Contrabass Conversations

Contrabass Conversations

double bass podcast

745: Heiri Kaenzig on jazz and World Music

Today’s episode features jazz bassist Heiri Känzig, who is based in Switzerland and has worked with countless prominent artists like John Scofield, Art Farmer, and the Vienna Art Orchestra.  Heiri is Professor of Jazz Double Bass at the Hochschule Luzern, and his latest album is Celebration with pianist Thierry Lang.

We talk about his early years, how the pandemic has been for him, his incredible travels across the globe playing both jazz and world music, concepts that he focuses on in his teaching, his Swiss-Mongolian collaborative project Agula, and much more.  Enjoy!

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

Check out my Beginner’s Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass!

Thank you to our sponsors!

Ear Trumpet Labs – They make hand-built mics out of Portland, OR and they have an excellent mic for upright bass called Nadine. The Nadine is a condenser mic with a clear natural sound and incredible feedback rejection. This mic is a completely new design — the head mounts in between the strings above the tailpiece with a rubber grommet, and the body securely straps to the tailpiece with velcro elastic. A 14-inch Mogami cable connects the two parts making it easy to place on any bass. It’s durable and holds up to the demanding needs of the instrument while offering excellent sound quality. Ear Trumpet Labs is offering a free t-shirt just for Contrabass listeners with the purchase of a mic, just visit EarTrumpetLabs.com/contrabass to claim yours and check out the Nadine!

Practizma – The Practizma practice journal is packed with research based strategies to turn your ho-hum practice into extraordinary practice.  Develop your curiosity, discipline, creativity, daring, tenacity and zen.  Take a journey with four elements each week: goal setting, reflection prompt, action challenge, and journal pages to track your practice.  Curious? Download the introductory chapter of the journal for free – this gives you an idea of what it’s all about. 

Modacity – Are you a practice-savvy musician? Get Modacity – the music practice app that organizes, focuses, and tracks your progress.  Recorder… metronome… tone generator… timer… note taking… Do away with the random assortment of music practice apps in your arsenal. Modacity™ combines all the tools you need into one easy to use, music practice tool.  Organize, focus, and reflect on your practice – motivating you to increase retention in less time.  Modacity has a special offer for Contrabass Conversations listeners that includes lifetime access to the app.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

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

744: Networked Music Performance with Michael Dessen, Mark Dresser, and Jan Stoltenberg

When Gary Karr reached out to me asking about a piece of software named JackTrip, I was determined to learn more about it and share my findings with the bass community.  I soon found myself on the Networked Music Performance Resources page of UV Irvine professor Michael Dessen,  and soon thereafter I found myself on a call with Michael and his longtime collaborator Mark Dresser.

I also found myself going through the excellent JackTrip tutorial laid out on the YouTube Channel of Jan Stoltenberg, a graduate student at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.  Jan is an enthusiast of spatial audio and has several cool projects that he is working on which are featured here and also on his YouTube Channel.

This episode first features Michael and Mark talking about their experiences with telematic performance, big picture concepts about latency (also explained by Christian McBride in this excellent NPR video), and how this kind of connectivity opens up a whole new world of possibilities.  We then feature my conversation with Jan Stoltenberg about his experiences with JackTrip, spatial audio, and thoughts on the future of telematic performance.

Enjoy, and be sure to check out the JackTrip website for more information about this rapidly evolving open source product!

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

Check out my Beginner’s Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass!

Thank you to our sponsors!

Ear Trumpet Labs – They make hand-built mics out of Portland, OR and they have an excellent mic for upright bass called Nadine. The Nadine is a condenser mic with a clear natural sound and incredible feedback rejection. This mic is a completely new design — the head mounts in between the strings above the tailpiece with a rubber grommet, and the body securely straps to the tailpiece with velcro elastic. A 14-inch Mogami cable connects the two parts making it easy to place on any bass. It’s durable and holds up to the demanding needs of the instrument while offering excellent sound quality. Ear Trumpet Labs is offering a free t-shirt just for Contrabass listeners with the purchase of a mic, just visit EarTrumpetLabs.com/contrabass to claim yours and check out the Nadine!

Practizma – The Practizma practice journal is packed with research based strategies to turn your ho-hum practice into extraordinary practice.  Develop your curiosity, discipline, creativity, daring, tenacity and zen.  Take a journey with four elements each week: goal setting, reflection prompt, action challenge, and journal pages to track your practice.  Curious? Download the introductory chapter of the journal for free – this gives you an idea of what it’s all about. 

Modacity – Are you a practice-savvy musician? Get Modacity – the music practice app that organizes, focuses, and tracks your progress.  Recorder… metronome… tone generator… timer… note taking… Do away with the random assortment of music practice apps in your arsenal. Modacity™ combines all the tools you need into one easy to use, music practice tool.  Organize, focus, and reflect on your practice – motivating you to increase retention in less time.  Modacity has a special offer for Contrabass Conversations listeners that includes lifetime access to the app.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

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

742: An Impossible Choice with Zach Finkelstein and Dana Lynne Varga

Zach Finkelstein and Dana Lynne Varga turned a lot of heads earlier this year with their co-authored article An Impossible Choice: Music Majors, COVID-19, and an Uncertain Future.

We dig into this complicated topic, plus the unique challenges vocalists face in their career, the concept of a correlating career, the pitfalls of Young Artist Programs, and much more. 

Enjoy, and be sure to check out Dana’s site The Empowered Musician, Zach’s site The Middleclass Artist, plus check out Zach’s latest album and MassOpera, which Dana co-directs.

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

Check out my Beginner’s Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass!

Thank you to our sponsors!

Ear Trumpet Labs – They make hand-built mics out of Portland, OR and they have an excellent mic for upright bass called Nadine. The Nadine is a condenser mic with a clear natural sound and incredible feedback rejection. This mic is a completely new design — the head mounts in between the strings above the tailpiece with a rubber grommet, and the body securely straps to the tailpiece with velcro elastic. A 14-inch Mogami cable connects the two parts making it easy to place on any bass. It’s durable and holds up to the demanding needs of the instrument while offering excellent sound quality. Ear Trumpet Labs is offering a free t-shirt just for Contrabass listeners with the purchase of a mic, just visit EarTrumpetLabs.com/contrabass to claim yours and check out the Nadine!

Practizma – The Practizma practice journal is packed with research based strategies to turn your ho-hum practice into extraordinary practice.  Develop your curiosity, discipline, creativity, daring, tenacity and zen.  Take a journey with four elements each week: goal setting, reflection prompt, action challenge, and journal pages to track your practice.  Curious? Download the introductory chapter of the journal for free – this gives you an idea of what it’s all about. 

Modacity – Are you a practice-savvy musician? Get Modacity – the music practice app that organizes, focuses, and tracks your progress.  Recorder… metronome… tone generator… timer… note taking… Do away with the random assortment of music practice apps in your arsenal. Modacity™ combines all the tools you need into one easy to use, music practice tool.  Organize, focus, and reflect on your practice – motivating you to increase retention in less time.  Modacity has a special offer for Contrabass Conversations listeners that includes lifetime access to the app.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

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

741: Derrick Hodge on Color of Noize

Derrick Hodge’s latest Blue Note solo album Color of Noize is incredible and is the latest chapter in his multifaceted artistic life.  Since releasing the album, which was co-produced by Don Was, it’s his first album to feature a live band throughout.

We cover a wide range of topics, including his creative approach to his Color of Noize Instagram Live Sunday Sessions, the thoughtful interview he did recently with Mitch Joel for No Treble, capturing ideas and how that process has evolved, why his Temple University schooling was so important to his artistic development, and much more.  Derrick also answers several questions submitted by podcast listeners, and his warmth and spirit radiate throughout the entire conversation.

Be sure to pick up Color of Noize, visit Derrick’s website, and follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

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

Check out my Beginner’s Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass!

Thank you to our sponsors!

Ear Trumpet Labs – They make hand-built mics out of Portland, OR and they have an excellent mic for upright bass called Nadine. The Nadine is a condenser mic with a clear natural sound and incredible feedback rejection. This mic is a completely new design — the head mounts in between the strings above the tailpiece with a rubber grommet, and the body securely straps to the tailpiece with velcro elastic. A 14-inch Mogami cable connects the two parts making it easy to place on any bass. It’s durable and holds up to the demanding needs of the instrument while offering excellent sound quality. Ear Trumpet Labs is offering a free t-shirt just for Contrabass listeners with the purchase of a mic, just visit EarTrumpetLabs.com/contrabass to claim yours and check out the Nadine!

Practizma – The Practizma practice journal is packed with research based strategies to turn your ho-hum practice into extraordinary practice.  Develop your curiosity, discipline, creativity, daring, tenacity and zen.  Take a journey with four elements each week: goal setting, reflection prompt, action challenge, and journal pages to track your practice.  Curious? Download the introductory chapter of the journal for free – this gives you an idea of what it’s all about. 

Modacity – Are you a practice-savvy musician? Get Modacity – the music practice app that organizes, focuses, and tracks your progress.  Recorder… metronome… tone generator… timer… note taking… Do away with the random assortment of music practice apps in your arsenal. Modacity™ combines all the tools you need into one easy to use, music practice tool.  Organize, focus, and reflect on your practice – motivating you to increase retention in less time.  Modacity has a special offer for Contrabass Conversations listeners that includes lifetime access to the app.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

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

Christopher Still launches Honesty Pill podcast

Honesty Pill is the project of Christopher Still, a trumpet player with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Chris creates focused, actionable plans that help musicians and other creatives address the issues standing between them and their goals.

Chris has just launched the Honesty Pill podcast, and his first guest was Trevor Jones from The Scholarship Roadmap and also a member of the Contrabass Conversations team.

Enjoy, and be sure to check out Chris’ new podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.