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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Comedian Nate Craig on the parallels between music and comedy, what is the “job” of a comic, how “what’s funny” has changed over the last 25 years, the “contract” between audiences and comics, how he got started and what it means to be successful as a comic today.
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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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Guitarist Lionel Loueke on growing up in Benin, discovering the guitar and eventually jazz by way of a George Benson record, making his way out of Africa, through France, to America, finding his voice and his style, how he sees his contribution as a teacher, and much more.
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Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist producer/composer Tyler Duncan on “just how rich the world sounds”, how producing a project is like “being the surrogate parent” of the music, and how when it comes to making pop music, “You can’t mold yourself to a moving target.” Plus, more Vulfpeck origin stories.
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Advice from friends and family ranging in age from 10 to 93 about how to stay young, what makes a meaningful life, ambition, desire, fear, success and music.
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Martin Sexton on his new release (2020 Vision), his origin story, the musical journey that he’s been on now for over 30 years, the tension between art and mortgage payments, how "people connect to honesty", The American Dream, and how songs, like produce, grow naturally, as he says it, “out of shit.”
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Mike Errico on his personal story, as well as his new book, Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter. In our talk we considered such questions as “what is a song?”, what is means to make something non trivial and undeniable, the important distinction between how things act versus what they are, the fallacy of Art, the search for timelessness, what is melodic math, and what do Ani DiFranco, The Beatles, Billie Eilish, or McDonalds have to do with any of it.
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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.”
In this bonus episode, actor, author, poet, director, screenwriter, narrator of films, and Zen Buddhist priest Peter Coyote talks about Buddhism, the "JewBu" phenomenon, the distinction between suffering and affliction, the limitations of language, the True Self, why it's so difficult to speak about attachment, the creative process, and his newfound passion for poetry.
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Singer songwriter hairdresser amateur photographer schtick enthusiast Monica Martin talks about discovering her musical talent in her late teens, what it means to be “Wisconsin sober”, the complex and delicate dynamics of her first band Phox, her mental health struggles, why it’s so expensive to be poor, the many ways that she has had to integrate in her life, staying in bed all day, the influence of Fiona Apple and Billie Holiday on her music, working with James Blake, Vulfpeck, Scary Pockets and how being a hairdresser is similar to being a therapist (but much less well paid).
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“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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Family musicians Dan + Claudia Zanes on their new record, and their new life in Baltimore, what they see as their responsibility as folk singers, artists and advocates, what they describe as the “racial pandemic in America”, how to practice productive antiracism, coming from “two different worlds”, the work-life balance in a creative partnership, and what artisanal soaps have to do with any of it.
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