Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

by Leah Roseman
Society & Culture
Season 3

Milind Date: Bansuri player

I’m delighted to feature the master bansuri player Milind Date, who joined me from his home in Pune, India, and played his flutes as well as shared his perspectives from his life in music. As always, check the timestamps below for both the music and the many topics we covered. Milind spoke to me about his studies with the legendary Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, of his fusion projects especially in South Korea, he had a great story about a memorable concert he played in Toronto, he talked about his extensive travels in India and internationally. He has a large and varied discography, and has composed music for many films: https://www.milind.date/ Like all my episodes, this is available both as a podcast and video, with a transcript all linked to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/milind-date-bansuri-player Please help me continue this series! https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:46) bansuri flute (03:28) Sunand Bhairav (04:50) early rock music influences, fusion music Hariprasad Chaurasia (11:01) Korean tours and collaborations (17:59) solo 6 month trip in India 2021 (26:11) folk tune from Uttarakhand region (30:01) different folk traditions in India (32:18) Milind’s collection of flutes in different keys (35:01) differences between Hindustani and Carnatic music (38:09) system of gharanas, studies with Hariprasad Chaurasia (55:49) Zakir Hussain (01:05:31) writing film music, notation, Western classical musicians (01:11:31) around the world tour 2013 (01:12:58) performances in Canada (01:20:00) music as meditation (01:23:14) teaching and learning (01:29:56) flute performance
S3 · E12
Apr 1, 2023
1:35:34

Destiny Muhammad: Jazz Harpist and Composer and her inspiring personal story

I was so honoured to have this opportunity to talk with the inspiring Destiny Muhammad, who is a California-based jazz harpist and composer. You’ll get to hear inspiring stories from her life as well as her music. She had a dream to play the harp but didn’t have the opportunity until she was 30 years old. She speaks openly about the challenges in the 1980s due to the crack cocaine trade, her success as a barber, her determination and mentors including John Handy, and her unique perspectives in celebrating the legacies of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. When we recorded the episode, I experienced an incredible private concert including several of her original tunes. However, after we listened to the tracks, we agreed it would be even better if she were to record the music separately to have the best possible harp sound, which she generously agreed to do. Like all my episodes this is available as both as a video and a podcast, with transcript: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/destiny-muhammad-jazz-harpist Destiny Muhammad website: https://destinymuhammad.net/ Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (03:29) Algorithms (harp) (05:18) Destiny’s start on the harp, Stephanie Kaufman Osborne (09:55) learning jazz, Dorothy Ashby, Alice Coltrane, Khalil Shaheed (15:22) John Handy (20:16) Alice Coltrane tribute concerts SF Jazz (26:45) Dorothy Ashby (31:37) If it’s magic (harp) (36:06) Shirley Muramoto, San Francisco Symphony (37:00) Amateur Music Network, SF Jazz community jam sessions, (40:37) Teaching jazz, teaching music (53:14) creative process (59:15) tribute to Rosie Lee Tompkins (01:08:40) lessons learned from running a barbershop (01:21:20) growing up in the projects, dealing with bigotry (01:25:51) compositions for orchestra, Matt Wong arranger (01:29:06) Coltrane (harp)
S3 · E11
Mar 25, 2023
1:33:20

Matt Zimbel

Matt Zimbel is a percussionist with the band Manteca, and also an award-winning writer, producer, documentary filmmaker, artistic director, broadcast executive and radio and tv host. In this fascinating episode he shares his insights gained from a wealth of experience across the music industry. We speak near the beginning about his father the photographer George Zimbel, who died this past January 2023, after we recorded the episode. We talk about the beautiful documentary film, “Zimbelism” that Matt made with director Jean-Francois Gratton. Matt offered that the trailer for Zimbelism, which features the music of Manteca, could be used in this episode. He has also generously let me weave in a pre-release of a fantastic new percussion piece with Art Avalos which will appear on Manteca’s upcoming Offspring Project. The video version of this episode, with the transcript is here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/mattzimbel Matt Zimbel website: http://mattzimbel.com/ Manteca: https://manteca-music.com/ Busking in Deadwood video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBtrn8Mob5s Manteca albums on Bandcamp: https://mantecamusic.bandcamp.com/music Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:30) early influences: Osibisa, jazz on CBC radio (05:38) dropping out of school at 14, percussion studies Jim Farety, Dido Morris, John Ruddell, Armando’s Orchestra, forming Manteca (08:30) intro Hit Record percussion piece with Art Avalos pre-release for Manteca’s The Offspring Project (09:20) Hit Record (10:31) learning percussion, playing diferent styles, recording disco (12:30) early influences: Eddie Harris (13:11) creating the film Zimbelism (14:38) clip from trailer for Zimbelism (16:03) making of Zimbelism, Elaine Sernovitz and George Zimbel (21:03) adoption of Jodi from Korea, racism (23:27) immgration to Canada to a farm on PEI (26:00) Matt’s family’s reaction to him dropping out of school, living the freelance life as an artist (27:59) orchestra life (29:22) Manteca, Colleen Allen and memorizing music, Will Jarvis (31:21) Road Stories with Manteca (34:06) Manteca’s The Offspring Project (44:46) Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis (48:42) Canada Day show, PanAm Games (58:41) publicity, finding new audiences, Canadian culture (01:07:28) Doug Wilde creative process Manteca (01:09:17) clip from Miss Météo from album Augmented Indiference, (01:12:23) story about Miss Météo (01:15:33) problem with streaming music, Busking in Deadwood video (01:18:09) dealing with the pandemic through creativity, livestream with Lyne Tremblay, Matt’s sons (01:21:45) the importance of good food (01:23:01) Rick Tait (01:24:59) crowdfunding and challenges for performers (01:28:44) lessons learned from his parents (01:32:05) Matt’s perspectives on a varied career
S3 · E10
Mar 18, 2023
1:36:26

Aaron Weinstein: Jazz Mandolinist, Violinist, Arranger and Writer

My guest today is the phenomenal jazz violinist, mandolinist, arranger, and writer Aaron Weinstein. Aaron is a self-taught violinist and attended the renowned Berklee College on a 4 year talent based scholarship. As a young man he performed and recorded with many jazz legends. In this episode we talked about some of these mentors, including Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Les Paul, and this interview is full of Aaron’s stories and insights as a performer and educator. He has generously agreed to let me use two of his previously released self-produced videos so you can hear some of his playing. I first discovered Aaron in his comedy series with Linda Lavin; I encourage you to check it out along with his other projects and albums: http://www.aaronweinstein.net/ All my episodes are also a video and the transcript is at the same link: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/aaron-weinstein Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:41) Aaron’s start on old-time fiddle (03:16) Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli (06:50) Mel Bay books Swingin’ Jazz Fiddle Solos and Mandolin Chord Melody System (09:28) Aaron Weinstein plays Avalon, both violin and mandolin (11:05) Don Stiernberg (12:27) “Give Me the Simple Life” Aaron Weinstein on mandolin (13:56) difference between jazz mandolin and jazz violin (17:18) Album 3x3 on Chesky label (18:21) Berklee College of Muisic, Sandy Kott first formal violin lessons (23:32)Les Paul (25:05) playing with jazz legends as a young man, learning the tunes, Annie Ross (27:46) lyrics, Sondheim, Andy Zerman (30:35) working with Broadway singers and appreciating different genres (33:59) self-criticism, dealing with different performance realities (36:15) Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Johnny Frigo (38:54) Linda Lavin, Irvin Arthur (45:12) agents, jazz in the music business (46:59) mandolin, violin, guitar, Hamilton de Holanda (49:11) teaching jazz (56:03) giving and getting feedback (59:04) getting established in New York, support from John Pizzarelli (01:01:26) arranging, practicing classical music, interpretation and originality (01:06:43) writing (01:13:54) advice for younger players, problems with social media (01:20:19) how to practice, improvisation (01:26:05) Les Paul story (01:28:00) missing the opportunity to hear Stéphane Grappelli
S3 · E9
Mar 10, 2023
1:30:11
Season 1

Gina Burgess Catch-Up Bonus!

Bonus
Welcome to a special Catch-Up bonus episode with violinist Gina Burgess. My original episode with her is linked here, as well as the podcast versions of both, with transcripts: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e18-s1-gina-burgess-multi-style-violinist If you missed my first conversation with Gina, you’ll be interested to hear her fascinating personal story and how she became so connected with the North. Gina has had a really interesting year, going back to university in Newfoundland, moving to the far north of Canada in Iqaluit, and releasing her first album as bandleader. We talked about Inuit throatsinging, and have included two excerpts from the album which I encourage you to check out on Bandcamp: https://ginaburgessmusic.bandcamp.com/album/isnow Please help me keep this podcast going! https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:24) music education at Memorial University in Newfoundland (03:56) touring life cut short by pandemic and pivoting to teaching (04:59) placement in Iqaluit (07:40) Inuit throat singing, Cynthia Pitsiulak (09:32) intro to Anuri (12:06) clip from Anuri on ISNOW album (14:34) album release in Iqaluit with drum dancers, Olivia Chislett throat singer (16:17) album ISNOW (17:38) Ravens on the Roof intro (19:50) clip from Ravens on the Roof (20:34) crafting, sober jam (22:09) teaching (23:22) teaching teenagers, the importance of knowing them (24:48) playing in hospital
S1 · E18
Mar 4, 2023
27:14
Season 3

Gertrude "Trudy" Létourneau: Therapeutic Musician

Gertrude Létourneau, known to some as Trudy, is a flutist, pianist, singer and a therapeutic musician. During this episode, she tells many moving stories of the residents she has worked with in her many years working at Pearly Health. During the episode she frequently breaks into song and plays a variety of flutes as well as paints a vivid picture of the fulfilling role she plays working with veterans. We also spoke about her mentors Peter Wiegold, Jeffrey Gilbert, and Marie-Claire Séguin. This was an episode very much about going out your comfort zone, connecting with your audience, and learning to slow down and enjoy every day. Help me keep this series going! https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Video and Transcript link: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/gertrude-trudy-letourneau Gertrude's website: https://gertrudeletourneau.com/ photo credit: Dave Poulin Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (03:02) how Gertrude got into this work as a therapeutic musician at Perley Health, Performance and Communication Skills at Guildhall with Peter Wiegold (08:12) making music with the residents, sing-along culture, Kohai Educational Center working kids with learning disabilities (12:20) learning the repertoire, playing by ear, choosing themes, different aspects of the work at Perley Health (16:01) difference between Music Therapist and Therapeutic Musician (17:44) story about Lili Marlene and World War II veteran (20:55) PTSD story (25:56) J’attendrai ton retour with story (28:53) developing as a singer, coaching with Marie-Claire Séguin, finalist in Ma première Place des Arts competition (34:05) Audience engagement, talking to the audience and building bridges (38:52) Jeffrey Gilbert (41:58) childhood music and decision to pursue the flute (46:35) dealing with grief and loss (52:54) planning repertoire around themes (55:36) coping with the COVID Pandemic in long-term care, online concerts with Concerts in Care and the Music Performance Trust Fund (01:01:03) living in the moment, Québecois culture and La Bolduc, a musician’s last gig (01:06:50) lessons learned (01:16:33) Let Me Call You Sweetheart, creative challenges and going out of your comfort zone
S3 · E8
Feb 25, 2023
1:20:15

Adam Hurt: Clawhammer banjo, gourd banjo and old-time fiddle

Adam Hurt is an acclaimed clawhammer banjo player and one of my favourite performers in any style and I was absolutely delighted that he agreed not only to speak to me at length about his life and teaching of traditional music, but also perform for this episode some of my favourite music. His albums of gourd banjo music “Earth Tones” and “Back to the Earth” are beloved by a wide range of listeners, I think partly because the sound colour of the instrument is much more mellow than other banjos. You’ll hear him play and talk about the fascinating history of both his gourd banjo and one of his favourite antique instruments. He’s also a fine old-time fiddler, and although he grew up with classical musician parents, his father a violinist with the Minnesota orchestra, Adam’s life-changing musical moment was with a wonderful and dedicated school teacher. The video version of this episode along with the transcript: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/adam-hurt Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Adam Hurt website: https://www.adamhurt.com/ If you enjoyed this episode you may be interested in some of my episodes with other traditional musicians, including Janie Rothfield and Alexis Chartrand. I continue to feature many players of plucked instruments with some nice surprises coming your way in Season 3. If you subscribe to my newsletter through my website https://www.leahroseman.com/contact, you’ll get exclusive sneak peeks for upcoming episodes. Timestamps (00:00:00) Cold open and intro (00:02:17) antique Dobson banjo, restoration by Will Seeders Mosheim (00:07:43) intro to “Fortune” played on the Dobson banjo (00:11:06) Adam’s early music education, difficulty reading music (00:15:26) Don Payden first Old-Time teacher, learning by ear, mandolin with Brian Wicklund, clawhammer with Marianne Kovatch (00:27:58) tone production on the banjo (00:35:39) Ricky Skaggs collaboration on album Back to the Earth (00:39:11) gourd banjo, performance of “Josie-O” (00:45:05) history of this David Hyatt gourd banjo and the recording of Eartht Tones album (00:50:04) African origins of the banjo, racist history (00:53:47) tablature, Walt Koken story, Adam’s teaching (00:59:21) Clifftop (01:04:53) Adam’s father, learning fiddle (01:09:22) open A tuning, performance of Patty on the Pike on fiddle (01:14:17) dancing and old-time, Adam’s experience of learning flatfoot syle (01:16:42) album Fine Times at our House (01:18:32) why we love Bandcamp (01:22:20) the hawk story (01:28:51) Adam’s teaching strategies (01:36:53) intro to performance of Snowdrop on the antique Dobson banjo
S3 · E7
Feb 18, 2023
1:45:03

Ineke Vandoorn: Jazz singer, Educator, Author

Ineke Vando orn is a wonderfully expressive prizewinning jazz vocalist, author, composer and educator. We talked about overcoming voice problems, the craft of writing lyrics, teaching vocal improvisation, her book “Singing from the Inside Out”, and many of her fascinating creative collaborations.During the recording of this episode Ineke performed 3 times, and also check out the timestamps below for the many topics we covered. The link for both the video and the transcript is here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/ineke-vandoorn Be sure to check out my episode with Ineke’s partner guitarist Marc Van Vugt: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/marc-van-vugt-guitarist-and-composer Ineke's website: https://www.inekevandoorn.com/ Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman photo: Jiri Büller Timestamps (00:00) Cold open and Intro (01:34) early days with Marc van Vugt (03:29) voice problems (05:57) process for writing book “Singing From the Inside Out” (14:33) song “Holysloot” by Ineke Vandoorn (19:57) singing workshops (21:00) project with Cecilia Moisio “I Can See Myself Through Your Eyes” (29:00) criticism and performance anxiety (35:04) song “Tea”by Marc van Vugt with lyrics by Ineke Vandoorn (41:02) use of DigiTech400 Vocal pedal (42:50) Paris, Van Doesburg house residency, challenges of self-promotion as an independant jazz artist (45:35) coaching students about different practical skills (48:51) teaching improvisation (50:30) the importance and lack of government support for music (52:09) pitch memory, singing a cappella, Voice Lab group (54:54) family music, early years (56:15) coming into her own as a singer, support of Don Thompson, going to Banff (59:17) mentoring younger women (01:00:39) writing lyrics in English and Dutch (01:10:01) Flora Purim, gaining confidence as a performer (01:12:36) “Alice in Space” opera with Ingmar Heytze and Marc van Vugt (01:14:39) free improv vocal solo (01:19:39) collaboraing with recorder player Saskia Coolen (01:22:34) reflections on turning 60 (01:24:18) project with Jasper van ’t Hof (01:27:29) album “Crossing Canada” (01:28:28) balancing time between teaching at ArtEZ, performing and creating (01:30:58) plans for a new book about vocal improvisation
S3 · E6
Feb 10, 2023
1:36:29

Ali Omar El-Farouk: Oud and Guitar Player and Teacher

Ali Omar El-Farouk is an Egyptian and Canadian oud guitar player, composer and teacher. Ali plays his oud and three other instruments during this fascinating conversation in which we talked about learning from a place of joy, connecting across cultures through music, languages, architecture, Istanbul, Spain, Umm Kulthum, Nubian music, jazz, and lots more. The link for the video version and transcript: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/ali-omar-el-farouk Support this series through my Ko-fi page! https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman https://aliomarelfarouk.com/ photo: Joshua Hansen Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:01:50) Ali’s background in architectural engineering, coming to Montreal to study jazz (00:02:57) early music lessons piano and guitar (00:07:55) about the oud, with improvisation (00:16:50) Ali’s time in Spain studying flamenco and introduction to “Nostalgia Esperanzadora” (00:29:31) Ali’s composition “Nostalgia Esperanzadora” for oud and flamenco guitar (00:38:21) vibrato and different expressive techniques on the oud, about the risha and different types of plectrums (00:46:28) Arab architecture, Alhambra, traveling in Southern Spain (00:52:20) learning Spanish, Turkish and communicating through music (00:55:29) bringing musicians to Egypt, Mike de Masi, Thomas Durant, Freddy Rizk, Hamza El Din, Nubian music (01:02:47) Umm Kulthum (01:09:13) Ali’s musicial influences, learning Arabic music, Anouar Brahem, Simon Shaheen (01:14:55) 2011 pro-democracy protests in Cairo (01:21:07) different Arabic dialects, Arabic community in Montreal (01:24:25) Turkey, trip to Istanbul (01:29:45) album Ela Mataa, Joseph Khoury (01:36:12) demonstration of frame drum and history of the frame drum (01:41:08) Montreal jazz scene (01:44:48) teaching (01:47:21) Joseph Tawadros, Cengiz Sarikus (01:49:26) intro to Naima by John Coltrane on electric guitar (01:53:38) Ali’s advice about practicing and learning music
S3 · E4
Feb 7, 2023
1:58:49

Colleen Allen: Jazz musician, Multi-instrumentalist

Multi-instrumentalist Colleen Allen is a versatile and expressive performer based in Toronto, Canada. In this conversation, we talked about her perspectives on evaluating priorities, rising to new challenges, collaboration, teaching improvisation, and the physical challenges of playing so many different instruments. Colleen’s candid warmth and love of music really shine through in this wide-ranging conversation. Please help me keep this podcast going: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Video and Transcript: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/colleen-allen photo: Jean-François Gratton clip of Manteca playing "Mind Monday" used with permission, writer/composer Doug Wilde and Matt Zimbel album available: https://mantecamusic.bandcamp.com/album/monday-night-at-the-mensa-disco Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:34) women in jazz, role models and mentors (11:38) Gloucester high school (13:26) the challenges of learning music (17:18) teaching improvisation (22:07) Women’s Blues Revue, Toronto Blues Society (25:38) learning different instruments, ergonomics and keeping fit (31:19) alto sax “If I Were a Bell” by Miles Davis (34:02) playing in big bands, playing different instruments in Manteca (35:40) clip of band Manteca playing “Mind Monday” writer/composer Doug Wilde and Matt Zimbel (37:19) Accordion, working with actors, different ways of memorizing music (44:07) stage fright, dealing with nerves, challenge state, breathwork (47:52) writing arrangements, Toronto Sax Quartet, Molly Johnson (53:19) life on tour (54:43) Jazz scene in Toronto (56:09) Cirque du Soleil Pomp Duck and Circumstance (01:01:02) solo albums Flashlight and Colleen Allen, Marc Jordan, process of recording (01:06:49) evolution of vibrato in jazz (01:08:33) pandemic, livestreams, Syncspace, Adrian Cho (01:12:40) stopping teaching, assessing priorities (01:15:33) jazz flute demo, Moe Koffman, Manteca Offspring project, Jake Koffman (01:18:50) Oliver Schroer (01:21:44) Soulpepper theatre, learning leadership (01:23:49) student days, how things are evolving in a positive way, the life of a musician
S3 · E5
Feb 4, 2023
1:28:28
18 of 26