Music Life and Times

EP54: James Casto, Producer, Home By Dark

James Casto is a singer-songwriter who expanded his passion beyond his own music to create and continue an annual series of concerts featuring singer-songwriters. Inspired by his time in Nashville, and in particular by a song performed one night by Vince Gill, Casto began developing the concept that has matured into a five-month program annually of indoor and outdoor, paid and free, sing-songwriter performances. The program is now 19 years old and draws thousands of attendees, many of whom purchase season tickets so as not to miss a single performer or performance.

EP53: Justin Varnes - Percussionist, Educator

If you were putting together a jazz combo for the evening—or for the ages—you’d be well served by Justin Varnes on drums. And if you wanted your son or daughter to study with someone who will help them learn to love music as well as play it, again there is Justin Varnes. Based in Atlanta, Justin studied at the University of North Florida and the New School in New York. He has played with a long list of jazz greats, including our host Kevin Bales, and teaches at Georgia State University. In 2015, he created a program called the Jazz Legacy Project that combines education with entertainment. In Episode 53 of Music Life and Times, Justin talks with Kevin and Mike about the Jazz Legacy Project, as well as about learning to play, his approach to helping others do the same, and how learning to play has impacted his life and those of his students.

EP52: Kevin Korschgen’s Wheel House Sessions

Kevin Korschgen, drummer, educator, and the producer of Greenville, South Carolina’s Wheel House sessions talks about his seven years of more than 100 concerts in a small space in Greenville’s arts district he originally rented as a drum rehearsal studio and how it became his concert venue. As rare as the venue, so too are the combinations of musicians he brings together, from Greenville, but also from around the Southeast, including our podcast host Kevin Bales, accomplished jazz musicians who most often have never performed together thus encouraging and allowing for the spontaneity which best defines jazz. According to Korschgen, the success of his Wheel House series is due not to planning or organizing, but by “just letting it be what it is,” an intimate connection between players and audience. In this episode of Music Life and Times, he talks about the concerts, about those who commit the time and effort it takes to become accomplished players, and as an educator how he has seen music impact so many lives, including his own.

EP51: Gary Motley, Pianist, Educator, Composer, Arranger

In anticipation of the 2025 Valentine’s weekend edition of the Emory University Jazz Festival, we talk with Gary Motley, the founding director of Emory’s Jazz Studies program, about his beginnings in music and jazz, some of his associations with other revered jazz musicians, and the upcoming Emory festival where he and his trio will be joined by tenor saxophonist David Sanchez on Friday February 14 for the festival’s feature concert.

EP50: The Audience Rewards You

One of the lessons you learn from performing music is how audiences reward you for your efforts, that is, the joy you get from their appreciation of your music. That’s one of the greatest returns you get from the work you put in learning to play music well. What could be more fun or more gratifying!

EP49: Tribute to Johnny Scatena

Johnny Catena, the much loved owner of Café 290, Atlanta’s premier music venue for more than 30 years, passed away on November 15, 2024. More than a club owner, Johnny was a lover of music and the musicians who played it. In this extended episode of Music Life and Times, several of Atlanta’s preeminent musicians—Joe Gransden, Kipper Jones, Melvin Miller, William Green, Gary Harris, and Music Life and Times host Kevin Bales—check join us to pay tribute to Johnny, to talk about what he meant to their careers, and to share some of the often hilarious moments that being in Johnny’s presence created.

EP48: Kevin Smith: Bassist Extraordinaire

Where you find great jazz in Atlanta, there’s a good chance you’ll find Kevin Smith on bass. The Florida State grad became enamored with the instrument early in life, chose in fact, orchestra over band in school because the orchestra had a bass, then became enamored with jazz, hearing it for the first time in person from a group that included Music Life and Times podcast co-host Kevin Bales. An educated player who reads as well as he improvises, Kevin is as comfortable with a classical score as he is on stage with a makeshift jazz combo. As a teacher, he is intimately involved with the Atlanta Music Project, a program of the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs providing world-class music training to youngsters in under-resourced communities.

EP47: Feel the Burn: Vinnie D'agostino

On Friday, November 15, 2024, Vinnie D’Agostino led a group of four premier jazz musicians, including our podcaster Kevin Bales on piano, at Atlanta’s Red Light Café for a night of intensity and energy aptly advertised as “Feel the Burn.” Vinnie, who was our featured guest in Episode 16 of Music Life and Times, began his professional music career on saxophone in his teens, then steered his life toward the corporate world, holding positions with the Department of Defense and more than 30 years with Coca-Cola retiring as Director of Global IT for Global Human Resources Technology. Now he’s back, he’s full time and full energy into music, leading as well as playing as a sideman with other highly accomplished jazz musicians. Vinnie talks about playing jazz, what distinguishes his approach to his music, and the lessons he brings from the corporate world back to his renewed commitment.

EP46: Dave Finucane: Saxophonist and Director of the Durham Jazz Workshop

Dave Finucane talks about his Durham Jazz Workshop, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to preserving and promoting jazz music in North Carolina. The Workshop, which he co-founded with his wife Valerie Courreges, offers jazz education programs, including instruction in improvisation, music theory, and performance techniques, to aspiring musicians of all ages. The Workshop’s Sharp 9 Gallery Jazz Club presents live performances featuring renowned jazz musicians—local, regional, and international. By fostering a vibrant jazz scene and supporting the professional development of musicians, Finucane explains, the Workshop contributes to the cultural vitality of Durham and beyond.

EP45: Composer and Pianist Randy Hoexter

Kevin talks with Randy Hoexter upon the debut of his latest album, Tomorrowsville. They discuss his musical upbringing and how he became enthralled with the creation of music—that is, composing as well as playing. His style is described, at least on one hand, as “intricate,” a definition that is well supported in his playing and recordings. But while intricacies are central to his compositions, the end result is unquestionably musical, pleasing and listenable, even to the untrained ear.