Music Life and Times

EP11 Guest Keri Johnsrud

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.

EP10 Mentors and Legends

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.

EP09 Community Support

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.

EP08 Louis Armstrong

“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.  

EP07 Funny or Just Strange

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.

EP06 Beatles

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?

EP05 Duke Elllington

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.

EP04 Jam Sessions

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.

EP03 Life Lessons from Music

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?

EP02 Where Classical and Jazz Collide

Classical musicians and some music educators in the past have had a tendency to look down on jazz as something less than serious. But they’re different disciplines. Players of classical music must adhere to the conductor’s understanding of the piece as well as the notes on the page, whereas jazz is rooted in improvisation: never play the solo the same way twice. Of note: Some of the greatest classical composers improvised as they performed their creations.