Steven Novosel, famous as Steve Novosel is a person with more than 40 years of professional career as an educator and jazz bassist. He is famous for playing various genres of music including bebop, traditional jazz and swing, avant garde and mainstream.
As of 2024, Steve Novosel's net worth is estimated to be $3 million.
| Net Worth | $3 million |
| Given Name | Steven Novosel |
| Famous Name | Steve Novosel |
| Source(s) of Fame | Jazz Musician |
| Age | 84 |
| Date of Birth | January 1, 1940 |
| Place of Birth | Farrell, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Relationships | Divorced, Roberta Flack, (1966 - 1972) |
Steven Novosel belongs to Croatian-American heritage and was born in 1940 in a place called Farrell, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburg. He was interested in playing musical instruments since his childhood days and he could play piano when he was a child. He also learned traditional Croatian folk songs from his family and could play them at a young age. Next to piano, he studied playing trumpet when in high school and he pursued a career to become a professional musician for his interest in jazz.
He graduated from high school from Novosel and then went to New York City to study advanced trumpet for three years. Then he got drafted and won an audition to become a part of the US Army Band at Ft. Myer, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
It was during his service with the US Army band that he found out that many people in the DC-Baltimore area who were established jazz trumpet players, but not many were bassists. This became the inspiration for Novosel and he started to learn bass. Then Novosel worked with DC saxophonist Charlie Hampton as a gig player in Baltimore and DC.
Novosel also got formal double bass education from Thomas Martin, an ex-Detroit Symphony classical bassist.
An interesting thing is that Novosel is left-handed, but he is a master of double bass and plays it in a set-up made not for him, but for right-handed people.
In 1966, while Novosel was working as a professional full-time bassist in New York, DC, he left the US Army. He was working with a variety of different groups in east coast venues. The notable place he got was replacing Walter Booker in the famous JFK Quartet.
For the luck of Novosel, multi-reed player Rahsaan Roland Kirk was looking for a new bassist the same year and Kirk’s drummer suggested the name of Novosel for this job. Novosel recorded with Kirk in 1967 on the famous “The Inflated Tear”. Novosel continued to tour widely with Kirk during the next three years, one of the most successful tours being that of Eastern Europe.
By this time, Novosel had made friends with the saxophonist David Fathead Newman and he placed Novosel as the electric bassist in the 1971 long play “Captain Buckles”. Novosel and Newman worked together for a long while after this.
The next 30 years were of peak success for Novosel as he made huge performances and toured widely. He toured greatly with Who’s Who of Jazz, including Al Grey, Bobby Hackett,Eddie Vinson,Milt Jackson, Jimmy Heath, Cedar Walton, the Red Norvo Trio, Pharoah Sanders,Jack Walrath, Buck Hill, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Cobb, Norman Simmons, Slide Hampton, Betty Carter, Steve Turre, the Teddy Wilson Trio, Charlie Byrd, Tal Farlow, Stanley Cowell, Jake Hanna, Larry Willis, John Hicks, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Gary Bartz, Harry Sweets Edison, Elvin Jones, Blue Mitchell, James Moody, Mavis Rivers,, band vocalist Billy Eckstine, and Anita O’Day.
From the 1960s, Novosel was also a part of 20 recording projects, working with musicologist Andrew White and avant garde saxophonist John Coltrane.
In 2001, Novosel led a group of musicians including guitarist Joe Cohn and went on a concert tour of the Balkans, including Croatia.
Another aspect of the career of Novosel is that for many years, he worked as an adjunct Instructor of Double Bass Performance at the University of the District of Columbia and American University. He is still working as an active person in the jazz world.
Nothing much is known about the personal life of Steve Novosel. The only thing we know so far is that he married singer Roberta Flack in 1966. The marriage lasted till 1972 and then the two parted their ways.
Although Novosel is a great American jazz bassist, he doesn’t have a social media presence. We couldn’t find his Twitter, Instagram or Facebook accounts.
Steve Novosel is considered as one of the greatest American jazz bassists who has more than 40 years of experience in this field. The current net worth of Steve Novosel is around $3 million!