A tradition among jazz musicians is bringing along younger players, giving them a chance to mature and grow their skills as well as their love of playing. The tradition plays itself out in many ways, such as in jam sessions, university jazz programs, and private lessons, but also through organizations like the Hilton Head Island Junior Jazz Foundation. Kevin is on the board and this year again, assembled five young musicians from around the country to perform for audiences, first at the Velvet Note jazz club outside of Atlanta then in Hilton Head for the annual Junior Jazz Foundation celebration. Kevin and Mike talk about the uniqueness of the jazz community, which includes supporters and audiences, as well as musicians, in how welcoming they are and dedicated to nurturing new, young talent—and about the lifelong relationships those assemblies lead to.

Russell Malone was not only a world-class jazz guitarist but someone known for reaching out to other musicians, showing interest in them, and encouraging them, as he did so frequently with our podcast host Kevin Bales early in his career. Kevin shares some memories of his times with Russell and talks about mentoring and music, and how common it is for great players like Russell to mentor the up-and-coming.

Persistence: You won’t get far without it. Learning to play music well is hard; progress can be slow, very slow; you can be tempted to quit. Kevin and Mike share experiences of their own as well as stories of some of the greatest musicians of all time, including Charlie Parker and Ludwig von Beethoven, and how they worked to overcome obstacles and persisted when it might have been easier to give up.

It’s not easy to learn to play music, especially to learn how to play well. It takes a great deal of work—we call it practice—and practicing in a way that leads to meaningful progress. As well, the more you learn, that is, the better you play, the more work it takes to make progress. You also learn by making mistakes, and if you make mistakes on the job, that’s a hard lesson; it can be humbling. That’s where your resiliency comes into play. So yes, learning to play teaches you to be resilient, which will help you learn to play well, and when you learn to play well, it’s a joy for life.

The relationship between player and instrument can be life-long. You might go through several instruments as you learn to play and learn what you like in your instrument, but once you find the one, it’s a marriage that endures. Some players even assign names and genders to their instruments. On a recent trip to the Steinway factory in New York, Kevin was hosted for a tour of the entire facility and was able to observe the craftsmen and women as they built some of the world’s finest pianos. What makes a great instrument and how do instruments, in particular pianos, differ? These insights will be particularly enlightening to people looking to buy a piano.

A Joyful Sound As a child taking piano lessons, Joe Alterman was impressed, more so bowled over, by a guitar player named Doc Watson and his boogie style. From those seeds emerged the joyful sound that characterizes Joe’s playing. Among his idols, his mentors, was the incomparable Les McCann. Much of Joe’s work today, including a recent album, “Big Mo & Little Joe,” and several ongoing projects, involves giving new life to the incredible wealth of music McCann created.

Matt Miller, a native of the Philadelphia area and a graduate of the heralded The New School in New York City, is a busy member of the Atlanta jazz community, featured regularly in various combinations of musicians, from trios to big bands. Matt talks about his responsibilities as a performer to his fellow players and his audiences, and how learning to play music teaches his young students responsibility and other life lessons. 

Jazz Vocalist and Music Educator Karla is in the midst of an admirable career, not only as a performer and recording artist with top billing at some of the country’s most notable venues and festivals but also as an educator ensuring that future generations have access to the arts. Well-known for her performances, she has also been recognized now for her work in the area of education as one of Atlanta Magazine’s “Women Making a Mark in 2024.”

Joe Gransden has built his brand on multiple levels, perhaps best known as big band leader, heading up the 16-piece group of jazz musicians that filled Café 290 on Monday nights for more than 12 years and continues to entertain at venues and events around Atlanta and beyond, as well as performing with a variety of combinations for a variety of gigs, from restaurants to corporate parties to his own popular jam sessions.  

At 57, Roderick Harper is gaining steam. A versatile artist with both jazz and R&B albums, he calls on a background that started as early a small child singing along with TV commercials, through early lessons in the American Songbook and a minor in jazz studies at Southern University, to a performer audiences love for the passion and integrity of his singing. Mike and Kevin talk with Roderick in between two nights of his performances, accompanied by Kevin, at the Atlanta-area jazz club, The Velvet Note.

Every Elton John has his Bernie Taupin. Jerome Kern had to have his Oscar Hammerstein. Even Duke Ellington needed a Billy Strayhorn or Irving Mills or Bob Russell. Point is, a song isn’t much of a song without lyrics, and how lyricists and composers work together, if unique to each pair, is one more example of the cooperation involved in making great music.

Consistent with the podcast’s focus on the life lessons that learning to play music teaches, Kevin and Mike talk about musical conversation, that is, how musicians playing together collaborate, listening to each other and accommodating each other’s playing, to create better music.

Whether you’re a youngster who wants to learn how to play an instrument, or a parent who recognizes the value of music in their child’s education, or an adult who has never played but wants to learn how, it’s never too early or too late to start. Kevin shares insights on how to get started from his three decades of teaching young and adult students.

People who make their living playing music typically do a lot of travelling. While some might have a house gig in their hometown, most find themselves in venues that take them to different parts of their country and even around the world. Those experiences—that breadth of experience—combine to be one of the great benefits of life as a musician.

From Bill Evans to Oscar Peterson to Ahmad Jamal to Charlie Parker to John Coltrane to Miles Davis, and on and on, each of the great players is distinguished by their own unique style. In this podcast, Kevin talks about the some of those legends and how they expressed themselves, and he and Mike discuss the importance of individualistic expression—that is, to perform from your heart—to all music.

The song from Babes in Arms, a 1937 musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenzo Hart, has been recorded more than 1300 times by more than 600 artists. The song continues to receive mixed reviews from musicians and music critics, but it has been a favorite of artists from Frank Sinatra to Sarah Vaughan to jazz trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker, whose recording of it is enshrined. The podcast delivers some interesting takes on the history of the tune, some of the recordings, and the song itself. 

So many great musicians are also dedicated teachers. They love passing along their knowledge and inspiring others, getting them excited about the things they’re excited about, infecting them with love for what they’re doing, and how exciting it is to make music with other people. It is the jazz teaching tradition at its best: “Each one, teach one.”

Most great jazz musicians were trained in classical music. So do you need to learn classical music first before you can play jazz? Or is playing jazz about learning shapes and harmony, technique and structures, the things required to play any music well. There shouldn’t be a separation between classical and jazz; the creation and performance of music is the same regardless of the genre. Classical Music’s role for jazz musicians is in its long tradition of attempts at solving technical issues; it is a great resource for jazz musicians.

As avid readers, we have our favorite books about music and musicians. We discuss a few here in some detail in hopes they might be of interest to you. If you have others you like, let us know at musiclifeandtimes.com > contact us, and we’ll share them in a future podcast.

From the origins of jazz to the songs of the 1960s protesting the Vietnam War and supporting the Civil Rights Movement to the Grammy Song of the Year in 2021, music has played an essential role in social change, shedding light on the issues and attitudes that threaten our freedoms, here in America and around the world. Your podcasters comment on those times and music and share some stories of their own.

From 78 rpm to 33 rpm—and of course 45s with one song on each side—from albums to CDs to streaming, the way music is delivered has evolved substantially. The intent has been to make the music you want to hear easier to access. But have we lost something along the way? Is that why vinyl outsold CDs last year for the first time since the introduction of the music CD?  

In 2019, as the culmination of what they had discovered as a shared passion, the music of Fred Rogers, Kevin and Keri Johnsrud researched, selected, arranged, then recorded 11 songs composed by Fred Rogers, best known for his long-running children’s television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The jazz arrangements of what have been generally perceived as children’s songs credit Fred Rogers as a composer as well as Kevin, Keri, Bill Thornton, and Marlon Patton as arrangers and jazz musicians.

The Audience Perspective: An interview with Bruce Pulver, author of Above the Chatter, Our Words Matter. Intro: As performing musicians, Kevin and Mike work to please audiences by playing their best. Bruce Pulver studied music in college but decided to pursue it “as an avocation as opposed to a vocation.” He is an avid fan of live music, even to the point of hosting concerts in his home. His advice: “Get out to hear music live; it will make your day.”

Is a career in a creative art like music really that different from other types of careers? While many people see a music career as a counterpoint to other ways to make a living, the process is much the same, including spending the time necessary to build and grow your business. And for people in other professions or business careers who spend time studying and playing music, that exposure helps them develop their inherent creativity, which can work to their benefit in their chosen fields.

If you play music for an audience, be that at home in front of your family or for thousands of people in a concert hall, you’re likely to be nervous before you play. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; can even be a good thing as Kevin explains in this episode. But of course, shaky hands and a quavering voice aren’t helpful to your performance, so consider some of these ways of dealing with nerves and anxiety.

Learning music is about playing music. And playing music leads to performing. And because music is a communicative art, the job of a performing musician is to communicate with his or her audience, to play for the people.

Most players are uncomfortable hearing their own music. They don’t find it as perfect as they think it should be. But an important lesson to learn is not to judge yourself, and indeed, first takes are often the best takes in recording sessions.

Vinnie D’Agostino—saxophone, clarinet, and flute—first performed as an 8-year-old and started playing professionally at 15. Throughout his youth he was convinced he would live his life as a professional musician. But as he approached his 20s, he decided on a different path, as an IT professional in the corporate world, a career he concluded as Global IT Director for Global HR Technology at Coca-Cola. Today, he is again a full-time musician, involved in a wide range of projects, and recognized as a highly accomplished player.

The music business, like selling records and becoming a music star, is a tiny part of the industry whereas the business of music extends to a wide range of occupations, from writing music for commercials to engineering in a recording studio to teaching. And while becoming a star is so rare that it is unachievable for the vast majority of musicians, there are many opportunities to make a living in the business of music. It might not be a regular nine-to-five job, but it is much like other entrepreneurial ventures. 

Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, the Gershwins, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, and so many more: the composers of the songs of the golden era of American popular music known as The Great American Songbook, of the tunes that are the platforms from which jazz musicians have launched many of their most memorable improvisations.

Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but it is also the way musicians over the years have improved their skills. Great players “steal” ideas and phrases they admire and let them influence their playing and broaden their musical vocabulary. 

Dr. Gordon Vernick, trumpeter extraordinaire and coordinator of jazz studies at Georgia State University, talks about jazz and how students can improve their playing. This episode is chock full of great insights from a revered teacher and musician.

Chicago-based jazz singer Keri Johnsrud talks about singing, her career, and her work with Kevin Bales on the Grammy-nominated album Beyond the Neighborhood, a collection of songs composed by Fred Rogers, host of the long-running children’s television series, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. The podcast includes a sample of Keri’s inviting voice from an earlier Kevin and Keri recording and hints at a sequel to Beyond the Neighborhood.

Most accomplished musicians will point to influences that made a difference in their lives and playing along the way, including mentors who were genuinely interested in helping them learn and advance their careers and took the time to do so. Let’s give credit where credit is due.

The jazz community is open and warm in a remarkably non-competitive way. As well, jazz musicians enjoy avid support from people who love jazz, including support systems like jazz societies, and sometimes just individuals who go out of their way to show their support. Here’s evidence of that as experienced by our podcasting musicians.

“All roads lead to Louis Armstrong, and all roads come out of that,” notes Trumpeter, Composer, and Bandleader Russell Gunn. “All pop music, not just jazz, goes back to Louis Armstrong, his timing and phrasing,” Kevin Bales adds. This episode shares stories about Louis Armstrong, his life and art.  

As a musician, you typically move around a lot, working in different venues in different places. Many turn out to be, well, not conventional. Sometimes it’s worth a laugh; sometimes it’s a real problem. Here are some of the strangest situations these two career musicians have encountered.

Rolling Stone magazine ranks John Lennon and Paul McCartney as two of the three greatest songwriters of their era. It can be argued that The Beatles were the most popular rock group in history. Were they educated musicians or just raw talent, and how did they learn and refine their craft?

You know about Duke Ellington’s big band and some of his most popular compositions. But the songs we are most familiar with are typically melodies from larger works. Of note: His arrangements gave the musicians in his big band freedom to improvise, to play like themselves, cooperation that still adheres to the singular vision of the composer. Pretty amazing.

Sitting in and playing a song with musicians you don’t know in a key that someone randomly calls can be exhilarating or intimidating. Jazz educators promote jam sessions because they help players get better.

The podcasters share their approaches to practicing, including insights from Kevin as a teacher on how he instructs his students to practice, and Mike on how he developed his own practice habits without instruction. How about using YouTube as your instructor?