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Richard Messbauer

SHORT BIO: My name is Rich Messbauer. I'm a musician. I play the bass. I attended the Juilliard School (2 years in the prep, 4 years in the upper school, from '74-'80), where I studied under Homer Mensch. I've also studied jazz extensively with Cecil McBee, Fred Hersch, and Eric Kloss. I've freelanced extensively in New York, played professionally in symphony halls from Carnegie Hall to the Palau De La Musica to the Teatro Colon to Avery Fisher Hall to the Shiller Theater to Bellas Artes to the Istana Budaya, to practically every hall on Earth, or at least in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. I was on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” backing up the cast of "Cabaret.” All of this has been with symphony orchestras and touring Broadway shows. Between all this traveling, over the years, I've put together various creative projects with musicians I have known, playing new and improvised music. I recently began recording some of these projects, and releasing them along with some other things I've had laying around for years, on my label, out/in:space-music.

Gear

I pay a modern Italian double-bass made by Bolondi Adrasto in Cremona, in 1929. It has been serviced and maintained over the years by Charlie Traeger, Bill Merchant, David Gage, Arnold Schnitzer, and John Beal. You can hear this bass on five of my six recordings. I also own a refurbished Kay Bass, which has the same finger - board as my Italian bass, and which can be heard on my recording "Three Bridges To Brooklyn", with tenor saxophonist Jed Levy and drummer Jeff Brillinger. I use Tomastik Rope Core Strings on both basses. I use the new Fishman Pick-Up, which is embedded in the bridge- adjuster, but in the studio or in a pit situation, I like to use a mike.


Tags

REVIEWS FOR “THREE BRIDGES TO BROOKLYN”:

“Although this was my first exposure to Rich Messbauer, he impressed me highly with his between-the-dots phrasing and rich textural colorations.”

“One can almost hear this threesome making some fine music and just having a good old time” ------Larry Hollis, in Cadence Magazine

REVIEWS FOR “JOE BATTAGLIA / RICH MESSBAUER / GLENN DAVIS VOLUME 1: FLYING SAUCERS VOLUME 2: HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN”

“The trio recording this two-volume set of CD’s, ‘Flying Saucers’ and ‘How Deep Is the Ocean’, consists of musicians in unified agreement of their music, calm and haunting”

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Primary Instrument

Bass

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

I haven't taught on a regular basis in years, but I have recently moved back to NYC, and would be interested in accepting a limited number of students. I had a lot of excellent classical training when I was younger, and helping jazz players improve their bow technique, and helping fender players with the upright bass are areas where I feel I can do the most as a teacher.

Music

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