Double Bassist Winston "Jack" Budrow has Died, Aged 79

A former member of the International Society of Bassists board of directors, he was known for his tenure at Michigan State University

Double bassist Winston "Jack" Budrow served as professor of double bass and co-chair of the string area at the Michigan State University College of Music since 1996. During the summers, he taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Jack played in the Houston Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, and the American National Opera orchestras — plus the North Carolina Symphony, where he was principal bass.

As a pedagogue, his students play in numerous symphony orchestras, including Atlanta, Charleston, Cincinnati, Chicago Civic, Florida Gulf Coast, Grand Rapids, Houston, San Antonio and San Francisco, as well as in the Michigan Opera and the Army Band. Internationally, he placed students in the Oslo Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Munich Radio Orchestra, Heidelberg Symphony, and the Caracas Symphony.

Jack was awarded Michigan's 2014 String Teacher of the Year by the American String Teachers Association and received the ISB's Special Recognition Award for Teaching in 2017.

"We will always remember his joyful presence and rollicking sense of humor," the International Society of Bassists wrote on their Facebook.