Past Faculty at KC Bass Workshop
Bob Bowman
Bowman, a native Kansan, learned to play the piano and clarinet before beginning to play bass at age 12. He won a scholarship to the Stan Kenton Jazz Clinic as a high school freshman, followed by study at North Texas State University.
In 1976, he joined the famous Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, touring and recording several albums, including the Grammy award-winning “Live in Munich.” Bob continued his performing and recording career by joining the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band in Los Angeles in 1979. He recorded numerous albums as a member of this band, many of which were nominated for Grammy Awards. Bob also had long musical relationships with pianists, composers and arrangers Dan Haerle and Frank Mantooth.
Bob has toured and recorded with many artists including the legendary Carmen McRae, Pat Coil, Freddie Hubbard, Bud Shank, Karrin Allyson, Steve Houghton, Steve Allee, Bill Mays, Clay Jenkins, Danny Embrey, Todd Strait, Bob Sheppard, Matt Otto, Rod Fleeman, John Stowell, Jerry Hahn, Bobby Watson and others. Also he has had a very important musical relationship with Kansas City musicians like Tommy Ruskin, Paul Smith, Mike Ning, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Jay McShann, Stan Kessler, and many more. Bob moved to Kansas City in 1988 where he has been a major part of the vibrant jazz scene there. He was a faculty member of the University of Missouri as well as Ottawa University and leads legendary Kansas City group INTERSTRING and various version of Bowdog.
Bob now lives in Montana where he first visited when he was 5 years old, enjoying playing music and the beautiful country year around. He travels back to the Midwest every 2 – 3 months to perform and record. “Very deep jazz history and great musicians in Kansas City that keep me coming back.” Bob says.
Christian Chesanek
Cielito de Jesus
Cielito de Jesus is an innovative music educator nurturing the talents of young bassists throughout Southern California. Her creative teaching methods are tailored to the individual, focusing on the ease of playing; an approach that fosters a life-long affinity for the instrument and a true passion for music. Cielito is an advocate of the Vance-Rabbath pedagogy and implements those methods in sectionals at several middle and high schools throughout Los Angeles, working with over 60 bassists each week. Through the successes of her teachings in these schools, she has amassed a studio of private students in Long Beach and Manhattan Beach.
Born in the Philippines, Cielito emigrated to the United States where she began her formative musical training with Nico Abondolo at the Colburn School of Music. She drew inspiration from teachers Dennis Trembly and David Young before spending time in Paris to study with François Rabbath and Thierry Barbé.
In 2001, she earned her Bachelor’s of Music degree under the tutelage of Patrick Neher at the University of Arizona. In 2005, Cielito returned to France and received a teaching diploma from François Rabbath’s l’Institut Internationale de Contrebasse de Paris.
Caroline Emery
Having an international reputation as a teacher of all age groups, including the largest bass class at the RCM for over ten years now, Caroline Emery’s contribution to the double bass world is unique. After graduating from music college and subsequently gaining a teaching qualification, she became the leading exponent of the Yorke Mini-Bass Project from its inception in 1984. Since then she has taught in state schools, independent schools and privately. The European String Teachers Association and the International Society of Bassists have provided a platform for her work to be demonstrated internationally and this, coupled with the enormous success of her first Yorke Edition publication “Bass is Best” in 1988 led to her taking pupils as far afield as America and Norway. She has coached the National Youth Orchestras of both Norway and Nordic Lands. The Bass Club which she founded facilitates an exchange of ideas both within Britain and between other countries. She was appointed to the Junior Department at the RCM in 1985 and was appointed to the professorial staff of the RCM in 1995. In 1991, she became the first ever double bass teacher at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Caroline received a special achievement award for teaching from the International Society of Bassists in 1997 and was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music in 2000.
Caroline’s recent professional playing engagements have included two orchestras in Sweden, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also a founder member of Vent, a period instrument chamber music ensemble.
Caroline’s students are now working with all the major orchestras in England including LSO, BBC Concert and Philharmonia as well as orchestras in Sweden, Germany and the Concertgebouw in Holland. Many of her students have won trials in the Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Welsh, ENO, BBC Scottish and the Philharmonia. Full Positions are held in the LSO, BBC Concert, Malmo Symphony and Norlands Operan Sweden.
After winning a National Lottery bid for commissioning new music, Caroline’s passion for new repertoire has been increased and she has enabled some 40 new works for double bass to be written including four concertos. Jan Alm’s second quartet for basses went on to win the International Society of Bassist’s Composition Competition in 2001.
Caroline has given classes in the last four years in Italy, Sweden, Canada, Spain and most recently she worked with Francois Rabbath and George Vance in Washington DC in August 2007.
Jeff Harshbarger
Voted 2011 Person of the Year by Plasticsax.com and Best Bassist by Pitch Magazine, Jeff Harshbarger has had quite an eclectic career. A prolific composer and bandleader in his own right, Jeff has recorded and performed across the globe with such varied artists as Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Bobby Watson, Darol Anger, Allison Miller, Curtis Fuller, Forever Tango, Eugene Chadborne, Milt Abel, Tango Lorca, Jimmy Carl Black, Krystle Warren, Snuff Jazz, Brad Cox, Nathan Granner, Ghosty, The People’s Liberation Big Band of the Greater Kansas City Area and Forrest Whitlow. He is a co-founder of Tzigane Music, an artist-run collective and record label, and is the curator of Jeff Harshbarger Presents: An Alternative Jazz Series, promoting new improvised music in Kansas City. Jeff has received numerous grants and awards, including The Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Fellowship, the Steans Institute Fellowship, the Creative Capital Foundation’s Professional Development Grant and the 2015 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Award. Jeff also hosts Wednesday’s Jazz in the Afternoon from 1-3 pm on 90.1 FM KKFI.
Sarah Lahasky
Sarah Lahasky is a PhD student in ethnomusicology and a member of the Portfolio Program in Museum Studies. She received a BM in double bass performance and a minor in Spanish from Shenandoah University-Conservatory, and an MM in ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include heritage creation and cultural policy-making, especially concerning UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Additionally, she is interested in the ways in which neoliberal economic reform have affected the spaces, supporters, and artists of music with folkloric roots in Argentina.
Sarah recently served as a faculty member for the Austin Bass Workshop and Kansas City Bass Workshop, where she taught introductory classes on Argentine music and coached both workshops’ first “Music of Latin America” bass ensembles. She has previously served as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Association of Graduate Ethnomusicology and Musicology Students (AGEMS) and the Student Union Outreach Committee for the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). In her spare time, Sarahenjoys working as an Assistant Learning Specialist for the Academic and Student Services department through UT Athletics.
Marcos Machados
Dr Marcos Machado is a Brazilian-American world-renowned performer and teacher. He is Professor of double bass at The University of Southern Mississippi, and is the founder and pedagogic director of the Festival Internacional Música no Pampa (FIMP Bagé) in Brazil, now in its tenth year.
Machado has earned both “teaching” and “performing” diplomas from the L’Institut International de Contrebasse de Paris under esteemed double bassist, François Rabbath. He has recorded two solo albums with Brazilian pianist Ney Fialkow, the latest being “Fantasy” (2018). As part of the Austin-based Conspirare Ensemble, he has toured and recorded the CD “Threshold of Night” which received two Grammy nominations, and “A Company of Voices – Conspirare in concert” which also received a Grammy nomination.
Machado has published two volumes of “Tao of Bass” starting a revolution in left-hand technique, which has been adopted as a required technique book by many universities.
Joey Panella
Joseph Panella has been performing (upright bass and electric bass) professionally for over a decade, along with full-time touring and recording with the Nashville-based Annie Moses Band from 2013 to 2015 after receiving his B.A. at the University of Southern Mississippi in Jazz Performance.
Joseph grew up as the son of a jazz saxophonist who had uprooted from Chicago to build up a jazz program in the heart of South Mississippi. Shortly after taking up the bass, Joseph heard Jaco Pastorius, who was a gateway into Bebop, Swing, and Modern Jazz. Naturally, because of close proximity to New Orleans and Josephs’ family upbringing, jazz was central to his musical experience. However, Mississippi itself is a historical cradle for blues, rock ’n roll, country, gospel, and funk. It also has a high concentration of South American and Caribbean culture because of the Universities and ports on the Gulf of Mexico. This environment, plus years of classical training, led to a deep appreciation for many kinds of music.
Currently, Panella resides in the Greater Kansas City Area, performing as a freelance bassist and teaching as a bass instructor at The Culture House School of Music in Olathe, KS and out of his house in Raytown, MO (easy access from Blue Springs, Independence, Grandview, Lee’s Summit, and Kansas City, MO).
Brian Roessler
I’m a bassist, educator, and composer.
I spent my entire life loving, playing, and studying music. I began taking lessons on our family’s electric organ when I was young, and soon switched to the guitar in hopes of becoming Jimmy Page some day. Since that didn’t play out I moved from guitar to electric bass. Eventually I began playing the double bass and fell in love. In 2002 my family and I relocated to Paris so I could study with François Rabbath. I have had the honor of working with François ever since. He awarded me the Rabbath Institute’s Teaching Diploma in 2009.
I have had incredibly generous teachers through my life. It is clear to me that through music and community we can change the world. I carry that attitude into my teaching whether I’m working with young children, adults, or adolescents. In 2013 I founded the annual Twin Cities Bass Camp and also had the great honor of joining the faculty at the Kansas City Bass Workshop, Austin Bass Workshop, and Albuquerque Bass Waorkshop.
I’ve performed and recorded with a wide variety of great musicians around the world, among them Nathan Hanson, Didier Petit, Dan Navarro, Peter Hennig, Anthony Cox, Denis Colin, Pablo Cueco, Erik Fratzke, Tony Hymas, Michael Zerang, Marc Anderson, Mirtha Pozzi, Jim Anton, Peter Leggett, Sowah Mensah, and Kip Jones.
The ensembles I play with most regularly are a duo with saxophonist Nathan Hanson and Fantastic Merlins. Both groups have released several recordings to critical acclaim and have had the good fortune of playing throughout the United States and France.
Richard Ryan
Richard Ryan grew up near Phoenix, Arizona, always dreaming of becoming a musician. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from Indiana University and won his first professional orchestra position in the Louisville Orchestra at the age of 20. While in Louisville, Richard was also a staff conductor for the Louisville Youth Orchestra and maintained a private bass studio. Richard joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2011. He has been the bass instructor at the University of Kansas since 2013, and has been the Music Director of the Lenexa Community Orchestra since 2017.
Eric Thorin
Eric Thorin is a highly regarded musician/bassist living on the front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. He can be found on stage in 2020 in The Matt Flinner Trio with Ross Martin, Danny Barnes and various touring luminaries such as Darol Anger, Bonnie Paine, Tony Furtado and more.
Eric remains active in the studio as producer and performer, has written hundreds of compositions as a member of The Matt Flinner Trio, orchestrated songs for Elephant Revival with the Colorado Symphony and Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and mixed, mastered and produced the debut recording release of Take Down the Door, Live in Lyons.
Teaching is a big part of his presence in 2020 including The Crested Butte Music Festival, Spanish Peaks Celtic Festival, Grand Targhee Music Camp as well as serving as adjunct faculty in the newly formed Folk and Bluegrass program at the University of Northern Colorado.
Jessica Valls
Double bassist Jessica Valls is an Austin, Texas-native musician who exemplifies the ubiquitous artistry of a true music lover, heeding to no one genre, discipline, or stage.
Performing regularly with several orchestras including the Austin and San Antonio Symphonies, Jessica is previous principal bassist for Orquestra da Rádio e Televisão Cultura in São Paulo, Brazil, and enjoys traveling to Brazil to perform and teach. She appears with chamber ensembles, jazz, tango and bluegrass bands, in studio recording sessions, on film soundtracks, television and radio jingles, and popular festival stages around the world such as The International Festival at Round Top and Encontro Brasileiro de Contrabaixos in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil.
Jessica is a regular guest artist and clinician at the North Texas Bass Camps, the Austin Chamber Music Workshop, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, and the Victoria Bach Festival, among others.
A repeat presenter at the International Society of Bassists Convention, Jessica’s solo performances can be multi-instrumental, vocal and percussive. The use of multi-media tools allows her to expand her repertoire and adhere to different performance venues; adding to the growing pool of new works for solo double bass.
Formal studies include Juilliard, Oberlin, The Manhattan School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin where she completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2010.
Currently Dr. Valls is on faculty at Southwestern University, Huston-Tillotson University, The Girls’ School of Austin and maintains a private studio of budding string players of all ages
James Ward
The James Ward Band was formed January of 1997 at The Blue Room located on 18th and Vine in Kansas City, MO. James, a native of Kansas City, attended Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, where he studied Tuba, and played Acoustic and Electric Bass in numerous bands while attending college. James’ experience, skill, and reputation as a Bass Player led him to opportunities to perform with greats throughout the years such as Marcus Roberts, Wycliffe Gordon, Nat Adderly, Mark Whitfield, Bobby Watson, John Cushon, Patti Austin, Jonathan Dubose, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Lisa Henry, Chris Barnett, Jackie Mills, Russell Malone, Marcus Printup, Peter Martin, Scotty Barnhart, and Will Matthews of the Count Basie Orchestra, Gospel Artists Dorinda Clark-Cole and Donald Lawrence, and a host of other artists. James also toured South Africa with Oleta Adams.