Fred Nussbaum, Cellist & More
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1998 Portland, OR English Country Ball
2000 Brattleboro, VT Dusk-til-Dawn Dance
Fred's Custom-built Electric 5-string Cello/Bass
Fred Nussbaum – Cello,
Mandolin and Percussion
Fred is a member of a number of Pacific Northwest Contra and English Country dance bands, including Full Circle (with George Penk and Heather Pinney) and Calico. He often collaborates with pianist Sue Songer (of Portland Collection fame) to provide backup, under the name of Bottom Line, to a variety of lead players.
He is a sought-after dance musician on both West and East coasts and has been repeatedly invited to share the stage with such notable groups and artists as Larry Unger, KGB, Bare Necessities, David Kaynor, Andrea Hoag, Mary Lea, Daron Douglas and BLT for both English and Contra. Fred has been on staff at Pinewoods, Mendocino English Week, Ashokan Northern Week, Seattle’s Cascadia English weekend, Monte Toyon, Cascade Contras and PCDC’s Northwest Passage (formerly Suttle Lake) weekend camps. He is one of the regular musicians for the annual Portland English Ball (started
in 1993). He appeared with Jacqueline Schwab, Earl Gaddis and Peter Barnes at the 2000 Brattleboro Dawn Dance weekend. He also spent two and a half years touring with the Lauren Pelon Musique Company, bringing a fusion of renaissance and jazz music to venues all over the United States, especially small rural communities.
In 2010, Fred joined the Blue Crows (George
Rezendes and
John Morton) in Port Townsend, WA, playing rags and swing tunes.
With a strong classical background, Fred plays a variety of musical styles that go beyond the traditional contra and English Country repertoire, including swing, world music, Scottish, old timey music, baroque period performance and jazz. He has been known to sing in public and has been adding various kinds of percussion to his performances. He is not averse, on occasion, to tastefully mix the various influences to spice things up.
Fred brings to whatever group he's playing with, a mixture of rich harmonies, punctuating bass lines and rhythms and juicy counter-melodies, exploiting the full range of his instrument. All of this is done with a deep respect for the music and tradition, but with just the right touch of irreverence to make it exciting. For contra music, Fred often pulls out his custom-made, five-string ‘Oregon’ cello/bass, with which he can do all his cello antics, as well as thump out a big bass sound.
Fred often collaborates with his wife, Nan Evans, who is an English Country Dance and Contra Dance caller, much loved in the Pacific Northwest.
Fred teaches private cello lessons in both traditional classical
and non-classical styles, for beginners to advanced players. Since 2006 he has
taught at Portland's
Community Music Center, including adult cello
classes, as well as private lessons and chamber music coaching for youth. Fred
frequently teaches workshops on improvisation, suitable for players in various
genres.
FRED NUSSBAUM is an excellent cellist and a mainstay of Portland's English country-dance scene. Bay Area English dancers may be familiar with his music from visits to the Portland English Ball (where he's played with Jim Oakden to great acclaim); Fall Weekend attendees should know his work as an invited sit-in musician with (three-quarters of) Bare Necessities in 1999. We're very pleased to have him.
--- BACDS web site, October 2002 Fall Dance Weekend.
Links
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Updated 8/25/05