Episodes
Monday Oct 28, 2019
Monday Oct 28, 2019
Our guest this episode is from Petaluma, California. She started singing, taking piano lessons, and studying classical voice as a young girl living in the country. As a teen, she attended a performing arts high school, then moved East to continue her studies at Syracuse University where she focused on theater arts. Our guest then moved to New York City and pursued acting for five years before returning to her hometown of Petaluma. Upon her return, she and guitarist Gabe Pirard started a band called French Oak Gypsies, based on their mutual interests in French Gypsy Jazz and Traditional Jazz from New Orleans. This band is now called, Bandjango Collectif.
Several years later, our guest developed The Billie Holiday Project, combining her acting and story-telling skills with her vocals as Billie, creating a top notch quartet to accompany her.
Along with being the leader of several bands, acting as their manager, booking agent, and publicist, today’s guest teaches voice, acting, beginning piano and guitar.
We are so pleased to welcome our guest, Stella Heath!
Links:
Sunday Oct 20, 2019
Sunday Oct 20, 2019
Our guest this episode is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a pianist, composer, arranger, sound engineer, accompanist, as well as the music director at a church. He moved to Northern California in 1979, and currently lives in Sebastopol, CA.
Our guest also works as producer, musician, and sound engineer at his recording Studio, J Dog Studios in Sebastopol. He has both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Music Composition and composes in the genres, jazz and electronics. You can find clips of his music at the end of the podcast in this order: “A Night in Athabasca” (Electronic piece), followed by “CMYK”, and “Crepuscle with Nellie” - both Jazz piano compositions, and can listen to many other recordings on his website, johnsimon.net by clicking on "listen".
Our guest is also an accomplished soloist and the preferred accompanist for many vocalists and instrumentalists in the Bay Area, as well as the keyboardist for many different rock, dance and jazz groups.
Along with his gifts as a performer and composer, our guest is also a teacher. He taught at Sonoma State for seven years, and at Santa Rosa Junior college for 11. He also teaches piano out of his studio in Sebastopol, where I’ve been the lucky recipient of his knowledge, wisdom, and hilarity!
We are very pleased to welcome our guest, John Simon!
Sunday Oct 13, 2019
Sunday Oct 13, 2019
Our guest on today’s episode lives in Napa, California. He is a guitar teacher at Napa School of Music, and is the YouTube phenom who created, “100 Famous Rock Guitar Riffs”. He has a BA in Music Composition and has diverse musical interests. He has written and performed in a multitude of genres from Latin Rock, to Medieval Folk music, to 12 tone serialism.
Our guest also happens to have been our co-host, Daniel Townsend’s guitar teacher for many years.
We are thrilled to welcome our guest, Brodie Cumming!