Steve Whipple

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Steve is the head of the Bass Department at the Berklee College of Music International Affiliate, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Musica Contemporanea, where he teaches electric and double bass, coaches the Bebop Blues and Modal Jazz ensembles, and teaches a class of the Rudiments of Music. He is a member of Jai Fakuta, and the Phunky Butt Rhythm and Blues Band.

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Steve Whipple was born on November 3rd, 1981, in Tokyo, Japan. His first instruments were piano, which he started at the age of three, and the trumpet, which he took up in elementary school. He taught himself to play the electric bass in high school, and later the double bass, which he started to study seriously later in college. He won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award for excellence in jazz as a sophomore.

In his junior year, he moved to Michigan to attend Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied music composition. There, he won an honorable mention from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts’ ARTS program for his composition “Searching and Finding.” He also wrote music to be performed with live theater, for a production of Chiyori Miyagawa’s “Yesterday’s Window.”

Steve graduated Summa Cum Laude as salutatorian with honors in his class at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor’s degree in jazz bass. While in attendance, he studied bass with Chris Berg and Rick Vizachero, and improvisation with Alan Bern. He was chosen to participate in the IAJE Ohio all state big band during this time. His composition for big band, “Inspired by a Sunset” was premiered by the Conservatory’s Jazz Ensemble in 2004. Professionally, he has been active in the local jazz scene in Cincinnati, as well as its surrounding cities of Dayton, Columbus, Indianapolis and Louisville, playing regularly with the likes of Phil DeGreg, Brad Goode and John Von Ohlen.

Cincinnati days-

Steve was active in promoting new music in Cincinnati, booking and playing with groups at Rohs Street Café every Thursday. He started a well-received series of concerts of new compositions. He co-composed music for “Between the Water and the Air,” a play written by Andrew Hungerford which was performed and well received at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He composed the music for "Anna the Slut (and the Almost Chosen One)," also a play by Andrew Hungerford, which was premiered at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, and also performed at the Edinburg Fringe Festival in the summer of 2008.

In Cincinnati, Steve played with Mary Ellen Tanner's Group every Sunday at Chez Nora, in a band that featured the great Lee Stolar and John von Ohlen. He was a regular member of Brasilia, Phil DeGreg's Brazilian music project, for which he played electric bass, composed and arranged music. He is a member of the Cincinnati RealTime Composers, an ensemble founded by master musician Alan Bern, which realizes the ideal of "real-time composition," an approach to improvisation that prioritizes the compositional aspects of music. He also booked and frequented Rohs Street Cafe with various ensembles. As a freelance bassist, Steve was in high demand in the Cincinnati area, and was heard frequently with Mike Wade, Steve Schmidt, Phil DeGreg, Dan Karlsberg, among many others.

Steve has served on faculty at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. During the summers, he is on faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan and the CCM Jazz Camp. He also runs a small private teaching studio.