☆ Players JOHN GOLDSBY

John Goldsby is back with three EPs from his eponymous trio, a much-needed perspective on the future of bass... and a definitive answer to the question we always ask: ‘Is jazz dead?’

Bassist, bandleader, composer, teacher, clinician and author John Goldsby is a dream interviewee, and not just because he’s an interesting guy with a wealth of experience. A journalist to the core, having contributed to this magazine for many years, Goldsby even supplies a tailor-made bio for features such as this. Details like this make our job both easy and fascinating.

Since 1994, Goldsby has held the position of solo bassist with the Grammy Award-winning Westdeutscher Rundfunk Big Band (Cologne Radio Big Band). From 1980 to 1994, Goldsby was a fixture on the New York jazz scene. He has authored The Jazz Bass Book, Jazz Bowing Techniques For The Improvising Bassist, and Bass Notes. He teaches at the Conservatorium in Maastricht in Holland, and his new video lesson series Tell Your Story is available at Discover Double Bass.

The new album, Segment, from the John Goldsby Trio featuring Hans Dekker and Billy Test, was released as three EPs last December and a CD in February. “I think it’s a really well-recorded project –a very modernsounding, beautiful, but classic jazz trio album,” he says..

Asked about the bass he plays on the new album, Goldsby explains: “It was made by a German bass-maker, Bjorn Stoll, and it’s relatively new – only two years old. It sounds good and it’s fun to play. In the studio I used two microphones, and there was no pickup sound. It was a very basic setup.”