Don Mopsick
Photo courtesy William Carter
Don Mopsick
Bass
1991 to 2010

Don Mopsick attended Rutgers University and the Berklee College of Music. His musical interests have always been eclectic and far-ranging. 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, Lee Castle (with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra), the Paul Jefferey Octet and others. Don moved to Ft. Myers, FL in 1977 and began private study on double bass with Lucas Drew at the University of Miami. He moved to Orlando in 1983 and worked at Walt Disney World, Circus World, Rosie O’Grady’s, and as a free-lance bassist state-wide. From 1983-86, he performed nightly at the Empress Lilly at Lake Buena Vista. He played Florida concert dates with jazz luminaries Mose Allison, Bill Allred, Kenny Davern, Clark Terry, Joe Wilder and many others. Don joined The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in San Antonio in 1991, played nightly at The Landing jazz club and toured with the band (including a 17-day tour of Russia and Siberia in 2007), and recorded hundreds of hours for the Riverwalk Jazz public radio series with guests Benny Carter, Milt Hinton, Nicholas Payton, “Sweets” Edison, Harry Allen, Joe Williams and others. From 1993 to 2005, he was on the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop, teaching classes and giving private lessons to young students. In 1995 Mopsick created one of the first jazz sites on the Web for the Riverwalk Jazz radio series. As Associate Producer for PVPMedia, Don assisted with script development and has created a social media campaign for the radio series. Don left the band in March 2010 and currently lives in Cape Coral, Florida.