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Spencer and Traci were born 28 days apart in a small logging and
fishing village nestled between the Olympic mountains and the Strait
of Juan de Fuca on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. It is quite
fortunate the impressive music program they entered at ten years old -
both on the cello. They officially met as Freshman in High School
where they were both principal cellists of opposing orchestras.
That year Spencer switched
to bass - quite suspect given the opposition. They both joined the
Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. High School culminated in a Broadway
show type production at home incorporating jazz and chamber music and
a symphonic and chamber music performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
The same year they were engaged.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a larger
network of mentors and teachers to raise a bass and cello duo. Spencer
& Traci went off to college together in 1990. Unbeknownst to them they
were about to meet and study with a tremendously gifted group of
people. Their careers have been parallel since the beginning and thus
their education has parallels.
Traci’s scholarships took
the duo to college. Traci first studied with Walter Gray who was a
founding member of the Kronos string quartet and now plays with the
Seattle Symphony. Spencer too later had lessons with Walter. Bruce
Pullen, who now conducts the Vancouver Bach Choir in British Columbia
Canada, was Spencer’s first mentor and helped him take university
courses while completing an Associate in Arts and Sciences Degree.
At this time Spencer met Chuck Israels, who played bass for the Bill
Evans Trio, the Kronos as well as Herbie Hancock and Paul Simon, who
opened his ears to jazz as chamber music and still mentors to this
day. Meanwhile Traci started studying with Barton Frank, a Piatagorsky
prodigy who was principal cello of the National Symphony at 19 years
old, who became one of the largest influences in her cello-ing career.
Traci also studied orchestration with Mr. Israels while Spencer began
studying bass with Mr Frank.
Meanwhile Bruce Pullen
left the University and Peter Marsh, founder of the Lennox and
Cleveland string Quartets and who now heads Chamber Music at the
Thorton School of Music at the University of Southern California,
arrived at the university to conduct the symphonic and chamber
orchestras at which Spencer and Traci had become the Principals. At
this time Spencer also did his five years as Principal bass of the
Whatcom Symphony Orchestra.
1999
1st place winners in the Washington State Capitols Young Artists
Concerto Competition |
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Prom Night
- 1989 |
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Before
too much longer, Spencer and Traci graduated
but continued to study with their new
mentors. Soon, in 1996, the Bottom Line Duo
came to pass becoming their
sole-proprietorship. At this time Peter
Marsh invited the duo to be guests in
residence at the Fairbanks Music Festival in
Alaska. Shortly thereafter the duo moved to
Seattle.
Once in Seattle the duo began to play at
private events and local bistro’s. Within
two years the duo had been heard and sent to
Europe by the Los Angeles Music Center to
represent the LA Philharmonic. They played
as a duo and as part of a quintet aboard the
Queen Elizabeth II. In 1998 they released
their first album, now out of print, called
“Waiting for the Sun.” Soon they were being
called to play in Seattle’s theater pits.
It was at this time they met another great
musician, mentor, and friend, Art Bloom. Art
was the founding clarinetist in the Dorian
Wind Quintet (which came to be under the
direction of Aaron Copland at the first
Tanglewood Music Festival (196?)... the same
festival Peter Marsh founded the Lennox
string quartet!). Art embraced the duo and
for several years guided them to higher
aspirations. In 2001 the duo, acting now as
faculty for a community art school, helped
create a festival in Cebreros Spain at which
they hired Peter Marsh to be the director of
Chamber Music.
The festival quintet, and the duo, did many
performances in Spanish cities. 2002 saw
Spencer and Traci on tour with their duo in
Mexico as well as playing in a quintet with
the famous Mexican fiddler Don Juan Reynoso.
2002 also saw the completion of two new duo
albums plus a holiday album featuring the
great local guitarist Ray Wood. These
recordings have brought the duo national
attention and broadcasts on NPR’s “All
Things Considered.” There have been
competitions, concerts, master classes, and
numerous other recordings for movies and
various artists.
The duo came full circle in September of
2002 by being invited to open the 70th
season with the Port Angeles Symphony
Orchestra. The Bottom Line Duo sits at the
beginning of a lifetime of sharing great
music with the world.
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