Double Bass HQ

Corcoran Holt 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 Arizona State University, Corcoran brings that deep performing experience into the classroom while continuing to develop his own voice as a bandleader. His second album, Freedom of Art, 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 real-world experience matter, and how musicians begin finding their identities after leaving school.

He also shares how fatherhood changed his approach to improvisation, how bass lines, voice memos, piano, dreams, and everyday chaos feed his composing, and why Freedom of Art was designed as a complete story best heard from beginning to end.


Conversation: doublebasshq.com/contrabassconversations
Freedom of Art: outsideinmusic.bandcamp.com/album/freedom-of-art

4 days ago | [YT] | 40

Double Bass HQ

We are thrilled to offer Recital Music's ​title, Max Dauthage: 20 Melodic Pieces, Book 4, for double bass & piano​. Choose your price. Free is an option.

Get your copy: shop.doublebasshq.com/products/dauthage-20-melodic…

-About the Book-

20 Melodic Pieces was first published in Vienna and Leipzig in 1911 and offers excellent teaching and recital repertoire for the good intermediate bassist, combining musical and technical challenges in equal measure.

The accompaniments are interesting and supportive, complementing inventive, lyrical, and dramatic solo lines for the double bass, written in a lyrical, late-romantic style.

Book 4 includes five colourful and engaging pieces, primarily in the orchestral register but also venturing into thumb position.

-Bonus-

Book 4 also includes copies of the pieces with original fingerings by Max Dauthage.

6 days ago | [YT] | 5

Double Bass HQ

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 music.

They also discuss the tension between scholarship and performance, the practical musical education of the 18th century, and why historical evidence still leaves room for imagination.

Learn more about the concerto’s world premiere with Rob Nairn and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, explore Peter Walls’ History, Imagination and the Performance of Music and Clive Brown’s Classical and Romantic Performing Practice, and follow the discovery through Schola Cantorum Basiliensis on Instagram.

Listen: doublebasshq.com/contrabassconversations

1 week ago | [YT] | 59

Double Bass HQ

At just 18, London-based double bassist Eduard Marcu became the first bassist to win Junior Guildhall’s prestigious Lutine Prize.

Born in Romania and raised in London, Eduard began playing bass at age 10, developed his craft at Junior Guildhall, and performed with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain before beginning his studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

Eduard joins Jason on the Contrabass Conversations podcast 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, navigating London with a bass, and his ambitions across orchestral, chamber, and solo playing.

Listen: doublebasshq.com/contrabassconversations

Photo credit: Paul Cochrane

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 52

Double Bass HQ

Chris Johnson is a New York–based bassist, educator, and creative force whose career spans the Sphinx Virtuosi, 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 Strauss Hauss, 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 dig into audition preparation, freelance life in New York, learning from musicians such as Xavier Foley, Joe Conyers, and Hal Robinson, and Chris’s vision for building a musical community that compensates artists more generously.

Listen: www.contrabassconversations.com/podcast

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 69

Double Bass HQ

The instrument, bow, rosin, strings, and audio gear that double bassist Jeanette Adams uses with the Stillhouse Junkies (‪@stillhousejunkies‬).

Find out all the specs on Double Bass HQ: doublebasshq.com/gear_posts/the-gear-jeanette-adam…

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 20

Double Bass HQ

Jeanette Adams is a bassist, educator, and member of the nationally touring progressive bluegrass trio Stillhouse Junkies (‪@stillhousejunkies‬) and joins us on the Contrabass Conversations podcast.

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 touring, finds creative freedom beyond the bass’s traditional role, and keeps herself open to unexpected opportunities.

Listen: contrabassconversations.com/jeanetteadams

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1 month ago | [YT] | 77

Double Bass HQ

We are thrilled that Michael Kurth offers "​Blues for a Three-Legged Dog" for solo double bass​. Choose your price. Free is an option. 100% of proceeds will be donated to the ASPCA.

Get your copy: shop.doublebasshq.com/products/blues-for-a-three-l…

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1 month ago | [YT] | 17

Double Bass HQ

Daniel Chiva Sanz returns to the podcast to discuss his latest project, Daily Mozart, a new technique book that applies concepts from his School of Patience 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 hand shapes, same-note/different-string work, and short shifts, and why playing in tune with yourself may be one of the most important skills for auditions and excerpts.

The conversation: www.contrabassconversations.com/podcast
The book: shop.doublebasshq.com/products/daily-mozart-the-sy…

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1 month ago | [YT] | 56

Double Bass HQ

Mark Morton (‪@DrMarkMorton‬) joins Jason to discuss his decades-long project creating practical Urtext editions 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 Elegy No. 1.

The conversation explores the advantages of writing the bass part in the sounding octave, or suono reale, as well as Bottesini’s minor-third solo tuning and its effects on projection, orchestral balance, and tone.

Mark also shares the story behind his research in Parma, the practical decisions involved in preparing piano accompaniments, his recording Bottesini’s Greatest Hits, and the possibility of future editions with suggested fingerings and bowings.

Enjoy, and learn more about Mark Morton on his website and YouTube channel!

Conversation: contrabassconversations.com/markmorton
Mark's Editions: shop.doublebasshq.com/collections/bottesini-urtext…

1 month ago | [YT] | 76