1166: Corcoran Holt on Music, Family, and the Freedom to Tell Your Story
Contrabass Conversations
is a Washington, D.C.–born bassist, composer, arranger, and educator whose musical roots stretch from the DC Youth Orchestra and Duke Ellington School of the Arts to work with artists including Kenny Garrett and Steve Turre. Now Assistant Professor of Jazz Bass at , Corcoran brings that deep performing experience into the classroom while continuing to develop his own voice as a bandleader. His second album, , is an intimate musical portrait of transformation, family, loss, and new beginnings. In this conversation, Corcoran talks about building community at ASU, why fundamentals and...
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1165: Solving a 250-Year-Old Double Bass Mystery with Darija Andzakovic
Contrabass Conversations
Darija Andzakovic is a freelance bassist and musicologist specializing in historical instruments, the Viennese bass, and the music of Johannes Matthias Sperger. While researching Sperger’s manuscripts for her doctoral dissertation, she discovered through melodic and handwriting analysis that the work long cataloged as Sperger’s Fifth Bass Concerto was actually composed by Ignaz Pleyel. Darija joins Jason to trace this musical detective story, from deciphering 18th-century handwriting and reconstructing watermarks to exploring how Pleyel’s concerto may have influenced Sperger’s own...
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1164: Eduard Marcu on winning the Lutine Prize
Contrabass Conversations
At just 18, London-based double bassist became the first bassist to win . Born in Romania and raised in London, Eduard began playing bass at age 10, developed his craft at Junior Guildhall, and performed with the before beginning his studies at the . Eduard joins Jason to talk about preparing for an all-instrument competition, balancing projection with a singing sound, and learning from musicians beyond the bass world. They also explore his approach to bow hair and weight, the influence of violinist Augustin Hadelich and bassist Ovidiu Bădilă, adapting violin and cello repertoire,...
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1163: Chris Johnson on Building a Bigger Dream Through Music
Contrabass Conversations
is a New York–based bassist, educator, and creative force whose career spans the , New York City Ballet, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and a wide range of chamber, commercial, and recording projects. He is also the founder of , a concert series that brings music, food, and conversation together while placing artists and community at the center. In this conversation, Chris shares how Project STEP and New England Conservatory launched his life in music, why touring changed his view of the world, and how Burning Man inspired him to dream on a larger scale. We also...
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1162: Jeanette Adams on community, creativity, and the touring life
Contrabass Conversations
is a bassist, educator, and member of the nationally touring progressive bluegrass trio . Raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and trained at Lawrence University, she now lives in Colorado, where she performs around 150–200 shows a year and helps expand access to string education through the Aspen Music Festival’s educational programs. We talk about the changing landscape of touring, the special community surrounding house concerts, and Jeanette’s journey from classical and jazz into bluegrass. She also shares how she practices in small pockets of time on the road, stays healthy while...
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1161: Daniel Chiva Sanz on Intonation, Audition Prep, and Daily Mozart
Contrabass Conversations
returns to the podcast to discuss his latest project, , a new technique book that applies concepts from his books to the second movements and minuets of Mozart symphonies. Daniel shares how his work as a performer, teacher, and creator has led him toward a brass-inspired approach to sound, pitch center, and hand-shape precision, and he reflects on how fundamental technique has shaped his audition preparation, orchestral playing, and overall confidence on the bass. We dig into why Mozart’s slower movements make such effective daily studies, how Daniel uses color-coded markings to focus on...
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1160: What Bottesini Really Wrote - Mark Morton’s Urtext Editions
Contrabass Conversations
joins Jason to discuss his decades-long project of Giovanni Bottesini’s music. Drawing on 3,656 photographs of manuscripts from the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma, Mark has completed editions of 11 works so far, with the goal of eventually covering all 84 of Bottesini’s compositions. He explains how he compares multiple surviving versions, preserves the composer’s choices, and avoids imposing editorial preferences—including in familiar pieces such as . The conversation explores the advantages of writing the bass part in the sounding octave, or suono reale, as well as Bottesini’s...
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1159: Cole Davis and Jason Heath teach each other bass lessons!
Contrabass Conversations
is a bassist, composer, educator, and the creator behind , where he brings a playful, practical approach to jazz bass education. In this episode, Cole and Jason Heath trade lessons across the classical/jazz divide, building on their previous and digging into Cole’s ideas around walking lines, open strings, and groove. Jason then turns the tables with a bow lesson for Cole, covering fresh rosin, French bow hold, using the whole bow, vibrato as its own hand position, “uni-finger” concepts, and finding a thicker arco sound through bow weight, contact point, gravity, and relaxation. Enjoy,...
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1158: Neal Miner on Juzeks, Golden Spirals, and the Art of Playing Bass Melodies
Contrabass Conversations
New York City jazz bassist joins the podcast to talk about his new , an 11-song collection designed for students and professionals to use in ensemble settings. Neal shares how longtime collaborator Chris Byars encouraged the project, how the book grew into play-alongs and a , and how his work as a bassist, teacher, composer, and documentary filmmaker all connect through a patient “chip away” creative process. We dig into Neal’s love of bass melodies, contrafacts, gut strings, his longtime Juzek bass, Golden Spiral strings, DPA mic setup, recording acoustic bass, and the...
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1157: Kathryn Schulmeister on Imagining Hands
Contrabass Conversations
joins the podcast to talk about , her debut solo album on . A bassist, improviser, composer, and , Kathryn brings together contemporary music, storytelling, extended technique, and deeply personal experience in a project shaped by her time at UC San Diego, her work with Mark Dresser, and the narrative world of Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With the Wolves. We dig into the album’s connection to The Handless Maiden, the thread-and-tabletop bass techniques behind “Underground Forest,” the prepared-bass sounds of “Harrowing,” the role of injury and recovery in “Silver...
info_outlineBassist and arts administrator Thomas Zera joins us today to share what changed between our first chat years ago and now, including life in the Utah Symphony and the path that led to building his new project, The Sub Pool.
We dig into what The Sub Pool is, why orchestra sub lists so often “run dry,” and how a centralized, musician-friendly platform can help personnel managers find the right players, including for rarer instruments and big-repertoire needs. Tom also explains how the service is designed to be low-friction for musicians, what feedback has shaped the early feature set (including faster notifications), and what they’re building toward next. Learn more at The Sub Pool, reach Tom at [email protected], and check out his past podcast appearance here.
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- Rode Podmic
- Sony Alpha 7 IV Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera
- Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Lens
- Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM Lens
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Theme music by Eric Hochberg