for me, and he even brought me backstage to play a few notes on the jaw-dropping 1585 Gasparo Da Salo bass on which he plays.
The ACO sounds great and plays with incredible energy. All of the violinists and violists stand, which seems to lend an additional level of engagement and excitement to their performance. Max leads the low end with this incredible Da Salo bass, which projects into the hall in a compelling way.
I had a great late-night hang with Max and several of the other ACO members, heading back to my noisy Airbnb with plans to meet Max the following morning for an interview.
Thursday, November 21: Exploring Sydney with cool bassists
I woke up and got a coffee at a place near my Airbnb that Max had recommended, then hopped the train toward Bondi Beach where Max lives.
He showed me around this incredible area, with its world-famous sand and surf. Seems like a pretty good life!
Max and I sat down for a deep-dive conversation on his career, the Da Salo bass, working with composer Missy Mazzoli on her commission for him titled Dark with Excessive Bright, and much more.
After that, I headed to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to meet up with Kirsty McCahon. Many people had recommended that I meet up with Kirsty for an interview, which was good advice for sure. What a cool artist! Kirsty is the longtime former principal bass of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and is active with a huge array of projects, including the Australian World Orchestra and Van Dorman’s Band.
Kirsty took me into the Royal Botanic Gardens, and we searched for noisy birds that would serve as an evocative sonic background for our interview. We got some good background ambience, though the noisiest of all the birds seemed to steer clear of us for some reason.
Kirsty then took me on a tour of the magnificent plants in the gardens as we wound our way along the shoreline and toward the Sydney Opera House. there, we met up with Kees Boersma, her husband and principal bass of the Sydney Symphony.
We met up with some of Kees and Kirsty’s friends and had some wonderful pre-concert oysters along the waterfront just outside of the Opera House. After finishing up, we headed in for an epic performance of Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony. What a cool place to take in this massive and multifaceted work!
After the concert, Kirsty, Kees, and I had a chance to have a drink along the waterfront. There’s truly something magical about watching the boats come and go on the Sydney harbor, right next to the Opera House, with the modern Sydney skyline as a backdrop. Truly a special night with some great hosts.
Friday, November 22: Soiree with Phoebe and Andrés
I caught an early flight back to Melbourne, managing to squeeze in a nap at my new Airbnb in the early afternoon.
Andrés Martín had recently arrived, and we messaged back and forth as we both got settled into Melbourne. We would be playing together that evening at Ben Puglisi’s shop.
After waking up, I caught a ride on Melbourne’s excellent tram network to Ben Puglisi’s shop. Phoebe Russell had already arrived and was doing some rehearing in the concert space. It was such a treat to meet her in person, and wow, what a player she is!
Andrés also arrived, and he and I did a quick rehearsal, each of us playing one of Ben Puglisi’s beautiful basses.
The concert kicked off with Phoebe playing a Haydn Cello Divertimento, which mapped beautifully onto the bass.
The confidence and musicality that Phoebe projects in her playing is quite remarkable.
After a short break and some socializing, Andrés performed his Solo Sonata. I’ve heard him play this piece at least five times in person at this point, and it’s always a moving experience. The raw emotions rise to the surface in each movement, and it takes the listener on a gripping musical journey.
Andrés and I rounded out the concert with Simón García’s excellent Californian Duetts, which here written for Andrés and Jeremy Kurtz-Harris. In addition to being great music, the fact that I was coming from California in the US and that Andrés was coming from Baja California in Mexico made the selection a perfect fit for the occasion.
Ben Puglisi’s son Leonardo has a YouTube channel titled HMV Local News, and he interviewed me for the channel, which was very cool!
Also, Leonardo got me on camera answering a very fun question from Rob Nairn about my impressions of Australia. I couldn’t resist the Simpsons reference and poking a bit of fun at my home town of San Francisco.
Leonardo also interviewed Rob Nairn about the upcoming Bass Day.
Saturday, November 23: Breaking out the mics
When I’m on the road, I’m always looking for good locations to do interviews. This is more challenging than you might imagine. It’s not always practical or a great hang to chat in my Airbnb, and often it’s a lot more fun to meet up at a park, coffee shop, or other such place to both hang out and chat.
As a result, I’m always on the lookout for a place that checks all those boxes, and that also will tolerate me pulling out recording equipment!
I found a great coffee shop in Fitzroy called Arcadia, right next to where I was staying. There, I met up with Steve Reeves, who had only weeks before announced his retirement from the Melbourne Symphony. Steve truly is a great person, with a quick wit and perceptive observations from many years playing as a principal player.
I also met up with Ben Hanlon, who is a member of the Melbourne Symphony and also has a thriving career as a jazz bassist. I was astounded to hear from Ben about just how many jazz venues there are with live music every week. Ben studied in the United States at Colburn, and he and I have a huge amount of overlap in our past musical activities.
After hanging with Ben and drinking far too much coffee, I headed out for a long walk, burning off that caffeinated energy and having a chill night before the Bass Day.
Sunday, November 24: the big day arrives
The third annual Melbourne Bass Day had finally arrived, and I set off early in the morning to the new music building in the Southbank campus of the University of Melbourne.
This was the first year for the event in this new facility, which truly is world-class. Everything from the concert hall and public spaces to the rehearsal space with an epic view was well-conceived architecturally. It’s a lucky bunch of students that get to attend this new facility!
I was one of the judges for the solo competition, which kicked off at 9:30 am. Each competitor played the first movement of Andrés’ Solo Sonata as the required piece, with an additional selection of their own choosing.
The other judges included Young Hee Chan, Suzanne Lee Holden, Sylvia Hosking, Stuart Riley, Steve Reeves, Kees Boersma, Damian Eckersley, Ben Hanlon, Phoebe Russell, and Christian Geldsetzer (I hope I’m not leaving anyone out!).
It was fascinating to hear the various interpretations and pacing choices in Andrés’ piece. It starts off quietly, with an A harmonic alongside some slowly moving harmonies. It’s a real challenge to get all the physics in order to pull this off, but we heard some lovely renditions of it.
I also ran into two past podcast guests that I’d never met in person before: Melody Chia and Erica Bramham. They both have really interesting backstories and are doing cool things in the double bass world. How great to finally meet them both in person at this event!
The Bass Day schedule ran in two tracks:
- Concerts and Masterclasses – generally in Hanson Dyer Hall
- Young Bassist’s Program – generally in Prudence Meyer Studio
Young Bassist’s Program Schedule
- 9:30 am – Registration
- 10:30 am – Group warm-ups
- 11:00 am – Masterclass with Sylvia Hoskins
- 11:30 am – Break
- 11:45 am – Ensemble music rehearsal
- 12:50 pm – Talk about making basses
- 1:30 pm – Lunch break (lunch provided)
- 2:15 pm – Improvising Workshop
- 2:50 pm – Masterclass with Phoebe Russell
- 3:30 pm – Ensemble music rehearsal (plus MCM students)
- 4:30 pm – Young Bassists Concert (Hanson Dyer Hall)
The Young Bassists Team consisted of:
- Gareth Hill
- Andrew Moon
- Nicola Kuiper
- Alexandra Giller
The students sounded great, and what an opportunity for them to connect with this deep pool of Australian double bass talent!
Bass Day Schedule
- 10:00 am – Exhibition opens
- 11:30 am – Concert 1 Gran Duo Concertante – Giovanni Bottesini
- Steve Reeves, double bass
- Roy Theaker, violin
- Dean Sky-Lucas, piano
- 12:00 pm – Free improvisation workshop with Matthew Tucker
- 1:00 pm – Concert 2 Ben Robertson, double bass
- Mark Fitzgibbon, piano
- Danny Fisher, drums
- 1:45 pm – Masterclass 1: Phoebe Russell
- 2:45 pm – Concert 3: New Australian Music with Miranda Hill
- Glyph for solo double bass, 2017 – Andrew Aronowicz (b. 1989)
- He Xue Mei, from ‘Impressions Family Portraits’, 2015 – Naima Fine Fine (b. 1982)
- Agony of She, 2019 (World Premiere) – Caerwen Martin (b. 1973)
- 3:30 pm – Competition Final Round
- 4:30 pm – Ensemble Concert (Young Bassists) and MCM Double Bass Octet
- 5:30 pm – Masterclass 2: Christian Geldsetzer
- 6:30 pm – Announcement of Competition Winners
- 6:40 pm – Concert 4
- Appalachia Waltz – Mark O’Conner
- College Hornpipe – O’Conner/Meyer
- Stuart Riley, double bass
- Roger Young, violin
- Josephine Vains, cello
- Suite for Double Bass – Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Menuets I &II, Gigue
- Stephen Newton, composer and double bass
- Duo
- Ben Hanlon, double bass
- James Sherlock, guitar
- ANAM Quartet 1: Damian Eckersley, Giovanni Vinci, Caroline Renn, Hamish Gullick
- ANAM Quartet 2: Damian Eckersley, Phoebe Russell, Joni Coco, Giovanni Vinci
- 7:30 pm – Recital
- Sonata in Bb Major, Op. 47 – Robert Fuchs
- Dome music for solo double bass – Alan Holley
- Praludium, Scherzo, Intermezzo, and Tarantella – Reinhard Gliere
- Kees Boersma, double bass
- Kristian Chong, piano
- 8:30 pm – Final Concert
- Concerto for Double Bass No. 1 (2012)
- Suenos (Dreams) Suite (2017)
- Andrés Martín, composer and double bass
- Kristian Chong, piano
Also, a big shout-out to the sponsors of the MCM Bass Day:
- Australian Strings Association (AUSTA)
- Atelier Philip Smith
- Atelier Puglisi
- Bresque Basses
- D’Addario Orchestral
- Discover Double Bass
- Eastman Strings
- International Society of Bassists
- Recital Music
After Andrés’ concert, the performers and teachers headed over to Stuart Riley’s place for an excellent after party. What a satisfying day of bass, and what a wonderful offering for the Australian double bass community!
Monday, November 25: Final day
After a solid night of sleep, I met up with Kees Boersma back at Arcadia, my newfound home for recording interviews in Melbourne. We had a great chat about a wide range of topics as we sipped some coffee.
After that, I headed to the State Theatre to meet up with Stuart Riley. We got a hot drink and parked ourselves outside of the hall, having a great talk about the various paths he has found himself on during his career.
Prior to landing his current position as principal bass of Orchestra Victoria, Stuart freelanced in a wide variety of groups, and we both have quite a few things in common in terms of background.
Later that evening, I met up with another former podcast guest: Sue Wulff from the San Diego Symphony. Sue had been exploring Cairns with her son, and just happened to be passing through Melbourne. We all met up with Stevie Newton and a few other Melbourne Symphony bassists for a fun hang along the Southbank.
After that, Stevie and I headed to the Whisky Den, one of his favorite haunts. We had a great late-night interview about his piece, how composing fits into my life, and many other topics. It was a great way to end my time in Melbourne for sure.
Tuesday, November 26: Heading back
I hopped on the tram mid-morning on Tuesday, making my way to the airport and on a short flight to Sydney before the long trip back to San Francisco. My head was spinning with good memories of my time there, with my camera and audio recording device chock full of great content to churn through later.
I’m now in the process of getting all of these Australia interviews edited and published, so check in over the coming months at Contrabass Conversations for in-depth conversations with so many of the people that I mentioned here.
Final Thoughts
I’m so glad that I made the trip to Australia, and I can’t wait to go back. In terms of the podcast, these are my favorite types of trips, because there’s ample time to sit down in a relaxed setting and learn about someone.
It’s always tough at a convention or other such event, because there’re are so many demands on everyone’s time. While I’ll keep connecting with people for the podcast at the International Society of Bassists Convention and other such events, I’m hoping to do one trip a year like this, where I go away for 1-2 weeks and just interview people.
Thanks for following along with this, and thank you to everyone involved in making the third annual Melbourne Bass Day such a success!
Bass News Right To Your Inbox!
Subscribe to get our weekly newsletter covering the double bass world.