Faculty Artist Series: Aidan Plank, double bass

Double bassist, electric bassist, and composer Aidan Plank has performed for the past 27 years in the broad and various circumstances required of a jazz musician.

Since 2013 Plank has served as the bassist for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra where he has collaborated with guest artists including Gerald Clayton, Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, Michael Philip Mossman, Bobby Sanabria, Tierney Sutton, Regina Carter, Ken Peplowski, Bria Skonberg, and many others.

Plank’s own collaborative ensemble Pulse features saxophonist Brad Wagner, pianist Anthony Fuoco, and drummer Dustin May. Pulse explores new compositions by its members and also works to cultivate a midwestern sound drawing influence from the music of Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden.

Plank is also active as a jazz composer. His compositions and arrangements are performed by the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra as well as the Third Law Collective, a composers collective in residency at The Bop Stop in Cleveland, OH that focuses solely on new works by jazz composers. Third Law also featured guest trumpeter Russ Johnson in the spring of 2024.

Plank’s work as a bassist has seen him collaborating with a wide range of musicians including Dan Wall, Joe Lovano, Carmen Castaldi, Jamey Haddad, Dave Berkman, Terrance Blanchard, Dominick Farinacci, Bill Dobbins, Vanessa Rubin, John Fedchock, Steve Davis, Joe Maneri, Joshua Breakstone, Tim Armacost, Martha Kato, Diego Figueiredo, Sean Jones, Yoron Israel, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Plank was featured on NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” radio show on their May 16, 2019 broadcast: “Cleveland’s Joe Lovano Comes Home”. Plank also plays on “Time to Mind the Mystics” by Dan Bruce’s Beta Collective (Shifting Paradigm Records) and “Off Brand” by Collage Project (Panoramic/New Focus Recordings).

Plank has performed at Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, The Knitting Factory (NYC), Spectrum (NYC), Elastic Arts (Chicago), and Blossom Music Center.

As an educator Plank served as an instructor at the Tri C Jazzfest Academy in Cleveland, OH from 2015 to 2021 and as the jazz bass instructor at Kent State University from 2016 to 2024. Aidan has served as an adjudicator at The Maple Rock Jazz Festival and The Lakeland Jazz Festival, as well as offering masterclasses at the Chicago School of the Arts and Bowling Green State University. 

Plank holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Youngstown State University and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Cleveland State University. He studied double bass with Dave Morgan of Youngstown State University and with Kevin Switalski of the Cleveland Orchestra.