Dr. J.B. Dyas joins the podcast with his partner Cynthia Allen to talk about his approach to management — a process to train leaders in this American art form's give-and-take, improvisation and collaborative insights. They tell us that jazz is all about listening, and how jazz can train you to be a better listener, "and a better listener is a better leader."

He and Cynthia has been to Ojai many times, and now is teaching workshops using the approach he's developed over the past few decades to enhance productivity and morale, foster better communications and happiness in the workplace.

Dr. Dyas is currently the VP for Education and Curriculum Development at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, where he oversees the Institute's celebrated education and outreach programs including Jazz in America (www.jazzinamerica.org), "one of the most significant and wide-reaching jazz education programs in the world." He has presented numerous jazz workshops, teacher-training seminars, and jazz "informances" worldwide with such renowned artists, including Dave Brubeck and Hancock.

His Youtube videos about jazz improvisation as a metaphor and method for corporations and organizations have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. He has taught hundreds of classes and clinics as a teacher and performed more than a 1,000 gigs as a bassist and bandleader. He and Cynthia talk about Ojai's role in the jazz world, as home to Gene Lees, the jazz journalist and biographer who wrote the lyrics for the "Corcovado," the classic Jobim and Astrud song, "Quiet Nights & Quiet Stars," as well as legendary pianist Roger Kellaway, Dizzy Gillespie's band leader.

We talk about jazz' importance to American history as a confluence of influences from Africa and Europe, and its role as a cultural export, its wide applicability to teaching and leading, and much more about he and Cynthia's fascinating life stories. We did not talk about Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the future of wind power or the Mayan wars.

Check out Dr. Dyas' website, https://www.jbdyas.com/, and his Youtube videos at https://www.jbdyas.com/jazz-pedagogy-videos, "and What is Jazz and Why It's Important to the World."