"I use music as a way of understanding the world around me. If 'everything' is vibration, then being able to directly manipulate vibration is a very powerful tool." - Bassist and luthier Martin Masakowski was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of a musical family, Martin's emersion in the arts began from a young age. He spent his youth studying visual arts and transitioned into music at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school. Martin went on to study jazz at the University of New Orleans before moving to The Netherlands to finish his bachelor’s in music at the Rotterdam Conservatory. He spent the following years touring with an Eastern European folk band, the Balcony Players. With them he explored over 20 countries in Europe, performing in clubs and festivals and also visiting Roma gypsy villages to study their music and culture. As a result of his travels and the influence of his family and his city, Martin’s musical styles span across jazz, folk, classical, electronic, experimental, Eastern European and Indian genres. Inspired by years on the road with an upright bass, Martin's most recent endeavor was the design and building of his own custom travel bass, with future plans to produce his own line of instruments to meet the need of traveling musicians. In 2019 Martin received a Masters of Jazz Performance from the University of New Orleans. He is currently back home in New Orleans, performing regularly at clubs such as Snug Harbor and The Spotted Cat while continuing to develop and push the rhythmic and harmonic boundaries of the double bass."