Contrabass Conversations

Contrabass Conversations

double bass podcast

205: Trevor Jones on musical pit work, scheduling creativity, and finding balance

Multi-talented double bassist Trevor Jones is today's featured guest.

Multi-talented double bassist Trevor Jones is today’s featured guest.

Today’s episode features double bassist Trevor Jones. It actually amazes me that this is the first time that Trevor has been on the podcast. Trevor kind of does it all: he studied classical bass with Rob Kassinger at DePaul University but got a music education degree as well He has played for years in the rock band Molehill but also maintains a full-time performing schedule as a theater musician, and he has a salaried double bass teaching job at Illinois Wesleyan University as well.

About Trevor:

Based in Chicago, independent artist Trevor Jones works in a variety of musical settings. He performs with regional orchestras throughout the Midwest. He has also recorded for numerous artists and has co-written and recorded three albums: Tin God, Equinox, and Hearts on Fire with his Chicago-based alternative rock group Molehill. Trevor is currently the Instructor of Double Bass at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Trevor is the upright and electric bassist at The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL. Highlights include Jeff®-Award Winning Musical Hero (2012) reprised in 2014 at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, FL. World Premiere of October Sky in Fall 2015. For the Glory with music by Tony Award® nominee Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel) at Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg, PA. Battlecry by Paul Bogaev (Aida, Spiderman).

Trevor grew up in Gettysburg, PA and studied double bass with Duane Botterbusch of the Harrisburg Symphony and continued with Andrew Kohn at West Virginia University where he earned a degree in Music Education. In 2009 he completed his Master’s degree in Music Performance at DePaul University where he studied with Rob Kassinger of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. While studying at DePaul, Trevor performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Trevor’s alternative rock project Molehill performs at some of Chicago’s most prominent venues and tours throughout the country. Highlights include appearances at CBS Studio Chicago, Summerfest, SXSW, and Canadian Music Week. Trevor was awarded an ASCAP+ Award for his songwriting with Molehill.

Trevor is in demand as an educator in the Chicago area and maintains a studio at Midwest Young Artists, the preeminent youth music program in the Midwest. Trevor’s former students are currently studying at Eastman School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Oberlin Conservatory among others.

204: Tips for Teachers with Peter Tambroni

Double bassist and music education Peter Tambroni is today's featured guest

Double bassist and music education Peter Tambroni is today’s featured guest

Today’s podcast features a conversation with Peter Tambroni, who was an early guest on the podcast back in 2007 on episode 32.  Pete is the author of An Introduction to Bass Playing, which is now in its seventh edition, and is an active bass performer, teacher, and author.  You can learn more about Pete on his website petertambroni.com.

About Peter:

Peter Tambroni received his Master of Music in Double Bass Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign and his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the Crane School of Music. He has taught elementary, middle school, and high school strings and is a former faculty member of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Peter has been an orchestra director in Mannheim School District 83 since 2001.

From 1998 – 2005 he taught and coached at the Crane School of Music’s summer youth program. In 2006 he was the Mannheim Middle School’s PTA Teacher of the year.

Peter is an active double bassist performing throughout the Chicago area. He has performed with professional orchestras in New York and Illinois and in 2000 appeared on national television with the Bozo Super Sunday Show.

As a writer, he has been published several times in the international journal American String Teacher and on EnergyAddict.com, the website of best-selling author, Jon Gordon. His book, An Introduction to Double Bass Playing, is available at www.lulu.com/tambroni.

He also created and maintains the blogs MostlyBass.com and EvolvingEducator.com

Peter can reached via email at tambroni AT gmail DOT com

203: Adam Ben Ezra on YouTube fame, looping, and percussive techniques

photo credit: Paolo Galetta

photo credit: Paolo Galetta

Today we are featuring Adam Ben Ezra, who has exploded onto the double bass scene in recent years with his unique musical voice. Adam combines elements of Arabic music, Latin drumming, American pop, looping, and many other styles to form his own craft. He has become quite popular on YouTube, and his videos are fun and visually compelling. To me, Adam is an example of what I find so exciting about the bass world right now. He’s taking the instrument in fascinating new directions, he’s pushing the boundaries of technique, and he’s changing the very perception of the instrument.

I’d also like to welcome back our sponsor Discover Double Bass and let you know about their new double bass scales package. 17 different scale types are covered in all 12 keys, over one and two octaves, along with backing tracks.  Geoff Chalmers does an excellent job with these tools, which are clear, concise, and built to benefit your playing regardless of your current level.  Look for this course to launch in the next week, and check out Geoff’s many other offerings at discoverdoublebass.com/store.

We’re featuring excerpts from several of Adam’s songs:

Adam has become well-known for his drum’n’bass technique, which you will hear through all of these excerpts, and he offers a video lesson series on this technique as well as transcriptions of several of his tunes.  We have links to these in the show notes, and learn more about Adam’s music, tour dates, his upcoming master class project, and much more at adambenezra.com.

202: Chuck Israels on rhythm, amplification and jazz education

Jazz bass legend Chuck Israels is our guest on today's episode

Jazz bass legend Chuck Israels is our guest on today’s episode

Today’s guest is jazz bass legend Chuck Israels.  We start by covering more familiar topics like meeting Charlie Mingus, playing with Bill Evans, Bill’s use of rhythm, the importance of having concrete and specific role models, and then go deep into topics like Balinese wood carving (the time it takes to get good) – not creating your own artistic world without the traditions that preceded you, the perils of the “parallel case”, and commonalities among how great artists approach their craft.

Chuck has just released a new album on Dot Time Records titled Garden of Delights.  We’ll be featuring a few clips from the first three tracks of this album: The Skipping Tune, Garden of Delights, and Mingus.

I’d also like to welcome back our sponsor Discover Double Bass!  Their beginner’s course is arranged into 43 sequential HD video lessons arranged into eight chapters that cover everything from choosing your first instrument to the essentials of technique. You can check out this course as well as many other offerings at discoverdoublebass.com/store.

201: Ira Gold on bow strokes, musical curiosity, and practicing techniques

National Symphony bassist and Peabody Institute faculty member Ira Gold is back for a "round two" interview!

National Symphony bassist and Peabody Institute faculty member Ira Gold is back for a “round two” interview!

We’re featuring National Symphony bassist and Peabody Institute faculty member Ira Gold on today’s episode.  Ira was one of the very first interview guests for the podcast, and we spread it out over three episodes: 15, 18, and 43.  This “round two” interview was conducted almost a decade after the first conversation, and Ira has been incredibly active with all sorts of new projects.

In this interview, we talk about physical fitness and how it helps with all aspects of life, making the transition to standing full-time, what Ira listens for on an audition committee, wanting to make music with people who share the same musical values, how being a “curious person” opens yourself up to new experiences in playing, practicing techniques, turning practice into puzzle solving, and many other topics.
We also talked about the three summer camps at which he’ll be teaching:
You can learn more about Ira and all his activities on his website.  Enjoy!