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Contrabass Conversations

Contrabass Conversations

double bass podcast

493: Geoff Neuman balances conducting and gigging

I first met Geoff Neuman when I was teaching high school orchestra back in Illinois, and ever since then I’ve admired how Geoff manages to operate at such a high level as a gigging bassist, music educator, and ensemble director.

Geoff is up to so many things in the music world:

  • He’s the Instructor of Instrumental Music at The Alexander Dawson School in Las Vegas
  • He brought the Green Valley High School Symphony to the Midwest Clinic, and they were also named the National GRAMMY Signature School in 2000-01
  • He has been a member of the Las Vegas Philharmonic bass section since the group’s inception 20 years ago
  • He and Brad Pfeil started the Las Vegas Bass Workshop together 20 years ago
  • His Outside in Jazz Trio has played in countless Las Vegas venues
  • He has played all kinds of shows on the Las Vegas Strip, including long-term subbing for Derek Jones on KA by Cirque du Soleil
  • He’s active as a bass teacher and educator, participating in events like the ISB’s Young Bassists Program and the Golden Gate Bass Camp
  • He’s even pursuing his Doctorate in conducting!

Geoff is a great friend, and great guy, and one heck of a bassist and teacher!  We dig into a wide array of topics like score study, what he has learned on the podium and how it carries over into the bass section, how the Las Vegas music scene has changed over the years, advice for his younger self, and much more!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440‘s commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

  • Jason Heath, host
  • Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
  • Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
  • Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
  • Krista Kopper, cataloging and archiving

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/contrabassconversations/49320-20Geoff20Neuman20on20conducting20and20gigging20in20Las20Vegas.mp3

492: Joseph McFadden on being true to yourself

Joseph McFadden has led a remarkable career in the music world.  Joe’s journey from Southern California to his current role as principal bass of the Atlanta Symphony is full of valuable life lessons.  We dig into a ton of great topics like bing true to yourself as an artist, what taking a chance really means in an audition setting, dealing with frustration and discouragement, organizing your time to move forward with your career goals, and much more.

Joe is a great guy and one heck of a bass player, and it was such a pleasure to have him on the podcast for this episode!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440‘s commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

  • Jason Heath, host
  • Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
  • Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
  • Trevor Jones, publication and promotion

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/contrabassconversations/49220Joseph20Mcfadden-Bus201.mp3

482: Charley Sabatino on the power of theory

Charley Sabatino is on a mission to re-vamp the way people teach music theory.  There’s a lot of wariness and confusion around music theory for many players, and it often comes down to the way it’s taught.

That’s not all that Charley is up to these days, however.  He’s a man in constant motion: composing new music, teaching clinics on improvisation, and working with the next generation of players on the art, science, and business of music.

We dig into all kinds of topics today, like Charley’s first trip to the NAMM show (and the unexpected cosplay happening in the halls!), the “tune/tone/time” pyramid, the ups and downs of a living as a creative artist, and much more.

Charlie’s an awesome guy—be sure to follow along within on Instagram and Facebook for his great music theory whiteboard posts and much more!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

  • Jason Heath, host
  • Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
  • Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
  • Trevor Jones, publication and promotion

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/contrabassconversations/Charley20Sabatino.mp3

467: Chuck Israels on Bill Evans and a life in music

I had the opportunity to spend some time with Chuck Israels during my recent trip to Portland, Oregon.  In fact, we even took a trip together to visit Seth Kimmel’s shop in Eugene!

Both Chuck and Seth are past podcast guests, and I thought that a rebroadcast of my conversation with Chuck was in order.  Chuck and I dig into a wide range of topics, including:

  • meeting Charlie Mingus
  • playing with Bill Evans
  • Bill’s use of rhythm
  • the importance of having concrete and specific role models
  • Balinese wood carving
  • not creating your own artistic world without the traditions that preceded you
  • the perils of the “parallel case”
  • commonalities among how great artists approach their craft

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Helicore strings, which are are designed, engineered, and crafted at the D’Addario string factory in New York and come in orchestral, hybrid, pizzicato, and solo string sets.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

  • Jason Heath, host
  • Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
  • Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
  • Trevor Jones, publication and promotion

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/contrabassconversations/Chuck20Israel.mp3

CBC 130: P. Kellach Waddle interview

P Kellach Waddle.png

We’re featuring composer and bassist P. Kellach Waddle on this week’s Contrabass Conversations episode. Actually, we have chatted about doing an interview since 2007, and we got a chance to do so at the 2009 International Society of Bassists Convention. P. Kellach Waddle has had a great deal of recognition as a composer, and he has written numerous works for solo bass or featuring the bass in a prominent role. I think you’ll really enjoy this interview we did back in June!

We’re also featuring P. Kellach Waddle performing his own composition “Sonata in Two Movements” for solo bass after the interview segment.

About P. Kellach Waddle:

Two time Pulitzer-Prize nominated composer P. Kellach Waddle maintains an active career not only as a composer but also as a bassist, conductor and writer. With nearly 450 performances of his music by the end of the ’05-’06 season, and a list of completed works now numbering over 220 , Mr. Waddle continues to maintain a career as one of the most performed and prolific composers of his generation. His works have been performed in 38 states and in 14 countries on 4 continents and radio features/interviews with him have been heard on classical radio stations in Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee and Ohio. A performance by Mr. Waddle of his Op. 1 #1, the bass caprice De Salones Espanoles, marked the first hearing of his music on National Public Radio as part of its Music From Roundtop Series in 1993.

Complete bio for P. Kellach Waddle

Other links:

Main Publicity: www.wyattbrandf.com Auxiliary Publicity: www.axiosstudios.com Other Recordings: www.classicallounge.com

http://traffic.libsyn.com/contrabassconversations/CBC_130_-_P._Kellach_Waddle_interview.mp3
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