Podcast

1142: Slow Water, Deep Grooves with Stephan Crump

Stephan Crump is a Brooklyn-based bassist, composer, and educator whose work moves fluidly between groove, spacious sound-worlds, and collective improvisation. We dig into the making of Slow Water, the magnetism of deep feel, and how growing up in Memphis—and spending a lot of life near the Mississippi—shaped the way Stephan hears music as ecology, storytelling, and energy in motion.

We talk about inspired listening walks, the ideas behind Erica Gies’ book Water Always Wins (and what it means to let water—and music—meander), and Stephan’s approach to leading ensembles. We also get into bass-life details, his time in Amherst and Paris, and much more.

Check out Stephan on Instagram, his website, and Bandcamp!

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Theme music by Eric Hochberg

1141 – Gut Strings and Time Travel – Michal Bylina on Early Music

Michal Bylina is a Polish bassist and composer whose work bridges early music performance and new music for the instrument. In this conversation, Michal shares how a love of the past pulled them toward gut strings, Baroque style, and the Vienna bass tradition, plus the path from studying in Kraków to a year studying in Brussels with Korneel Le Compte.

We dig into Michal’s composing process, from writing cadenzas to building a huge library of bass sheet music and learning by analysis, along with current projects like a concerto inspired by the surviving bars of Dittersdorf’s concerto for violone and an aria for countertenor and obbligato bass. Michal also talks about balancing music with life as a parent and work as a software developer, and what might come next. Connect with Michal on Instagram and Facebook, and explore his catalog on his website and in our DBHQ Store!

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When you buy a product using a link on this page, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting DBHQ.

Theme music by Eric Hochberg

1140: Isaac Trapkus on Rosin, Hidden Manuscripts, and Open-Source Music Tools

Isaac Trapkus is a bassist with the New York Philharmonic, rosin maker, and developer of Monkey Wrench DB—a tool that syncs sheet music PDFs with YouTube performances. He’s also the creator of a free urtext-style edition of the Koussevitzky Double Bass Concerto, based on a previously unknown personal score copy he discovered at the Library of Congress.

We cover a wide range of topics: Isaac’s years-long journey developing his handcrafted rosin (Winter), the unique acoustic challenges of the double bass that make rosin so stubbornly hard to get right, and his Library of Congress discovery of Koussevitzky’s clean personal score—complete with hidden measures taped over by the composer himself.

We also dig into AI’s expanding role in Isaac’s tech projects, the ethics of open-source music tools, and the tension between building things because you can versus building things that actually matter. Find Isaac’s Koussevitzky edition on IMSLP, explore Monkey Wrench DB at monkeywrenchdb.org, and check out his past podcast appearance here.

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When you buy a product using a link on this page, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting DBHQ.

Theme music by Eric Hochberg

1139: Building The Sub Pool with Thomas Zera

Bassist and arts administrator Thomas Zera joins us today to share what changed between our first chat years ago and now, including life in the Utah Symphony and the path that led to building his new project, The Sub Pool.

We dig into what The Sub Pool is, why orchestra sub lists so often “run dry,” and how a centralized, musician-friendly platform can help personnel managers find the right players, including for rarer instruments and big-repertoire needs. Tom also explains how the service is designed to be low-friction for musicians, what feedback has shaped the early feature set (including faster notifications), and what they’re building toward next. Learn more at The Sub Pool, reach Tom at tom@thesubpool.com, and check out his past podcast appearance here.

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When you buy a product using a link on this page, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting DBHQ.

Theme music by Eric Hochberg

1138: Seasons of Creativity with Casey Lipka

Casey Lipka is a Los Angeles–based singer, songwriter, bassist, and collaborator with a gift for building community around music. In this episode, Casey shares the winding path that brought her into jazz voice, bass, and a creative life that blends composing, performing, and heartfelt projects. Along the way, Casey talks about how coaching shaped her work supporting other artists, and why creating space for connection has become such a central part of what she does.

Jason and Casey dig into what it looks like to move through “seasons” of creativity, from album release mode to collaboration mode, and how routines like strength training and time in nature can support the physical and mental demands of making music. They also talk about the joy of live performance, the inspiration of Nina DeCesare’s recent Bach marathon, and Casey’s new Women in Music series featuring performance-plus-conversation collaborations.

Enjoy, and follow along with Casey and her great work on her website, YouTube, Instagram, and listen on Spotify or Apple Music.

Connect with DBHQ

Gear used to record this podcast

When you buy a product using a link on this page, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting DBHQ.

Theme music by Eric Hochberg

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