149 Sessions

Jen and Noah enjoy an in-depth conversation with award-winning pianist and composer Sumi Tonooka. Topics include race in America, the balance of career and family, the phases of life, the impact of geography on artistic process, race in America, and formation of identity as an artist and human. 

The latest in 149 Sessions conversations with guest musicians is Jen and Noah's chat with Grammy-winning saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and visionary Ted Nash. In this conversation held soon before the release of his landmark album "Transformation" (a collaboration with Glenn Close), they discuss that project, embracing a diverse range of musical activities, connecting with audiences, navigating pandemic life, authenticity, and more.  

Jen and Noah continue their conversations with guest musicians, this time Grammy-nominated bandleader, pianist, composer, record label head, and community organizer Orrin Evans. The three discuss community responsibility, the character-building of physical challenges, the future of live music, and hugs, among other things. 

Jen and Noah invite another guest, this time award-winning saxophonist and composer Caroline Davis, for a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, motivation, math, cognition, social activism, and more.  

Jen and Noah launch Season 2 with a conversation with Grammy-nominated saxophonist and big band composer Remy Le Boeuf, discussing his musical origins, approach to composing, illustrious family, and more. 

Can you evaluate whether you are successful without first clarifying what metrics you're using to define success and working out the sincerity and relevance of that decision? Well, we've tried it, and it is not an ideal formula. Fortunately we have cultivated some other ideas along the way, which we discuss here.  

Vulnerability is already a tricky subject, and here Jen and Noah explore the subtopic of being vulnerable in public by putting oneself "out there" as musicians or otherwise, including a look at different elements that add to vulnerability, ranging from one's inner state to the potential of sharing especially personal stories and/or emotions. 

In Part 2 of this two-part discussion, Jen and Noah continue to explore what it is to experience music, particularly the physical experience therein and the elusive question of why we connect to the sounds that most move us.  

In Part 1 of a two-part discussion, Jen and Noah earnestly take on the questionable task of unpacking what it means to experience music, exploring emotional, spiritual, and visceral aspects and what makes it so important for them. 

Being uncomfortable. You dislike it, we dislike it, it's pretty much human nature. Yet forward motion internally, in relationships, and in society demands that we learn to sit with the uncomfortable moments that come up when we face certain truths without avoidance. Particularly at this time when many white people are reckoning for the first time with all the negative emotions that come along with recognizing their privilege, Jen and Noah thought it would be useful to have the uncomfortable discussion about being uncomfortable.