Richard J. Davidson had an intuition early on: the mind was fundamental to the human experience. “If we wanted to promote a different way of seeing the world, we needed to change our minds.” Here he outlines his personal journey and how it intersects with his work, why he sees this as a crucial moment for humanity and what mind training can do to help, why “reality is a movie”, how his relationship with the Dalai Lama has informed his choices, what it means to meditate with compassion, and what jazz bassist Charles Mingus has to do with any of this. 

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Chris Potter is an incredibly influential saxophone player. Downbeat Magazine has called him “one of the most studied (and copied) saxophonists on the planet”. In this introspective and philosophical conversation he talks about art, the search for something new, what motivates him today, what he sees as his role, responsibility and contribution to the history of jazz.

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Writer David Maraniss on his process, approach, technique, and the values that inform his work. What does it mean to be a nonfiction story teller?  Where does he feel most at home? When is it time to go swimming? Why is the lost art of letter writing so important to historians. Can we really ever really know what someone else is thinking? 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Singer, songwriter & pianist Ben Thornewill on what it means to be successful, maintaining a productive and creative life, the existential crisis of coming off the road, putting in the work, introducing classical elements into pop music, and the importance of Bourbon to Kentuckians.  

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Performer (and recent Tony winner) André De Shields on growing up in Baltimore (he calls himself “lucky number nine”), a career spanning five decades “on the precipice of the abyss” (i.e. as a performer) and the secret to his longevity: “I exercise vigorously, I eat judiciously, and I pray constantly.”

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Soul and R&B singer Eli “Paperboy” Reed on surviving in the record business, standing behind your choices, grappling with ambition, playing in juke joints, and reaching the age where you’re not new anymore.

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Food writer Melissa Clark on managing the commercial realities of writing and marketing recipes (“I feel like I am constantly walking on that line”), making friends with ingredients (“the anchovy is my bad boyfriend”), dealing with anxiety (“my way of coping with it is to be very very busy”), falling in love with your teachers, what makes food a way that we can change the social structure of the world, why deadlines are lifelines, how much of her personal experiences to reveal in her writing, and when to walk away from the cookie dough.

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Singer-songwriter /  web series superstar Anya Marina how her Russian mother never taught her how to say the word “water” correctly, why she’s committed to “experiencing something together with my audience,”  what makes her a good storyteller, and that “when a thought becomes an obsession, that’s when you know you’ll make a change”.

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Singer, songwriter and actress Sophie Auster on was like to grow up in a literary household, starting her career at a young age, confronting and overcoming insecurity, holding herself to a high standard, and what it means to be a “jewegian”.

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Kassa Overall on the intersection of jazz and hip-hop, the importance of getting “comfortable with being bored so you can get better at your instrument”, the relationship between great drumming and the sounds of nature, how growing up far away from the “scene” gave him a strong sense of personal identity, and what it takes to be a “cat who is going for it”. 

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Saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart on his creative journey through multicultural identity, authenticity, and how “the artist is first and foremost someone who has the guts to be himself”.

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Pianist Aaron Parks on composition (“I love perfect asymmetry”), mathematics, thinking about touch, and no longer being the youngest person in the room.  

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Pianist, composer and educator Kenny Werner on his life and career, the Effortless Mastery phenomenon, coming to terms with his own wisdom, and his newest record The Space, a solo piano project informed by his own teachings. He says, “Today I get a bigger kick from helping people with whatever wisdom I have than I do from playing. I finally accepted I have a wisdom that can really be useful. As musicians we’re not used to doing something that’s useful.”

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Pianist, composer, educator and recording artist Fred Hersch on how the scene has changed over the years (“people drink less now”), learning to be gracious (“the audience needs to have their experience independent of how you feel about it”), education (“You can spend $200,000 on a jazz performance degree and not make that much money in the next 10 years”), songwriting (“I try to write tunes”), self reflection (““If I want to be the person I can be, I can’t worry about what people think”) and much more.

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Saxophonist Rick Margitza on what it was like to be thrust into the jazz limelight overnight, working with Miles Davis, moving to France, dividing the octave and choosing the right note.

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