Improv Exchange Podcast

Episode #63: Alex Correa

Alex Corrêa was born on august 17th, 1981. As the son of a classical pianist was at the age of five his first contact with the piano but was at thirteen when he decided to follow the music path. At seventeen, Alex began his undergraduate studies at Universidade Estadual de Londrina - Brazil, which brought him into significant contact with many sound environments, anthropological and philosophical studies, and skills aimed at teaching music. In this episode, Alex shares his background, education, and musical journey. 

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #62: Arturo O’Farrill

Arturo O’Farrill, pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. He received his formal musical education at the Manhattan School of Music and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Arturo’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.

O’Farrill’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) took the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition and the 2016 Latin Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. His powerful “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo was the 2018 Grammy Award (his sixth) winner for Best Instrumental Composition. In this episode, Arturo shares his background, education, and musical journey.

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #61: Ches Smith

Originally from Sacramento, California, Ches Smith is a drummer, percussionist, and composer based in New York. He has collaborated with a host of artists on many scenes since the early 2000s, including Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Darius Jones, David Torn, John Tchicai, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, Trevor Dunn, Terry Riley, Kris Davis, Dave Holland, Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, Good for Cows, Theory of Ruin, and Mr. Bungle, among others.

He has nine records to his name as a bandleader that features his writing and ensemble curation, and is a devout student of Haitian Vodou drums, performing in religious and folkloric contexts in New York and Haiti for the last decade. In this episode, Ches shares his background, education, and musical journey.

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #60: Michel Meis

The Luxembourgish drummer regularly proves his versatility and openness through numerous projects going from jazz to melodic hardcore to art music and electronic music. He was recently chosen by the American Drummer Jim Black to represent Luxembourg at Crisis Cross Europe. Michel Meis Endorses Paiste Cymbals. 

Diversity runs through the Michel Meis 4tet's music like the proverbial thread. Through its diverse moods and complex yet never arbitrary structures. The band offers compositions that are as elaborate as they are playful, as danceable as they are melancholic. This eclectic character is crystallized in Meis' playful drums. In this episode, Michel shares his background, education, and musical journey.

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #59: Tawanada Suessbrich-Joaquim

Tawanda Suessbrich- Joaquim is a 25-year-old singer-songwriter from New Mexico. As a first-generation American, growing up in a multi-cultural European, African and American household meant becoming familiar with music, culture, and experiences from all over the world. Soon enough, she was gravitating solely towards singing and performing, from her early youth all the way until graduating in 2017 with a Bachelor's Degree in Contemporary Music from Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where she was studying vocal jazz under Mirabai Daniels and chair of her program, saxophonist and flute-player Horace Alexander Young.

During those years she could be found charming audiences at El Meson with John Rangel’s quartet, honoring the cultural diversity of New Mexican artists at Burque Noir events, and doing plays, performances, fashion shows, and model work. After moving to Los Angeles in 2019, and working hard to stay inspired during 2020, Tawanda has most recently won the 2021 Sarah Vaughan Vocal Jazz competition, a title previously assumed by contemporaries such as Cyrille Aimée, Jazzmeia Horn, and Samara Joy McClendon.

Deeply inspired by the great classics, Billie, Ella, Sarah, and Anita O'Day, richly influenced by her background of world music, classical training, folk, pop, and independent styles, Tawanda looks forward to delving ever further into the worldwide Jazz scene and exploring multi-genre fusion in the near future, with the hopes, always, of giving back to her people and the earth, and refining her gift of story-telling. In this episode, Tawada shares her background, education, and musical journey.

Episode #58: Steven Feifke

Feifke is an internationally recognized arranger and orchestrator and has written commissioned works for notables like the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra featuring Sean Jones and John Faddis, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with Ken Peplowski, the Malmo Big Band with Katie Thiroux, and the New Generation Festival with Orchestra Senzaspine and Dominick Farinacci. He is the recipient of the 2020 David Baker Prize in composition from the Ravinia Festival and serves as musical director for the Tony Award Winning actor and singer Santino Fontana. In this episode, Steven shares his background, education, and musical journey.

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #57: Nicolas Stocker

Nicolas Stocker is a core member of the celebrated ritual groove music ensemble Nik Bärtsch's Mobile since 2015. His extensive sideman work includes collaborations with Ricardo Villalobos, Maarja Nuut, Areni Agbabian, Witch’n’Monk, and many more - «...the music is really enhanced by Stocker's outstanding work on drums. In addition to numerous album productions, he has recorded drums for several movie soundtracks and worked with GRAMMY-Award-winning producers Manfred Eicher and David Odlum. He is featured on the ECM Records releases Continuum by Nik Bärtsch's Mobile, Bloom by Areni Agbabian, as well as on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records release Witch’n’Monk, which won the prestigious Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Both Bloom and Witch’n’Monk have been named Contemporary Album Of The Month by The Guardian. In this episode, Nicolas shares his background, education, and musical journey.

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #56: Mark Kavuma

Born and partly raised in Uganda, Mark Kavuma is a prominent young Trumpet player on the British jazz scene. Leading his own Quartet, the 'Floor Rippers' house band, and his main outfit 'The Banger Factory'. As well as, playing with Jean Toussaint's Young Lions, Jazz Jamaica, Nu Civilisation Orchestra and also one of the brass leaders at London based carnival band Kinetika Bloco. 

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #55: Dani Rabin

Dani Rabin is a member of MARBIN, with fellow bandmate Danny Markovitch. MARBIN is a progressive jazz-rock band based in Chicago, IL, with a unique story that stands out in today's music world. With a do-it-yourself approach, Marbin started touring extensively in 2011, bringing their original instrumental music to every part of the United States. Through word of mouth, Marbin has gained hundreds of thousands of devoted fans all over the world and has sold tens of thousands of albums. Check out his Latest release Fernweh.

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

Episode #54: Irwin Hall

Irwin Hall got his start at the age of 9 when he won a lottery in school and was gifted an alto saxophone. By the age of 11, he was on stage performing professionally and began winning state and national competitions. Irwin attended Princeton University on a full ride to study East Asian philosophy. He learned Japanese and after graduating began work at a major Japanese newspaper in Tokyo. As fate would have it, he ran into songstress Melody Gardot backstage at the Tokyo Jazz Festival who heard him play and immediately hired him to tour with her band. He quit his job and went on back-to-back international tours as her featured soloist. Soon after he caught the ear of 3x Grammy/Tony Award winning NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater and joined her working band, honing his skills under the master vocalist on saxophone, flute, and bass clarinet. His woodwind work is featured on the two Grammy-nominated albums: Star People Nation by trumpeter Theo Croker and Currency of Man by Melody Gardot. He has toured extensively with Grammy-nominated vocalist Jazzmeia Horn and bass virtuoso Charnett Moffett, among many others. Irwin now leads his own band - Irwin Hall Organ Trio (#IHOT) - and continues to perform in cities around the world. In this episode, Irwin shares his background, education, and musical journey.

If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect.

Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com