The Third Story with Leo Sidran

André De Shields is an actor, dancer and singer with a career spanning over 40 years. He first came to national attention in 1975 when he was cast in the title roll of The Wiz on Broadway (a roll he helped to develop and create). Since then, he's been a mainstay on the Great White Way, as well as in television, film and regional theater. Here, André talks about growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s, coming through the 1960s before settling in New York in the early 1970s. But along the way, he delivers an incredible amount of knowledge, wisdom, history and personal philosophy. We begin the conversation by discussing André's appearance on the front page of the the New York Times Arts section, which happened to have been the day before we sat down to talk.Stream below or download from iTunes.

James Farber is a Grammy Award winning recording and mixing engineer. He started his career in the mid 1970s working at the legendary Power Station studio in New York (now the site of Avatar Studios). After a stint working with Nile Rogers, he went out on his own as a freelance engineer in the 1980s. Since then, he's been one of the most highly respected and in demand engineers in New York, specializing in jazz and improvised music. Although he's made hundreds of records for notable jazz artists, some of longest standing relationships have been with Joe Lovano, Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, Dave Holland, Joshua Redman, and the late Michael Brecker. Here he talks about getting started in the record business, the aesthetic and professional choices he makes, the evolution of recording technology, and much more. 

Emma Straub is the author of the novels The Vacationers and Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, and the short story collection Other People We Married. 

Arranger, composer, keyboard player and producer Rob Mounsey has been a steady studio cat since the mid 70s when he was discovered playing in a Boston bar band and invited to move to New York. Since then, he's worked with many of the greatest artists of the time - the list is too long to place here, but suffice it to say that he's worked on a lot of records you've heard.  Here he talks about his personal discovery of music as a young man, his career path (or lack thereof) and his general outlook on music and life. He also considers the impact of Zen Buddhism on his process, as well as visual arts, food, and a general sense of compassion - both musical and personal. www.robmounsey.com

Jesse Harris is a singer, songwriter, guitar player and producer who has been walking the line between jazz and pop since he got started in the mid 90’s. While he was on a road trip with a friend, he stopped in Denton, Texas to visit some other musician friends of his, and happened to meet Norah Jones, who was still a student. The two became friends and ended up starting a band together after Norah graduated and moved to New York. That single chance encounter in Texas would prove to be an incredibly important one for both Jones and Harris. Jesse contributed five songs to Norah’s debut album “Come Away With Me” and won a Grammy for his song  “Don’t Know Why”. Subsequently, he has released a dozen albums as a solo artist, and produced nearly the same again for other artists. Here he talks about his early musical development, his experience pre and post success, and the state of the business as he sees it today.  

  Jazz trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt knew what he wanted to do from the first moment he heard the sound of Freddie Hubbard playing on the “Ugetsu” album by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, when he was just a boy. Here he talks about growing up in a jazz house, his early musical mentors, and his general philosophy about professionalism in music.  I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it a few more times: Tatum is one sharp dressed cat.   

  Jo Lawry grew up in Australia in a family that valued music and study, and she started playing music very early. By the age of 13 she had already appeared in Les Miserables and was embarking on a musical journey that would ultimately lead her to New York.Although she intended to have a career primarily as a jazz singer, one of the real turning points for her professionally came when she was called to audition for a tour with Sting. Since that call in 2009, she has toured and recorded extensively with him. Here she talks about that journey, how she came to sing with Sting, appear in the Oscar winning documentary “20 Feet From Stardom”, and embrace her own songwriting. There are some real pearls of wisdom in her story. Some of them deal with big picture questions regarding education,  professionalism, and desire. And some of them are just simple truths, like the importance of checking your junk mail folder and buying a round of drinks. 

  Matt Pierson is a record producer, and for many years he was a record executive. He started at Blue Note records, and then was in charge of jazz at Warner Bros for over a decade. That tenure ended in the early 2000s, and subsequently he has emerged as one of the few successful  independent jazz record producers around. As the record business changed in the early 2000s, Matt left his job at a label and ultimately became an independent producer. I was particularly interested to talk with him about how he sees the roll of the producer in the new DIY universe of crowd funding and direct-to-fan marketing. Not surprisingly, he has a lot of ideas about the business today. His personal experience (starting out as a musician, working in record stores, moving to New York and working at Blue Note Records, eventually running Warner Bros jazz, leaving and starting over in a new way) also tells a larger story of what happened to the business of jazz, and in telling it, he delivered some real gems.   

This week's episode features bassist, composer, performer, and all around feel good guy Michael Thurber. We had an extremely candid and relaxed conversation about his early musical education, his move to New York, a debilitating injury that forced him to drop out of Juilliard, and ultimately overcoming that obstacle.  Among many other things, Michael is one of the founders of CDZA, a collective that makes experimental music videos. You can see those videos here.  A modern version of Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" - for which Michael wrote the musical score - is currently being staged at The Public Theater in New York.

Daniel Levitin is a neuroscientist, musician and author. His books “This Is Your Brain On Music” and “The World In Six Songs” are both best sellers, and are both must reads for anyone interested in music and the brain. He teaches psychology and behavioral neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal. Dan stopped by on a recent evening to hang out, and ended up recording a spontaneous episode, in which he tells some anecdotes he has collected from his own personal research and musical journey.