Contrabass Conversations

It's rare for me to interview a fellow San Franciscan like Dan Turkos over the web instead of in person, but we're in strange times for sure right now. Despite the pandemic, Dan and his wife successfully raised over $12,000 on Kickstarter for her debut album.

We talk about this, their life before moving to San Francisco and what attracted them to the city, their multi-genre duo Beneath a Tree - Baroque to Folk, having the neck of his bass snapped off during a trip to California, and much more.

Enjoy, and be sure to follow along with Beneath a Tree on Instagram and Facebook!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

• Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

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Johnny Hamil has been building bass events for the past decade, and he has organized something really special for this summer: Bassists 4 Bassists.

This online event will take place July 7-11, and will feature Francois Rabbath, Lynn Seaton, Jessica Valls, Hans Sturm, Billy Sheehan, and many other well-known bassists.

You can register here, and check out this preview video to get a taste of what'll be happening at the event. Hope to see you there!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Helen Svoboda has just released a solo album titled Vegetable Bass featuring her compelling compositional voice and combination of bass and vocals.

I had the chance to chat with her in 2019, and it was so much fun connecting with her about this new project and other topics.

In addition to the album, we talk about our current respective living situations, her upcoming move back to Australia and how the pandemic temporarily derailed it, how she began using the bow, and much more.

Check out Helen's new album here, and be sure to follow her on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Chris Fitzgerald has been putting out incredible jazz bass content on YouTube for years. He recently released a comprehensive review of the Noble Tube Preamp, and he is in the early stages of a new project that he is calling "Bass Jitsu."

We talk about this new project, how his early piano teacher was the original inspiration for this approach tot he bass, what it's like putting these massive video projects together, the challenges of teaching online in these current times, and much more.

I also bring up this excellent video from Chris and a bunch of well-known bassists from the Aebersold camps on varying right-hand approaches to jazz bass, and we talk about the importance of getting a "good pull" in the left arm for closing notes securely.

Be sure to follow along with Chris on YouTube, and also check out his recent asynchronous collaboration with Gabe Evans!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Sara Neilson will be running an online beginner bass camp for students age 8-12 from July 6th through July 30th. She'll be doing hourly sessions from 10-11 am Central Time.

Sara teaches bass at the Merit School of Music in Chicago, and she has been running a series of warm-up classes each weekday on Facebook. She also recently wrote an article titled 'Game Changer' for the International Society of Bassists' Bass World magazine.

We talk about all this, how things have been going during the pandemic, staying relaxed on the bass, and much more. You can also check out her podcast appearance on a career advice panel from the 2019 Chicago Bass Festival.

Enjoy, and be sure to follow Sara on Instagram!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Susanna Klein has been working on a really cool project the past few years: Practizma. This is a journal that takes you through 16 weeks of guided practice, with goal setting, reflection prompt, action challenges, and journal pages to track your practice.

In addition to this very cool system, we talk about Susanna's background, what it has been like teaching online these past few months, the evolution of the journal, the concept of deliberate practice, my trusty practice app Modiacty, and much more.

Be sure to check out the Practizma website for more info and to get a free sample, and be sure to follow along with Susanna on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

This podcast is brought to you by the International Online Bass Summit and the sponsors who are proudly involved with this event:

• Kolstein Music
• Discover Double Bass
• Nick Lloyd Basses

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Tom Walley has certainly been keeping busy during the quarantine, publishing a ton content on his Instagram and YouTube, including his arrangement of the Adagio from Mahler's 9th Symphony with his fellow London Philharmonic Orchestra section members.

Tom and I talk about this recording and his other quarantine projects, canceled tours, moving out of London for the time being, long-distance relationships, traveling with a bass, and even shaving his head! Enjoy, and be sure to say hi to Tom on Instagram.

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

This podcast is brought to you by the International Online Bass Summit and the sponsors who are proudly involved with this event:

• Kolstein Music
• Discover Double Bass
• Nick Lloyd Basses

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

I've been following along with the musical adventures of Hans Roelofsen and Rudolph Senn for years. They have toured the world as a bass duo, with 15 trips to the United States alone.

Throughout these trips, they have collected some fantastic stories. We dig into these stories, how they came to play as a duo, challenges of transcription, the implications of choosing a particular key for an arrangement, and much more. Enjoy!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

This podcast is brought to you by the International Online Bass Summit and the sponsors who are proudly involved with this event:

• Kolstein Music
• Discover Double Bass
• Nick Lloyd Basses

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging
• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Bill Rinehart has been teaching jazz piano online for the past 13 years, and he has been working with Jaime Slutzky recently to redevelop certain aspects of his online offerings.

I've been obsessed with finding new ways to frame the private lesson experience for years, and the current pandemic has made music teachers across the globe rethink the one-on-one traditional private lesson experience.

Bill, Jaime, and I talk about a wide range of topics, including online learning platforms like Thinkific, Jaime's incubator program, the unique challenges and rewards that teaching an artistic pursuit like music in an online setting, and much more.

Enjoy, and be sure to also check out Jaime's excellent podcast Expand Online!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

This podcast is brought to you by the International Online Bass Summit and the sponsors who are proudly involved with this event:

• Kolstein Music
• Discover Double Bass
• Nick Lloyd Basses

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Abo Gumroyan truly is a musical chameleon. In addition to winning Grammys with the Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Abo has played with the San Francisco Symphony, played on countless sessions, worked on Las Vegas shows, and much more.

We dig into Abo's musical background, his time studying with Scott Pingel, Steve Tramontozzi, David Allen Moore, and many others, what it has been like adjusting to the pandemic, and much more.

Be sure to follow along with Abo on Instagram, and also check out this cool video that he put together for us demonstrating the gear he uses in his home studio!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

This podcast is brought to you by the International Online Bass Summit and the sponsors who are proudly involved with this event:

• Kolstein Music
• Discover Double Bass
• Nick Lloyd Basses

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!