John Goldsby

John Goldsby, whose bass work draws deeply from the legacies of Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford, was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. During his formative years he studied piano, guitar, and electric bass before switching to double bass at age eighteen; around the same time he began performing with national artists passing through town, among them Jimmy Rainey and Helen Humes. After relocating to New York in 1980 he cultivated working relationships with John Hicks, Benny Bailey, and Bob Wilber. Three National Endowment for the Arts jazz grants, received in 1988, 1990, and 1993, underwrote the concert series John Goldsby plays Oscar Pettiford, which earned widespread praise. For several years he also taught jazz in Germany, collaborating with the WDR (westdeutscher rundfunk) big band on television and radio productions that featured visiting American musicians. Goldsby later published two method books, Bowing Techniques for the Improvising Bassist and Bass Notes, and participated in numerous recording sessions, issuing his own debut album, Tale of the Fingers, on Concord in 1993.