Contrabass Conversations

Contrabass Conversations

double bass podcast

198: Todd Coolman new release

Double bassist Todd Coolman

Double bassist Todd Coolman

This is an all-music  of Contrabass Conversations featuring jazz bass legend Todd Coolman with some tracks from his  new album Collectibles.  The Coolman Trifecta is made up of Todd on bass, Bill Cunliffe on piano, and Dennis Mackrel on drums.

We featured Todd as an interview guest on the podcast back on episode 137, and Win Hinkle was our guest host for this interview, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t in the past.    The album will be released May 26th, so this is a sneak preview of what you’ll be hearing from Todd.
Todd is also he author of The Bottom Line: The Ultimate Bass Line Book, and we have a link to this book in the show notes.
We feature three tracks today:
  • New Rhumba
  • Joshua
  • You’re My Everything
Enjoy these new tracks from the great Todd Coolman!

197: Bert Turetzky on forging new paths, compositional language, and commissioning over 300 works

Contrabassist Bertram Turetzky

Contrabassist Bertram Turetzky

Today’s episode features an interview with the great Bert Turetzky. With nearly 60 years spent championing new works for the contrabass, Bert truly is the father of modern bass playing.  Bert has recently released a memoir titled A Different View which chronicles his life spent in music.  It delves into his early years growing up in Connecticut, his dreams of becoming a jazz player, his orchestral experiences, teaching at the Hartt School and the University of California San Diego, and it covers in great detail his work as an advocate for the contrabass.

We also feature clips from a University of California Television broadcast from 2008 titled Bertram Turetzky and Friends: Music for Contrabass.  This program featured solo and chamber works, including four premieres and several pieces that have made Bert famous. The entire program is available on YouTube.  Be sure to check out the YouTube video for Bert’s wonderful descriptions of these works.
Links:

196: Andrés Martín on the creative process, the composer mind, and forging a bass scene

Double bassist Andrés Martín

Double bassist Andrés Martín

Today’s episode features composer, teacher, and bassist Andrés Martín.  Andrés has written works recently that have become quite popular in the bass community these past few years, and I’ve been looking forward to talking with him ever since hearing his music.  Andrés is also the composer of Anna’s Gift and is currently writing the music for Anna’s Promise, the project spearheaded by Barry Green (a former Contrabass Conversations guest) that we featured on episode 189 of the podcast.

We’ll be playing excerpts from Andrés’ music throughout this episode, and we’ll start with an excerpt from the second movement of Andres’ bass concerto.  He’s a distinctive and exciting new voice in the world of the bass and has captured the bass world’s imagination for sure.  Andrés is a great guy and a deep thinker about creativity and the compositional process, and I think that you’ll learn a lot about inspiration and the composer mind from this discussion.
Tracks featured:
About Andrés:
Native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, bassist, arranger, and composer Andrés Martín has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles in Argentina, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, England, Germany and United States. Since his arrival in Tijuana (Mexico), Andrés has been immersed in teaching as well as performing as a soloist and chamber musician. He is a member of the “Orquesta de Baja California” and “Cuatro para Tango”, a chamber ensemble with whom he has released four recordings. He also organizes and directs “Contrabajos de Baja California A.C. ”, a Double Bass academy who celebrates an international double bass festival and chamber music course held in Tijuana every summer. As a composer and arranger, he works with a wide language which ranges from contemporary techniques to tango and rock. His work has been performed and recorded by very successful orchestras, ensembles, and soloists in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Japan and the United States.

195: Gaelen McCormick on bow strokes, Progressive Repertoire, and the Pomodoro Technique

Double bassist Gaelen McCormick is today's podcast guest

Double bassist Gaelen McCormick is today’s podcast guest

We are featuring double bassist Gaelen McCormick on today’s episode. Gaelen is a member of the Rochester Philharmonic, teaches at Nazareth College and the Eastman Community Music School and is the author of Mastering the Bow, a two-part series for bass. Part one is based on the violin studies of Franz Wohlfahrt, and part two features off-the-strings strokes.

We had a wonderful conversation about her early years in music, studying with Jeff Turner for graduate school (and you can listen to Jeff on the podcast—he was a guest back on episode 26), structuring practice time, the George Vance Progressive Repertoire series, and many other topics.

Before and after the interview, we feature Gaelen and Ed Paulsen performing a couple of Dave Anderson’s wonderful duets, and you can check out our interview with Dave on episode 75 of the podcast.

About Gaelen:

Ms. McCormick has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic’s bass section since 1995. Before joining the RPO, she held positions with regional orchestras such as the Erie (PA) Philharmonic, the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Albany Symphony. Ms. McCormick has performed regularly with other major orchestras, including the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Syracuse Symphony. She holds degrees in performance from the Eastman School and Carnegie Mellon University.

Teaching the double bass to students of all ages has become a significant part of Gaelen’s life. She joined the faculty of Nazareth College in 2010, and has been the bass instructor for the Eastman Community Music School since 2001. She enjoys working with talented high school aged string players in the summer at Eastman’s Music Horizons program where she teaches chamber music and gives bass lessons. In 2003, she was invited to teach for the year at Duquesne University’s City Music Center, a program for talented, pre-college students.

Gaelen has given masterclasses and recitals at Ithaca College, Williams College, the College of St. Rose, and Roberts Wesleyan College. In 2013, she gave classes on double bass technique at both the International Society of Bassists convention in Rochester and the NYSSMA Winter Conference. “Mastering the Bow”, the first of three books on double bass bow technique, was published by Carl Fischer in 2013, and the second will be published during the 2014 season.

Playing chamber music has been a passion for Ms. McCormick. Before moving to Rochester, she often performed with the St. Cecilia Chamber Orchestra (Albany, NY) as their sole bassist. During her tenure in Pittsburgh, she became the founding bassist of the Pittsburgh Live Music Chamber Orchestra. She was the founding member of the innovative string quintet “Gibbs and Main”, and recorded a cd of tango standards with them, and commissioned a new work for the ensemble by Judd Greenstein.

In recent summers, she has been performing with the Music in the Mountains chamber orchestra, a festival based in Durango, Colorado. She is frequently invited to play chamber music with musicians from around the country in festivals such as the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival and the Syracuse New Music Ensemble. This summer, Ms. McCormick will make her debut appearance at the Canandaigua Lake Chamber Music Festival.

Gaelen has been involved in volunteering and arts advocacy, and is proud to be the representative for the RPO in the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians. She is honored to be a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda, groups recognizing and supporting excellence in the humanities and in music specifically. In her spare time, Gaelen enjoys kayaking, Argentine tango and West Coast swing dancing, and spending time with her toddler Clara.

194: Inez Wyrick on 911 bass teaching, creating artists, and teaching the whole fingerboard

Double bassist Inez Wyrick is featured on today's episode

Double bassist Inez Wyrick is featured on today’s episode

Inez Wyrick has been a huge name in bass pedagogy for decades. She really is one of those teachers that I think we all aspire to be like—she can take a student at any level and develop their technique while also instilling in them a passion for making music of all sorts.

Today’s conversation with Inez is a journey through the topics of education, inspiration, the development of bass teaching from the “dark ages” to the embarrassment of riches that we have today and the thoughts and perspectives of a truly beautiful human being. You’re going to learn a lot and come away with a bunch of new ideas about teaching, and I’m sure that you’ll feel rejuvenated and inspired by Inez’s passion and energy.

After the interview, we feature listener feedback and some upcoming plans for the podcast, and before we get going with our interview we will feature a clip of Inez conducting the Orchestra of Lady Bassists from the 2013 ISB convention. Kristin Korb was the current president of the ISB when this was recorded, and she makes some introductory remarks (Kristin was also a podcast guest on episode 79), and we have a ink in the show notes to this complete video, which you should definitely check out.

About Inez:

Former International Society of Bassists Board Member Inez Wyrick currently resides in Winchester, Virginia where she is adjunct instructor of bass at Shenandoah Conservatory, maintains a private bass studio She perviously edited the young bass page of Bass World and serves on the board of directors for the Bass Coalition.

Mrs. Wyrick is an internationally acclaimed pedagogue who specializes in pre-college string education and has numerous publications to her credit. An active lecturer, clinician and traveling “911 bass teacher,” she is a regular clinician at the Richard Davis Bass Conference in Madison, WI and the Golden Gate Bass Camp in San Francisco, CA. Previously, she has been on the faculties of Indiana University String Academy, Amarillo College, Odessa College and Texas Tech University Orchestra Camp and was founder of the Amarillo Bass Base, a bass ensemble which held an international reputation. Her students teach and hold professional positions in ensembles and educational institutions worldwide.

Her arrangements and compositions for bass ensemble have been performed worldwide and her CD-ROM of bass ensembles entitled Music for Double Bass Ensemble, Vol. I: 30 Christmas Carols for “Same Level” and “Mixed Level” Double Bass Ensemble was released in 2005. She has over 300 heterogenous bass ensembles for all levels, and varieties of levels. Email for a complete, graded, inventory.

In 2001 she was the honored recipient of the “Young Bassists Ambassador” award from the International Society of Bassists. She is married to fellow bassist Dr. Donovan Stokes.