Music Life and Times

EP80: Will Scruggs and Churchill Grounds at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Center

Will Scruggs is a noted jazz saxophonist with a head for business and a major commitment to the sustainability of jazz in the city of Atlanta. That has led Will on a three-year journey to establish a new home for jazz in Atlanta. Named after Sam Yi's historic Churchill Grounds and historic jazz figure Mary Lou Williams, Churchill Grounds at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Center will include a club with a stage large enough to accommodate a big band, a restaurant, a first floor retail and education center, and a top floor recording studio. We talk with Will about the project as construction is being completed for a planned Fall 2026 opening.

EP79: Confidence, Not Arrogance

2026 Super Bowl winning quarterback Sam Darnold was once considered a “draft bust.” Interviewed after his Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots, Darnold told reporters, “As long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible.” Music is analogous to sports in many ways: performers can't hide; it's live; it takes years of hard work to become accomplished and failure along the way is inevitable; confidence is essential. Confidence but not arrogance. When players, musicians as well as athletes, are arrogant, all about themselves as opposed to working with and respecting their other band or team members, they misfire. When musicians fail to understand their calling, to work with each other for the pleasure of their audience, the night is a bust, the game is lost. 

EP78: The Psychedelic Buddy Red

Guitarist Buddy Red describes his music as “psychedelic.” The son of Atlanta rapper T.I., a pioneer of trap music, the 26-year-old Red has adopted a style more closely associated with rock 'n roll and the blues. A regular at Northside Tavern in Atlanta, Buddy was chosen the opening act of the 2026 Atlanta Jazz Festival. 

EP77: J.Paul Whitehead: Getting Back to My Music

It's not an uncommon story: Musicians take another course in life to ensure a steady enough career to support themselves and their families. But sometimes, they have the courage and a passion for playing music to eventually leave corporate life and return to music as their full-time pursuit. The bottom-line reason: Nothing compares to the feeling of playing music well and seeing the enjoyment in the faces of your audience. That's the story of JPaul Whitehead as he tells it in this episode of Music Life and Times. 

EP76: The Eclectic World of Steve Williams

Steve Williams is a multifaceted musician: composer, arranger, saxophonist. His depth of expertise and versatility has led him over his more than 50 years of playing and performing into a wide range of musical arenas, from the famed One O'Clock Band of his North Texas University days, to the U.S. Navy Commodores, where he played lead alto, was musical director, and contributed some 70 compositions and arrangements, to his current role as lead alto with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.  A devotee of big band jazz, his recordings include the Latin Grammy winning album, Caribbean Jazz Project's Afro Bop Alliance and his own album, Steve Williams and Jazz Nation.

EP75: Mica Bethea - Persistence and Determination

In 2005, Mica Bethea, a 21-year-old jazz student at the University of North Florida, was driving back to campus when he was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer in stand-still traffic. The accident left him quadriplegic, with close to 90 percent of his body paralyzed. Doctors told him he would never again play his instruments, saxophone and piano. But he refused to let the accident keep him from music. After three years of rehabilitation, he returned to school to finish his degree, this time as a composer, and has since become a prominent figure in the North Florida jazz scene and a respected new voice in big band jazz writing. He has also built and operates NSF Ranch, a recording studio in Jacksonville, described as blending “iconic analog gear with cutting-edge digital technology to deliver uncompromising sound, comfort, and creative freedom. This is not a typical hourly studio — it’s a destination where artists come to focus, create, and bring meaningful projects to life.”

EP74: Musicians Are Entrepreneurs

An entrepreneur is defined as someone who starts or owns a business and is willing to take on the related risks. As a musician, your business is your career, and while you might not have employees or an office to keep afloat, you are a service provider running your own business. In a Harvard Business School Online article, “10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs,” (https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/characteristics-of-successful-entrepreneurs) Kelsey Miller (https://www.kelseymiller.com/) delivers a list of attributes that, if coincidentally, unquestionably apply to playing music as a profession. In this episode of Music Life and Times, we take on the list and discuss how each characteristic applies to making a living as a musical entrepreneur.

EP73: Howard Paul Part II: Savannah Jazz

Howard Paul is well known and respected as a highly accomplished jazz guitarist. But he is also a pillar of the Savannah, Georgia music community. He has served as Savannah Jazz Festival chair and president of the board of directors of the Savannah Jazz/Coastal Jazz Association for a combined twelve years. He was inducted into the Savannah Coastal Jazz Hall of Fame in 2011. Howard continues as a member of the Association board, which oversees and manages Association activities, including the annual Savannah Jazz Festival, educational programs, and the Savannah History Museum's Savannah Jazz History & Hall of Fame Exhibit. In this episode of Music Life & Times, Howard recounts some of the history of jazz in Savannah, which, he explains, is similarly rich and deep as that of New Orleans, and how the city, including through the annual Festival and an extensive and impressive calendar of performances throughout the year, continues to provide jazz fans access to some of the today's most outstanding jazz musicians and music.

EP72: Music and Ministry - Timothy J Mercaldo

Reverend Timothy J. Mercaldo is a professional musician and, for more than 35 years, an evangelical minister who uses music as his primary way to connect with people. With music and worship as centerpieces of his life, Tim founded WorshipPlus to equip local churches and Christian organizations to think creatively, that is, to use the creative arts to enhance their worship experiences and outreach events. In this episode, Tim talks with Mike and Kevin about how playing music, in particular the piano, has impacted his life as well as the people he encounters wherever he plays or prays.

EP71: Howard Paul, Guitarist and Guitar Maker

Howard R. Paul is one of those rare individuals with the talent and energy to successfully navigate a dual career as business person and jazz musician. Paul has established himself as both as an internationally acclaimed guitarist, whose CDs include “Tony Monaco/Howard Paul: New Adventures,” “Bob James & Howard Paul: Just Friends: The Hamilton Hall Session,” and “Ali Ryerson: Jammin’ At The Jazz Corner,” and a respected manufacturing executive as president of archtop jazz guitar maker Benedetto Guitars. Paul is a pillar of the Savannah, Georgia music community, having served as Savannah Jazz Festival chair and president of the board of directors of the Savannah Jazz/Coastal Jazz Association for a combined twelve years. In this episode of Music Life & Times he talks about the evolution and challenges of sharing life between music and business.