The transcript of my interview with the trombonist Hillary Simms. The podcast, video and show notes are linked here as well.

Hillary Simms is a virtuosic Canadian trombone player with the esteemed American Brass Quintet and is on faculty at the Julliard School.

Hillary’s warmth and love of music comes through in this candid interview, from her childhood in Newfoundland to playing on the world’s biggest stages, and also the unusual situation she found herself in when  her engagement to her husband became a viral sensation in China. 

As the first woman to join the Amercian Brass Quintet since 1960,  Hillary spoke to me about gender disparity in the brass world and some of her strong female role models.  

 Hillary shares wonderful insights for all of us, whether you pursue music as a career or follow a different path,  of the need to have self-compassion and have an awareness of the big picture of your life. 

Hillary has performed as a soloist a couple of times with my orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and you’ll hear us talk about the arc of her career so far as a chamber musician, soloist, educator and busy freelancer. We decided to delay the release of this episode slightly in order to include a wonderful recent recording of the Amercian Brass Quintet, a movement from David Biedenbender’s wonderful work Sacred Geometry. This is the first recording of the group with Hillary performing,  and you’ll find more information and links

This is the transcript of my interview with James McGowan, a solo and collaborative pianist at home in jazz, classical and improvised musics. The podcast and video versions of this episode are linked here along with the show notes. The 14-member James McGowan Ensemble has just released its jazz-classical fusion album Reaching Out, the companion to the previous album Reaching In, and this episode features some of the music from this beautiful project as well as from his jazz-fusion group Modasaurus. Besides James’ work as a composer and pianist, he’s also a Theory Professor, and choral direcctor, and has served as Carleton University Chair in Teaching Innovation in developing experiences in the arts on campus and in the community. James is so passionate about sharing his love of music and I trust you’ll find this an uplifting conversation.

The transcript to my interview with Thomas Cabaniss. The Podcast and Video versions as well as show notes are linked here as well. Thomas Cabaniss is a wonderful American composer of works for opera, theater, dance, film and the concert stage, and also a visionary Teaching Artist. He’s been a member of the faculty of the Julliard School since 1998, and leads the Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall, serving young parents in shelters, hospitals and prisons with collaboratively created songs for their children. We talk about all this and much more, inluding his work creating Carnegie Hall’s Link Up. I was curious about these many facets to Thomas’ life as both a composer and educator, and you’ll find this episode has gorgeous, inspiring music , as well as great stories from his diverse career as a Teaching Artist, working with music educators, students of all ages, and meaningful outreach in the community.

The transcript of my interview with Pierre Chrétien, who is a Canadian bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and composer who has had international success with his bands The Souljazz Orchestra, Atlantis Jazz Ensemble and his project Cinephonic, and in this episode you’ll learn about all of these and hear highlights from some of these albums on the Marlow Records label. Pierre shares how left his career as an Engineer to devote himself to a full-time career as a performer. The podcast, video and shownotes are all linked here.

The transcript to my interview with British guitarist Edison Herbert. The podcast, video and show notes are linked here as well. We are featuring his compositions from a couple of his albums and you’ll learn about his personal journey in music that has led to his career as a full-time performer. He talked to me about some of his mentors and influences including George Benson, and his perspectives as a Black artist navigating the music scene in the UK. I found him to be warmly engaging and candid and we circled around to topics that impact all of us, such as dealing with self-knowledge, creativity, and the need to be persistent and keep true to what’s important to us .

This is the transcript of my interview with the Euclid Quartet. The Podcast and Video versions are linked here, along with the shownotes. This world-class string quartet is celebrating their 25th anniversary with a fantastic album of short pieces, entitled Breve, and we are featuring several pieces from that album as part of this episode. In this conversation you’ll get to know each member of the quartet, which is in residence at Indiana University South Bend. I was curious to learn more about the many roles the quartet plays in their capacities as performers, educators and collaborators, and to hear them speak about the special joys and challenges of being members of a full-time quartet.

The full transcript of my interview with J. Walter Hawkes. The podcast, video and show notes are linked here. J. Walter Hawkes is a 4-time Emmy-winning composer for the PBS series Peg + Cat and Wonder Pets, is a renowned jazz trombone player, and also performs as a jazz vocalist, ukulele player, and pianist. As a young man, he survived a horrible accident which changed the course of his life. We talk about this and his mentors including the legendary Slide Hampton, how he got into composing for Blues Clues, and many hilarious and heart-warming personal stories. Those of you who listened to my episode with Pat Irwin will remember his album Wide Open Sky with Walter, and we’re featuring two pieces from that album in this episode along with an impromptu performance of Cole Porter’s Get Out of Town. Walter’s love of adventure really comes through in this conversation, and it’s really inspiring to hear how he’s built such an interesting career in music.

The transcript of my episode with the brilliant and engaging keyboard player and composer Kait Dunton; the podcast and video with shownotes and image gallery are linked here as well.

This is the transcript of my interview with Jack Hui Litster. The podcast, video and show notes are linked here as well. This conversation explores different ways to make a living as a musician, achieving a flow state, some of the positive impacts of technology, and the importance of finding a work-life balance. Jack has developed a satisfying creative career after some interesting twists and turns. In this episode, you’ll learn about his experiences as a jazz drummer, his pivot into international development, and his path back to composing, producing and recording music in different styles.

Mark Ferguson is a jazz pianist, trombonist, composer, arranger, producer and music educator. This is the transcript, and the podcast and video versions are linked: In this episode you get to hear him perform 3 of his original compositions on piano. We talk about his mentors, perspectives on music education and the interesting twists and turns in his varied career. He’s performed with many of the world’s great artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Gil Evans, Aretha Franklin, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Holly Cole and Manteca.

The full transcript of my conversation with Kelly Thoma, lyra player. The podcast and video versions are linked. This is a wide-ranging conversation which includes Kelly’s personal story of becoming a musician after training as a dancer, Cretan culture, the influence of Ross Daly and the Labyrinth Musical Workshop, and her many joyful musical collaborations.

Adam Blau is a composer and songwriter based in Los Angeles who has written the music for Netflix’s hit series Dead to Me (which I love), the Academy Award nominated short My Year of Dicks, and many other projects including You’re the Worst and Brockmire. In this wide-ranging conversation punctuated by music used with permission, we talked about many things including Adam’s many musical influences growing up in New York City, his work for the Fred Rogers Institute and his reflections as a parent. He has wonderful advice for composers interested into breaking into the film industry and shared some of his creative process with us. Adam is a warm and engaging musician with a real love for music across many genres; he shares how he pivoted from working as a performer to composing full-time, and we explored many of his diverse projects. Like all my episodes, this is available as a podcast on your favourite podcast player, a video on YouTube, and this transcript.

Complete transcript to my episode with Pat Irwin, linked to the podcast and video. Pat Irwin is a renowned film and television composer; some of his scores include Dexter: New Blood, Rocko’s Modern Life, Pepper Ann, and Nurse Jackie. He’s also a multi-instrumentalist who was a member of the B52s for 18 years; he founded The Raybeats and 8 Eyed Spy, and more recently the band SUSS of which I’m a fan. Pat also teaches film composition at NYU, and this conversation wove it’s way into important topics for all of us: a life well-lived, grief, the importance of creativity and of having a good hang.

Full transcript for interview with Colleen Allen, a multi-instrumentalist jazz musician, who is a versatile and expressive performer based in Toronto, Canada. In this conversation, we talked about her perspectives on evaluating priorities, rising to new challenges, collaboration, teaching improvisation, and the physical challenges of playing so many different instruments. Colleen’s candid warmth and love of music really shine through in this wide-ranging conversation.

This is the transcript of my in-depth conversation with virtuoso violinist Kerson Leong; it is linked to the podcast and video versions of the episode. I was thrilled to have this fascinating conversation with Kerson, who is as eloquent in his musicality as in the way he talks about music and violin playing. I trust that a broad audience will take inspiration from this wide-ranging discussion.