Leah Siegel made a commitment to live an artful life, "to be creative, to live inspired." Early on, she found her voice. A powerful, soul stirring, timeless singing voice that moved people and put her in touch with a "natural empathy". Here Leah tries to process the loss of her close friend, Tim Luntzel, and explains the impact of his death on her life, and questions what it means to have a good death.
Read MoreTheo Katzman is many things. An only child. The youngest of four. An earnest singer songwriter with a deep love of classic rock and a great turn of phrase. A funky groove machine in one of the most talked about funk-soul bands around. Here we talk Vulfpeck, Ann Arbor, Heartbreak Hits, Bob Dorough, Steely Dan, Long Island, Meditation, keeping a daily writing practice, what to eat on the road, and what's the deal with Plain Jane Heroine anyway.
Read MoreIn this rare extended conversation recorded in his childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio, Jack Stratton of Vulfpeck talks about growing up playing in a Klezmer band, creating Vulf, and why no one's looking up.
Read MoreThe fourth and final episode in the Settling the Underscore series, exploring music for advertising. Finally, after weeks of talking to composers, producers and editors, we hear from the musicians who made the glory days of the jingle business what they were. Bassist Will Lee, keyboard player Rob Mounsey, and guitar player Steve Khan. All three were part of a generation of players on the New York session scene in the 1970s and 1980s, sometimes playing on multiple projects every day.
Read MoreIn this third installment in a series of episodes about music in advertising former advertising executive Ken Yagoda, commercial music producer Mike Boris, and editor Maury Loeb layout the business from the advertising agency and editorial point of view, and explain who influences the music that gets chosen, how the business has changed and what the future holds.
Read MoreIn this, the second of a series that explores music in commercials, we talk to three freelance commercial composers. These are the often invisible, uncredited creators of music for advertising. How does one enter the business of writing music for advertising? Who are the people who thrive in that world? What skills are required? What is the lifestyle of the creative composer? How much rejection can one person stand? What is it like to be a woman in a boys club?
Read MoreIn this first of a series of episodes dedicated to the world of commercial music, two composer / entrepreneurs who have each put in their time on both the creative and business end of things talk about their careers and perceptions of the business. John “Scrapper” Sneider of Storefront Music, and Wendell Hanes of “Volition Sound”.
Read MoreSinger / songwriter Jonatha Brooke answers the hard questions: Can songwriting be taught? What is the future for independent songwriters? How much personal information is too much to share on social media? Why is she so self critical? What is it like to write songs with Katy Perry?
Read MoreOn this final installment of the Mob Town Tour series, we visit Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo. We look at how the arts are the appetite for life, how life on the road can change people, and why jazz is Talmudic. Plus Richie Cole tells us why he is "the luckiest guy I know".
Read MoreThe third installment of the Mob Town Tour. This week: Milwaukee! What does it mean to have a bunch of creative people leaning in the same direction, or speaking in the same accent, and what brings that on? Particularly today, is it possible retain local flavor and speak a regional dialect in a global world?
Read MoreThe second installment of the Mob Town Tour series settles in for a weekend at the Green Mill in Chicago. Notably, the club's owner Dave Jemilo explains why "we're not trying to be cool, we just are."
Read MoreThe first in a series of road documentaries capturing our journey, some conversations about it and what it means. Notably it features an in depth conversation with Minneapolis based jazz saxophone player Irv Williams, the oldest working jazz musician alive.
Read MoreMorgan James has a soulful voice. But although she has a classic sound, fed by by the likes of Chaka Khan, Nina Simone and Eva Cassidy, she has a modern career. Her path has been completely unexpected, unpredictable, and in some ways unbelievable.
Read MoreAuthor Peter Straub on jazz and fiction, improvisation and writing, how the past stays with us into the present, and how watching his Norwegian farmer relatives taught him how to write diligently.
Read MoreRyan Keberle on the legacy of trombone players and arrangers, how the instrument is undergoing a revolution today, what being a side man taught him about listening, and why all improvised music is a form of protest.
Read MoreDrummer David Garibaldi on why Oakland is the funky side of the Bay, the work ethic of Tower of Power, the Garibaldi family recipe for happiness and longevity, and why the book is still being written when it comes to his legacy.
Read MorePianist, drummer, trumpeter, educator, blogger, George Colligan on “creativity versus tradition”, jazz education, how standup comedy and jazz are similar, kids these days, playing with Jack DeJohnette, and why freedom is the gift of being a jazz musician.
Read MoreDrummer turned entrepreneur Ryan Gruss on building one of the most creative music production libraries around (The Loop Loft), developing the “Blue Note of drum loops” and the unusual journey to took to get there.
Read MoreMy father and I remember record producer Tommy LiPuma and play some previously unheard interviews with him. These particular stories talk about a time in his life that hasn’t been talked about too much - his childhood in Cleveland, how the radio was his best friend, and how music saved his life, and how being a barber got him to LA.
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