The Working Artist Project

It's Podcast Friday people! Kristina Koller and I talk about her new album, Perception. We also explore the challenges new artist face and how she has overcome some of them so far. She gives us unlimited access to her thoughts, feelings and experiences as an artist and human being. I know you guys are going to dig this episode!

Connect with Kristina Here: https://www.KristinaKoller.net

Connect with Darrian Here: https://www.secondlinearts.org

On her album, Perception, Kristina Koller gives a well thought out modern treatment to familiar jazz and pop songs and in a way that reinvents these classic material yet preserving their essence. Her music connects with new audiences outside of the jazz music circle, melding jazz, funk, R&B & alternative sounds into her arrangements and compositions.

Today I explored the complex yet satisfying life of writer and educator Kelli Watson. Kelli's unique outlook on the process of creating is simply exhilarating. We spoke about The Chill Out Teacher, which is a blog created by Kelli to explore the inner workings of an educators day to day world. Kelli sheds light on the many ways her life has changed since becoming a mother and wife. According to her, it took these radical developments to reign in her insatiable will to work around the clock. Now Kelli focus's on creating a sustainable work-life balance while keeping the high standards she set for her self since the beginning of her career. Kellie and I also dive into more complex topics such race in the classroom and what the best path forward is for educators and the system alike. I think you guys are going to like this one, so sit back relax and enjoy the show.

Connect with Kelli Here: http://chilloutteacher.blogspot.com/

Connect with Darrian Here: http://secondlinearts.org

Kelli Watson Bio

Kelli Watson is an innovative educator, writer and consultant based in New Orleans, LA. She has served as a teacher and administrator nationally and abroad in public, private and charter schools for nearly fifteen years. From Detroit to Prague, Chicago to South Bend, and Los Angeles to New Orleans, Kelli’s teaching and leadership experience from the pre-school to collegiate level has offered life lessons on the realities of education. She is a pioneer of the balanced teacher lifestyle movement, and is currently making an impact with her honest yet hopeful blog The Chillout Teacher.

In her current work, Kelli serves as a fifth grade teacher in a creative arts charter school in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter. Immersing herself in the Czech culture fifteen years ago, Kelli launched her career in an International Baccalaureate School and returned to her roots in the American midwest to teach and eventually lead the openings of grassroots charter schools across the country for almost ten years. Her passion revealed itself in supporting teachers with culturally-responsive curriculum that kids loved and made teachers feel good. Beyond statistics, she soon realized that teacher turnover in these urban charter schools was an issue she wanted to investigate further.

Preparing for the birth of her first child, Kelli chose to return to the classroom in 2015 and create The Chillout Teacher blog site. She also consults and trains for Louisiana teacher certification programs and pours her heart into her narrative of today’s teacher lifestyle in her blog.

Kelli earned her master’s degree in education and K-8 math instruction from Marygrove College and her bachelor’s degree in education and English from Michigan State University. She also holds a Teacher’s of English as a Foreign Language Certificate from TEFL Worldwide Prague, Czech Republic. Kelli plans to explore doctorate programs focused on teacher retention and teacher preparation programs, following the birth of her second child this Spring.

Brooklyn, Music, Independence and Haiti are all words embodied by today's guest. Melanie's warm spirit and wisdom seeped into my soul and I hope it does the same for you. We spoke about her most recent appearance on SNL and the recognition it afforded her from peers and strangers alike. We listened to her recent mixtape, "The Girl With The Green Shoes". Each song encourages us all to look deep into our being with a longing and understanding. I hope you guys enjoy this episode of The Working Artist Project.

Connect with Melanie Here: https://www.melaniejbcharles.com/

Connect with Darrian here: https://www.secondlinearts.org/

Bio:

This Brooklyn-Born, Haitian-American musician is truly a rarity. With a strong creative fluidity spanning many genres and styles from soul to jazz to Haitian roots music, Melanie Jean-Baptiste Charles always delivers. Melanie is a graduate of LaGuardia High School For The Performing Arts as a flute major and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music with a degree in vocal Jazz performance. Melanie has toured and performed as a leader and as a sideman at Blue Note NY, Milan and Japan, Duc Des Lombards in Paris, and has just recently returned from a European tour with her international Quartet. Melanie has been featured on producer/ guitarist Nicola Contes latest two albums "Love and Revolution" and "Free Souls" along side heavy weights Gregory Porter and Jose James. Haitian Author Ralph Boncy & the Haitian Jazz Foundation featured Charles in the latest book "Grand Dames De La Musique Haitienne" which also included TotoBisainthe and Martha Jean Claude. At the top of fall 2017 Melanie released her solo-self produced project called "The Girl with the Green Shoes: a sonic collage fusing jazz, lo-if samples and soul elements

It's podcast Friday people! Godwin Louis is the CEO and Founder of Experience Ayiti.(https://www.ExperienceAyiti.org) He and I explored the meaning of success, spirituality and mastery. We also spoke about his time in Africa and the impact that the continent has had on his day to day life. I hope you enjoy this episode of The Working Artist Project. Please don't forget too like, comment, and subscribe to this podcast.

Connect with Godwin Here: https://www.experienceayiti.org/

Connect with Darrian Here: https://www.secondlinearts.org

Bio:

Godwin Louis, alto saxophonist, was born in Harlem, New York

and began playing saxophone at age nine. Godwin grew up in

Bridgeport, Connecticut and Port au Prince, Haiti. Godwin was

a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Saxophone

Competition. He has performed around the globe including:

Mali, Senegal, Togo, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy,

Russia, Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Venezuela,

Colombia, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia.

Godwin is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the

prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz Performance.

Godwin has studied and performed with Herbie Hancock, Clark

Terry, Roger Dickerson, Ron Carter, Al Foster, Jack Dejohnette,

Jimmy Heath, Billy Preston, Patti Labelle, Toni Braxton,

Babyface, Madonna, Gloria Estefan, Barry Harris, Howard

Shore, David Baker, Mulatu Astakte, Mahmoud Ahmed, Wynton

Marsalis, and Terence Blanchard just to name a few.

In addition, Godwin has performed as a sideman, guest soloist

and has conducted clinics and master classes worldwide. As a

composer, Godwin has received the Jerome Foundation

Emerging Artist Grant, and the Jazz Gallery's "New Works

Commission". As an educator, humanitarian and ambassador,

Godwin has traveled from Ghana to China to help promote

cross-cultural understanding and introduce thousands to

America’s indigenous art form, through public concerts, master

classes, and jam sessions. Godwin is the founder of Experience

Ayiti, a nonprofit educational, multidisciplinary arts

organization.

Today on The Working Artist Project Jason and I dive deep into the life and habits of the modern musician. We discuss a wide range of topics including, the cultural importance of music in New Orleans vs New York, family, business and most notably the drums! Whether you're a young musician looking for inspiration or a curious supporter of the arts, this episode is for you. I have a feeling you are going to enjoy listening to this one. Don't forget to hit the like button!

Connect with Jason Here: http://jasonmarsalis.com/

Connect with us Here: http://secondlinearts.org

Bio:

From a tender young age, it was clear that Jason Marsalis had what it took to be great. Jason is the son of pianist and music educator Ellis Marsalis and his wife Dolores, and the youngest sibling of Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo. Together, the four brothers and their patriarch Ellis, comprise New Orleans venerable first family of jazz.

Ellis and Dolores began to cultivate Jason’s interest in music at age three, with the purchase of a toy set of drums. Jason is fond of telling the story of a game he and his parents would play with the drums. “When I was three, my parents bought me a toy drum set and the used to introduce me to an

imaginary audience. They would say, ‘Ladies and gentleman introducing the fabulous Jason!’ and I would come out and start banging away much to my parents delight. I too enjoyed it to the point that I started to go up to my parents unsolicited and say, ‘Dad, introduce me again!’”

By age six, not only had Jason gotten his first real drum set, but he was also taking lessons from the legendary New Orleans drummer James Black. At age seven he was sitting in with his father’s jazz group, as well as playingwith his trombonist brother Delfeayo. Jason was progressing so rapidly as a drummer that in 1984 his father started using him consistently on engagements. Jason was starting to become a seasoned road veteran before the age of nine, even traveling to the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston for older brother Delfeayo’s recital.

Though Jason had also taken up violin at age five, drums remained his primary focus throughout his grade school years. However, in his last year living in Richmond, VA,it was as a member of a junior youth orchestra that he first discovered the percussion section. The following year, Jason gave up the violin and focused exclusively on percussion. In 1991, he auditioned and was accepted to the acclaimed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts High School (NOCCA). Throughout his high school years he continued to hone his skills by playing gigs with his father and brothers, as well as studying orchestral percussion techniques at the venerable Eastern Music Festival. Shortly after graduation from NOCCA in 1995, Marsalis ascended to the drum throne of a new group lead by virtuoso pianist and former sideman for Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts. Despite a demanding touring schedule with Roberts, Marsalis furthered his educational goals by attending Loyola University in New Orleans, as well as studying composition with notable classical composer, Roger Dickerson. While Marsalis made appearances with such international jazz luminaries as Joe Henderson and Lionel Hampton, he was visible on the New Orleans scene working with a diverse cross section of bands from Casa Samba (Brazilian), Neslort (jazz fusion) Summer Stages (children’s theater), Dr. Michael White (traditional jazz) and many others. It was in 1998 that he co-founded the Latin-jazz group Los Hombres Calientes. While recording two albums with the group, Marsalis also produced two albums under his own name, Year of the Drummer (1998) and Music in Motion (2000), as well as producing reissues and current recordings of his father on their self-owned label, ELM Records.

In 2000, Jason left the Los Hombres group to attain more...

This podcast is brought to you by Second Line Arts Collective. Find out how you can join the second line at SecondLineArts.org.

Jon Beshay and I had a very interesting conversation about his origin, leveraging intensity, and the direction of the music he creates! This one is definitely a good one.

Connect with Jon here: https://www.facebook.com/jbeshay

Connect with Darrian Here: SecondLineArts.Org

Bio:

Jonathan Beshay-jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer-says that there's no other agenda when his group takes the bandstand.  Fortunately for audiences, Beshay likes to hear good music. 

His first role models were the old masters of jazz (John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young) but it would be a mistake to assume that modern music isn't fair game for Beshay.  Artists such as Walter Smith and John Ellis make their way onto his list of influences, all uttered in the same breath as Coleman Hawkins and Woody Shaw. 

When pressed, he compares his musical process to the late Mulgrew Miller's; something that is rooted deep down in the history of jazz, but has blossomed outward into an art that is unique and new.

The result is an adaptable, energetic, fearlessly hard-swinging sound that pulls from a vast body of musical sources.  Beshay has no trouble moving from the street-band wailing of traditional jazz to the intricate post-bop melodies of a Joe Henderson tune.  It's all fair game, “. . . as long as it sounds good!”  And it does sound good—these musicians are hungry, playing with the fire and easy confidence that come from being completely at home in a genre.

Beshay's band is a mix of fresh young faces, some familiar and some not.  The 2011 graduate of Michigan State University is working hard to push his own writing and that of other people his age.  “The future of the music is in my peers,” he says, and that's fueling his drive to create a band that's more than just a collection of disparate individuals.  “The way that Miles Davis, Art Blakey injected their bands with such incredible personality, such a strong unified sound . . . that's the level I'm aiming for.”

He's also served as the musical director on tours with Winard Harper's band for more than two years, through the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, and the Omani Royal Opera House, and is currently the musical director for his brother, Philip Harper. Beshay also spent seven weeks in Doha, Qatar performing to an international audience at the St. Regis. Between that, a brief stint with Delfayo Marsalis in New Orleans, a Downbeat Magazine award, and playing in George Gee’s Swing Orchestra, the young saxophone player is keeping very, very busy.

Judi Jackson is talented, unique, soulful, loving, and tumultuous. She has a wild energy about her, that lends itself to excitement and intrigue. We sat down to talk about her soon to be released recording (Blame It On My Youth) and how her life experiences have influenced her music thus far. I hope you guys enjoy this interview.

Ian Duerr was born July 10, 1981, in Waupaca, Wisconsin into a musical family. His parents and grandparents are still active performers. Ian began on guitar and between the ages of 6 and 7 was playing rock in his mother’s band. In high school he played in a Jimi Hendrix cover band, Jimi being his first pro inspiration until he found jazz and Wes Montgomery.

Ian studied jazz guitar at Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin and Jazz Composition at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music where he began to learn some piano as well. In 2005 he got a job as the pianist in a trio hired by Carnival Cruise Lines. This lasted through 2008. In 2009 Ian made up mind to try New York. A first he stayed at Jazz On Lenox, a youth hostel in Harlem for $13 a night. Then it came to sleeping on friends’ floors. Finally, he hooked up with a trumpeter he had met on the scene and moved into the other’s Brooklyn apartment.

The rest is history

Tom Larsen is one of the most connected people I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Not connected in the social sense, but rather spiritually. He exudes passion, love, and wisdom through his musical prowess and has the unique ability to make you feel like an equal participant in his creative process. This is his strength his gift. It was great for me to experience his views of the world and art through this lense of truth and love. I hope that you enjoy this episode of The Working Artist Project.

Connect with Tom Larsen Here: https://www.tomlarsenmusic.com/

Bio:

Tom Larsen is an NYC based blues, rock and jazz guitar player, singer, and composer. After graduating from the SUNY Purchase Jazz Studies program, he moved to Brooklyn to begin his music career. In 2011, he formed the group People vs Larsen as frontman and has since released two albums. He has been featured twice as resident Late Night Artist with Jazz at Lincoln Center in Doha, Qatar. He performs regularly in NYC and has toured all over the US, Europe, Mexico and the Middle East with his group and others.

As a teacher, Tom has been instructing students in guitar, bass, vocals, harmony, theory, and songwriting for 7 years.

Connect with Darrian Douglas Here: http://www.darriandouglas.com/

Connect with Darrian on Patreon Here: https://www.patreon.com/DarrianDouglas

Connect with Caroline here: http://www.carolinedavis.org/

Caroline and I had a great time talking about the complexities and beauty of life. Our conversation seemed to wind down many roads but the part that resonated with me is her ability to adapt to change. Singapore, Texas, Chicago, Atlanta and New York, have very little in common except for the fact that Caroline conquered them all.

Mobile since her birth in Singapore, composer, saxophonist, and educator Caroline Davis now lives in Brooklyn, New York. After making her mark on the Chicago jazz community during her 8-year stint, she moved to New York in 2013, and has proven to be an active leader and side-woman in the national jazz scene.

Bio:

Her debut album, Live Work & Play, was featured on All About Jazz’s best releases, and she was named one of JazzTimes’ Best New Artists in the 2012 Expanded Critics’ Poll. Her second album, Doors: Chicago Storylines, was just released as an audio documentary that uniquely sets stories from Chicago's jazz scene from the 80s and 90s alongside her original music. This year, she was named one of DownBeat’s rising stars in the alto saxophone category.

She has performed and recorded with a diverse group of musicians, including Matt Wilson, Ellis Marsalis, Matt Mitchell, Randy Brecker, Ron Perrillo, Victor Goines, Bobby Broom, Greg Saunier, Ron Miles, Dennis Carroll, Jeff Parker, Dan Weiss, Erin McKeown, Allison Miller, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Billy Kaye. Aside from her own quintet, she collaborates regularly with R&B indie band, Maitri, and has been a regular member of many outfits including Whirlpool, Fatbook, Charles Rumback Group, Deep Fayed, Matt Mitchell’s Sprees, Billy Kaye Quintet, Paul Bedal Quintet, Orso, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Caili O’Doherty Group, Dion Kerr Group, Elliot Ross, and Materials and Their Destiny.

As an educator, Caroline brings her unique knowledge of music and psychology to her teaching, as she acquired a Ph.D. in Music Cognition at Northwestern University in 2010. She has been on the faculty at Litchfield Jazz Camp for the past 10 years, and has been a guest educator at Stanford Jazz Workshop, Birch Creek Music Center, Northwestern University, University of Colorado at Boulder, St. Xavier University, Columbia College, DePaul University, University of Texas at Arlington, Loyola University, Texas Tech, New Trier High School, Evanston Township High School, Denver School of the Arts, Newman Smith High School, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. She has also participated in several jazz mentorship programs, including IAJE’s Sisters in Jazz and the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program.