We’re featuring the multi-talented bassist Dave Anderson on this week’s episode of Contrabass Conversations. In addition to serving as Principal Bass of the Louisiana Philharmonic, Dave is a prolific composer, active teacher, and electric bassist. He serves as Principal Bass of the Britt Festival Orchestra in southern Oregon, and he plays in metropolitan New Orleans and beyond in a variety of bands.
Dave’s compositions span the gamut from solo double bass to full symphony orchestra, and his Concerto for Double Bass was commissioned and premiered by Hal Robinson and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a former board member of the International Society of Bassists, and his Capriccio No. 2 served as the required solo competition piece at the 1997 ISB convention. Check out Dave online at www.myspace.com/symphonyboy.
Scores to Dave’s compositions have been recently re-released, and you can now purchase copies online. Visit the following link to check out many of these compositions:
http://www.reallygoodmusic.com/rgm.jsp?page=composers2&compid=128028
Also, my co-host John Grillo has a recording of the complete Double Bass Duets by Dave with Pittsburgh Symphony bassist Peter Guild. You can check them out here (there are links to each individual duet through the following link):
https://contrabassconversations.com/2007/02/12/john-grillo-recital-showcase/
Topics discussed:
- Dave’s early years
- studying with Frank Proto, Barry Green, Stuart Sankey, and Warren Benfield
- his compositional style and how he got into composing
- talking about composing with Maxim Shostakovich
- meeting and taking lessons with Jaco Pastorius
I’m pleased to be able to share this interview with Robert Meyer, one of our most experienced and interesting members of the double bass community. Robert has had a long and illustrious career on the double bass, working for over 50 years in most of the major orchestras in London (including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, and BBC Symphony), as Principal Bass of the Vancouver Symphony, and has taught at the Universities of British Columbia and Victoria.
We’re chatting with Michigan State University and Interlochen Arts Academy double bass instructor Jack Budrow this week on Contrabass Conversations. In addition to helping place students in major orchestras across the globe, Jack has had a very distinguished performance career as a former member of the Houston Symphony, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and as Principal Bass of the North Carolina Symphony.
The first episode of our new all-music series Eclectic Bass is now available! Listen to it with the player above (click the play button, or click ‘play in popup’ to keep browsing while you listen), download the episode (right click and choose ‘save as…’), or 
We’re wrapping up our chat with Barrie Kolstein this week on the Contrabass Conversations show. We began this interview on