Singer, songwriter and pianist Laila Biali on her career, what it’s like being married to her closest collaborator, motherhood, loyalty, leaving New York to return to her native Canada, leaning into limitations, and how the pandemic led her to renew her “vows to music.”
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Harpist Brandee Younger on her new record Brand New Life, her journey from orchestra girl to emerging icon, the challenges of playing the harp in a contemporary context, and why she’s done running from the harp police and the jazz police.
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Saxophonist Ben Wendel on his new record All One, his desire to connect and to belong, his ongoing negotiation with technology, and how his personal experience during the pandemic influenced his music. Plus, learning the ineffable wisdom of his elders in the music.
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Keyboardist John Medeski on the healing power of music, what attracted him to the piano as a boy, his creative and professional development (playing in bar bands as a teenager in Florida, studying at NEC in Boston, moving to New York), developing Medeski, Martin & Wood, learning from nature, and the moment in 1996 when MMW discovered their jam-band audience.
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Saxophonist, educator and composer Walter Smith III on his early development, the Houston sound, his thoughts on education, practice, improvisation, leadership, raising a family as a musician, meeting your heroes, and LA real estate.
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Singer songwriter Michelle Willis on how she thinks about her music and her career, how working extensively with David Crosby has affected her, how collaborating with Becca Stevens, Mike League, Louis Cato have informed her journey, what the process of working with producer Fab Dupont was like, her childhood in Canada, her songwriting process, imposter syndrome, getting the right “blend”, the job of the songwriter, reading poetry, and whether or not it’s okay to be comfortable.
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Vocalist Lauren Henderson on growing up one of the few people of color in a small New England town, playing varsity Field hockey, deciding to become a jazz singer, discovering her latin roots, managing her mental health, what she learned in business school, working with Sullivan Fortner, how to book a tour, embracing imperfection, and managing her online identity.
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Keyboardist/singer/producer Jake Sherman on his love of the hammond organ and Weird Al Yankovic, surrealist comedy, finding his lane, learning to sing, what he learned from Dr. Lonnie Smith, why LA is too sunny, making friends with social media, and why he keeps saying ladies’ names in his songs.
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Saxophonist Melissa Aldana on growing up in Chile, her journey to America, practicing, teaching, numerology, playing the blues, “the gender thing”, learning to embrace imperfection, her new record “12 Stars”, her idea of success, and what she values most in music: sound, time and ideas.
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Singer-songwriter David Poe is a kind of Zelig-like figure who appears where you least expect him, and somehow manages to fit right in wherever he shows up. Talking to Poe, one is reminded that at their best, songwriters are popular philosophers. Rather than creating a diversion from everyday life, they illuminate the human struggle, and elevate the human experience. Here he talks about his philosophy on song-craft, collaboration, art and commerce, New York in the 90s (he worked at CBGBs Gallery for years) and why his new motto is “don’t hate fun”.
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Trumpeter, vocalist and composer Amir ElSaffar on his ongoing search for the ecstatic by way of what he describes as the human “sea of connectivity”, how working with Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Cecil Taylor influenced him, the value of coming of age in Chicago, and how his Zen Buddhist practice has helped him to “lift the veil” between his sense of what’s outside of him and what’s inside.
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Trumpet player / composer / bandleader Adam O’Farrill on belonging to a rich musical legacy, how video games, literature and most of all the films of PT Anderson have informed his work, the hazy lines around labels and categories, the importance of making space for other musicians to support one another, and how he strives to remove “the external” from his playing.
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Trumpet player and singer Benny Benack III on “the relentless commitment of playing trumpet”, the value of stagecraft, jam session etiquette, keeping old songs fresh, why he’s sometimes accused of being “too entertaining”, how come he takes his trumpet on dates, and what he calls “the elephant in the room.”
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Madison McFerrin calls herself a soul singer because she sings the music of the soul. She says “I originally thought I was just going to be an artist who showed up… but if you don’t adjust now you’re going to fall behind. The music industry is changing more rapidly than pretty much any other industry.”
“Legendary” drummer Nate Smith on the technical, emotional, strategic, mystical, unpredictable aspects to music and a life in music, how where you come from affects how you sound, the value and values of great leadership, the influence of other drummer-bandleaders on his conception, what he learned from working with Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Brittany Howard, Fearless Flyers, Betty Carter and Jose James, and what the internet taught him about his own playing.
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Jon Lampley knows how to “get in where you fit in.” He’s been doing it since he was a boy in an Ohio suburb, spending his week as “the only black kid at school” and his Sundays at Apostolic church in Akron, learning to play gospel music and call the spirit down. We spoke recently about growing up in two worlds, learning to play “unnecessarily soulful melodies” and call on the deep well of musical emotion that he learned in church, what he looks for in a collaborator and why he thinks he gets called so much, how he practices and prepares, and why “music is the vehicle.”
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Guitarist Julian Lage on his new record, Squint (his first on Blue Note), how he handled youthful exceptionalism (he was a child prodigy), the connection between the artist and the audience, his philosophy of record making, and how he thinks about notes as having the weight of speech. He says, “I want it to feel like I’m talking to you when I play.”
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Singer-composer Michael Mayo on managing his relationship with social media, which he describes as finding the “balance between staying sane and being seen”, the subtle space between practice and performance, live looping, bi erasure, the “syllables discussion” in jazz singing, generational trauma, his new record Bones, discernment, and living a life authentically without labels.
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In March 2020, just as the world was closing under the advancing cloud of Covid 19, I spoke to a handful of musician friends from around the world to hear how they were doing and to explore some of the pressing questions around the shutdown and the arts.
One year later, I check in with (almost) all of them to hear what the last year has been like for them, what were the challenges and opportunities of the first Covid year, and how they see the future.
Italian singer Gege Telesforo, saxophonist John Ellis, bassist Joe Dart (sort of), guitarist Adam Levy, trombonist Ryan Keberle, artist manager Andrew Leib, singer songwriter Victoria Canal, artist and advocate Ari Herstand, guitarist Lage Lund, mud trudging songwriter Joy Dragland and funk magician Charlie Hunter (in his way) all weigh in.
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Drummer Eric Harland tells his incredible story of growing up in Houston and how he came to weigh 400lbs by the time he was 16 (he eventually lost the weight in college), attending the Manhattan School of Music, becoming an ordained minister, living with singer Betty Carter during the last year of her life, learning from legendary mentors, and exploring “time”. He also shares his thoughts on practice, community, natural wine, and what you can learn about a person by how they drive.
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