VJC Q&T

Phoenix-based saxophonist/composer/educator Mary Petrich stopped by the VJC Q&T podcast in late February for a spirited conversation with host Russell Schmidt. Mary has long been admired by her peers for her uniquely creative voice, both as a performer and composer. A founding member of the Nash Composers Coalition, she is also increasingly active on the scene as an educator, including her brilliant work with the Phoenix Jazz Girls Rising program. In this engaging interview (recorded prior to the massive upheaval resulting from the global pandemic), Mary and Russ shared questions and tangents on such matters as how practice habits can morph into compositions, the connection between vibration in one’s horn and vibration in the body, and even consider how the creative process might be analogous to excavation. Learn more about Mary Petrich here: http://marypetrich.com/ [http://marypetrich.com/] Learn more about the Phoenix Jazz Girls Rising program, of which she is a Co-Founder, here: https://thenash.org/education/phoenix-jazz-girls-rising/ [https://thenash.org/education/phoenix-jazz-girls-rising/] Find her most recent recording,Murmuration, here: https://www.amazon.com/Murmuration-Mary-Petrich-Openhand/dp/B019S6YOMQ [https://www.amazon.com/Murmuration-Mary-Petrich-Openhand/dp/B019S6YOMQ] Learn more about some of the people, venues, works, and concepts mentioned in the podcast here: Claudia Bloom – https://www.claudiabloompianist.com/ [https://www.claudiabloompianist.com/] Julianne Colwell – http://voyagephoenix.com/interview/art-life-julianne-colwell/ [http://voyagephoenix.com/interview/art-life-julianne-colwell/] Bill Evans – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Evans [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Evans] Charles Lewis –https://downtowndevil.com/?s=Charles+lewis+jazz [https://downtowndevil.com/?s=Charles+lewis+jazz] Thelonious Monk – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk] Pam Morita – https://pamelamorita.wixsite.com/jazz [https://pamelamorita.wixsite.com/jazz] Terry Riley – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Riley [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Riley] Wayne Shorter – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter] Monica Shriver – http://www.monicashriver.com/ [http://www.monicashriver.com/] Brice Winston –http://www.bricewinston.com/ [http://www.bricewinston.com/] The Nash – https://thenash.org/ [https://thenash.org/] The Language of the Unknown – https://www.audaud.com/the-language-of-the-unknown-the-wayne-shorter-quartet-blu-ray-2014/ [https://www.audaud.com/the-language-of-the-unknown-the-wayne-shorter-quartet-blu-ray-2014/] Tread On The Trail – http://www.sonoloco.com/rev/composers/glo/trail/trail.html [http://www.sonoloco.com/rev/composers/glo/trail/trail.html] University of Exeter Study on the Different Effects of Poetry and Prose on the Brain –https://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112971504/effects-of-poetry-on-the-brain-101013/ [https://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112971504/effects-of-poetry-on-the-brain-101013/] Collaborative Piano – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_piano [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_piano] Drop the Needle – https://nafme.org/drop-the-needle/ [https://nafme.org/drop-the-needle/] Motivic Cell – http://composersguide.com/motivic-cells/ [http://composersguide.com/motivic-cells/] Thanks for listening! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE! Website:https://www.valleyjazz.org/ [https://www.valleyjazz.org/] Social Media (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/ [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, John Hollenbeck, 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? [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.

VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt has shared a journey in music education with violist Nancy Buck since they first met in 1995 at Bowling Green State University’s new faculty orientation. And for more than two decades, Nancy and Russ have maintained a joyous partnership on and off the concert stage. Nancy is a nationally-renown artist/teacher who presently serves as an Associate Professor of Viola at Arizona State University. She is also the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Arizona Violacademy. Nancy recently stopped by the MSW-Tempe studio to share questions and tangents with Russ. In this, the second of two podcasts together, they discussed why playing with others must be an “ears-over-eyes” experience, what it means to contribute texture to music, and even how varieties of chocolate might relate to a performing artist’s concept of sound. Learn more about Nancy Buck here: https://music.asu.edu/profile/nancy-buck [https://music.asu.edu/profile/nancy-buck] Learn more about the Arizona Violacademy, for which she serves as Artistic Director and Co-Founder, here: https://astaaz.org/event/violacademy/ [https://astaaz.org/event/violacademy/] Learn more about some of the people, institutions, and other topics mentioned in the podcast here: Johannes Brahms – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Brahms [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Brahms] Elizabeth Buck – https://music.asu.edu/profile/elizabeth-buck [https://music.asu.edu/profile/elizabeth-buck] Steven Cornelius – https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/faculty/steven_cornelius [https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/faculty/steven_cornelius] Vincenzo Sannino – https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/vincenzo-sannino/ [https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/vincenzo-sannino/] Shinichi Suzuki –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinichi_Suzuki_(violinist) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinichi_Suzuki_(violinist)] Georg Philipp Telemann – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Philipp_Telemann [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Philipp_Telemann] Rayburn Wright – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright] Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts –https://www.bgsu.edu/musical-arts.html [https://www.bgsu.edu/musical-arts.html] Oberlin Conservatory of Music – https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory [https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory] Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Governor%27s_School_for_the_Arts [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Governor%27s_School_for_the_Arts] University of California, Berkeley – https://www.berkeley.edu/ [https://www.berkeley.edu/] Afro-Caribbean Music – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Caribbean_music [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Caribbean_music] Chamber Music – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_music [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_music] Dance - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance] Dark Chocolate – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_chocolate [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_chocolate] Kinesthetic (or Physical) Intelligence – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_intelligence [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_intelligence] Milk Chocolate – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_chocolate#Milk_chocolate [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_chocolate#Milk_chocolate] Mona Lisa – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa] Plasma – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics)] Suzuki Method – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_method [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_method] Viola Repertoire – https://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Compositions_Featuring_the_Viola [https://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Compositions_Featuring_the_Viola] White Chocolate – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_chocolate [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_chocolate] Thanks for listening! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE! Website:https://www.valleyjazz.org/ [https://www.valleyjazz.org/] Social Media (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/ [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, John Hollenbeck, 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? [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.

VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt has shared a journey in music education with violist Nancy Buck since they first met in 1995 at Bowling Green State University’s new faculty orientation. And for more than two decades, Nancy and Russ have maintained a joyous partnership on and off the concert stage. Nancy is a nationally-renown artist/teacher who presently serves as an Associate Professor of Viola at Arizona State University. She is also the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Arizona Violacademy. Nancy recently stopped by the MSW-Tempe studio to share questions and tangents with Russ. In this, the first of two podcasts together, they discussed the pervasive impact a great mentor teacher can have, the factors that shifted her path from violinist to violist, and even the unexpected benefits that may fall to the first student of the day to get a lesson. Learn more about Nancy Buck here: https://music.asu.edu/profile/nancy-buck [https://music.asu.edu/profile/nancy-buck] Learn more about the Arizona Violacademy, for which she serves as Artistic Director and Co-Founder, here: https://astaaz.org/event/violacademy/ [https://astaaz.org/event/violacademy/] Learn more about some of the people, institutions, and other subjects mentioned in the podcast here: Heidi Castleman – https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/castleman-heidi [https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/castleman-heidi] Otto Erdesz – https://josephcurtinstudios.com/otto-erdesz-remembered/ [https://josephcurtinstudios.com/otto-erdesz-remembered/] Howard Johnson – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Johnson_(jazz_musician) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Johnson_(jazz_musician)] Elizabeth Oakes – https://music.uiowa.edu/people/elizabeth-oakes [https://music.uiowa.edu/people/elizabeth-oakes] Vincenzo Sannino – https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/vincenzo-sannino/ [https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/vincenzo-sannino/] Rayburn Wright – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright] Arizona State University School of Music – https://music.asu.edu/ [https://music.asu.edu/] Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts – https://www.bgsu.edu/musical-arts.html [https://www.bgsu.edu/musical-arts.html] Canton Symphony Orchestra – https://www.cantonsymphony.org/ [https://www.cantonsymphony.org/] Cleveland Institute of Music – https://www.cim.edu/ [https://www.cim.edu/] Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra – https://www.oaklandsymphony.org/community-education/oakland-symphony-youth-orchestra/ [https://www.oaklandsymphony.org/community-education/oakland-symphony-youth-orchestra/]Oberlin Conservatory of Music – https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory [https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory] Plymouth Church UCC of Shaker Heights (OH) – https://www.plymouthchurchucc.org/ [https://www.plymouthchurchucc.org/] San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra – https://www.sfsymphony.org/EducationCommunity/SFS-Youth-Orchestra [https://www.sfsymphony.org/EducationCommunity/SFS-Youth-Orchestra] Strings (magazine) – https://stringsmagazine.com/ [https://stringsmagazine.com/] Tendonitis (a.k.a. Tendinopathy) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendinopathy [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendinopathy] Thanks for listening! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE! Website: https://www.valleyjazz.org/ [https://www.valleyjazz.org/] Social Media (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/ [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? [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.

VJC Q&T podcast producer (and Critics Anonymous podcast co-host) Caleb Kilian has know Valley Jazz Cooperative Director Russell Schmidt for more than a decade. And for the past five years, they have worked together as colleagues at Music Serving the Word Ministries, where Caleb serves as Media Manager and Russ is Coordinator of Education. At the start of the Arizona Music Educators Association’s 2020 Conference, and with concert band and jazz ensemble competition season imminent for music educators all over the country, Russ sat down with Caleb to record a unique Questions and Tangents podcast, one in which the usual host was the interviewee, not the interviewer. Their wide-ranging dialogue encompassed such subjects as the intersection of objectivity and subjectivity in education, how a mentor teacher continues to impact his life thirty years after his passing, and even why musicians “playing in parallel” might not be as good a thing as it sounds. Learn more about Caleb Kilian and Russell Schmidt here: https://musicservingtheword.org/artist_ministers [https://musicservingtheword.org/artist_ministers] Find the Critics Anonymous podcast (co-hosted by Caleb Kilian and Robert Garza) here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critics-anonymous/id1480289208 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critics-anonymous/id1480289208] Learn more about some of the individuals mentioned in the podcast here: Count Basie – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Basie [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Basie] Michael Brecker – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brecker [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brecker] Gabe Condon – https://www.gabecondon.com/ [https://www.gabecondon.com/] Duke Ellington – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington] Maynard Ferguson – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_Ferguson [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_Ferguson] Paul Ferguson – http://paulfergusonmusic.com/ [http://paulfergusonmusic.com/] Herbie Hancock – https://www.herbiehancock.com/ [https://www.herbiehancock.com/] Neal Hefti ­– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Hefti [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Hefti] Woody Herman – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Herman [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Herman] John Hollenbeck – https://johnhollenbeck.com/ [https://johnhollenbeck.com/] Vijay Iyer – https://vijay-iyer.com/ [https://vijay-iyer.com/] Thad Jones – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thad_Jones [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thad_Jones] Stan Kenton –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Kenton [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Kenton] Joel McNeely – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_McNeely [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_McNeely] Matt Mitchell – http://www.mattmitchell.us/ [http://www.mattmitchell.us/] Sammy Nestico – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Nestico [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Nestico] Bud Powell – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Powell [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Powell] Buddy Rich – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Rich [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Rich] Maria Schneider – https://www.mariaschneider.com/ [https://www.mariaschneider.com/] Wayne Shorter – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter] Billy Strayhorn – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Strayhorn [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Strayhorn] Art Tatum – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Tatum [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Tatum] Alexa Tarantino – https://alexatarantino.com/ [https://alexatarantino.com/] Rayburn Wright – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright] Thanks for listening! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE! Website: https://www.valleyjazz.org/ [https://www.valleyjazz.org/] Social Media (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/ [https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/] About The Interviewee: 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? [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.

VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt has known Emmy-winning recording engineer and composer Clarke Rigsby for more than fifteen years. Clarke is the founder and owner of Tempest Recording in Tempe, AZ. As a leading recording engineer and artistic collaborator, Clarke has worked in studio settings and/or live performances with such artists as Joe Alessi, Glen Campbell, Alice Cooper, Joey DeFrancesco, Bo Diddley, Peter Erskine, Bob Freedman, Steve Gadd, James Galway, Waylon Jennings, Wynonna Judd, Paul McCartney, James Moody, Lewis Nash, Mark O’Connor, LeAnn Rimes, Blake Shelton, Phil Smith, Tower of Power, Travis Tritt, Stevie Wonder, Trisha Yearwood, and many other greats. At the start of December, Clarke joined Russ to discuss the sense of occasion that can happen for musicians entering a recording studio, why system upgrades aren’t always evidence of progress, and even what is or isn’t lurking inside a tube amp. (Spoiler alert: Those aren’t light bulbs back there.) Learn more about Clarke Rigsby here: https://tempestrecording.com/about/ [https://tempestrecording.com/about/] Learn more about his Tempe, AZ, studio here: https://tempestrecording.com/studio/ [https://tempestrecording.com/studio/] Learn more about some of the people, places, and technologies mentioned in the podcast here: Jimmy Cobb – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Cobb [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Cobb] David Foster – https://davidfoster.com/story/ [https://davidfoster.com/story/] Lewis Nash – https://www.lewisnash.com/ [https://www.lewisnash.com/] Lucas Pino – https://www.lucaspino.com/ [https://www.lucaspino.com/] David Sax – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sax [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sax] Stevie Wonder – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder] Tower of Power – https://towerofpower.com/ [https://towerofpower.com/] MIM Music Theater – https://mim.org/mim-music-theater/ [https://mim.org/mim-music-theater/] The Nash – https://thenash.org/ [https://thenash.org/] Pro Tools (by Avid) – https://www.avid.com/pro-tools [https://www.avid.com/pro-tools] Thanks for listening! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE! Website: https://www.valleyjazz.org/ [https://www.valleyjazz.org/] Social Media (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/ [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? [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuao1b7Ztc7JNpUTzyorXDQ?] The Questions & Tangents podcast is produced by Caleb Kilian, with assistance from Larissa Johnson, for the Valley Jazz Cooperative, an outreach of MSW Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization.