149 Sessions

Nobody enjoys living with doubts, yet for better or for worse they serve a function. Sometimes they are thorns in our sides that we need to learn how to overcome, and sometimes they contain useful information about things we need to work through or things about which we justifiably should be uncertain or cautious. Jen and Noah wade through some personal experiences and philosophies surrounding this complicated realm of thought and emotion. 

Inspiration is central to both the reality and the mythology of being a creative artist. Sometimes we are flooded with it and sometimes the well feels as if it has run dry. Each of these extremes presents its own challenges - how to inhabit the moment and capture the "purest" form of the inspired ideas and also how (or if) to keep creating when there is a need to produce but we're not in the zone. Jen and Noah discuss these ideas and their own contrasting approaches to these scenarios. 

Instrumental music allows for a high degree of abstraction, so unlike most music based around lyrics, a typical jazz composer has the freedom to just dig into the sounds without concern for the "meaning." And yet some creators of instrumental music seek that meaning  anyway for some of their work (like Jen) or even most of it (like Noah). Jen and Noah dig into the discussion of how, when, and why this melding of abstraction and meaning occurs for them. 

Jen and Noah talk about the people and experiences at the roots of their musical  beginnings, from Jen's high school band teacher to Stevie Wonder.