Double Bass HQ

Bassist, improviser, and genre-crosser Georgia Wartel Collins joins us today to talk about the winding path that led her to New York, via Gothenburg, Trondheim, and Amsterdam, and how a deeply musical family shaped everything from early street performances to a life that’s always moved freely between styles.

Georgia also shares how rock and grunge became real creative fuel alongside a love of melody, and why the upright bass, alive and changing every day, keeps offering new colors to chase.

Enjoy, and follow along with Georgia and her very cool work on her website and Instagram!

Listen: www.contrabassconversations.com/podcast
Georgia's website: georgia-wartel-collins.com/

2 days ago | [YT] | 70

Double Bass HQ

Glasgow-based bassist David Bowden joins us on Contrabass Conversations Podcast on release day for "Unsung Songs," a solo double bass record shaped by years of gigging and arranging.

David talks about coming up in London before moving to Glasgow for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, finding a creative home in Scotland’s close-knit jazz scene, and how folk music and “sounding like yourself” became central to the way he thinks about writing and playing.

We also talk solo bass, favorite recordings, right-hand technique, gear, touring, teaching, and new-parent life. Enjoy, and be sure to follow David on Instagram and YouTube!


Podcast: www.contrabassconversations.com/podcast
Album: davidbowden1.bandcamp.com/album/unsung-songs-for-s…

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1 week ago | [YT] | 56

Double Bass HQ

Rosie Moon joins us today to share the story behind "Twelve Bees In A Jar," her multi-year Dragonetti project exploring his music on gut strings, a three-string bass, and a convex “Dragonetti” bow.

Rosie talks about how a chance encounter with a bow at a UK bass shop kicked off a deep dive into historical equipment, technique, and the surprisingly big that happens when you take a string off the instrument.

Enjoy, and be sure to follow Rosie on her website, Instagram, and Facebook!

Podcast: www.contrabassconversations.com/podcast
Album: rosiemoon.com/twelve-bees-in-a-jar-cd

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 73

Double Bass HQ

We are thrilled that Recital Music offers ​The Baroque Bass Book 1 for double bass & piano (ed. David Heyes)​. Choose your price. Free is an option.

Get your copy: shop.doublebasshq.com/products/the-baroque-bass-bo…

-About the Book-

The Baroque Bass Book 1 brings together eight pieces by four of the most important composers of the Baroque era. Aimed at the intermediate bassist, each piece has a wealth of musical and technical challenges across the solo range of the double bass, creating recital and study repertoire that offers much to performers and audiences alike.

The edition includes piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tunings.

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 39

Double Bass HQ

We are thrilled that Recital Music offers ​Beginner Bass 2: 50 Melodies in Half Position for Double Bass (arr. David Heyes)​. Choose your price. Free is an option. #contrabass

shop.doublebasshq.com/products/beginner-bass-2

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1 month ago | [YT] | 30

Double Bass HQ

Isaac Trapkus is a bassist with the New York Philharmonic, rosin maker, and developer of Monkey Wrench DB—a tool that syncs sheet music PDFs with YouTube performances.

He's also the creator of a free urtext-style edition of the Koussevitzky Double Bass Concerto, based on a previously unknown personal score copy he discovered at the Library of Congress.

We cover a wide range of topics: Isaac's years-long journey developing his handcrafted rosin (Winter), the unique acoustic challenges of the double bass that make rosin so stubbornly hard to get right, and his Library of Congress discovery of Koussevitzky's clean personal score—complete with hidden measures taped over by the composer himself.

We also dig into AI's expanding role in Isaac's tech projects, the ethics of open-source music tools, and the tension between building things because you can versus building things that actually matter.

Find Isaac's Koussevitzky edition on IMSLP, explore Monkey Wrench DB at monkeywrenchdb.org.

Our Conversation: www.contrabassconversations.com/podcast
The Edition: bit.ly/koussIMSLP

1 month ago | [YT] | 64

Double Bass HQ

Bassist and arts administrator Thomas Zera joins us on Contrabass Conversations 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.

Listen to the episode: www.contrabassconversations.com/podcast
Learn more at The Sub Pool, reach Tom at tom@thesubpool.com.

2 months ago | [YT] | 50

Double Bass HQ

We are thrilled that Recital Music offers ​MUSIC for ONE: Ten Pieces for unaccompanied double bass​.

Get your copy: shop.doublebasshq.com/products/heyes-music-for-one

Choose your price. Free is an option. #doublebass

-Table of Contents-

1. SHADOW PLAY

Shadow Play was composed for Emma Sullivan (Principal Bass, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra) in Australia on 23 May 2021. It is built on three notes from Emma’s name (E-A-S=E flat/D sharp) and is dark and atmospheric describing shadows, silhouettes and images which are partly hidden or slightly out of focus. It uses a three-octave range and features many of the colours and timbres available to the 21st-century bassist.

2. SOLILOQUY

Soliloquy was composed on Thursday 12 January 2023, on a teaching day when four students were ill, and David Heyes suddenly had some free time. There are no dynamic markings because the piece seems to play itself and the musical line suggests the dynamics and tempo. An open A drone underpins short snippets of melody and a jazz or classical pizzicato can be used, or even a mixture of the two. The tempo is free and rhapsodic with an emphasis on colour and tone in the rich bass clef register of the double bass. Soliloquy was premiered by David Heyes at Radley College (Abingdon, Oxfordshire) on Sunday 15 January 2023.

3. NOCTURNE No.2

“I was very pleased to receive a commission from my great friend Kel (P Kellach Waddle) in Texas for three short pieces for unaccompanied double bass for a concert series in March/April 2019. Ideally, they would not be difficult, which they aren’t, and about a minute each. In fact, the three last around four minutes in total and can be played singly, as a suite or in any order.” 3 Nocturnes was composed in November and December 2018 and revised and completed on 26/27 December. The overall mood is dark and evocative, exploring the lower register of the double bass primarily, with slow tempi and a generally expressive and legato feel throughout. Nocturne No.2 employs simple harmonics in lower positions with an open string drone played pizzicato, contrasting the sombre mood of the first nocturne which is slow moving and sonorous.

...continued

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2 months ago | [YT] | 59

Double Bass HQ

We are thrilled that Recital Music offers ​Armand Russell: Amazing Bass - First Position Pieces for Beginner Double Bass & Piano​.

Choose your price. Free is an option: shop.doublebasshq.com/products/amazing-bass

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3 months ago | [YT] | 65

Double Bass HQ

It was an absolute blast being a part of this year's Pacific Bass Day. This is the second year for this great event and it is so cool to see all this inspiring music making at the University of the Pacific. More footage coming soon! 😊

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4 months ago | [YT] | 117