Back in September 2016 I was very honoured to have won 2nd Prize at the European Society of Bassists BassEurope Jazz Competition in Prague! There were some fantastic bassists there and I must mention my fellow Brit in the competition Freddie Jensen who deservedly won 1st Prize. He was only 17 and is a lovely person too so keep your eyes peeled for him in the future. The other winner was Vinicius Ciccone Cajado who currently lives in Vienna. Here is a picture of myself and the other winners after the competition:
The other competitors were equally great and to be honest, it was a relief when the playing was all done and we could hang out with each other. It seems a bit odd but bass players don’t normally get to spend too much time with one another so it was really nice to spend some time with some great players in Europe. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to spend too much time at the convention itself as I had to leave early the next morning after the competition but if you’re a bassist, i’d recommend checking it out sometime. There are loads of recitals, workshops and masterclasses that are hard to get a hold of in normal life so check it out. The next ESB convention will be in Lucca, Italy. You can find more out about it here: https://basseurope.org/events.html