Only four weeks remain until the 50th Anniversary International Society of Bassists Convention. I’ll be there, and I hope to see you there also!
Viva el Bajo!
I’m getting ready to head down next week to South Texas to join George Amorim and friends for the wonderful Viva el Bajo South Texas Double Bass Festival. This is the 10th anniversary for the festival, and the growth over the years has been remarkable.
This year’s festival features Jeff Bradetich, Lloyd Goldstein, Carlos Gaviria, David Dawson, Alex Ritter, Mark Morton, and Jack Unzicker in addition to George and me. We’ll be doing a live-streamed talk show, and I’ll be emceeing it! Expect interviews, a live band, questions via Twitter, and much more.
Here’s a super-fun promo video for the event from Alex Ritter:
Jazz Week
This week is Jazz Week on the Contrabass Conversations podcast. Today we featured Bob Nieske of Brandeis University and the New England Conservatory. The rest of the week, we’ll be featuring Normand Guilbeault, Matt Ulery, and David Arend.
On Friday we feature a compilation episode of business advice from jazz masters Rufus Reid, Jon Burr, Miles Mosley, Ben Allison, Reuben Rogers, Ron Carter, Todd Coolman, Chuck Israels, and Carlos Henriquez. Follow along with all jazz coverage on contrabassconversations.com/jazz.
You can follow along with these podcasts through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or our free app!
Rufus Reid on the Golden Gate Bass Camp
Speaking of Rufus Reid, here’s a video I put together featuring highlights from the wonderful Golden Gate Bass Camp here in San Francisco. It features an interview with Rufus plus musical highlights from students and clinicians.
Check out my interview with Richard Duke, Donovan Stokes, and DaXun Zhang for more details about the 2017 event. I’d love to see you there!
Peak Performance with Don Greene
It was a thrill to sit down with performance coach Don Greene and do a podcast interview. Don is the author of Audition Success, Performance Success, and Fight Your Fear and Win.
Here’s a favorite quote of mine from our conversation:
Quick Links:
- James VanDemark and students were featured on Backstage Pass – check out the link to hear this engaging conversation and bass playing
- Players and Listeners Both Prefer a New Violin to a Stradivarius – interesting and thought-provoking!
- Dan Styffe is on the jury panel of the Internationaler Instrumentalwettbewerb Markneukirchen, a competition solely for violists and bassists
- check out this great new tune from Lloyd Goldstein – nearly 12,000 views already!
- what’s up with Don Knotts’ bass in this video? I’ve never seen a bass shaped like that…
- sad news here in the Bay Area: John Shifflett, popular San Jose jazz musician and teacher, dies at age 64 (thanks to Pat Klobas for passing this along)
…and finally, a clip from a video series that I watched endlessly while in college. Leonard Bernstein was truly one of a kind!
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