The Bass Shed Podcast

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EP 121 - Kathryn Shulmeister

Kathryn is a member of several contemporary music ensembles including the renowned Australian ELISION Ensemble, Fonema Consort (NYC), and the Echoi Ensemble (LA). She has performed as a guest artist with various adventurous international ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble MusikFabrik, Delirium Musicum, Ensemble Dal Niente, and Ensemble Vertixe Sonora.

Equally passionate and experienced as an orchestral musician, Kathryn served as a core member of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra for three consecutive seasons from 2014-2017 and has performed with the Ojai Festival Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, New West Symphony, California Chamber Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Alumni Orchestra, Pacific Lyric Opera, Maui Chamber Orchestra, and Hawaii Opera Theater.

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EP 120 - Matt Hare

Matt Hare is well known as a performer and educator. He is on faculty at the University of California at Irvine, Concordia University, and Saddleback College. Dr. Hare also teaches several sections of Music Appreciation and History of Rock online and in the classroom at Saddleback College. He is a string coach at Irvine, Laguna Hills, Trabuco Hills, and University high schools. He frequently gives recitals and master classes that often include his own transcriptions and arrangements.

Dr. Hare is a long-time member of the International Society of Bassists. He was a clinician for their Young Bassists’ program at the 2009 convention at Penn State, and the 2011 convention in San Francisco.

He holds a BA from Bloomsburg University, a MM from Butler University and a DMA from the University of Iowa. Major teachers include Mark R. Jelinek, Diana Gannett, David Murray and Volkan Orhon.

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EP 119 - Bryan Beller

Bryan Beller has maintained a multi-faceted career as a bassist, composer, solo artist and clinician for over 25 years, earning his reputation as a uniquely talented yet supremely tasteful team player for instrumentally-minded artists.

He is a founding member of The Aristocrats which is one of the hottest acts in rock/fusion today; their 2019 release You Know What…? debuted at #2 on the Billboard Jazz Chart. The Aristocrats also just released a new album titled “Duck” that Brian will speak about.

Brian Beller has been Joe Satriani’s touring bassist since 2013, and also tracked Satriani’s complete 2022 album The Elephants Of Mars. He was Steve Vai’s choice for the 2009 live CD/DVD Where The Wild Things Are, and he also toured and recorded in the “band” Dethklok, a tongue-in-cheek extreme metal band borne of the hit Cartoon Network “Adult Swim” show Metalocalypse.

He’s been a musical partner of freak/genius guitarist Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa) for over 20 years and 10 albums.

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EP 118 - Russell Thompson (Principal Bassist Arkansas Symphony)

Russell was lucky to grow up in a musical family in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. His mother played the bassoon, his father played the french horn, and his step-father taught saxophone and played jazz. He began playing the bass in 4’th grade, but his interest in classical music began to spark when he began studying with Tracy Rowell and joined the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) his sophomore year. It wasn’t until attending the inaugural summer of the National Music Festival in Floyd, Virginia that he considered pursuing music as a career.

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EP 117 - Tony Grey

Tony has gone on to collaborate and perform with some of the world’s greatest musicians, such as: John McLaughlin, Hiromi, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gavin DeGraw, Hotei Tomoyasu, Dennis Chambers, Bill Evans, Mino Cinelu, Brian Blade, Mike Stern and countless others.

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EP - 116 David Rodriguez (Isaac Hayes, Tito Puente, Rochester Philharmonic, NJPAC Vice President)

Bassist David Rodriguez has worked with groups ranging from Isaac Hayes to Tito Puente to the Rochester Philharmonic. He studied at Juilliard, the Eastman School of Music, and Mansfield University. David is currently the Executive Producer and Executive Vice President of The New Jersey Performing Arts Center where the Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass is held.

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EP 115 - John Pena (Session Player, Chaka Kahn, Michael Brecker, Jerry Garcia, Ricky Martin)

John Peña is an in demand touring and session bassist, writer, arranger, producer, and engineer. John has performed and/or recorded with a wide variety of artitists , including: Celia Cruz, Carlos Santana, Julio Iglesias, Tania Maria, Natalie Cole, The Crusaders, Herb Alpert, Chaka Khan, Jerry Garcia, Chick Corea, Steve Vai, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Ricky Martin, Barry Manilow, Larry Carlton, Michael McDonald, Joe Sample, Dave Koz, Arturo Sandoval, Dionne Warwick, Michael Brecker, David Sanborn, Patti LaBelle, Patti Austin, Kenny G, Oleta Adams, Thelma Houston and countless others.

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EP 113 - Marty Isenberg (NY Jazz Double Bassist, Composer, Recording Artist)

Playing bass was love at first pluck for Marty Isenberg. His career as a jazz musician began at the age of 12, after losing his father to cancer the year prior. A skilled amateur musician, Marty’s father kept many instruments around the house that he would play for the family. After his death, Marty would pull one of these instruments off the wall and begin teaching himself how to play by reading tablature in Bass Player Magazine. The first song he ever learned was My Own Summer by The Deftones. Playing bass was love at first pluck for Mr. Isenberg. It was a cathartic healing experience, a way to stay connected to his father, and a way to creatively express himself. He went on to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where he majored in Jazz Performance and minored in Jazz Composition, and received his Master of Music degree from New York University. He is now a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University where he is the teaching assistant to the jazz department chair Ray Anderson.

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EP 112 - Roberto Vally (George Benson, Christopher Cross, Bobby Caldwell, Boz Scaggs)

Roberto Vally’s accomplishments within music date back to his formidable years in New York where he was awarded his Junior High School’s Music Honor Award. It was clear that Roberto was destined to pursue an education in music. From 1974-1978 he attended New York City’s legendary High School of Music and Art-depicted in Fame (1980 film). Continuing his education in music theory and classical bass he attended the highly acclaimed Julliard School from 1976-1978. There, most notably, he was mentored by the prominent professor and classical bassist, Homer Mensch.

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EP 110 - Kenny Lee Lewis (Steve Miller Band / Session Player)

Steve Miller Band, Session Player

Kenny Lee Lewis has been a member of The Steve Miller Band for over 41 years and is now their current touring bass player. The Steve Miller Band was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2016. Kenny speaks about how he landed the gig with Miller and attributes of his artistry that have sustained him in the music industry.

Kenny, also an amateur luthier, took it upon himself to create his first custom signature series model bass while integrating the historic content and integrity of one of our most beloved founding fathers. Kenny speaks about his signature bass ..the Franklin Founding Father Five. Kenny's signature bass is formed with a piece of 200 year old Spruce which was once a used in Benjamin Franklin's House in Boston, MA.

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