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Don Mopsick
Jazz bassist in Southwest Florida.
About Me
Don Mopsick began his musical career as a teenager in his hometown of Linden, NJ, performing on trumpet and
bass guitar. He attended Rutgers and Berklee College of Music. His first professional gigs were with Rosemary
Clooney around Boston in 1972.
Mopsick's musical interests have always been eclectic. He was graduated from The Manhattan School of Music in
1977 with a degree in Tuba Performance. While in New York he performed on tuba and bass with The Smith Street
Society, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (led by Lee Castle), John Carisi, Paul Jefferey and others.
After a 1977 move to Ft. Myers FL, Mopsick began double bass study with Lucas Drew at the U. of Miami. He
moved to Orlando in 1983 and began work as a free-lance jazz bassist state-wide.
He played concert dates for, among others, The Jazz Club of Sarasota, The Treasure Coast Jazz Society, and The
Gainesville Friends of Jazz, Florida concert dates with Howard Alden, Mousey Alexander, Bill Allred, Dan Barrett,
John Bunch, Pete Christleib, Al Cohn, Richie Cole, Freddie Cole, Kenny Davern, Buddy DeFranco, Don Goldie, Terry
Gibbs, Scott Hamilton, Buddy Morrow, Ken Peplowski, Flip Phillips, Red Rodney, Bob Rosengarden, Ira Sullivan,
Clark Terry & Warren Vaché Jr.
Mopsick joined the Jim Cullum Jazz Band in San Antonio in 1991. He played nightly at The Landing jazz club and
toured with them in the US & abroad, including a 15-day tour of Russia and Siberia in 2007. He recorded hundreds
of hours for the Riverwalk Jazz public radio series with guests Benny Carter, Clark Terry, Bob Wilber, Dick Hyman,
Kenny Davern, Milt Hinton, Nicholas Payton, “Sweets” Edison, Harry Allen, Dan Barrett, Joe Williams, Rebecca
Kilgore, Bob Barnard, Bria Skonberg, Jon-Erik Kellso, Vince Giordano, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Stephanie Nakasian,
Shelly Berg and many others. He left Texas in May 2010 to return to Florida.
Since then, Don has appeared with Ira Sullivan, Aaron Weinstein, Stephanie Nakasian, Veronica Swift, Hod O'Brien,
Grant Stewart, Lew DelGatto, Dan Miller, Giacomo Gates, Johnny Varro, Cynthia Sayer, Lainie Cook, Ralph Peterson
Jr., Peter Zak, Tedd Firth, Wycliff Gordon, Russell Malone, Bucky Pizzarelli, Joshua Breakstone, Peter Appleyard,
Dick Hyman. Kenny Washington, Harry Allen, Randy Sandke, and the Hot Club of SRQ (Sarasota) led by violinist
Keven Aland.
Currently Mopsick appears Sarurday nights with his Oyster Band at the Oyster Society on Marco Island, FL south of
Naples. The current band members are: Patricia Dean, drums and voice; Frank Portolese, guitar; Lew DelGatto,
tenor saxophone; Don Mopsick, bass.
