Contrabass Conversations

It is my pleasure to bring you this great interview with Pittsburgh Symphony principal bassist Jeff Turner for this week's episode of Contrabass Conversations. Jeff has excellent advice for musicians, and he reflects on his early years on the instrument in this very engaging interview. You will also be hearing a double bass feature from the Lascivious Biddies on this episode. Enjoy!

About Jeff

Jeffrey Turner is the Director of Orchestral Studies at Duquesne University, where he serves as conductor of the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra. A native of South Carolina, Mr. Turner holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master's degree in conducting from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied with Dr. Robert Page. He has served in recent years as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the City Music Center Chamber Orchestra from 2004 - 2009. Locally, Mr. Turner has also conducted opera productions at CMU, as well as Honors Orchestra Festivals for the Pennsylvania Music Educator's Association.

Mr. Turner is also the Principal Bassist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. His teachers include James VanDemark, Lawrence Hurst and Robert Gladstone. Before joining the PSO in 1987, Mr. Turner was the Principal Bass of the New American Chamber Orchestra from 1984 to 1986, and played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the 1986-87 season. As winner of the Y Music Society's Passamaneck Award, Jeffrey Turner appeared in a critically acclaimed recital at Carnegie Music Hall in 1989. He was also a winner of the 1990 Pittsburgh Concert Society's Artist Award.

Jeffrey Turner has served as Visiting Professor at the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, and the University of Maryland, and as a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon University. At Duquesne, Mr. Turner has also served as Chair of Strings and as Artistic Director of City Music Center's Young Bassist Program.

Mr. Turner gives annual recitals, seminars, and master classes at universities and conservatories throughout the world, and serves as resident artist for annual festivals including the Pacific Music Festival, The National Orchestral Institute, the Korsholm Festival (Finland), Indiana University's Summer Music Festival, and The Asian Youth Orchestra (Hong Kong). Mr. Turner has been a faculty member for International Workshops in Graz, Austria; Lausanne, Switzerland; and Glasgow, Scotland. He is featured as recitalist, clinician, and competition judge at the conventions of The International Society of Bassists. From 1988-92 Mr. Turner was the Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Project, a yearly series of concerts and educational programs featuring Pittsburgh's finest musicians in collaboration.

This week's Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with and music from Chicago Symphony bassist Rob Kassinger. Rob's musical interests span many genres and include both the electric bass and the double bass. You will learn about Rob's early years on the bass and how working in jazz and rock settings led to an interest in orchestral double bass playing in this fascinating interview. This episode also features Rob playing the first movement of the Breval Sonata in a live performance, and it includes a track from NYCO, a rock band that Rob was a member of for several years. You will be hearing People We Knew from their recent album "Two". You can purchase "Two" by following this link. Enjoy! About Rob: Robert Kassinger was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1993. Prior to Chicago, Rob performed as assistant principal bass with the Colorado Symphony and also played with the New Orleans Symphony. In addition to his busy schedule with the Orchestra, Rob is an active chamber musician. He performs with the Revolution Ensemble, the Orion Ensemble, Fulcrum Point, Ars Viva, Music of the Baroque, the Callisto Ensemble, MusicNOW, and broadcasts on WFMT and WTTW. Most recently he has been a featured guest with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, and has performed Schubert's Trout Quintet with Daniel Barenboim. In July 2006, Rob served as double bass professor at the Canton International Summer Music Academy, led by Charles Dutoit. Rob grew up in a family of musicians in Boulder, Colorado. He began his bass studies with Frank Carroll at the University of Colorado. In 1985 he moved to New York to study with Homer Mensch at the Manhattan School of Music, where he received his bachelor of music degree. Rob then pursued his master's degree at the Juilliard School, continuing his studies with Mr. Mensch. He later went on to study with Bruce Bransby at Indiana University. Some of his most influential experiences as a student were his two years as principal bass of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, conducted by Alexander Schneider, and the two summers he spent as a fellowship student at the Aspen Music Festival, studying with Stuart Sankey and Bruce Bransby. In 1989 Rob was the winner of the Aspen Double Bass Competition. Rob's experience as a jazz performer dates back to his early teens, working in the house rhythm section at the infamous Denver jazz club El Chapultapec, and over the years he has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Burrell, the Woody Herman band, Conte Candoli, Charlie Rouse, Teddy Edwards, Harold Land, Red Holloway, Charles Brown, Art Lande, Richard Stoltzman, Gary Burton, Alex Acuna, Laurence Hobgood, and Bobby Lewis. In 1998 and 2000, Rob toured India with the Chicago Jazz Express, and he can be heard on their recordings Voyage to India and The Rhythm Section. He also appears on Bobby Lewis' latest CD, Just Havin' Some Fun. In addition, Rob is featured on Daniel Barenboim's Brazilian Rhapsody on the Teldec label, and Kabbalah Blues/Quantum Funk by the Revolution Ensemble. Rob's latest project has given him a chance to spend more time with the bass guitar. His alternative rock group NYCO has released its debut album Two, available through nycomusic.com and at Itunes.com. Rob is professor of double bass at DePaul University. He is also in demand as a coach and master clinician, serving in this capacity for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, the Juilliard School, and the Mannes School of Music. In the summers of 1999 through 2002, it was Rob's honor to teach at the West-Eastern Divan, a ground-breaking workshop that brings young musicians from Israel and various Arab countries together to study orchestral music with Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma, and members of the CSO, Berlin Philharmonic, and Staatskapelle Berlin.

This week's Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with double bassist Michael Hovnanian. Michael has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1989, and he serves as the president of Discordia Music (double bass music publisher). Michael also plays for the Gunnelpumpers, Chicago Bass Ensemble, Music of the Baroque, and the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra. He authors the popular CSO Bass Blog, and he has served on the faculty for Northwestern University and the Chicago College of Performing Arts. Michael was also my bass teacher for my undergraduate and graduate degrees at Northwestern, and it was really great to get a chance to do this interview. You will also get a chance to hear Michael play the Discordia Music edition of the Brahms Sonata in E minor on this episode. It is a great edition of a great piece, and Michael plays it beautifully. Enjoy! About Michael Hovnanian Michael Hovnanian grew up in the Seattle area and started playing the bass in the public schools. His primary teachers were James Harnett and Ronald Simon of the Seattle Symphony. An early interest in solo playing led to performances with the Seattle Symphony, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and the University of Washington Symphony. Michael attended the University of Washington and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts where he studied with Frederick Tinsley of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1986 he joined the Victoria Symphony as Principal Bassist and in 1988 the San Antonio Symphony as a member of the bass section. Since 1989 he has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In addition to playing in the CSO Mr. Hovnanian is active performing solo and chamber music in the Chicago area. He has appeared in the Chicago Symphony chamber concerts at Orchestra Hall and the Art Institute, with Chicago Pro Musica, and at the Winter Chamber Music Festival. Currently he is President of Discordia Music, a pulishing company specializing in new and arranged works for Double Bass. He is also a co-founder of the International Bottesini Society, an organization dedicated to promoting the legacy of that composer. Michael's blog: www.csobassblog.blogspot.com

Lawrence Hurst is the former principal double bass for the Dallas Symphony. He is a former faculty member of Southern Methodist and Eastern Michigan Universities and former faculty member, associate dean, and chair of the string department at University of Michigan School of Music. He was honored with the Alumni Award from the University of Michigan School of Music in 1998.

Professor Hurst is former director of the University Division of the National Music Camp and is a summer faculty member of the Interlochen Arts Camp. He is past chair of the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition, and past president of the International Society of Bassists. His former students can be found in many prestigious orchestras, including Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Atlanta. He has chaired the Indiana University Strings Department for the past 19 years and has been on faculty at Interlochen for the past 40 years.

Music from the Bass Gang website: http://www.thebassgang.org/

Born in Aleppo, Syria into a musical family of six boys and three girls, François discovered the double bass at the age of thirteen when one of his brothers brought an instrument home and allowed him to experiment with it. When the family moved to Beirut, Lebanon he found an old copy of Edouard Nanny's Contrabass Method in a tailor shop and with some difficulty, since he read neither music nor French, began to teach himself. After nine years of work in Beirut, François saved enough money to move to Paris for a year. He was eager to go to the Paris Conservatory, meet with Monsieur Nanny and show him what he was able to do with the bass. When he applied at the Conservatory he was disappointed to learn that Nanny had died in 1947. He was also told that auditions were to be held in three days and that he would never have enough time to learn the required pieces. He asked for the music anyway and returned three days later to finish first among the applicants. However, his stay at the Conservatory was a brief one, since it didn't take very long to see that he was not only far ahead of the other students but of the professors as well! François Rabbath's uniqueness stems from his refusal to accept any traditional limitations. Whether performing his own fascinating compositions, the music of others or the classical repertoire, one is always moved by his profound musicianship and dazzling virtuosity. You quickly discover that he brings you such a sense of security that the most difficult passages sound effortless. The importance of François Rabbath to the development of double bass playing can be compared with that of Paganini to the violin. Since the early 1800s when Nicole Paganini established the violin as a virtuoso instrument, solo violinists have practiced the most brilliant of instrumental art. Meanwhile, the development of double bass playing had been seriously neglected. The great and popular 19th century composers did not consider the bass worth their attention and in turn the bass repertoire did not attract potential virtuoso performers with enough genius to change the situation. It demanded an artist with the unique qualities of François Rabbath to break this impasse.

http://www.liben.com/FRBio.html

Musical Guest - Leon Bosch You will be hearing the Bottesini Elegy and the Bottesini Gavotta from Leon Bosch's recent solo album called Virtuoso Double Bass, which is available from Meridian Records. Leon's website: http://www.leonbosch.co.uk Album information for Virtuoso Double Bass: http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/music.php Click here to order this great album from Leon Bosch: http://www.meridian-records.co.uk/acatalog/CDE84544a.html Meridian Records website: http://www.meridian-records.co.uk/ About Leon Bosch: (Visit his website for more information about this great artist's career and the challenges he had to overcome during his early years in Apartheid South Africa.) From liner notes to his recent release as well as an interview with Lawrence Milner – published in the Summer 2003 edition of Double Bassist magazine:

A mainstay of the Chicago music scene for more than thirty years, Eric Hochberg has lent his bass work, both upright and electric, and an occasional trumpet, keyboard and vocal lick to a variety of projects across the realms of jazz, folk, rock and blues.

He has performed and/or recorded with the likes of Terry Callier, Pharoah Sanders, Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Steve Kuhn, Barbra Streisand, Cassandra Wilson, Von Freeman, Chico Freeman, Ken Nordine, David Baker, Cannonball Adderly, Charles McPherson, Jon Faddis, Joshua Redman, David Bromberg, Johnny Frigo, Joe Daley, Howard Levy, Kurt Elling, Trio New, Bill Carrothers, Eric Alexander, Tierny Sutton, Patricia Barber, Jackie Allen, Janice Siegal, Peter Erskine, Paul McCandless, Donny McCaslin, Claudio Roditi, Bob Mintzer, Dave Liebman, Sam Rivers, Jack DeJohnette, Joey Baron, Bobby Broom, Eric Marienthal, Bobby Shew, Tom Harrell, Larry Novak, Gary Novak, Rick Margitza, Sheila Jordan, Diane Reeves, Dee Alexander, Jay Clayton, Janice Siegel, Janice Borla, Ari Brown, Alan Pasqua, Bob Sheppard, Mark Murphy, Bob Dorough, Randy Brecker, Don Ellis, Larry Coryell, Rebecca Paris, Leni Andrade, Sonny Fortune, Willie Pickens, Bobby Lewis, Ari Brown, Jeremy Kahn, Ernie Adams, Mike Garson, Roger Rosenberg, Erma Thompson, Lew Tabackin, Brian Lynch, Lester Bowie, Don Moye, Earnest Dawkins, Henry Butler, Emily Remler, Herb Geller, Chevere de Chicago, Sonia Dada, Mark Colby, Orbert Davis, Ed Thigpen, Anthony Molinaro, Ben Sidran, Bonnie Koloc, Michal Urbaniak Quartet, Bill Holman, The Boston Brass, Bill Russo's Chicago Jazz Ensemble, The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Rob Parton Orchestra, The Miami Saxophone Quartet, Jim Walker & Free Flight, The Grant Park Symphony with Luciana Souza and Patti Austin, The Joffrey Ballet, Luna Negra Dance Company, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and Chicago Tap Theater.

Eric has the distinction of having performed in the bands of three of the four members of the Pat Metheny Group - a tour in 1977 with Pat, a long association with drummer Paul Wertico and a Latin American tour with Lyle Mays in 1992.

He has toured nationally/internationally with the Lyle Mays Quartet, the Terry Callier Group, the Paul Wertico Trio, the Kurt Elling Quartet, Ken Nordine's Word Jazz, the Howard Levy Quartet and the Grazyna Auguscik Quintet.

He has performed at the Jazz Festivals of Chicago (21 times), Montreal, San Francisco, Detroit, Montreux, UK/London, Free Jazz/Rio & Sao Paolo Brazil, Leverkeusen/Germany, World Music Festival/Barcelona, Rome Jazz, Rotterdam Jazz, Karlsruhe Festival/GR, Frappe Festival/FR, Nice Jazz/FR, Gigon Festival/SP, Cully Jazz/Swiss, Blues and Roots Fest/Australia, The International Society of Jazz Educators/Atlanta, The Chicago Flute Club, The Percussive Arts Society/Columbus OH, Rockford Jazz/IL, Hyde Park Jazz Festival/Chicago, South Shore Jazz/Chicago, Elkhart Jazz/IN, Columbus Jazz Festival/OH, Milwaukee Summerfest, Louisville Festival of the Arts, Blue Note Tokyo, Yokohama and Milan, and concerts and clubs worldwide. He has also performed on the Oprah Winfrey Show three times with Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban and Johnny Mathis, and with Gloria Estefan.

He can also be heard in clubs and concert venues around the Chicago area, including Catch 35 Chicago with the Eric Hochberg Trio, The Green Mill, Andy's Jazz Club, Pops for Champagne, The Jazz Showcase, Fitzgerald's, Katarina's, Pete Miller's, The Checkerboard Lounge, Room 43, Mayne Stage, Morseland, Pick Staiger Hall, Pritzker Pavillion and many others.

The Eric Hochberg Orchestra has performed for countless events of all kinds over the past twenty-five years and Eric Hochberg Music contracts the finest musicians in the Chicago area for clients worldwide. The EHO was the band for the City of Chicago's 5000 guest "Chicago Welcomes the World" Millennium Celebration.

Eric produced Jackie Allen's 2006 debut Blue Note Records release, Tangled and her 2003 release The Men in My Life. Eric has also worked extensively with legendary singer-songwriter Terry Callier, producing his 2005 album, Lookin' Out, on Emarcy Records, the critically acclaimed TC in DC on Premonition, tracks on Verve Forecast's Timepeace, Novo Record's Chicago Rapid Transit and Acid Jazz Totally Re-wired Vol. 8. He co-produced Future Tense by Hochberg, Eisen & Potter, Reflections and Yesterday's Gardenias by saxophonist Mark Colby and New Bolero by Trio New, Kurt Elling's original band. His latest project with pianist Bradley Williams and drummer Jim Widlowski is entitled 3.

As a composer, Eric has made contributions to Kurt Elling's Close Your Eyes and The Messenger on Blue Note Records, Hochberg and Potter's World Thing on HoPo Records, Trio New New Bolero, Paul Wertico's Yin and the Yout and The Paul Wertico Trio's Live in Warsaw and Don't Be Scared Anymore. Five compositions are featured on Future Tense, the latest recording by Eric, Steve Eisen and Andrew Scott Potter. Two of his compositions are featured on the recently released album, The Rob Parton Quartet. New tunes are featured on the album 3, by Williams, Widlowski & Hochberg. He also composed the theme song for Contrabass Conversations, the weekly double bass interview show.

He can be heard on the recordings of:

Williams, Hochberg, Widlowski • 3

Hochberg, Eisen & Potter • Future Tense, World Thing

Chevere de Chicago • Secret Dream

Kurt Elling • Close Your Eyes, The Messenger

Paul Wertico Trio • Live in Warsaw, Don't Be Scared Anymore, Stereonucleosis

John Moulder • Through the Open Door, Trinity

Grazyna Auguscik • River

Terry Callier • Lookin' Out, TimePeace, Lifetime, TC in DC

Rich Corpolongo • Just Found Joy, Smiles

Howard Levy • Harmonica Jazz

Mark Colby • Yesterday's Gardenias, Reflections, Tenor Reference, Speaking of Stan

and many others.

Eric has also played on over 1000 jingle, television and movie soundtrack recording sessions and 100 album projects.

He maintains an active teaching studio where students of all levels learn the jazz language and apply it to their music. He also teaches at the Merit School of Music.

Eric has served on various Craft Committees for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (GRAMMY AWARDS) 2006-2008.

Eric endorses Lakland Basses and highly recommends Pirastro, Velvet, and Thomastik-Infield double bass strings.

Lawrence Hurst is the former principal double bass for the Dallas Symphony. He is a former faculty member of Southern Methodist and Eastern Michigan Universities and former faculty member, associate dean, and chair of the string department at University of Michigan School of Music. He was honored with the Alumni Award from the University of Michigan School of Music in 1998.

Professor Hurst is former director of the University Division of the National Music Camp and is a summer faculty member of the Interlochen Arts Camp. He is past chair of the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition, and past president of the International Society of Bassists. His former students can be found in many prestigious orchestras, including Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Atlanta. He has chaired the Indiana University Strings Department for the past 19 years and has been on faculty at Interlochen for the past 40 years.

Program Order:

Bottesini Romanza Dramatica Op. 20 (Elegie No. 2)

Bach Suite No. 3 in C Major (performed in original key)

Sofia Gubaidulina Pantomime

Eccles Sonata Andante Allegro Adagio Presto

Greg Sarchet considers himself fortunate to have had an array of musical experiences and training, from studying with his first teacher, jazz luminary Rufus Reid, to receiving degrees from the Juilliard School (where he was a student of Michael Morgan), to hundreds of television/radio commercial recordings. His strong interest in researching the double bass and ongoing international exchange efforts were recognized by a 1996 Chicago Artists International Program award which sent him to the Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria for performances, masterclasses, and archival research. These and other exchange activities have allowed him to build an extensive library of unpublished, out-of-print, and contemporary double bass works, as well as a first-hand understanding of Europe's leading teaching methods.

Since 1986, he has been a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. Additionally, he frequently serves as Principal Bass with Chicago Opera Theater and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. He maintains a limited private studio for high school and adult pupils. Briefly, his musical foundation was laid by his first double bass teachers, Rufus Reid and Todd Coolman. The musical values and priorities they, among others, instilled in him have led him to a wide variety of professional opportunities ranging from recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, Smashing Pumpkins, and hundreds of television and radio commercials.

Ira Gold made his Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2011, performing the Vanhal Bass Concerto with the Catholic University of America Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to joining the National Symphony in 2005, Mr. Gold performed with several American orchestras, as section bass with the Minnesota Orchestra and as guest principal bassist with the San Francisco Symphony and Detroit Symphony. He has attended festivals such as the Grand Teton Music Festival, Domaine Forget Music Academy, Bach Festival Leipzig, Aspen, and Tanglewood. Mr. Gold spent several summers at the International Festival Institute at Round Top both as a student and faculty.

He is continually in demand for recitals and master classes, including recent visits at The Juilliard School, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Penn State University, University of North Texas, the International Society of Bassists Convention, and the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Gold maintains a studio of private students, has taught lessons and coached chamber music in the National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellowship program, and has been a member of the double bass faculty at the Peabody Conservatory since 2009. He is also a co-founding member of Peabody Bass Works, a one-week bass camp held every July at Peabody.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Gold has performed with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, the NSO Millennium Stage Prelude Series, Peabody Conservatory faculty, and the New Orchestra of Washingon.

He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, and his Master of Music degree at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, where he won the strings division of the 2005 Concerto Competition. His primary teachers include Edwin Barker and Paul Ellison, and additional studies with Albert Laszlo, Kenneth Harper, Dennis Whittaker, Mark Shapiro, and Harry Lantz.