Where do you even start when you’re talking with John Goldsby?  I mean, this is the person who literally wrote the book on jazz bass playing with his groundbreaking work The Jazz Bass Book.

I’ve been reading articles by John in Bass Player Magazine ever since I picked up the instrument, and it was such a pleasure to chat with him for the show!

More About John

Since 1994, John Goldsby has been a member of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Big Band (also known as the WDR Big Band or the Cologne Radio Big Band). From 1980 to 1994, Goldsby lived in New York City and was a fixture on the jazz scene there. He continues to contribute to the art form as a bassist, bandleader, composer, teacher, clinician and author.

Mr. Goldsby has written two other instructional method books, Bowing Techniques for the Improvising Bassist and Bass Notes. Bass Player magazine says, Bass Notes is an excellent resource for intermediate to advanced jazz bassist.” The National Association of Jazz Educators says, Bowing Techniques should be a required publication for upright bassists!” Goldsby is a disciple and master of the Paul Chambers school of jazz bass playing, and spent many years perfecting his own style of arco (bowed) jazz playing. Through private study with Dave Holland and Michael Moore throughout the ‘80s, Goldsby codified and honed the techniques of arco jazz. Goldsby perceived a gap in jazz bass pedagogy in the area of arco technique, and published his first book Jazz Bowing Techniques for the Improvising Bassist in 1990.

Since 1990, John Goldsby has been a featured writer for Bass Player Magazine with his columns “The Tradition,” “Mastering Jazz,” and “Jazz Concepts.” Goldsby has also written for Double Bassist Magazine, The Strad, and the International Society of Bassists Journal (ISB).

In 2009, Goldsby was awarded the International Society of Bassists Special Recognition Award for Scholarship, a biennial award recognizing players and scholars who contribute their special talents, knowledge and support to furthering ISB ideals. Goldsby received jazz performance grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988, 1990, and 1993. The “John Goldsby Plays Oscar Pettiford” concert, which was funded by the 1990 grant received much critical acclaim from the New York Times, Jazz Times, and the Village Voice.

This episode is organized into three parts:

• Part 1 – life in the WDR Big Band and the experience of moving from New York City to Cologne
• Part 2 – why John is inspired to write books and articles and what this has done for his bass playing
• Part 3 – the concept of being a follower, developer, or innovator and what John would do if he wasn’t a musician

Links to Check Out:

• John Goldsby’s website
• Upright Bass Handbook, Truefire Video Bass Course
• John on Facebook
• John on Twitter
• Videos featuring John
  • “Plant Bassed” with WDR Big Band (bass feature)
  • “Two For The Blues” with Superbass — Christian McBride, Ray Brown, John Clayton
  • “Ligeti Split” trio with Jacob Duncan, Jason Tiemann
  • “Solar” duo with Peter Leitch (arco bass solo)
• excerpts from this episode are from the following Goldsby albums
  • The Innkeeper’s Gun
  • Space for the Bass
  • The Visit

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