Guitarist and educator Sheryl Bailey recently moved from New York to Boston to become the assistant chair of the guitar department at The Berklee College of Music. In this episode of LINER NOTES Sheryl talks about the challenges of moving to a new city while overseeing the education of nine hundred guitarists in the time of the Corona virus. We spoke over zoom-heads up that the interview is replete with the street sounds of Washington Heights.

Composer and percussionist Dafnis Prieto's new recording Transparency features the front line of saxophonists Román Filiú and Peter Apfelbaum, along with Alex Norris on trumpet. In this episode of LINER NOTES Dafnis speaks about his intentions behind this recording as well the fortunate timing that allowed him to capture the project immediately before the shutdown.

High Heart is the latest release from tenor saxophonist Ben Wendel. In this episode of LINER NOTES, Ben discusses the creation of this music as well as the unique position he found himself in when air travel came to a grinding halt in March at the beginning of the pandemic.

In this time of double pandemic trumpeter Ingrid Jensen looked around and did something for her community by providing nightly concerts in her front yard. In this episode on Liner Notes she talks about her response to these troubled times and how she is balancing family, music, and teaching.

This episode features alto saxophonist Antonio Hart. We spoke shortly after the murder of George Floyd and Antonio spoke candidly about race, jazz, and the future of jazz education. He also shares how he personally is keeping it together during the ongoing shutdown.

Baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan, known for his tenure with the Vangaurd Jazz Orchestra, has released a new Steeple Chase recording entitled Our Contrafacts with bassist David Wong and percussionist Rodney Green. In this episode of LINER NOTES Gary talks about his bout with the corona virus and his thoughts about the pandemic that is re-shaping the world we know (or knew) as musicians.

Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa's latest recording Hero Trio pays tribute to his musical heroes. Bird, Trane, Ornette Coleman, Stevie Wonder, and yes even Johnny Cash are represented on this exciting trio recording featuring Francois Moutin on bass and Rudy Royston on drums and cymbals.

Saxophonist Donny McCaslin's career dramatically changed after being an integral part of David Bowie's last recording Black Star. In this episode of Liner Notes Donny reflects on how the association with Bowie has shaped his creative process. In this time of quarantine Donny and I spoke remotely. A shout to out engineer Marco Mendoza for putting together my clumsy recording efforts.

Composer and Bassist Gregg August's Dialogues on Race was composed 10 years ago and was inspired by the election of Barack Obama combined with his discovery of the compelling story of Emmett Till. Now, a decade later a decision to step beyond the safety of the music was motivation to record it with the intention of facilitating a conversation on this sometimes awkward, sometimes difficult, yet vital discussion about race.

For the past twenty years I have taught and performed at Birch Creek, a music camp tucked away in a converted dairy farm on the thumb of Wisconsin. In this episode I interview some of the people that make this place happen. I invite you to listen as they describe what happens in this barn in the middle of nowhere and the power it has on the lives of those who experience it.