Improv Exchange Podcast

Episode #108: Jason Marshall

Jason Marshall’s 2003 arrival in New York City signified the continuation of hard-swinging, forward-thinking baritone saxophone playing. With early encouragement to appreciate all types of music, Jason has developed a style that encompasses the whole of African-American music. A special interest is given to the amalgamation of soul, R and B, and funk with straight-ahead jazz. Years of dedication and perseverance have resulted in a giant, soulful sound and instantly appealing concept. Influences such as Leo Parker, Nick Brignola and Bruce Johnstone have coalesced to ensure an open perception of the baritone sax and a “take-no-prisoners” approach to playing jazz music.

Jason has studied with no less than the elite baritone saxophone specialists of the 20th century including Hamiett Bluiett, Ronnie Cuber, and Gary Smulyan. These Three masters of the instrument have contributed invaluably to Jason Marshall’s ability, each one pouring their own personal wealth of knowledge into him. Other teachers include altoists Bruce Williams, Mark Gross, Steve Wilson, and Vincent Herring and tenor players Greg Tardy, Wayne Escoffrey, and Paul Carr. Mr. Lorenz Wheatley garners special distinction as being Jason’s first saxophone teacher and earliest source of musical direction.

Jason’s formative musical experiences include stints with the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra and Bluesman Roy Gaines. He is currently playing and touring with Roy Hargrove’s band RH Factor and the Roy Hargrove Big Band. Jason’s band “Overt Negritude” has Released its debut, self-titled album. Jason has also conducted numerous demonstrations, clinics, and workshops at every level of education throughout the world. In this episode, Jason shares his background, education, and musical journey.

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Episode #107: Nicole Henry

Growing up in a musical family in Bucks County, PA, Ms. Henry immersed herself in the arts early on, singing in school and church, and studying cello and ballet. After graduating from the University of Miami with a degree in Communications and Theatre, she launched a successful acting career, appearing in national commercial roles and a series of voiceover assignments. However, she directed her strongest passion toward the development of her full-time singing career which was quickly rewarded when the Miami New Times named Nicole “Best Solo Musician.”

Since then, based on her various career accomplishments and active commitment to supporting non-profits such as Miami Music Project (Board Member), YoungArts, and Miami Children’s Initiative (past Board Member), proclamations from the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County have named “Nicole Henry Days” in 2011, 2016 and 2017. Ms. Henry has also served two terms on the Board of the Florida Chapter of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs). In this episode, Nicole shares her background, education, and musical journey.

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Episode #106: Sharon Marie Cline

With a voice that can make you cry, laugh, or fall in love with her all over again, Sharon Marie and her band have quickly become a favorite in the realm of Los Angeles jazz musicians and performed in beautiful rooms around the country. She's performed on the same stage as jazz greats Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett, and Chris Botti!

If you're looking for a soulful jazz vocalist who harkens back to the Golden Age of jazz while also bringing a distinctive, soulful, heartfelt flare to the music she sings, look no further than Sharon Marie. She is the cream of the crop of female jazz singers. This exceptional vocalist hails from Jacksonville, Florida and brings a unique sense of jazz history to her song stylings. With her charming and refreshing approach, she often employs rhythmic and tempo variations that leave listeners with a lasting impression that is truly unforgettable!

Sharon dubs her band "The Bad Boyz of Jazz" because of its exceptional musicians. She often jokes, “They are so good that they are baaad!” Their innovative rhythmic sense, lush arrangements, and musical skills have made them a household name. Whether you're a fan of Sharon Marie Cline's sultry, soulful sounds or want to hang out with some cool cats, you can't go wrong with The Bad Boyz of Jazz. Sit back and enjoy the romantic swingin' melodies of Sharon Marie Cline and The Bad Boyz of Jazz. In this episode, Sharon shares her background, education, and musical journey.

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Episode #105: Jeremy Pelt

Jeremy Pelt has become one of the preeminent young trumpeters within the world of jazz. Forging a bond with the Mingus Big Band very early on, as his career progressed, Pelt built upon these relationships and many others which eventually lead to collaborations with some of the genre's greatest masters. These projects include performances and recordings with Cliff Barbaro, Keter Betts, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Ravi Coltrane, Frank Foster, Winard Harper, Jimmy Heath, Vincent Herring, John Hicks, Charli Persip, Ralph Peterson, Lonnie Plaxico, Bobby Short, Cedar Walton, Frank Wess, Nancy Wilson, and The Skatalites, to name a few. Pelt frequently performs alongside such notable ensembles as the Roy Hargrove Big Band, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, and the Duke Ellington Big Band, and is a member of the Lewis Nash Septet and The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band featuring Louis Hayes. As a leader, Pelt has recorded ten albums and has toured globally with his various ensembles, appearing at many major jazz festivals and concert venues.

Pelt's recordings and performances have earned him critical acclaim nationally and internationally. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal by legendary jazz writer and producer, Nat Hentoff, and was voted Rising Star on the trumpet, five years in a row by Downbeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalist Association. Pelt is touring throughout the United States and Europe in support of his latest release, "Soundtrack". In this episode, Jeremy shares his background, education, and musical journey.

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Episode #104: Delfeayo Marsalis

As an acclaimed trombonist, composer, and producer, Delfeayo Marsalis has also dedicated his prolific career to music theatre and education. Along with the Marsalis family of musicians including his father Ellis, the artist was destined for a life in music.

Marsalis has toured internationally with jazz legends such as Ray Charles, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, and Slide Hampton, as well as leading his own groups.

At the age of 17, Marsalis began his career as a producer and has to date produced over 120 recordings garnering one Grammy award and several nominations.

In 2008, he formed the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, a highly entertaining ensemble that focuses on maintaining important jazz traditions such as riff playing, New Orleans polyphony, and spontaneous arrangements.

Delfeayo also formed the Uptown Music Theatre in 2000. A non-profit organization that empowers youth through musical theatre training. He has written sixteen musicals to date based on historical and/or uniting the community. In addition, he has composed over 90 songs that help introduce kids to jazz through musical theatre and has reached over 5,000 students nationally with his Swinging with the Cool School soft introduction to jazz workshops.

Marsalis has a dual Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance and Production from Berklee College of Music, and a Masters in Jazz Performance from the University of Louisville. A Doctorate has also been conferred from the New England College. In this episode, Delfeayo shares his background, education, and musical journey.

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Episode #103: JD Walter

A native of eastern Pennsylvania, JD Walter’s past, present, and future has always embodied music. From church Boy choirs at the age of six to the American Boy choir school in Princeton to the University of North Texas on a vocal jazz scholarship, Walter has become a pioneer of improvisation and electronic innovations in the world of jazz. His recording career spans 20 years and his purist progressive approach to jazz music has been recognized worldwide.

After extended studies in Amsterdam with Jazz vocal Icon, Deborah Brown, Walter returned to the U.S. and embedded himself in the New York Jazz scene. It was in New York, surrounded by visionaries of jazz, where he began to organically develop his liberated, vibrant style that turned him from straight-ahead to progressive jazz singing. Walter’s recordings include, "Dressed in a Song", “Sirens in the C-House,” “Clear Day,” “Dedicated to You,” “2Bass, a Face and a Little Skin,” “Live in Portugal,” “Live at the 55 Bar,” “One Step Away,” and Guest appearances on over 100 recordings.

The latest album, released on February 7, 2020, testifies to his personal progression as an evolving artisan and provides an intimate, inventive collection of standards and originals. “Dressed in a Song,” produced by Walter and Grammy-winning producer and A&R executive Al Pryor, features piano and vocal duets and trios with veterans and up-and-comers alike, including Jim Ridl, Orrin Evans, Jean-Michel Pilc, Marc Cary, Taylor Eigsti, Julius Rodriguez, Ben Wolfe, Obed Calvaire, and Becca Stevens.

Over the decades, Walter has performed as a featured artist at numerous American jazz clubs and festivals in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Central America as well as over 80 tours in Russia. He remains a regular in the New York music scene, and has headlined at Dizzy’s Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard, The Blue Note, and The Jazz Gallery, among other venues.

He has shared the stage with legendary artists, ranging from Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Tom Harrell, Eddie Gomez, Bob Dorough, Nicholas Payton, Ben Monder, Sean Jones, Jean-Michel Pilc, Bill Evans, Mark Murphy, Greg Hutchinson, Ari Hoenig, Randy Brecker, Tim Warfield, Jim Ridl, Orrin Evans, Seamus Blake, Igor Butman, Nasheet Waits, Craig Handy, Boris Kozlov, Robin Eubanks, Eric Revis, Billy Drummond, Christian McBride, Adam Nussbaum.

Walter currently resides in New York and teaches privately and abroad at The Prince Claus Conservatory in Groningen, Holland, The Jazz and Music School in St. Petersburg, and the Music Wave School in Moscow. In this episode, JD Walter shares his background, education, and musical journey.

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Episode #102: Oddity

Hailing from the East Bay, Oddity is a sonic storyteller seeking refuge in the intersections of jazz, hip-hop, and neo-soul. With influences ranging from Billy Strayhorn to D'angelo, Oddity can be found wherever inspiration strikes - be it a tender touch on a warm Rhodes, a heavy dilla-style backbeat, or a bluesy trombone melody.

Oddity’s story is one of resiliency and rebirth, of toeing the precipice of the abyss and returning with an open heart and a present mind. Her experience as a transgender woman of color is inextricably woven into the music: at once an affirmation of life, a tear-streaked lament, a desperate call to action. Join Oddity as she discovers the beauty and cultivates peace by centering love, against all odds.

Joey Escobar is a pianist, teacher, composer, and arranger with a degree in music from UC Berkeley. Growing up with 10 siblings, Joey's upbringing gave him a strong appreciation for both community and diversity. His earliest influences were the music of JRPG composers like Nobuo Uematsu, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masashi Hamauzu, and the 90s hip-hop sounds, 70s rock, and jazz played in the house by his older siblings and parents. His latest inspirations are the classical music of Bach, Maurice Ravel, and Frederic Chopin, as well as modern geniuses such as Kendrick Lamar, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Esperanza Spalding. He currently lives in El Cerrito and is most known for being the co-composer and pianist with Oddity.

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Episode #101: John Bailey

Known as one of the most eclectic trumpet players in New York City, Bailey is an in-demand musician and teaching artist on call for everything from traditional jazz to R&B and Pop, to classical. He became a member of The Buddy Rich Band while still in college, and his career has included

long-running gigs with Ray Charles, master conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto, The Woody Herman Orchestra, and Frank Sinatra, Jr. His work with Latin Jazz innovator Arturo O'Farrill won two Grammy awards for the albums The Offense of the Drum and Cuba - The Conversation Continues. He has played on more than 70 albums and, as a jazz educator, has taught at the University of Miami and Florida International University.

A trumpet prodigy, Bailey's spectacular gifts began to be noticed as a high school musician in 1984 when DownBeat Magazine cited him in its annual Student Music Awards for outstanding performances in both the classical and jazz trumpet categories, noting “Shades of Wynton!” The same year, he was a finalist in the National Foundation for Advancements in the Arts (NFAA) Arts Recognition and Talent Search, along with Donny McCaslin and Bill Charlap; and won the National Association of Jazz Educators’ Youth Talent Contest. Later, as a senior at the Eastman School of Music, he won DownBeat’s Best Instrumental Soloist award.

Looking back, he says, “It all started for me when I discovered Clifford Brown. Clifford was the centerpiece of the golden era of jazz trumpet, and a great place to begin my lifelong study of the instrument. He was influenced by everyone before him, and became an influence on everyone after.”

Bailey, who continues to teach privately, believes that educating the next generation of musicians is essential for any artist. “In American culture, where the arts are often ignored or deemphasized in both schools and the mainstream media, it is up to us, the artists, to inspire an appreciation for great art,” he says. “By keeping performance standards as high as possible and sharing our devotion with others, especially children, we enrich countless lives.” In this episode, John shares his background, education, and musical journey. 

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Episode #100: Nate Wooley

Nate Wooley was born in 1974 in Clatskanie, Oregon, a town of 2,000 people in the timber country of the Pacific Northwestern corner of the U.S. He began playing trumpet professionally with his father, a big band saxophonist, at the age of 13. His time in Oregon, a place of relative quiet and slow time reference, instilled in Nate a musical aesthetic that has informed all of his music-making for the past 20 years, but in no situation more than his solo trumpet performances.In this episode, Nate shares her background, education, and musical journey.

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Episode #99: SeaJun Kwon

SeaJun Kwon is a composer and bassist who focuses on exploring boundaries. His music draws from the jazz and avant-garde music traditions of Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill as well as contemporary classical composers György Ligeti, Tristan Murail, and Morton Feldman. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Kwon graduated from Boston’s New England Conservatory and is currently based in Brooklyn. He has been leading his group Walking Cliché Sextet since 2019. The ensemble released two albums, Suite Chase Reflex(2021) and Micro-Nap(2021). 

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