Jeff Grubbs joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1996 after having played for two seasons in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and five seasons in the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra.

Grubbs, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, received his musical training at Youngstown State University, The Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Southern California and is a student of Lawrence Angell, Paul Ellison, Ralph Jones, Anthony Knight and Tony Leonardi.

He started as a violinist and bass guitarist at age nine and later switched to the Double Bass at age 18. Feeling the need to "catch up" and to gain as much experience as possible, Jeff, as a student, became very active by performing with every symphony orchestra in his local region. While studying at USC, he won the position of Orchestral Fellow with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra through the Lincoln Center based Music Assistance Fund (currently known as the Sphinx Organization).  Finally, in 1995, Grubbs was hired by Lorin Maazel to join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his orchestral achievements, he is also an accomplished jazz bassist. In 1986, he won Downbeat Magazine’s “Dee Bee” award for Best Collegiate Bass Soloist from a submittal of a recording of his work with the Youngstown State University Jazz Ensemble.  Grubbs has since performed with a number of touring internationally recognized jazz artists including Nat Adderly, Mose Allison, Terrence Blanchard, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Joe Lovano, Ellis Marsalis, Chris Potter, Diane Schur, Lonnie Smith, Ira Sullivan, Billy Taylor and Joe Williams.

Jeff has has served as a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon University, Florida International University, Clark-Atlanta University, the Brevard Music School and most recently, a one year position as the Associate Professor of Jazz Double Bass at the Univerisity of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.