The multifaceted Ben Sidran on falling in love with bebop as a young boy, counter culture in the 1960s, jazz as a form of journalism, how to get paid like a musician, his proudest moments, writing a misunderstood rock and roll anthem, getting to Carnegie hall, facing fears, and what he learned from his heroes.

In this textured, rollicking, mezcal fueled conversation recorded on a hot summer night in Brooklyn, Richard Julian tells the story of how “a blue collar boy from Delaware” came to be one of the most celebrated songwriters of his generation in New York, watched some of his friends get famous and others get lost, and end up negotiating the ever shifting Brooklyn demographics as a club owner in Bed Stuy.

Donald Fagen on what’s so punk about Steely Dan, what’s so sweet about bebop, why making his first solo record was so personally disruptive to him, when he decided to finally grow up, and who he never wants to see again.

Singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Joey Dosik on maintaining the balance between classic and modern, working with Vulfpeck (“we look up to one another”), the value of practical application, what’s so great about Italian vowels, why basketball is good practice for life, why he never throws away a creative idea, and how he keeps his saxophone chops up.