James Guttmann began playing the double bass while completing his master’s degree in communications at Emerson College in Boston. For the past few decades he has performed in venues ranging from smoky taverns to Carnegie Hall. He joined the Klezmer Conservatory Band at its inception and is a founding member of the Really Eclectic String Quartet. He has worked with such noted musicians and entertainers as Joel Smirnoff, Eartha Kitt, Mark Murphy, Johnny Shines, Jim Bailey, Matt Glaser, Russ Barenberg, and the Artie Shaw Band. He also played for more than ten seasons in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1999 premiered Gunther Schuller’s Fantastical Colloquy for trumpet and bass.
