I'm so delighted to introduce my guest today, acclaimed Classical Pianist, Composer, Improviser, Musicologist and Conductor, Robert Levin!

An international performing concert pianist, he has performed throughout the US, Europe, Australia and Asia. As a recording artist, he has recorded for DG Archiv, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon Yellow Label, SONY Classical and more.

Levin is renowned for his restoration of the Classical period practice of improvised embellishments and cadenzas; his Mozart and Beethoven performances have been hailed for their active mastery of the Classical musical language.

In addition to his performing activities, Robert Levin is a noted theorist and Mozart scholar, and is the author of a number of articles and essays on Mozart. His completions of Mozart fragments are published by Bärenreiter, Breitkopf & Härtel, Hänssler, and Peters, and have been recorded and performed throughout the world.

In 2016 he was inducted as Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is currently the inaugural Hogwood Fellow of the Academy of Ancient Music for 2017 and 2018.

My guest today is GRAMMY Award-winning Country Guitarist, Redd Volkaert!

Volkaert is well known for his long tenure in Merle Haggard’s band, The Strangers, as the successor to Roy Nichols. A master of the telecaster, Volkaert, has played and recorded with many top artists such as Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, Merle Travis, Eric Johnson to name a few.

In addition to the many records he’s appeared as a sideman on, Volkaert has recorded several solo albums including Telewacker, No Stranger to a Tele, Twangbangers - 26 days on the road, For the Ladies and Reddhead.

In 2003, Volkaert was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Country Instrumental Performance for Spaghetti Western Swing with Brad Paisley and in 2009 he won the GRAMMY for best Country Instrumental performance on Cluster Pluck, again with Brad Paisley.

I’m really delighted to introduce my guest today, Tony Award-nominated Composer and Lyricist for Broadway, Film and TV, Laurence O’Keefe!

His Broadway credits include "Bat Boy: The Musical" which has received over 1000 productions worldwide, Legally Blonde: The Musical, which was nominated for 7 Tony's including Best Original Score, Heathers: The Musical, which was nominated for Outstanding Music at the Drama Desk awards.

Laurence has won the Ed Kleban Award, the ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, and a Jonathan Larson award for his music and lyrics.

We’re so privileged today to talk to a real master and legend of the guitar, the great Arlen Roth!

Roth has toured the world and recorded with countless acts such as Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Phoebe Snow, Levon Helm, Ry Cooder, John Sebastian, Janis Ian, Eric Andersen, The Bee Gees and many more.

He has released 15 albums, including ones such as All Tricked Out!, Slide Guitar Summit and Toolin’ around Woodstock with Levon HELM.

His most recent album is Telemasters, released late 2018, featuring Roth in duets with other Telecaster masters such as Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Steve Cropper, Joe Bonnamossa, Brent Mason, Albert Lee, Johnny Hiland, Jack Pearson, to name a few. It is produced by 2-time GRAMMY award-winner Tom Hambridge.

Within the sphere of music education, Roth is popularly known as the creator of the famed Hot Licks Video instructional series, which has sold in excess of 2 and a half million copies. His current online lessons and blogs for gibson.com have over a million followers and he has helped create over 1000 online lessons and blogs for Gibson guitars.

My guest today is legendary Jazz Guitar Virtuoso and Composer, Jimmy Bruno!

At the age of 19, Bruno became the youngest member of the Buddy Rich Orchestra touring the world and this led to engagements in the orchestras of Frank Sinatra, Anthony Newley, Doc Severinsen, Lena Horne and many more.

Over the years, he has shared the stage with a who's who of legendary and highly regarded musicians: Joe Beck, Bobby Watson, Jack Wilkins, Tal Farlow (at Farlow's 75th Birthday Concert), Howard Alden, Christian McBride, Curt Elling and many more!

Jimmy has recorded over 13 critically acclaimed CDs, including "Sleight of Hand," "Like That," and "Polarity" (with Joe Beck). His most recent CD "Maplewood Avenue”.

Downbeat magazine in 2009 — named Jimmy as one of the top 75 guitarists of all time!

As a music educator Bruno is the creator of the independent online jazz guitar school - The Jimmy Bruno Workshop.

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2:07 - Talking about his father who played on the hit "Guitar Boogie Shuffle"
2:09 - Influence of musical family
3:26 - Were you drawn to the guitar?
4:10 - Do you have perfect pitch?
4:31 - How much help did your father give in learning the guitar?
5:45 - Influence of Philadelphia on your development?
8:50 - Did your father know many famous musicians?
9:31 - How did you end up practicing violin etudes on guitar?
11:00 - Was Armando a classical musician?
11:41 - When did you learn to improvise before taking jazz lessons with Al Stauffer?
15:48 - Why Al Stauffer was fond of Jimmy
15:59 - Why would a guitar player take lessons from a bass player (Al Stauffer)?
17:28 - Dennis Sandole and Al Stauffer student rivalries
19:14 - What do you think about guitar tablature?
20:05 - Are you a good sightreader?
23:42 - How long did it take to improve your sightreading?
25:13 - Why was Buddy Rich throwing drumsticks at auditioning guitarists?
28:30 - World Tour with Buddy Rich
29:28 - Personal relationship with Buddy Rich
31:10 - Having a good hardworking attitude while working with Buddy Rich
31:54 - Was Buddy Rich the greatest drummer of all time?
33:24 - Working with Frank Sinatra
35:53 - Transposing Songs
37:07 - Frank Sinatra to the Italian-American community
38:26 - Working with Liberace
40:32 - Did you get to talk or hang out with Liberace?
41:39 - Talking about Hank Garland
42:53 - Personal relationship with Hank Garland
43:49 - Talking about Tal Farlow
44:36 - How big are your hands?
45:00 - Talking about Joe Pass
45:57 - Joe Pass Stories
47:20 - What did Joe Pass think of your playing?
48:38 - Talking about George Benson
50:17 - Hot Seat: Top 3 Jazz Guitarists
50:44 - Hot Seat: Top 3 Jazz Pianists
50:50 - Hot Seat: Top 3 Jazz Drummers
50:59 - Hot Seat: Top 3 Bass Players
51:10 - Hot Seat: Top Saxophonists
51:29 - Hot Seat: Top Trumpet Players
51:40 - Hot Seat: Top 3 albums that you've recorded
51:53 - Hot Seat: Proudest Musical Moment
52:00 - Playing Moonlight in Vermont for Johnny Smith
52:36 - Economy Picking vs Alternate Picking
53:53 - How do you develop perfect technique?
54:47 - What's your opinion of Berklee Chord Scale Theory?
55:13 - Talking about Barry Harris trashing modes
55:34 - What's the best advice to be a good musician?
56:25 - How do you develop a good ear?
56:49 - Upcoming projects

My guest today is the exciting, up-and-coming composer, sound designer and guitarist, Joe Kataldo!

Kataldo is the founder and audio director of Mad Wave Audio, LLC, an audio production company that specialize on game audio.

Some of the work he's done is music and sound design for "The Last Night", a post-cyberpunk video game set in a world with a deep, vibrant vision of the future, HyPerParasite, an Italian Twin Stick shooter, and sound design for the company Spaces Inc.

Kataldo regularly composes music for "H3VR", a room-scale gun simulation VR experience for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, one of the top selling VR Games on Steam in 2018.

Kataldo is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the Conservatory of Napoli and holds degrees in music and composition.

What a delight to introduce my guest today, GRAMMY Award-winning and Oscar Nominated Composer, Arranger and Pianist, Roger Kellaway!

Kellaway has recorded more than 250 albums. He’s worked with artists such as Duke Ellington, Elvis Presley, Carmen McCrae, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Yo-Yo Ma and many others.

Kellaway’s most prized television credit is, “Remembering You”, the closing theme for the popular television show, “All in the Family”. Composed in 1970, it is still being heard on TV around the world. He has written (and conducted) twenty-nine film scores including Barbara Streisand’s “A Star Is Born”, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. In 1988, Kellaway was received a GRAMMY Award for best arrangement on an instrumental for his music on the album “Memos From Paradise” for Eddie Daniels.

In 2010, Kellaway received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the New England Conservatory of Music.

My guest today is composer, pianist and music historian, Dr. Robert Greenberg!

Dr. Greenberg has composed over fifty works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles, and his works have been performed all over the world.

A "Steinway Artist," Dr. Greenberg has also received many other honors including three Nicola de Lorenzo Composition Prizes and a Koussevitzky commission from the Library of Congress. He has been profiled in various major publications, including The Wall Street Journal; Inc. magazine; and the London Times.

Dr. Greenberg is popularly known for his over 550 lectures recorded for the esteemed education company The Great Courses, including popular courses such as "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music", "How to Listen to and Understand Opera", "Great Music of the 20th Century" and many other great ones.

We talk about his early years in music, his training in music composition, many interesting perspectives and anecdotes on music history, His stellar work on the great courses, his music and so much more!

My guest today is 6-Time GRAMMY winner, 28-time GRAMMY nominee, 2 time Oscar Nominee, Composer, Arranger and Producer, Jorge Calandrelli!

Calandrelli has arranged, produced and composed for artists such as Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Madonna, Yo-Yo Ma, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Sting, Paul McCartney, Shakira, to name a few. Particularly, his celebrated 30-year association with Tony Bennett has yielded 13 albums, 6 GRAMMY nominations and 2 GRAMMY awards.

As both composer and orchestrator, Jorge Calandrelli, has been involved in films and television. His most recent TV score “The Rain” co-composed with Kuni Murai, a four hour docudrama, premiered in 2010 for  Japan Television. Ang Lee’s “Crouching  Tiger/Hidden Dragon”; Steven Spielberg’s "The Color Purple"; Stanley Kubrick’s "The Shining”; “Sola”; "The Great Mouse Detective" and many more.

ASMAC (The American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers) honored Calandrelli with the 2014 Golden Score Award for Arranging, the highest award that could be given to an arranger in the USA.

Country music legend, GRAMMY Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, known for his harmonica playing, Charlie McCoy, joins us on the program for the first time!

A fixture in Nashville studios for over 50 years, Charlie worked with some of the biggest names in music such as Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Vince Gill and many, many more. For a 15 year stretch, he did more than 400 sessions a year. A grand total would number more than 12,000 sessions.

He won the GRAMMY in 1972 for “The Real McCoy” for Best Country Instrumental Performance, in addition to a total of 7 nominations He’s been awarded the Country Music Association’s “Instrumentalist Of The Year” two times and over his career he has recorded 42 solo albums. In addition, he served as the music director for 18 years for the syndicated television series, “Hee Haw”.

In 2009, it was announced that Charlie would be inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame along with Roy Clark and Barbara Mandrell.