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PODCAST

Music Life and Times

Music Life and Times, an ongoing discussion between internationally renowned jazz pianist Kevin Bales, and Mike Shaw, singer-pianist and author of the novel The Musician, argues that becoming an accomplished musician takes three commitments: discipline, self-acceptance or self-confidence, and cooperation. They are also the life lessons that music teaches those who would learn to play. Our podcast seeks to prove the premise through revelations about music and musicians past and present as well as

music music interviews

All Episodes

19:09

EP38: Guest Joe Alterman

Music Life and Times ·

2024/06/28

A Joyful SoundAs 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.

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23:11

EP37: Guest Saxophonist Matt Miller on Playing and...

Music Life and Times ·

2024/06/14

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.

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23:58

EP36: Guest Karla Harris

Music Life and Times ·

2024/05/31

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.”

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26:54

EP35: Standing Room Only: Trumpeter and Vocalist Joe...

Music Life and Times ·

2024/05/17

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.

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24:58

EP34: Guest Roderick Harper

Music Life and Times ·

2024/05/03

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

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23:40

EP33: Composers and Lyricists

Music Life and Times ·

2024/04/19

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.

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22:46

EP32: Collaboration: A Great Lesson

Music Life and Times ·

2024/04/05

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.

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27:22

EP31: Getting Started In Music

Music Life and Times ·

2024/03/22

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.

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22:42

EP30: On The Road Again

Music Life and Times ·

2024/03/08

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.

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21:35

EP29: The Uniqueness of the Great Players

Music Life and Times ·

2024/02/23

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.

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15:45

EP28: My Funny Valentine

Music Life and Times ·

2024/02/16

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.

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19:43

EP27: Why Musicians Love to Teach

Music Life and Times ·

2024/02/09

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.”

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18:58

EP26: Classical Music: A Great Resource for Jazz...

Music Life and Times ·

2024/02/02

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

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24:10

EP25: Books on Music: A Few Recommendations

Music Life and Times ·

2023/11/17

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.

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21:58

EP24: The Role of Music in Social Change

Music Life and Times ·

2023/11/10

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.

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19:52

EP23: From Vinyl to Streaming: How Music Is Delivered

Music Life and Times ·

2023/11/03

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?

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17:13

EP22: The Music of Fred Rogers as Jazz: “Beyond the...

Music Life and Times ·

2023/10/20

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.

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33:11

EP21 Guest Bruce Pulver: Above the Chatter, Our Words...

Music Life and Times ·

2023/10/13

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.”

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18:24

EP20 Music Versus Other Professions: The Process Is...

Music Life and Times ·

2023/10/06

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.

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19:00

EP 19 High Anxiety: Dealing with Pre-Performance...

Music Life and Times ·

2023/09/29

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.

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