VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt has known pianist/organist/composer Michael Kocour for more than a dozen years. A nationally-renown educator, Mike is the Director of Jazz Studies at Arizona State University. Additionally, he is a recording artist for Origin Records, releasing a solo piano album, East of the Sun, on that label’s OA2 imprint earlier this year.
In early summer, Mike sat down with Russ to partake in spirited, engaging discussions on jazz, music education, and the nature of creativity. In this second of two podcasts together, they discussed the sometimes-random nature in discovering one’s passions and influences, the deeper truths revealed on vinyl records, and even the lengthy path to be travelled just to join a school’s “stage band”.
Learn more about Michael Kocour here:
http://www.michaelkocour.com/
https://herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/profile/michael-kocour
Listen to Michael Kocour (solo piano) perform his composition Winter’s Spell here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3ceKy9Y0aU
Listen to Michael Kocour (organ quartet) perform his composition Chunky here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SXXrTByxyI&list=OLAK5uy_nftb9Vv4HNX37Li27g2dv1_aiCC6ItNHw
Purchase Michael Kocour’s recordings for the Origin Records/OA2 label here:
http://originarts.com/oa2/artists/artist.php?Artist_ID=138
Learn more about some of the artists, authors, venues, and recurring sitcom characters mentioned in the podcast here:
Jamey Aebersold – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamey_Aebersold
Michael Brecker – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brecker
Tina Brooks – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Brooks
Jerry Coker – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Coker
Chick Corea – http://chickcorea.com/
Joe Daley – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Daley_(musician)
Keith Emerson – https://www.keithemerson.com/
Bill Evans – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Evans
Joel Frahm – https://joelfrahm.com/
Benny Golson – https://www.bennygolson.com/
Herbie Hancock – https://www.herbiehancock.com/
Alfred Hitchcock – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock
Scott Joplin – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin
Wynton Kelly – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynton_Kelly
Gladys Kravitz – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bewitched_characters#Gladys_Kravitz
Brad Mehldau – https://www.bradmehldau.com/
Roger Miller – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Miller
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart
Lewis Nash – https://www.lewisnash.com/
Herbie Nichols – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Nichols
Oscar Peterson – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Peterson
Clarke Rigsby – https://tempestrecording.com/
Antonio Salieri – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Salieri
David Sax – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sax
Craig Taborn – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Taborn
McCoy Tyner – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCoy_Tyner
Rayburn Wright – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright
The Nash – https://thenash.org/
Thanks for listening!
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Website:
https://www.valleyjazz.org/
Social Media (Facebook):
https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/
About The Host:
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. 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 was also a member of the Eastman School of Music jazz faculty, where he co-conducted the Eastman Studio Orchestra. A student of Rayburn Wright, Russell holds two degrees from Eastman.
Find music from VJC Q&T host Russell Schmidt here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuao1b7Ztc7JNpUTzyorXDQ?
The Questions & Tangents podcast is produced by Caleb Kilian for the Valley Jazz Cooperative, an outreach of MSW Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization.
