What a pleasure to chat with Christian McBride for the podcast!  Christian just won his sixth Grammy for the Christian McBride Big Band’s new album Bringin’ It, and he has a course available titled Fundamentals of Jazz Bass and Beyond.

Christian and I dig into all kinds of topics (including many suggestions from podcast listeners!), like:

• the story behind his Benedict Puglisi bass
• what Christian looks for in a bass setup
• hearing Ray Brown play live for the first time
• Christian’s heartwarming story about James Brown from The Moth
• staying in shape on the road
• working his bow chops

…and much more!

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.

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, interview editors
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion