In this transcription of our Contrabass Conversations interview, Linda May Han Oh shares her musical journey from Perth to New York. Linda discusses her early musical education, influences, and experiences in the jazz world while also touching on her involvement with environmentally conscious music production through Biophilia Records. The interview has been edited for clarity.
Early Years in Music
Jason: You started on piano when you were young, doing the Yamaha method, which is kind of like the Suzuki method, right? There are some similarities.
Linda: I think so. I mean, I’m not super familiar with the Suzuki method, but what I went through was just kind of exploring music in a fundamental way of how we respond to music and emotions and colors. And I remember quite clearly just being asked to listen, you know, what does this make you feel like? What do you see? What colors do you see? And even memorizing pictures and pictures with color or feelings.
My older sister memorizes pictures, but we see pictures quite differently. So I’ll see, for me, E is a bit more greeny, F is a bit more bluey, purplely, and for her, it’s more like figures. I can’t remember the exact code for her, but it’s like, F is like a maternal figure, and A is like a young boy or something.
So it’s kind of interesting, associating pictures or music or even textures with color and personas. So, that’s what we kind of learned initially, like through Yamaha and just a lot of oral work, which set a good foundation for the rest of our kind of musical life and language.
Jason: Were your parents musicians in any capacity, or did they just get you started early?
Linda: My mom was kind of vicariously living through us because she never had the chance to learn piano. So for her, it was fun to sit and play with us and watch us, you know, practice and that sort of thing.
Jason: You started playing clarinet and bassoon at some point during school. When was the last time you played clarinet or bassoon? Do you have a secret bassoon practicing room in your place?
Linda: Yeah, I wish, I really wish. It’s been a long time since I’ve played clarinet. We actually have one here. But bassoon, yeah, I still have one in New York, and there was a time when I was like, “Okay, I’m going to be diligent, and I’m going to play a little bit each day.” And I did play it on a record quite a while ago now, 2011, Initial Here.
And I tracked a few layers of bassoon. But you know, it’s—I really wish it was something I could keep up. There’s just a lot to do. And I think the last time I kind of played it semi-publicly was when I did a duet with my friend, Ben Wendel, who plays tenor saxophone and also plays bassoon.
So, we thought it’d be funny to have some outtakes where I played bassoon, and he played “I Fall in Love Too Easily” on bass, you know, so that’s up on YouTube somewhere.
Discovering the Bass
Jason: Oh, wow. Okay. And then it was electric bass. You started in high school, right?
Linda: Yeah. I had a garage band with some friends, and I also played in the jazz band at that time in high school.
And so, yeah, we used to play in a jazz band and then go and write some original rock covers, do some rock songs, and do some covers of Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, and Chili Peppers. So that was really fun.
Jason: Were you thinking you would be a rock bassist, or did you want to be a professional musician? Did you think that you would make music, or maybe at what point did you get serious about that?
Linda: Definitely, at the end of high school, there was a point where I felt that something would be missing if I just did it as a hobby, you know? I had to at least try and see where it could take me if I were to really take it seriously.
At that point, I was thinking of doing classical bassoon. I was also considering jazz on bass, and then there was the possibility of not doing music at all—maybe pursuing law instead. But it was clear to me that I needed to at least try music, you know? Looking back, it was a bit of a leap of faith in the sense that I went to study jazz.
I had fiddled around on school double basses, but I had no idea how to play them properly. The first few years at WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts), were basically just spent trying to learn how to play the music and how to play the instrument without actually owning a bass.
But I’m glad I did it. I felt that I really wanted to learn how to improvise and to learn the language of improvisation and jazz. You know, sometimes you just have to go for it and have faith that you’re going to work hard and try your best.
Jason: Had you been into jazz before WAAPA? Had you done any sort of improv on the piano or anything like that?
Linda: Yeah. As part of the Yamaha program, there were sections that kind of encouraged us to compose and improvise a little bit. So it wasn’t completely new to us, but the idea of chord changes and vocabulary, that sort of thing was quite new.
And it wasn’t until getting into high school when my older sister introduced me to all sorts of amazing music—everything from John Zorn to Miles Davis, to Digable Planets, to Michel Camilo, you know? Like, she had a really eclectic and diverse palate and I’m really grateful for that, you know, because this was at a time when a lot of my friends were listening to Spice Girls.
Not to discount what they’re doing, but it was especially significant for somewhere as remote as Perth. And at a time when we didn’t have YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Music, I’m very lucky that she influenced me and introduced me to a lot of cool listening.
Creating a Physical Product with Aventurine
Jason: Well, I love the physical product you released with Aventurine (Linda’s 2019 album). How it unfolded into the trifold. I used to work at the music library at Northwestern back in college, and the entire room was lined with jazz records. It’s this ridiculous collection. And I would go in and say, “Let’s go through Chet Baker,” and it was just so cool to pull out those LPs and go through and put them on. The CDs were becoming the norm, but we still had that great experience.
And, you know, these days it’s so rare that I hold something in my hands, you know, and so it’s so cool. But what an experience that was, even with the CD packaging to open up, or even with tapes back in my Metallica days, pulling out “…And Justice for All” and holding that. So can you talk about that?
And it’s super cool—the environmentally friendly packaging that you were using.
Linda: So, my husband, Fabian Almazan, who plays piano, started a label called Biophilia Records. The idea is to have a music label that also supports environmental awareness. We do volunteer work, cleanups, tree planting, and that sort of thing around New York City.
We try to connect with other like-minded musicians and stay active, both musically and in discussing the environment and what’s happening throughout the world. I’m very proud of what he’s done because it’s been such a passion of his, and it’s a lot of hard work.
I mean, even just starting a label on its own, but then adding all these other elements is a lot of work and dedication. Basically, he wanted an alternative to CDs, but he didn’t necessarily just want downloads. He’s incredibly creative—there was a time when he was busy with something and I was like, “Oh, what’s he doing?”
And he got in the mail, like, a prototype of this really cool thing that folded out. And I was like, “What is that?” It’s like, “Oh, just something I’m working on, you know?” And so he kind of designed this 20-panel, FSC-certified paper art, essentially, with vegetable-based inks. It folds out and it looks like a CD cover, you know?
Musician Credits on Physical Products
The design is such that you should be able to put it in a CD rack if you have one, but there’s no plastic in it. That was kind of the MO behind it—not having any plastic—but you could still download the music in even higher quality than the 44.1 kHz sample rate you would get on a CD.
So when people complain about downloads, it’s like, well, no, actually you can get this in 96 kHz if you’re a real audiophile and appreciate that. You can get an MP3 or FLAC in various formats.
And I think that’s essential because I can’t tell you the number of times that students have said, “Oh, I’ve checked out this record.” I’m like, “Oh, who’s on it?” or “Who?” and I’m like, “Oh, you know…”
Jason: That’s such a good point. That’s how I learned so many names of drummers and piano players. You can’t even access a lot of it digitally, or if you can, it’s incredibly hard. That’s a great benefit to doing that.
Linda: Yeah. And especially for the rhythm section or side people who aren’t necessarily band leaders. Back in the day, we think of Sam Jones and, you know, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson Trio—I mean, both were composers and, you know, Ray was a significant leader, especially, but side people were very much valued, and I think they still are. It’s a different thing now because we don’t have that information as easily available anymore with streaming.
And, you know, there are these DownBeat critics’ polls, including who’s the number one instrumentalist in whatever category or vocalist. And it’s… You know, I wish there was like an MVP category for a side person because, in some ways, it’s like, I think of Larry Grenadier, and he’s someone that I absolutely adore his playing.
And, you know, he only just recently—relatively recently—released his own stuff. I wonder how that changes for a lot of up-and-coming musicians who feel the need to be a leader. I love being a leader as well, you know, there are different perks to it. Don’t be a side person, but just to be appreciated as a side person, you know? I think that comes a little hand-in-hand with some of the ways that the music has been sold or packaged.
Navigating a Career in Jazz
Jason: Let’s talk about the “sideman predicament,” as we might call it. You’ve managed to navigate a career as a leader, a side musician for various artists, and a composer. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you have any insights on how you’ve navigated this? How might someone who’s just starting out approach this, especially considering we don’t have LP liner notes listing musicians’ names anymore?
Linda: What I’d say first and foremost is follow what you want to do. Not everyone will want to be the consummate side person necessarily, you know, and I think there’s room if you want to be a virtuoso bassist who plays solo recitals. Go ahead, you know? It just depends on what you’re after.
When I was starting out, I just wanted to become a stronger bass player. I wanted to have that Ray Brown beat. I wanted to be able to hold steady in a band in almost any configuration and just hold it down—that was kind of my goal.
I wanted to be strong, and being a leader wasn’t necessarily even so much on the cards in the beginning. It was just like, how much can I learn? I’m just going to play as much as I can, go to various jam sessions, and learn as many tunes as I can. And be able to be that person that someone can call last minute and say, “Hey, I need you to do this.”
It’s really nice to have the community, you know, relating to what Miles was saying about helping each other out. And I think that’s important, rather than just sitting in your practice room and just shedding all the time. Having a community really helps—like-minded musicians and people who can stoke your creativity, help you out, and build a band sound rather than just an individual sound. Follow your bliss, you know?
Figure out what makes you thrive, go for it, and find the steps that will lead to that. It’s hard with the industry, and I think if there’s more education, especially earlier education, about music in general in the general public, so that people are more informed. Sometimes, it seems a bit disparate that it’s these musicians who know a lot and then the general public who may not. It’d be just great if there was more communication, in a bigger sense, so that creative music and improvisation aren’t as foreign in some ways.
