Jonas Tauber was born in Winterthur (CH), Nov. 4, 1967, and raised in a musical family. His father, a violonist/doctor, provided his early music education on classical piano and cello.
He completed a Bachelor of Music at the Eastman School of Music (1990). He then held positions as principal cellist in the Boulder Philharmonic, The Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra and the Classic East Orchestra in Peterborough, England. He took private cello studies with William Pleeth in London. He performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, before taking up the double bass in ensembles covering styles from classical to free improvised music. Jonas was a freelance cellist for three years in New York where he collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, John Hollenbeck and Hans Tammen, a/o.
Upon moving to Portland to perform as a cellist with Pink Martini, he found they needed a bassist instead and welcomed the opportunity to learn a new instrument. He studied double bass with Frank Diliberto and Phil Baker in Portland. He was a member of the bass section of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra (2001-2003), principal bass with the Linfield College Orchestra (2002). From 2001-2003 he played the bass with Pink Martini.

Performances - classical chamber music

- Brahms Sextet with Itzhak Perlman - summer 2000
- Orchesis Manhattan, quartet with violin, clarinet, flute and cello - During the tour of Brazil, 2000, they performed music specially composed for them by Brazilian composers Eduardo Camenietzki, Wagner Campos, and Ricardo Tacuchian. This program was presented in 28 cities all over Brazil for people in small towns not usually exposed to classical music.
- New York Piano Trio - several performances
- Duo with pianist Albert Lotto - New York
- Guest appearance with Stefan Milenkovich and Adam Neimann - Las Vegas Symphony
- Tour with Apple Hill Chamber Players - East Coast USA

Performances - jazz

- Vlatkovich Tritet with Michael Vlatkovich (trombone) and Ken Ollis (drums) - European tour 2004
- SP Feiert 100 with Dieter Ulrich, Chris Wiesendanger, Ewald Hueggle
- Solo Kontrabass - Textures, Repfergasse 26 Schaffhausen
- Freeplex with Billy Mintz (percussion) and Rob Blakeslee (trumpet) - live at the Festival of World Music, San Francisco, 2002
- Pink Martini - tours/performances West Coast USA, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey and Greece
- Emmanuelle Somer - "Search For Peace"-Tour, Europe 1998
- Daniel Schnyder - Words Within Music, NYC 1999


JONAS TAUBER ABOUT THE DISJECTA GALLERY CONCERT OF THE JONAS TAUBER SEPTET (Oct. 5, 2002)

With Chad Hensel (bass clarinet), Doug Haning (Rhodes/contra clarinet), Philip Toynton (tenor sax), Gavin Bondy (trumpet), Tom McNalley (electric guitar), Ken Ollis (drums) and Jonas Tauber (double bass)

These are some intriguing musicians you are listening to here. I met Doug Haning at the Tugboat, after which we played a couple of times together as a duo, resulting in a CD which we are releasing soon: he is mathematician/car lmechanic/printer the list is too long ... Tom McNalley was at the Pizza place on Belmont when I sat in with a group of people, we have since also continued to play in duo and other formats since. He has intrigued almost everyone else he has played with, including myself, with his mind and taste musically and otherwise. Philip Toynton was early in my Portland experience someone who I was instantly impressed with from soul, heart on sleeve, sound oriented musicianship, I love having him around to rib as well! Ken Ollis I heard playing with Rob Scheps the first time I met him, was immediately impressed by the well-rounded wonderful sense of feel and sensitivity exhibited almost blindingly. He is part of a trio with myself and Art Resnick, soon to be heard in public. Chad Hensel has been practicing, and the amazing thing about him, besides determination and ability to recruit people to play his incredible pieces as part of the Inquisition Ensemble, is that his ears are larger than a great number of musicians I have met over the years. Gavin Bondy is a member of Pink Martini, from which he has created the Wollies, and over the period of time I knew him I was also drawn to general musicianship levels, listening, sensitivity and understanding, which brings him here tonight.

Generally, all these people have an orientation to sound and conceptual playing that I enjoy very much. It is with a great sense of honor and appreciation that I bring them all together this time for only one night to present this music to you.


This piece of music is written with different experiences in mind from my last ten years or so in the music field. Conflict resolution, peaceful in nature according to Aikido, is a natural transfer to the idea of tension and release in music, observed and practiced for centuries in all styles. The other idea which sprang from the above is that sometimes things are at right angles to each other. Discovering that three of such things, be they people in relationships or sounds, create three axes, each represented by one aspect of sound making, all together creating a three dimensional idea which here is represented in sound. The ability and desire to perceive this three space helps in realizing that some relationships in life, though they are at right angles to each other, create as a whole something which can be molded into a beautiful work of art ... thank you for listening.



JONAS TAUBER ABOUT THE DISJECTA GALLERY CONCERT OF THE JONAS TAUBER SEPTET (Jan. 25, 2003)

These musicians were all chosen based on the way they hear music in duo or trio format with me over the last year or so. Various sessions and combinations brought us together, and tonight's performance is an experiment in true self-realized expression in sound.

Imagine a dinner party with seven people, during which an important topic should be discussed, one in which everyone at the dinner has their own specific expertise. Each person brings to the table the sum of their own experiences, and the conversation ensues accordingly. There are usually duos and trios, a splitting up of the conversation, and occasionally someone will hear something from another subset and drop in on that, sometimes one person will be speaking and everyone listening, giving assent or dissent. This was rehearsed at the dinner immediately preceding this performance, as we all just had dinner together, and the sound-scape improvisation you are about to hear is an extension of that experience.

I limited the parameters of tonight's improvisation in an attempt to remove as much control as possible - I found that left to their own devices, people will generally do the right thing. So it is with musicians. I only wanted an acoustic sounding set so that each instrument is allowed its own essential quality without enhancement.

- Jonas Tauber - Storm Walking Singing (Origin Records, 2004)
- Tom McNalley Trio - Tom McNalley Trio(pfMentum, 2004)
w/Tom McNalley (guitar), Jonas Tauber (double bass), Ken Ollis (drums)
- Michael Vlatkovich Tritet - Queen Dynamo (Origin Records, 2004)
w/Michael Vlatkovich (trombone), Jonas Tauber (double bass), Ken Ollis (drums)
- Jonas Tauber/Doug Haning/William Thomas - Prime Numbers - live at Jazz de Opus (Origin Records, 2004)
w/ Doug Haning (piano), Jonas Tauber (double bass), William Thomas (drums)
- eπi - Doug Haning/Jonas Tauber (Jftdoh Music, 2002)
w/ Doug Haning (Rhodes), Jonas Tauber (double bass)
- Vinny Golia - Feeding Frenzy (Nine Winds, 2000)
w/ Vinny Golia (piccolo, G flute, C flute, alto flute and bass flute, Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet, A clarinet, bass clarinet, contra alto bass clarinet, contra bass clarinet), Ludwig Girdland, Harry Scorzo, violins; Jonas Tauber, cello; Ken Filiano, bass
- John Hollenbeck - Quartet Lucy (Blueshift/CRI, 2004)
w/ Theo Bleckmann (vocals, piano), Dan Willis (English horn, tenor and soprano saxes, flute), Skuli Sverrison (electric bass, bajo sexto), Jonas Tauber (cello), John Hollenbeck (drums, percussion, piano, berimbau)
- Emmanuelle Somer Helios Quartet - Search For Peace (2000)
w/Emmanuelle Somer (oboe, English horn, soprano sax, bass clarinet, clarinet), Daniel Dunlap (electric bass), Jarrod Cagwin (drums, percussion), Peter McCann (guitars), Peter Epstein (soprano sax), Tom Varner (French horn), Jonas Tauber (cello), Adam Butler (keyboards, percussion)
- Jonas Tauber Septet - 'Black & White', Live at Disjecta (Jonas Tau Music, 2003)
w/ Chad Hensel (bass clarinet), Doug Haning (Rhodes/contra clarinet), Philip Toynton (tenor sax), Gavin Bondy (trumpet), Tom McNalley (electric guitar), Ken Ollis (drums), Jonas Tauber (double bass)

"... Cellist Jonas Tauber phrased with great dramatic power in the Brahms and the Deak works."

Joseph McLellan in The Washington Post, January 25, 1999 - review of the Apple Hill Chamber Players concert at Dumbarton Concert Series, Washington, D.C. of January 23, 1999


"... Later there were equally lovely solos from second violinist Yi Wang and cellist Jonas Tauber, whose swift and finely judged vibrato was as good to watch as it was listen to."

Joe Conway in his Hengrave Quartet concert review (at St John's Smith Square, London).


"Portland, OR - 6/15: Local drum phenom Tim DuRoche brought out 'the arrangements' and treated us to a special night of 'Canoe Songs and Bridge Ballads' - slightly twisted revisits to old standards. He was ably assisted by Adam Diller (ts, cl) and Jonas Tauber (b). The Jasmine Tree was its usually busy self but one gig stood out among others. 6/11: Trumpeter Rob Blakeslee joined forces with Jonas Tauber (b) and the remarkable Billy Mintz (d) to create a jaw-dropping night of improvised beauty. Though there were some moments where the trio could be perceived to be feeling out their new relationship (Jonas is a recent new addition to the Portland scene) the evening was filled with exciting, fresh sounds. The second set was a gripping, focused suite - very quiet, tissue-light layers of ghostly tones and hinted harmonies. Superb."

Laura Winter in Cadence (USA), August 2002

MICHAEL VLATKOVICH TRITET - QUEEN DYNAMO

"It's hard to say how the average jazz fan comes to an appreciation of improvised music-and we're talking here spontaneous compositions, not merely an improvised solo in the middle of a mainstream song. One avid listener's introduction to the genre occured some years ago at a concert/lecture in a small state college auditorium. Two young musicians-bass and piano-held forth with a very interesting history of twentieth century jazz, from Louis Armstrong through Ellington and bop and fusion, playing examples of each along the way.
Almost an afterthought, it seemed at the time, was their closer, a five minute song composed on the spot that lit the room up. Vibrant, edgy, full of unexpected twists and spirals and jagged happy little turns. It got the biggest round of applause of the day. Most in attendance, I'd bet-excepting the musicians' friends-had never heard anything quite like that.
Trombonist Michael Vlatkovich's vibrant new disc of improvised music, Queen Dynamo, offers the same kind of interest and excitement. I first came across Vlatkovich on trumpeter Rob Blakelee's Last Minute Gifts' (Louie, 2000), a classic, brassy quartet outing of spontaneously composed songs. On Queen Dynamo Michael Vlatkovich employs a tritet, or trio, with Jonas Tauber on bass, and Ken Ollis in the drummer's seat.
The sound here, on the freer end of the jazz spectrum, is based on the induividual players listening to and reacting to each other, involving themselves in spirited conversations. And the voices in these three-way conversations are quite assured, assertive, without ever devolving to argument or boisterous cacophonies.
Vlatkovich uses the plunger a bit, and he growls at times, but for the most part he employs a straightforward trombone sound. His bandmates share his vision: bassist Jonas Tauber brings his instrument to the front line a good deal of the time, and the guess here is that he's classically trained; his assertive bowing adds some beautiful stretched textures to the sound. Drummer Ken Ollis lays back mostly-very effectively-in a accompanist's mode, sometimes adding just a whispered percussive undercurrent behind the two relative blowhards (meant in the best possible sense of the word) up front. And having just written that, I pause at the keyboard to listen to the drummer add dashes of color behind some dark hues on "South for the Winter."
A first rate set of improvised sounds, very accessible to anyone who's gone there, yet still adventurous and always interesting. You never know where these guys are going next, and that's a big part of the appeal, of course."

Dan McClenaghan in Allaboutjazz.com


"A deeply interesting album of progressive jazz from the Portland trombonist Michael Vlatkovich. Abandoning his usual big band, Vlatkovich instead takes up a small trio (actually a "tritet" by his own account) of bass, drums, and himself on trombone. Joining Vlatkovich in the trio are Swiss classically-oriented bassist Jonas Tauber, and fellow Portland drummer Ken Ollis. The music is largely improvised, with some structure imparted by Vlatkovich, but the bulk being spontaneous between the artists. With only the three musicians performing, the sound is surprisingly thick and full, with layers of sound overlaying one another expertly. The sound textures can get a bit out of the usual range, á la free jazz, but there's just enough structure present to keep it in the 'progressive' realm instead. The dividing line between free and progressive is, of course, up for debate, and this collection perhaps pushes the debate a bit, but regardless of its classification, the music itself stands up quite well. It's not music for a lazy Sunday afternoon, but it's really not trying to be that either."

Adam Greenburg in Allmusicguide

Jonas Tauber
Obergasse 21
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www.jotabass.com
0041323223332 tel/fax
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