181: Carlos Henriquez on playing with Wynton Marsalis, developing a creative voice, and creating effective Afro-Cuban bass lines

Jazz at Lincoln Center and Wynton Marsalis bassist Carlos Henriquez

We are featuring Carlos Henriquez on today’s show. Carlos has been the bassist for the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for nearly 20 years, and he has just released his first solo album The Bronx Pyramid on Blue Engine Records. You’ll hear clips from the title track before and after the interview, and we have a link to check out the entire album, which I highly recommend, in the show notes. We talk with Carlos about growing up in the Bronx, meeting Wynton, developing Afro-Cuban bass lines, finding your voice, and much more.

Be sure to check out our sponsor Discover Double Bass! Whether you’re looking for lessons on walking bass lines, technical exercises, soloing concepts, or phrasing with the bow, Discover Double Bass has helpful resources to get you to the next level in your craft. You can check out over 70 free lessons and much more at discoverdoublebass.com.

About Carlos:

Carlos Henriquez was born in 1979 in the Bronx, New York. He studied music at a young age, played guitar through junior high school and took up the bass while enrolled in The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program. He entered LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts and was involved with the LaGuardia Concert Jazz Ensemble which went on to win first place in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival in 1996.

In 1998, swiftly after high school, Henriquez joined the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, touring the world and featured on more than 25 albums. Henriquez has performed with artists including Chucho Valdes, Paco De Lucia, Tito Puente, the Marsalis Family, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz, Marc Anthony, and many others. He has been a member of the music faculty at Northwestern University School of Music since 2008, and was music director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s cultural exchange with the Cuban Institute of Music with Chucho Valdes in 2010.

180: Ian Hallas on winning a Lyric Opera bass section spot, effective excerpt practicing, and routines for audition success

Ian Hallas is the newest member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago double bass section

Today’s guest is Ian Hallas, the newest member of the double bass section of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Ian successfully auditioned for Lyric in January of 2016 and joins a section with former Contrabass Conversations guests Greg Sarchet and Andrew Anderson. Ian studied with Paul Ellison at Rice University and David Allen Moore at the University of Southern California. Ian also happens to be a former student of mine!

We talk through the audition process for Lyric (number of rounds, the audition list, what he played in particular rounds), his routine in the days, weeks, and months approaching an audition, his previous auditions taken, books that have shaped his audition preparation, and advice for people embarking upon the audition trail. Enjoy!

179: Douglas Mapp on successful freelancing, life as a jazz bass professor, and ISB insider insight

International Society of Bassists president Douglas Mapp

We are featuring Douglas Mapp on today’s episode. Douglas is the current president of the International Society of Bassists and is also on faculty at Rowan University, where he is professor of jazz studies and teaches double bass. He is also extremely active as a performer, serving as principal bassist of the Reading Symphony and Assistant Principal of the Delaware Symphony and he performs regularly with some of the regions premiere ensembles including the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Philly Pops, Harrisburg Symphony, and several other groups in the area.

Douglas and I had a great chat about a wide variety of topics, including the realities of making a living as a freelancer, what makes the International Society of Bassists conventions so special, and his company douglasmappmusic, which has for 20 years been providing piano parts written in keys that fit with standard orchestral tuning. Enjoy!

About Douglas:

Bassist Douglas Mapp is at home in many styles of music ranging from classical to jazz and Broadway to contemporary classical. The list of artists that he has performed, recorded and toured with includes Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Donnie McClurkin, Richard Smallwood, Natalie Cole, Randy Brecker, Sean Jones, Ernie Watts, Lana Del Rey, Earth Wind and Fire, R Kelly, and Jeff Majors.

He is the principal bassist of the Reading Symphony and Assistant Principal of the Delaware Symphony. He performs regularly with some of the regions premiere ensembles including the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Philly Pops, Harrisburg Symphony, and has a twenty-year tenure with the Philadelphia based new music ensemble Relâche. He has performed as substitute bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra both at home and on tour. He has performed as a soloist with many of the groups with which he performs, including his spring 2015 performance of the Bottesin Grand Duo Concertante with the Reading Symphony.

His publishing company, Douglas Mapp Music has been helping bassists to solve the age-old dilemma of solo versus orchestra tuning for over twenty years with piano parts written in keys that fit with standard orchestral tuning. He is president-elect of the International Society of Bassists and will chair the 2015 ISB convention at Colorado State University.

Mr. Mapp is a graduate of the University of the Arts and Temple University where his primary teachers were Neil Courtney and John Hood.

177: Bruce Bransby on principal bassist roles, life in the Indiana University bass studio, and optimizing bass gear

Indiana University double bass professor Bruce Bransby

We are featuring Bruce Bransby on today’s show. Bruce has been professor of double bass at Indiana University for three decades and has taught bass players who now hold positions in major orchestras worldwide. Bruce has also been a faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival for this same length of time. Prior to that, he served as principal bass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Kansas City Symphony.

Bruce is also an outstanding soloist, composer, and arranger, and you’ll be hearing an excerpt from his arrangement of the Valentini Cello Sonata at the beginning of the episode, and we’ll conclude today with Bruce’s own Valse for double bass and piano, which he composed under the pseudonym Rolande E. Curb (Curb is Bruce spelled backwards).

We feature more music from Bruce in the bonus content for this episode, and you can access that material from the Contrabass Conversations app. Just click on this episode and choose ‘bonus.’These compositions and arrangements can be purchased from Lemur Music (Theme, Prelude, and Valentini links) or the String Emporium website. Enjoy, and check out this link to learn more about the Performer Diploma in Orchestral Studies offered by the Jacobs School–most graduate double bass students are choosing this option at IU.

About Bruce:

Bruce Bransby was principal double bass with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1978-1986) under Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Andre Previn, and was principal double bass with the Kansas City Symphony (1971-1978). He studied with Nat Gangursky, Peter Mercurio, and Stuart Sankey.

Professor Bransby performs widely as soloist and chamber player and has premiered numerous works, including several concertos for the double bass. While in Los Angeles, he was active in studio recordings for motion pictures and television.

He was a faculty member at California State University Northridge, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, the California Music Center, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, and has been a performing member of the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival since 1987. His students hold positions in many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras.

176: Andrew Raciti on living in Australia, studying with Paul Ellison, and helpful student mindsets

Milwaukee Symphony acting principal bass and Northwestern University double bass faculty member Andrew Raciti

We are featuring Andrew Raciti on this week’s show. Andy is the acting principal bass of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also the head of the double bass studio of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Before joining the Milwaukee Symphony in 2006, Mr Raciti was associate principal bass of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia. He has also performed with the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

We talk about Andy’s experiences growing up in Milwaukee, studying at UW-Madison, studying with Paul at Rice, the Sydney Symphony, the Northwestern University bass studio, how Andy approaches lessons, the Laborie endpin, his Tester bass, and several other topics. We also feature excerpts from Zivojin Glisic’s Concerto for Double Bass and String Orchestra with Andy and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chamber Orchestra. Enjoy!

About Andrew:

Andrew Raciti is the acting principal bass of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also the head of the double bass studio of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Before joining the Milwaukee Symphony in 2006, Mr Raciti was associate principal bass of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia. He has also performed with the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

In the summers he has been the principal bass of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and performs orchestral and chamber music at the Grand Teton Music Festival. He is also a regular professor of the Filharmonica Joven de Colombia in South America. In 2011 he performed the United States premiere of the Concerto for Double Bass and String Orchestra by Macedonian composer Zivoin Glisic. A recognized authority in bass pedagogy and performance, Mr Raciti has published articles in the quarterly for the International Society of Bassists. He is currently involved with the BATUTA foundation of Colombia, South America, where he is developing the bass portion of a comprehensive string pedagogy that will be used throughout it’s 17,000 member nationwide network.