A Life of Improvisation, with Drummer Tommy Campbell

In this episode, we present an interview with the magnificent Tommy Campbell. Tommy is a drummer who has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith, the Mingus Big Band, and many other world-class musicians. He also leads the Vocal Eyes ensemble, which presents an innovative blend of percussion and vocal performance. In our conversation, Tommy shares his perspective on the necessity of improvisation in daily life and music. He tells us about his time with Dizzy Gillespie, how music has played a healing role in his life, and how he developed his world-famous "porkestra", which is this delightful polyrhythmic puppet show he performs with squeaky toys (if you ever have a chance to see him doing that, I can just about guarantee it’ll bring a smile to your heart).

The musical interlude was written and composed by Bradley Vines on alto and baritone saxophones. The first quote is by Andy Clark from his book The Experience Machine (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Experience-Machine-Audiobook/B0B646HS6N?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp). The second quote is by Alan Watts from his lecture Coincidence of Opposites (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLI54vXxfic&t=2s).

The Porkestra snippet is from one of many live performances available on YouTube (https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxuYLgwlqFVQzhn9izWjfHT1Wib_J1ejkA/).

The drum solo at the end is by Tommy Campbell from the opening track for his My Heart album (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-night-has-a-thousand-eyes/346151132?i=346151143/).