In this episode, we talk about Chuck’s excellent album Oshki Manitou, which expands his work as a trumpet player, arranger, and composer. He’s woven together ceremonial sweat-lodge melodies with jazz, funk, dance and electronica and this episode features tracks from that album. He’s such a powerfully lyrical trumpet player, and you’ll be deeply touched to hear his inspiring story of moving through trauma and addiction to helping others through counseling and music.

Frank Horvat is an acclaimed Canadian composer and pianist whose music has been featured on over 20 albums. In this episode you’ll hear how he has forged meaningful collaborations with a wide range of musicians internationally, and found and given solace to audiences through his focus on themes of mental health, the climate crisis, and social justice. Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website

Guy Donis grew up in Belgium, where he had fallen in love with the banjo and proceeded to dedicate his life to it. In this episode, he describes how he taught himself 5 string banjo, learned about Bluegrass, and expanded his musical horizons by collaborating with jazz and classical musicians. He immigrated to Canada many years ago, and is well-known in the Montreal music scene. He has toured Canada extensively with Notre Dame de Grass and other bands, and in this episode he talks about his newest project, the Montreal Bluegrass League, and a track from their latest album is included in this podcast. Some tracks from his two trio albums are also included earlier in this episode, in which you can hear Guy’s progressive jazz-influenced original music. Like all my episodes, this is available as a podcast, video, and transcript, all linked here.

Jeeyoon Kim is a very special concert pianist who has opened meaningful connections to new audiences through her innovative concerts, albums, podcast, and now her book “Whenever You’re Ready”. You’ll learn how she sold out her Carnegie Hall debut recital without knowing one person in New York, without an agent or winning a competition. She’s generously shared 3 tracks from some of her albums that punctuate this episode, and please head over to her website which linked in the description. I was so honoured when Jeeyoon agreed to be part of this series, because I knew her wisdom, personal story and her music making would resonate strongly with you.

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.

For this first episode of Season 4, I welcome the violinist, author and coach Jennifer Roig-Francoli. We talk about her newly released  book, “Make Great Music with Ease! The Secret to Smarter Practice, Confident Performance, and Living a Happier Life”, and Jennifer’s The Art of Freedom Method which incorporates the mind-body skills of the Alexander Technique. This episode also features excerpts from her solo violin album, Solo con Spirito, with music of Kreisler, Enescu and Bach.

Jennifer had the opportunity to study with Nathan Milstein, Josef Gingold and Stanley Ritchie  and has had an interesting career as a performer, including with Appollo’s Fire. We talk about performing barefoot at Carnegie Hall, travels to India, and in Jennifer’s words” how you do one thing is how you do everything”. I myself have been helped by different mind-body practices including the Alexander Technique to address habitual tensions in my own life.

I trust this inspiring and helpful episode will be of help to you, both musical performers and not, because the content of this discussion addresses universal challenges for all of us.  Like all my episodes, you can listen to the podcast, watch the video, or read the transcript, all linked here.

The innovative sitarist and composer Mohamed Assani is featured in this episode, linked here is the podcast, video and transcript. Mohamed demonstrates on both sitar and tabla, speaks to me both about his own journey as a musician and about the history of the sitar and South Asian music. In this conversation a couple of compositions from his album Wayfinder are featured. Wayfinder inco rporates a range of stylistic influences, including South Asian Classical, Middle Eastern, jazz, funk, Western Classical, ambient & electronic music. Mohamed shares his perspectives as an educator and creator: “So sitar to me will always be a challenge, right? Music is bigger than us, I believe. So if I can do something like that, what do I learn from it? It just gives me a lot of things to reflect about me as a person. So you start having these kinds of conversation with yourself, and once you accept that whoever you are is going to show on the stage, and that happens, right? So then maybe you start fine tuning some aspects of yourself.”

Ceara Conway is an Irish contemporary vocalist and visual artist, and this episode features music from her album CAOIN as well as excerpts from some of her other projects. I find Ceara’s curiosity about so many important topics around arts and culture really inspiring and this conversation circled around to her explorations of different languages and cultures as well as her rootedness as an Irish speaker. The podcast, video and transcript are linked here.

EmmoLei Sankofa is a an American composer, producer, musician, and artist whose work spans music, visual media, and fine art. In this episode we focused on her original music for Hulu's The Other Black Girl, the film score for Three Ways and her project Geometry, and we talked about her unique use of morse code in her compositions, and the benefits of limitations in creative work, and so much more! The podcast and video versions of this interview along with the transcript are all linked here.

This week’s episode is with the award-winning GRAMMY-nominated harpist and composer Kirsten Agresta Copely. Kirsten has had a really diverse career, starting with rigorous classical training as a young child, an illustrious career as an internationally touring solo harpist, and then a contrasting career performing with pop and rap icons such as Beyonce, JayZ, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and so many more famous artists, lots of studio work, and as a composer and arranger. In this wide-ranging conversation we talked about dealing with grief, ways of dealing with stress and anxiety, and many insights from Kirsten’s unique path through the music industry, including as an educator and mentor. This episode features a lot of her beautiful and soothing music.

This week’s episode is a special double episode with the jazz piano duo of Peter Hum and Steve Boudreau, who have recently released their album Nonlinear Blues. Peter and Steve performed three of their original tunes for this podcast and we’ve also included some of their other compositions from their respective discographies, and in terms of the conversation, it was a wide-ranging dialogue with interesting insights from their contrasting careers, Peter primarily as a music and food journalist, and Steve as an educator and performer across many different styles. We got into restaurant culture, how to memorize music, and the importance of encouraging creativity and individuality. At it's core, this is an episode very much about the importance of supporting and encouraging each other.

Violinist Jeremy Mastrangelo is a wonderful colleague of mine in Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. He’s known in our greenroom as a great storyteller, onstage as an excellent musician, and having heard him give brilliant masterclasses I can attest to his excellence as an educator as well. This episode is infused with Jeremy’s wit and wisdom as well as a couple of beautiful violin performances. We talk about violin shopping in Cremona, teenage life at Interlochen Academy, the difficulties and joys of a career as an orchestral musician, family, and the benefits of deepening our understanding of the composers we play. You will find that one of the wonderful stories in this episode, reveals an unexpected discovery!

In-depth interview with accordion virtuoso Michael Bridge; the podcast and video versions feature a lot of great music and the transcript is linked here as well. In this wide-ranging conversation, Michael spoke to me about how best to engage with audiences, the subtleties intrinsic to programming digital accordion sounds, and how to forge lasting relationships. Michael was awarded his Doctorate of Musical Arts from University of Toronto, and is a prize-winning soloist and chamber musician who tours worldwide. This is also an episode which features many novel sounds you won’t have heard before from an accordion, and also music with the groups Bridge and Wolak and the Ladom Ensemble.

Today’s guest is the Emmy-winning songwriter, singer, and producer Kat Raio Rende. Together with her husband JP Rende she has a successful songwriting and production company Earworm Music company. This episode is a fascinating window into the world of music for children’s tv shows, jingles, working with celebrities, and music production in general. Kat’s infectious delight in music, composition, and singing as well as her personal story and perspectives as a parent will fascinate listeners everywhere.

Margaret Maria is a wonderful cellist who’s a unique composer. Her compositions are all written by layering cello lines in some gorgeous and emotive aural tapestries. Her personal story is interesting and moving: she started the cello as a teenager, was admitted to the University of Toronto at age 16 without graduating from high school, and was then admitted to the prestigious Curtis Institute. She went on to have a successful career as a member of the Vancouver Symphony and then Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, which is how I came to know her. She gave up her job with the NAC after a few years, and embarked on a new life as a composer, meanwhile continuing to teach. Some of her work as an educator has been with the Orkidstra program, which she has been involved with since it’s inception in 2007. It’s a social development program that serves over 650 youth from over 62 linguistic and cultural backgrounds by building community through free music programs. This episode has a lot of powerful music, and inspiring insights on musical education and expression.

In this episode, you get to hear the brilliant and engaging keyboard player and composer Kait Dunton in both conversation and a mini theory workshop on her hit tune This One’s For You! In this wide-ranging conversation, we talked about her early days with Snarky Puppy, recording the soundtrack to A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, her love of vintage keyboards and the challenges they present, and her unique approach to teaching which has been influenced by her mentor John D’earth. Kait has gained a huge following on social media like Instagram and TikTok, so I was curious to get her perspectives on connecting with her fans, and dealing with necessary boundaries. Kait’s new album Keyboards features the sounds of the 1970s and we got into some of her influences and her personal journey to becoming a full-time performer.

The Canadian performer and composer Jack Hui Litster 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. There is a lot of music featured in the episode as well; the podcast, video and transcript are all linked here.

Jah’Mila: Rooted in Reggae and Connecting with New Audiences

Linked here are the podcast, video and transcript for this in-depth interview with the Reggae artist Jah’Mila which also features tracks from her album Roots Girl.

Kara Talve and Anže Rozman are composers with Bleeding Fingers Music and together wrote with Hans Zimmer the acclaimed score to the incredible tv series Prehistoric Planet. I was so impressed by this series, and the first part of this episode digs into the unique instruments that were created for this powerful score, and the other part of this episode is a personal and in-depth conversation with Kara and Anže about their lives. They shared their individual stories about challenges, mentors, and have great advice for younger composers. You can listen to the podcast, watch the video, read the transcript and check out the bonus tracks, all linked here.

I had a lot of fun stitching together some of the many highlights from this Season 3 so far, in a 10 minute compilation in which I've included clips from every full episode in 2023 so far! It’s time for my summer break, but the podcast will be back September 2nd with a special episode with two composers who are life partners and also work together with Hans Zimmer at Bleeding Fingers Music. Anže Rozman and Kara Talve will inspire you with both the music of Prehistoric Planet and their personal stories, insights and compositions.