Dean Taba was committed to the French horn until the McKinley High School music program started an after-school big band. The band couldn’t use a French horn but needed someone to play bass. Taba switched instruments. Then he met someone looking for a bass player for a showroom in Waikiki. Taba said he could read music but didn’t know what to do. His would-be employer replied, “I’ll show you.”

It was the start of a career that included two years of study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, club work in Honolulu and 25 years as a working musician in Los Angeles. Taba continued working when he returned to Hawaii in 2005.

Fifteen years later, Taba, 57, is almost as busy as ever. He’s starting his fourth semester teaching the jazz ensemble at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, teaches technique and improvisation for private students, and directs or teaches three jazz programs for the Hawaii Youth Symphony.

Taba can be heard on Maggie Herron’s newly released album, “Your Refrain.” He can be seen on YouTube playing “Younger Than Springtime” with his fellow bass-players Byron Yasui, Bruce Hamada and John Kolivas, aka the Jazz Bass Quartet.

Let’s start with you in “dad” mode. It was such a nice surprise to meet you at a photo shoot in June and discover not only that Hawaii Youth Symphony bassist Matin Boulos is your step-daughter but that watching you was what got her interested in playing bass.

I met Matin when she was 2 years old, that’s when her mother and I first started going out together, and she grew up listening to me practice and coming to gigs. She’s heard so much music and watched so many musicians work together that she has a really healthy advanced perspective on what making music is.

Looking back at your own early days, is there a gig that stands out?

The first time I was in California I had to come back for family reasons. While I was back, Alex Murzyn, Allen Leong, Noel Okimoto and I formed a jazz quartet and played at Kojack’s (a small bar on Young Street). Kojack’s became like a school for me because we would talk about the music and play it and experiment. It was really great training.

Is there a recording session that stands out for you?

I did a project for a record label that was recording 10 to 12 songs a day for 10 days in a row. At the end of the 10 days I had a stack of bass charts that came up to my shoulder. It was great fun.

People who watch Dave Tull’s live versions of “The Minutes Pass Like Hours When You Sing” and “Every Other Day I Have the Blues” on YouTube will see you playing bass. How did you meet Dave?

I first met Dave when he was playing drums in Jack Sheldon’s band and we just hit it off. We never played steadily in a group together, but sometimes we would both get called to do recording sessions.

What else are you working on for the fall?

I have a friend, Lennie Moore, who’s a film composer and video game music composer in California, who has written and recorded a big band project with everybody recording remotely. I did some tracks for him for that.

How do things look long term?

Outside of the financial challenges of not having any income from gigs — which is a big deal — this is time for us to develop ourselves individually. I’m excited about that, and I’m very excited about the fact that we’re all getting used to communicating, teaching and sharing things online. When we get out of this — and we will at some point — everything will be “plus.”