ISB Center Stage with Linda May Han Oh and Stephan Crump 

Next up on the ISB Center Stage, we join Linda May Han Oh and Stephan Crump Harrison for a wide-ranging conversation between these dynamic bassists, composers, bandleaders and educators. 

Grammy-nominated bassist, composer and band leader Stephan Crump has twelve critically acclaimed album releases in addition to numerous film scoring contributions. He has performed and recorded with a diverse range of musicians, from Portishead's Dave McDonald and The Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano to Patti Austin and blues legend Johnny Clyde Copeland. Stephan is a member of the Vijay Iyer Trio and Sextet, Jen Chapin Band, Ches Smith Trio, Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Liberty Ellman Sextet and Secret Keeper with Mary Halvorson. His all-string Rosetta Trio, with Jamie Fox and Liberty Ellman, just completed its fourth album, and his Rhombal quartet, with Tyshawn Sorey, Ellery Eskelin and Adam O’Farrill recently released its eponymous debut. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Amherst College, where he studied under Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlin and was awarded the Sundquist Prize for performance and composition. His jazz studies at Amherst included work with Max Roach, Frank Foster, and Ray Drummond, and his classical training culminated in a year of study in Paris with Gary Karr-protégé Patrick Hardouineau. Over the last decade, Stephan has made teaching a growing part of his mission. In addition to offering lessons in his Brooklyn home, he regularly visits conservatories and universities to coach ensembles, teach bassists, and offer to all musicians his “On Magnetism” masterclass, originally developed for a residency at the Banff Jazz and Creative Music workshop.

Linda May Han Oh is a bassist/composer who has performed and recorded with Pat Metheny, Kenny Barron, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Terri Lyne Carrington, Steve Wilson, Geri Allen and Vijay Iyer. She was a semi-finalist at the BMW Bass competition and received an honorary mention at the 2009 Thelonious Monk Bass Competition. Linda also received the 2010 Bell Award for Young Australian Artist of the Year and was the 2012 Downbeat Critic's Poll "Rising Star" on bass. She was voted 2018, 2019 and 2020 Bassist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist’s Association, as well as 2019 Up-and-Coming Artist of the Year. Linda received a Jerome Foundation Fellowship and a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant for 2019. She was voted 2019 Bassist of the Year in Hothouse Magazine and was a 2020 recipient of the Margaret Whitton Award. She has five critically acclaimed releases as a leader. Her latest, “Aventurine,” featuring a string quartet and the vocal group Invenio, won the Best New Jazz Work for the Australian APRA Art Awards. Linda has written for large and small ensembles as well as for film, participating in the BMI Film Composers Workshop, Sundance Labs at Skywalker Ranch and Sabrina McCormick's short films "A Good Egg" and “FracKtured.” Linda also composed and produced music for a collaborative film project with non-profit, “Hoperaisers” based in Korogocho, Kenya. Linda is Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music and is also part of the Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice. As an active educator she has also created a series of lessons for the BassGuru app for iPad and iPhone.