Ingrid Jensen is the 2019 recipient of the Jazz Journalists Trumpeter-of-the Year award. She is constantly in demand with tours internationally - both with her own groups and also with jazz orchestras such as Maria Schneider (1994-2012) and Darcy James Argue (2002-present). In addition to her accomplishments as a trumpeter and composer, she is also currently the Interim Associate Dean and Director of Jazz Arts at the Manhattan School of Music.

We begin our conversation by asking Ingrid to trace the arc of her career, from her beginnings in music and her musical family to studying at the Berkeley School of Music, moving to Copenhagen and then back to New York, eventually moving to Austria to teach at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria. In the course of our conversation, she talks about how playing the same tune in a different country can be different.

In the Bonus Room, I ask Professor Fujita how he began studying artificial intelligence, which leads to his discussing some of the basic principles of A.I.

We begin Part 2 by discussing A.I. and music education but then move on to more basic and elemental subjects, at times not even dealing with music... A.I. and ethics, A.I. and its effect on the meaning of life, and concern about the negative potential of A.I. in the future.

Professor Hamido Fujita is an internationally noted expert in the area of artificial intelligence. He was kind enough to join us in this extremely wide-ranging interview not only about A.I. and music but also A.I. and life and what to expect in the future. I say “us” because I am also joined in this interview by my producer Eddie Ludema, who in addition to being a trumpeter, composer, and teacher is a programmer. So I hope you will enjoy this interview... it goes into many unexpected areas and has so many far reaching implications for the future.

In part one, Professor Fujita begins by describing how machine learning can be used for determining health problems and collecting data, and we quickly go down some interesting rabbit holes with possible musical implications. As in Part 2, many, many different things are discussed, including  combining A.I with the humanities, data vs. rule based options for A.I and music, and the subject of mathematics, music, and human emotions ... and how they are connected.

I ask Larry about his career as a trombonist, beginning with the marvelous teachers he had, his many years as principal trombone with the Utah Symphony, and then his current teaching position at the Eastman School of Music where he is Professor of Trombone.

In Part 2, Larry describes the process of having three brain surgeries (called deep brain surgery), all while staying in New York City during the onset of Covid, and then his subsequent road to recovery.

Larry Zalkind has had an illustrious career as a world class trombonist. But what is even more impressive is how he fought through and survived an extreme case of dystonia (for woodwind and brass players it is called embouchure dystonia). Larry's dystonia was so extreme that for four years he was unable to play a note on the trombone, had severe problems speaking, and ultimately had three difficult and dangerous brain surgeries in New York City. So, although a few other topics are covered in our conversation, we zero in on the subject of dystonia, discussing both its physical and psychological effects.

In the first part of our conversation, Larry talks about how he first noticed symptoms of what became dystonia and his (very common) reaction at the time, followed by his being diagnosed. We trace his journey and his struggles, the issues he dealt with, and his point of no return - when he was unable to order a pizza on the phone and speak with his three children later that evening on Zoom.

We begin the Bonus Room by asking Elena about her first job, principal cello with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which was followed by her principal position at the Staatskapelle Berlin... but not before a year in and out of Los Angeles playing electric cello in her brother's rock band! She now plays with the Hegel String Quartet and is Professor of Cello at the Freiburg Musik Hochschule, where in addition to teaching cello she also explores new ways of creative teaching.

In Part 2, we continue our discussion of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and how she got the idea to use individual stories to bring out the meaning and feeling of the orchestra and its members. I then ask Elena to talk about her career, which began at the age of 4 when she got a cello for Christmas, and later continued her studies at the Juilliard School of Music, first in pre-school and then as a bachelors student. Finally, she tells me why she decided to move to Germany after a summer at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival... and why she does weight training!

Cellist Elena Cheah has had a marvelous and broad career. After graduating from Juilliard, she was appointed principal cello of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and later was principal of the Staatskapelle Berlin under Daniel Barenboim. She is currently a professor at the Freiburg Musik Hochschule in Germany and a member of the Hegel String Quartet. In addition, she was a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, an ensemble consisting of Israelis, Palestinians and people from other Arab countries. She has written a beautiful and moving book about the experiences and views of a number of the orchestra's members.

In Part 1 of our conversation, we discuss how she first entered the Divan orchestra and then focus on the experiences of several people in the orchestra.