The chapter follows the speaker's early trombone experiences in Mingus' Big Band, reflecting on the uniqueness of Mingus' music and the influence of Puerto Rican music. The discussion extends to lesser-known Mingus pieces, Hector Lavaux, and even dips into contrasting views on Billy Joel's music and teaching. They touch on the cultural significance of music styles, shaping of perceptions, and the importance of adapting education to cater to diverse talents and interests.
Coleman Hughes believes we should strive to ignore race both in public policy and in our private lives. But when it comes to personal identity and expression, how feasible is this to achieve? And are there any other individual traits we should also seek to ignore?
Coleman and Tyler explore the implications of colorblindness, including whether jazz would've been created in a color-blind society, how easy it is to disentangle race and culture, whether we should also try to be 'autism-blind', and Coleman's personal experience with lookism and ageism. They also discuss what Coleman’s learned from J.J. Johnson, the hardest thing about performing the trombone, playing sets in the Charles Mingus Big Band as a teenager, whether Billy Joel is any good, what reservations he has about his conservative fans, why the Beastie Boys are overrated, what he's learned from Noam Dworman, why Interstellar is Chris Nolan's masterpiece, the Coleman Hughes production function, why political debate is so toxic, what he'll do next, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded March 6th, 2024.
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Photo Credit: Evan Mann