VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt shares questions and tangents with jazz composer, arranger, trombonist Paul Ferguson (Director of Jazz Studies at Case Western Reserve University, Artistic Director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra). Together, Paul and Russ explore a wide range of topics, including the emotional heft of musical memory, the serendipity of finding the right teacher at the right time, and even the overriding cultural ethos permeating northeast Ohio.
VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt (Director, Valley Jazz Cooperative) has known jazz composer/arranger/educator/trombonist Paul Ferguson for 35 years and has recorded with him off and on for the past two decades. Paul is the Director of Jazz Studies at Case Western Reserve University. He is also the Artistic Director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, one of the leading professional big bands in the Midwest. Paul is a nationally-renown writer for large and small jazz ensembles, and is a former recipient of the Gil Evans Fellowship in Jazz Composition.
In the midst of performing a series of concerts together in Arizona in mid-April 2019, Paul sat down with Russ to record a Questions and Tangents podcast. (Paul also recorded a second podcast, joined by trumpeter Tito Carrillo, which will be released at a later date.) Their free-flowing discussion encompassed the emotional heft of musical memory, the serendipity of finding the right teacher at the right time, and even consideration of the overriding cultural ethos permeating northeast Ohio.
Learn more about Paul Ferguson here:
http://www.clevelandjazz.org/About/Meet-the-Orchestra/Name-of-Person
https://music.case.edu/faculty/paul-ferguson/
http://paulfergusonmusic.com/
Listen to the Paul Ferguson Jazz Orchestra perform his composition Fortune Teller here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS9BPgIpYHA&list=PLeGvpurj2XRDNOYHKUfBosheV9tpN8DPD&index=10&t=0s
Purchase Paul Ferguson’s Encounter recording here:
https://www.amazon.com/Encounter-Paul-Ferguson/dp/B00NR85C9G/ref=sr_1_6?qid=1558478876&refinements=p_32%3APaul+Ferguson&s=music&sr=1-6
Learn more about some of the artists and/or 19th century German philosophers mentioned in the podcast here:
Bill Dobbins – http://sonsofsound.com/artist/bill-dobbins/
J.J. Johnson – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Johnson
Sergei Rachmaninoff – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SergeiRachmaninoff
Jack Schantz – http://www.clevelandjazz.org/About/Meet-the-Orchestra/Jack-Schantz
Maria Schneider – https://www.mariaschneider.com/
Arthur Schopenhauer – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArthurSchopenhauer
Gunther Schuller – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuntherSchuller
Igor Stravinsky – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IgorStravinsky
Billy Strayhorn – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BillyStrayhorn
Bill Watrous – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BillWatrous
Rayburn Wright – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RayburnWright
Lyric Opera of Chicago – https://www.lyricopera.org/
Porgy and Bess (review of 2014 LOC production) – https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-lyric-opera-chicago-porgy-bess-review-20141118-column.html
Learn more about the Valley Jazz Cooperative here:
https://www.valleyjazz.org/
Listen to music by VJC Q&T host Russell Schmidt here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuao1b7Ztc7JNpUTzyorXDQ?
Purchase recordings by Russell Schmidt here:
https://www.amazon.com/Russell-Schmidt/e/B001LHCGMG/digital/ref=ntt_mp3_rdr?_encoding=UTF8&sn=d
Thanks for listening!
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE!
Website:
Link - valleyjazz.org
Social Media:
Facebook - @ValleyJazzCooperative
New Here?
Pianist/composer/educator Russell Schmidt has performed with such celebrated artists as Carl Allen, Michael Brecker, Eddie Daniels, Joe Lovano, Gerry Mulligan, Lucas Pino, Arturo Sandoval, and Clark Terry. He has also served as a keyboard soloist with more than 30 professional orchestras, including performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and the San Francisco Symphony. Among his recordings as a leader are Anachromysticism (2012), which highlights Russell’s wide-ranging efforts as a jazz composer, Jazz Triptych, Volume I – The Sacred (2018), a collection of hymns and spirituals reimagined in the jazz language, and his most recent recording, the companion album Jazz Triptych, Volume II – The Secular (2019).
After a distinguished career in academia, Russell joined Music Serving The Word in June 2014 as Coordinator of Education, founding MSW’s Valley Jazz Cooperative program in 2016. Previously, he served as Director of Jazz Studies at Bowling Green State University and the University of Utah. He also held faculty appointments at Northern Arizona University, the University of North Carolina–Asheville, and the Eastman School of Music, where he co-conducted the Eastman Studio Orchestra. A student of Rayburn Wright, Russell holds two degrees from Eastman.
The Questions & Tangents podcast is produced by Caleb Kilian for the Valley Jazz Cooperative, an outreach of MSW Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization.