How seven years and nearly 200 episodes of podcast interviews inspired the record The Art Of Conversation. Excerpts of conversations with Amy Cervini, Andre De Shields, Jorge Drexler, Kat Edmonson, Kurt Elling, John Fields, Larry Goldings, Tatum Greenblatt, Ryan Keberle, Jo Lawry, Orlando le Fleming, Adam Levy, Howard Levy, Anya Marina, Matt Munisteri, Ricky Peterson, Becca Stevens, Doug Wamble.
Singer, songwriter, educator Roxana Amed on the meaning of Ontology, the ongoing conversation between artist and audience, surrendering yourself to your art, how and why different languages swing, authenticity and freedom in music, and her native Argentina.
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Singer-songwriter SG Goodman on growing up in a farming family in Western Kentucky before becoming a beacon for the progressive south, how music in many ways saved her life when she had to leave her farm life behind, and also gave her a way to honor her family’s southern storytelling tradition, and how to maintain that Old Time Feeling (also the name of her debut album) in a modern world.
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Reflections on the life and legacy of Clyde Stubblefield, sometimes called the world’s most sampled drummer, on the occasion of what would have been his 78th birthday. Including interviews and live recordings with him going back to 1972.
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Saxophonist Bob Reynolds, at the crossroads of what’s happening and where am I going, on his influences, approach, playing with Snarky Puppy, John Mayer, the subtle but significant distinction between practice and the practice, what it means to make music with sincerity, and finding himself on tour in Spain and Italy last March just as Covid was descending on Europe.
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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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Journalist, writer, novelist, television show host, and the editor of Latin music coverage for Billboard magazine, Leila Cobo on her journey from classical musician (she moved from Colombia to the USA to study piano performance) to one of the world's foremost experts in Latin music, and her new book Decoding Despacito.
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Imogen Heap on some of the major moments in her storied career. “I’ve just done so many random things,” she says. Like making her first record when she was a teenager, forming Frou Frou with Guy Sigsworth and their unlikely post-factum success, writing the song “Hide and Seek” and bearing witness to its many lives; working with Taylor Swift and with Jeff Beck, composing the music for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, inventing new instruments and tech tools, and being a mom.
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Singer, songwriter, guitarist and iconic recording artist Boz Scaggs is in turns philosophical, rhapsodic, nostalgic, and matter of fact about the 1960s, his brief stint at the University of Wisconsin, his solo career, success, ambition, rhythm sections, songwriting, performing, and what he’s reading today.
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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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YouTuber, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, teacher Rick Beato on his personal journey, how he organizes his time, what motivates him and what inspires him, teaching “high information” music to children, making a living on YouTube, staying fresh, and walking the line between telling the story and being the story.
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Drummer, visual artist, filmmaker, teacher, composer, record producer Billy Martin on power of sincerity in music and in life, the importance of staying curious and being playful, what he calls the “world music view”, how “when you’re experimenting there is no such thing as perfection,” the similarities between music and visual art, why Instagram is such a useful tool for self expression, and what it means that "art is activated by the receiver".
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As Andres Levin will tell you, even he has trouble explaining his career and life in a succinct, organized, bite sized way. He’s a record producer, bandleader, filmmaker, composer, philanthropist, New Yorker, Venezuelan, Jew, funk practitioner, latin soul ambassador, big picture guy with a granular understanding of the mechanics of the business for over 30 years. Here he talks about learning how to produce, being comfortable in any room, discovering soul culture, programing synthesizers, and the mysteries mathematics of The Funk.
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Singer, rapper and entrepreneur Rexx Life Raj on his new EP California Poppy 2 (incidentally that is also the name of his new line of Cannabis products), growing up in Berkeley, discovering the world from the back of his parents’ delivery van, managing success & guilt, diversification, playing college football, finding the lane, building a brand, traveling around the world and giving back to his community.
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Singer, songwriter and composer Duncan Sheik on his career, his songwriting, technology in music, how meditating and chanting have helped him throughout the years, how becoming a father has influenced his work, his life in Covid and what it means to release music in these strange and trying times, and what exactly is Semiotics anyway.
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Johnny Brennan of the Jerky Boys on how he developed his characters, why his career was an unexpected success, the role of improvisation in his prank phone calls and how he knows when it’s a good one, what makes a classic skit, and why this was the right time to launch a comeback.
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Multi instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, arranger, video maker, surrealist, funk monkey, producer and personality Louis Cole on where he came from, what he’s doing now, and where he hopes to go. Along the way he touches on writing “nostalgic music that feels almost like a memory of something that never happened”, overcoming fear, being a better person, staying up late into the weird part of the night, “insanity music”, money, honesty, humor, the problem with 100bpm, YouTube Poop, and what Nate Wood, David Binney, Bob Mintzer, and Jack Conte have to do with any of it.
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Ben Sidran and I discuss the results of the 2020 election and how it relates to the beauty of old things, Tikun Olam (the Jewish concept of healing the world) as a response to a universal call from deep in the frontal cortex, “The cruelty of our own DNA”, Chaos theory, the future of small jazz clubs, and how “we are all survivors of chaos”. Plus, Les McCann’s recording of the song “Maxie’s Changes” (with the largely unknown tenor saxophone player Frank Haynes).
Keyboard master and singer-songwriter-bandleader Cory Henry on his early development playing music in church, learning to make music on Saturday night and on Sunday morning, how losing his parents at a young age affected his life and career, his experiences playing with saxophonist Kenny Garrett (Cory toured with Garrett at age 18), Snarky Puppy, and The Funk Apostles. Along the way he gives a master class on some of his favorite Gospel music, and an introspective explanation of much of the material on his new record.
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Musician, bandleader-arranger-composer, and YouTuber Brian Krock on the role of critical analysis in music, the “unintended consequences of the capitalist nature of music education,” what it means to improvise like a composer, how reading James Joyce influenced his relationship to listening to and writing music and led him to “create artwork that invites people to put forth some effort,” why he loves “to be actively involved in things that you're a beginner at,” his concerns about his “own memory and the world’s ability to focus,” and what happened to him after playing over 1000 performances of Dirty Dancing The Musical.
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