Speaking of the Arts

Welcome to another episode of Speaking of the Arts. We have a great episode for you today. Today, we are featuring Lydia Liebman of Lydia Liebman Promotions.

Lydia is a publicist specializing in the jazz genre and works with a large roster of amazing artists. If you go to www.lydialiebman.com you can see who she's working with and some of the amazing success stories she's had for her clients.

In this episode, Lydia and I talk all about the world of PR. Why should an artist hire a publicist? What does the publicist do? How has the role of the publicist changed since Lydia has been doing this for over a decade now? All these questions and more are answered.

I am grateful to Lydia for her time and really enjoyed speaking with her. I think you're going to learn a lot. Without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Lydia Liebman.

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of speaking of the arts.

I’m your host Mike Epstein and I’m excited to tell you about today’s episode. We’re featuring Joel Pierson.

Joel is the founder, bandleader, and arranger for The Queen's Cartoonists, an ensemble that performs music from cartoons.

Joel had this great idea to combine his passion for animated film, and live music to create a really unique experience for audiences, so he’s cultivated over 100 years worth of animation from all around the world and has largely by himself, transcribed the scores to these films and then put together a great ensemble to perform them.

There are a few different versions of the show that we talk about. One is Simply called "Ages 2 to 102" which is a program that's really for all ages and it’s a lot of fun. Another version of the show is a holiday program which has a singer and animation with live music, but obviously focusing on holiday content. There is also a version of the show where they feature international cartoons and one more version of the show that features the ensemble with cartoons and with symphony.

It was really fun to talk to Joel about how he came up with the idea for the ensemble and some of the things that audiences can expect during a performance. Please enjoy my conversation with Joel Pierson of The Queen’s Cartoonists.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am Mike Epstein and today's episode features Sebastian Rios of New Jazz Underground.

New Jazz Underground is an American trio featuring Abdias Armenteros (Saxophonist/Composer), Sebastian Rios (Bassist/Composer), and TJ Reddick (Drummer). They have been described as “an innovative and ultra creative collective striving to establish themselves as a defining voice for the genre of Jazz and beyond”.

Their music signals a merging of traditional sensibilities in Jazz with the modern influence of swing, hip-hop, house/afro-beat, and afro-cuban music. Millions have viewed their viral videos such as: “they can hate but we still swingin’”, “f**k/s**t/c**t/jazz”, “sad boy jazz”, as well as many others featuring the band's exuberant chemistry, effortless musicality, and raw ambition in sound.

In this interview, I talk to Sebastian about the formation of the trio and their upcoming, debut album titled Hoodies. I encourage everyone to check this group out and catch them on the summer festival circuit where they will give debut performances at the Newport, Montreal, and Monterey Jazz Festivals among others.

Welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am your host, Mike Epstein and I am excited to share today's episode with you. We are featuring the amazing singer, Stella Cole. Stella is getting ready to release her debut album on August 30 and I had the opportunity to speak with her earlier this year where she shared more about the recording process and creating the music. We also talked about Stella’s earliest musical influences, how she got started as a professional singer in New York, and much more. Her CD release shows are on sale now and you can see where she is performing at StellaCole.net or on her Social Media channels. Thank you for listening everyone and now, please enjoy my conversation with Stella Cole.

Welcome back to Speaking of the Arts! Today's guest is Chris Mees, founder and director of the B Natural booking agency. I've known Chris for several years now and was really looking forward to our chat. Chris is a driven, smart, successful entrepreneur who has built a respectable agency from the ground up. We were able to cover a wide range of topics in our conversation including the importance of mentors, taking risks, the challenges and opportunities associated with being an entrepreneur, and specific topics related to the agency-artist-management relationship. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Thanks for listening.

Episode 80: Cyrille Aimee by Mike Epstein

Hello Everyone!

And thank you for tuning in on this new episode of Speaking of the Arts. My name is Mackenzie and I am the Operations Manager at Epstein Fox Performances and I will be your host for today’s podcast. I am so excited to bring you guys a really special guest, critically acclaimed composer, bandleader, and most importantly Tenor Saxophonist, James Brandon Lewis. We are going to invite him into the conversation on everything music. Today’s episode we are touching on topics regarding his musical history, inspirations, Molecular Systematic Music, and of course his lovely new album, For Mahalia, With Love.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts!

My name is Marie Le Claire. I’m the east coast agent at Epstein Fox Performances and your host for today!

Today, I’m excited to bring you a conversation with famed singer and one of the newest artists on the EFP roster, Magos Herrera!

We discuss Magos joining the roster, her journey as a Mexican artist starting over in the US, some of her various projects and of course, her beautiful new album.

You will also hear clips of the songs, "Gracias A La Vida" and “Aire" from her new album also called Aire.

I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation!

Hello and welcome to Speaking of the Arts https://www.speakingofthearts.com/ . Today we feature Epstein Fox Performances https://www.efperformances.com/ , the new booking agency I have co-founded with my partner, Michael Fox. (For more information on Michael, you can listen to Speaking of the Arts Episode 68 https://www.speakingofthearts.com/episodes/68 where I featured Michael and what was then his new agency, Fox Performances).

There’s a great saying in the world of entrepreneurship: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

From July 2013 to August 2022, I was in the fast but alone category, running my previous agency. (OK, I wasn’t entirely alone and I need to give a shout out to Marie Le Claire who helped keep things running smoothly from the moment she signed on and whom I’ve had the pleasure of seeing evolve into one of the best agents I know). Along the way, one of my primary goals was always to build a bigger team. When I first met Michael Fox several years ago, I was impressed with both his knowledge of the industry and his passion and drive for helping artists succeed. To my credit, I actually tried to hire him a few times over the years. To his credit, he kindly passed each time!

When I found out Michael started his own agency in 2020 my first thought was “Yes! This just might lead to a bigger opportunity for us to finally work together.”

Fast forward to June of this past year when I called Michael and asked if he would consider becoming a partner with me so we could build a brand new agency and company together. Spoiler alert, he said yes and here we are.

This episode features our new team and you will hear from Michael, myself, Marie Le Claire and Mackenzie Whitman. We talk about the mission of Epstein Fox Performances, some of the new artist projects we are excited about, how we try to offer a unique experience to the artists we work with, general advice for new and established artists, and much more.

I truly believe that my career in the music industry, which celebrates 15 years this October, has been leading to this moment. Everything I’ve tried to do before now has all been R&D and I am really proud of our team and what we are building here.

You can check out all of the great artists we are working with at https://www.efperformances.com.

I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. Our guest today is Katherine McVicker. In 2014, Katherine founded the boutique agency, Music Works International https://www.musicworksinternational.com/ , after three decades as an agent developing the touring careers of dozens of artists such as Brad Mehldau, Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and many others. In 2000, she launched the European touring career of Norah Jones and spent seven years developing Jones’ profile internationally. Most recently, Katherine published the online course “Anyone can book a gig,”https://musicworksintl.thinkific.com/courses/anyone-can-book-a-gig which breaks down the core components of what goes into booking shows for independent artists. I recently spoke to Katherine about the course and wanted to share our conversation with everyone so they can learn more about this and where to find it. Independent musicians will find this episode particularly useful.