He was a double bass player and composer born in Rochester, New York who studied at the Eastman School of Music. During his time there he performed for three seasons with the Rochester Philharmonic from 1951.
In 1954 he went in to military service and played with the US Marine Band until 1954, often performing for President Eisenhower at the White House. After returning to civilian life he took further studies with the Principal Bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Roger Scott.
In 1958 he became the Principal Bass with the Washington D.C.’s National Symphony Orchestra, performing at John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration and touring South America. He stayed with them until 1962 when he joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as a section player. In 1988 he became the Assistant Principal Double Bass and remained in this position until his retirement in 2010 after serving with the orchestra for 48 years. He was then named Assistant Principal Bass Emeritus.
He was the chairman of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s musicians’ committee and a co-founder of the Musicians for Social Responsibility. He was also a chief organiser of “Concert for Humanity”
As a chamber musician he co-founded and performed with the Philadelphia Chamber Players. He also performed as a soloist with the orchestra, the baritone singer Eric Owens and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
As a composer his works of chamber music that include Trio for Bass, Trumpet and Piano were performed in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s chamber series. Often his works crossed the jazz and classical genres of music.
Recordings he performed on include Instruments of the Orchestra by the National Symphony Orchestra and Peter Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6/Dumka by The Philadelphia Orchestra.
In the field of musical education he taught and mentored around 100 double bass players that included the jazz bassists Christian McBride and Stanley Clarke.
He died in June 2015 after an extended battle with heart disease. He was 82 years old.
Sources:
- https://www.thestrad.com/us-double-bassist-neil-courtney-has-died-aged-82/5727.article
- https://theviolinchannel.com/neil-courtney-double-bass-died-obituary-philadelphia-orchestra/
- http://www.cerisepress.com/02/04/neil-courtney-renewing-vows-with-the-double-bass/view-all
- https://hub.americanorchestras.org/2015/06/23/obituary-neil-courtney-philadelphia-orchestra-bassist-82/
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/1957724-Neil-Courtney