Tal Yahalom is an award-winning jazz guitarist and composer who has just released a compelling quintet album, Mirror Image  with  refreshingly unique instrumentation: violin, cello, percussion, sax and flute and both nylon-string and electric guitar. You’ll be hearing excerpts from the album and hear about Tal’s creative process and collaborators including percussioninst Rogerio Boccato and David Leon on sax and flute. Tal told me about some great advice he got from Pat Metheny, whom he met  when Tal won the Detroit Jazz Festival National Guitar Competition, and the invaluable guidance of key mentors throughout his education and career. Tal recently came back from musically immersive travels in Brazil and Argentina, and it was inspiring to hear about his experiences their as well as hear about several of his collaborators,  including his band KADAWA, and we’re featuring a track from their new album as well. Towards the end of this interview, Tal shared some personal reflections on his new duo with vocalist Danielle Wertz, and some very wise insights into student-centered learning, which I think apply quite broadly, not just to music.  Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript

Naomi Moon Siegel is an award-winning trombonist, improvisor, composer and educator. In this episode we’re highlighting her beautiful sextet album Shatter the Glass Sanctuary, and you’ll hear her reflections on the valuable mentorship process with Allison Miller and brilliant collaborators including Marina Albero and Ray Larsen. Naomi reflected on her journey finding a supportive musical community, overcoming injury, and how she’s advocated for intersectional gender justice for many years through her workshops for fellow educators and music students.  We talked about some of her mentors including Kristen Strom, Wayne Horwitz, and her duo project the Syrinx Effect with Kate Olson. Naomi shared how her career path has been shaped by personal decisions and outlook,  some of her experiences on several inspiring trips, as well as how she’s able to find grounding and inspiration in both her new physical landscape in Montana and her new emotional landscape as a parent. 

 Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript.

Brittany Haas is widely regarded as one of the most influential fiddlers of her generation. In this wide-ranging conversation you’ll be hearing about her early career, touring with Darol Anger at age 14, the bands Croooked Still, Hawktail and Punch Brothers with Chris Thile. She reflected on the challenges and thrill of a touring life, the Nashville scene, her teaching through Artistworks, and dynamics of being a woman in Bluegrass. We talked about mentors Bruce Molsky and Tony Trishka, her time at Princeton studying Evolutionary Biology, and the need for self-care and boundaries. 

We are featuring music from several of her albums, including her recent projects with sister Natalie and the Swedish musician Lena Jonsson.

 Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript.

Mark Deutsch is a brilliant and unique musician who has devoted the last 3 decades of his life to his instrument the Bazantar, which is unique to him. There is only one Bazantar, which is a double bass hybrid with elements of the sitar:  it has 6 main strings, 4 drone strings, and 29 sympathetic strings. Mark grew up as a multi-instrumentalist, but primarily a classical, jazz and rock bass player, and gave up a successful career as a performer to devote himself to the Bazantar. While studying sitar with Ustad Imrat Khan, Mark begin delving into the universal fundamentals of music and its underlying frequency structures. The nonlinear mathematical patterns that exist in sound are found universally in the natural world, includeng seashells, and Mark goes into some of the math of the overtone series in some detail, as well as fascinating specifics of how the Bazantar and his playing of it have evolved.  You’ll hear Mark talk about how he developed his patented engineering solution to construct a separate housing for the sympathetic strings. In this episode, Mark demonstrated live, and also is sharing not only excerpts from previously released recordings, but a preview from an upcoming album.