Noah Garabedian works as a bassist, composer, and educator while delivering performances of exceptional virtuosity rooted in acoustic post-bop, modern creative, and modal jazz idioms. His recording career began in 2014 with the expansive, brass-forward sextet project Big Butter and the Eggmen. He also maintains dual teaching posts at The New School in New York and the Stanford Jazz Workshop. In addition to appearances alongside Ravi Coltrane and Ralph Alessi, he has issued his own recordings, including the 2019 trio album New Year and Consider the Stars Beneath Us in 2022, the latter featuring saxophonist Dayna Stephens.
Garabedian was born in 1985 and raised in Berkeley, California, where he first took up the bass. After high school he completed a BA in Ethnomusicology at The University of California Los Angeles and later earned a Master’s of Music Performance from New York University. Recognition of his abilities arrived with the 2006 John Coltrane National Scholarship; the following year he was named a finalist for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz graduate program. Further distinctions include finalist placement in the 2011 International Society of Double Bass Competition, a 2016 Fulbright Specialist Grant, and designation as a 2021 Artist Fellow with Creative Armenia and AGBU.
Leading his own groups, Garabedian introduced Big Butter and the Eggmen in 2014, a date that featured trumpeter Kenny Warren, saxophonists Anna Webber and Kyle Wilson, and drummer Evan Hughes. Parallel to his performing schedule he teaches, dividing time between The New School in New York City and the Stanford Jazz Workshop; he also participates in Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Jazz For Young People outreach program, has served as adjunct faculty at NYU, and has taught with The Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall. Sideman credits encompass collaborations with Ravi Coltrane, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ralph Alessi, Myron Walden, and others.
In 2019 Garabedian released the trio album New Year with saxophonist Caleb Wheeler Curtis and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza. The next year he premiered his composition The Tragedy of Hate, commissioned by the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College to commemorate survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. His third album, Consider the Stars Beneath Us, appeared in September 2022 and presented his ensemble of saxophonist Dayna Stephens, pianist Carmen Staaf, and drummer Jimmy Macbride along with programming and synth contributions from Samuel Adams.
