
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


At 15, Michael Mwenso was on stage with James Brown. It took the Sierra Leonean teenager four years to convince the godfather of soul to let him up there, through a combination of raw talent and persistence. But once he did, he wowed the crowds and Brown alike. It was then that Mwenso got a taste for the stage and learned the dos and don’ts of management from one of the late-20th century’s great band leaders. Those lessons were applied first to his Wynton Marsalis-appointed role as a curator for Jazz at Lincoln Center and more recently as the frontman for Mwenso and the Shakes, whose debut album, Emergence, drops this month. Carrying three large shopping bags filled with stage costumes, Mwenso sat down to discuss his journey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
 By Brian Heater
By Brian Heater4.7
6262 ratings
At 15, Michael Mwenso was on stage with James Brown. It took the Sierra Leonean teenager four years to convince the godfather of soul to let him up there, through a combination of raw talent and persistence. But once he did, he wowed the crowds and Brown alike. It was then that Mwenso got a taste for the stage and learned the dos and don’ts of management from one of the late-20th century’s great band leaders. Those lessons were applied first to his Wynton Marsalis-appointed role as a curator for Jazz at Lincoln Center and more recently as the frontman for Mwenso and the Shakes, whose debut album, Emergence, drops this month. Carrying three large shopping bags filled with stage costumes, Mwenso sat down to discuss his journey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

30,055 Listeners

3,351 Listeners

1,706 Listeners

93 Listeners

2,487 Listeners

105 Listeners

65 Listeners

211 Listeners

246 Listeners

9 Listeners

25 Listeners

301 Listeners

41 Listeners

1,196 Listeners

1,027 Listeners

4,134 Listeners

59,392 Listeners

374 Listeners

58,196 Listeners

15,991 Listeners

10,788 Listeners

149 Listeners

2,104 Listeners

9,948 Listeners