James McGowan: Musical Fusion

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

06/01/24

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82m

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Featured In

This week’s featured guest is James McGowan, a solo and collaborative pianist at home in jazz, classical and improvised musics. The 14-member James McGowan Ensemble has just released its jazz-classical fusion album Reaching Out, the companion to the previous album Reaching In, and this episode features some of the music from this beautiful project as well as from his jazz-fusion group Modasaurus. Besides James’ work as a composer and pianist, he’s also a Theory Professor, and choral direcctor, and has served as Carleton University Chair in Teaching Innovation in developing experiences in the arts on campus and in the community. James is so passionate about sharing his love of music and I trust you’ll find this an uplifting conversation. Besides my role as a podcaster, I’m a violinist, and last year I founded an improvising chamber group with James, Collected Strands, and we’ll soon be releasing a special podcast episode to celebrate the release of our upcoming album.

Can you buy this independenat podcaster a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!

You can also watch this on YouTube or read the podcast, everything linked here to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/james-mcgowan

James McGowan website for all the music featured in this podcast, and his current projects: https://jamesmcgowan.ca/

photo: Kelly McDonald

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(02:32) Modasaurus jazz ensemble, 4K album, fusing styles

(05:13) clip from Chaconne and Fugue 4K Modasaurus

(06:41) background and clip of Crazy Ceilidh

(09:27) music career advice

(11:42) Reaching Out and Reaching In, tribute to Chick Corea

(16:43) clip from Corean Poultry on Reaching Out

(18:05) intro and clip from Blue Lament, from Reaching Out

(21:10) intro and Elegy from Reaching Out

(26:44) James’ grad school experience, switching from Composition to Theory

(29:31) please spread the word about this podcast!

(30:08) musical dialects, code switching, overtone series

(39:59) teaching music theory

(43:05) Reaching In, spoken word and different art forms

(46:56) Acceptance from Reaching In

(50:50) parenting and music, encouraging children in the Arts

(56:36) dealing with emotions through music

(59:00) voluteer work Discovery Course for Ottawa Mission and Lotus Center

(01:03:27) teaching musicianship, singing, community music

(01:10) dealing with playing injuries, music education, voice and choral direction

(01:18:26) improvisation, Collected Strands

Previous Episode

Rachel Mercer, Cellist: re-release with added music!

May 25, 2024

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73m

This is a special re-release with cellist Rachel Mercer, with added music from some of her recordings. This was orginally recorded and released in Season 2 of this podcast in 2022, and now in Season 4 2024, Rachel and I are including some tracks from some of her albums in the podcast version of this episode. See more below for some of the many topics covered!

The original video is on YouTube with the transcript, everything linked here: ⁠ https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e9-s2-rachel-mercer⁠

We discussed the arc of her career so far as a chamber musician, soloist, and Principal Cellist of my orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. One of the musical selections added to this podcast is from the album “Our Strength, Our Song" with Rachel’s sister, the wonderful violinist Akemi Mercer-Niewöhner. We also talked about and many other chamber music collaborations and unique projects, as well as her way of approaching music. You’ll also hear some of Rachel’s memories of the late Yehonatan Berick who was an amazing violinist and pedagogue and was Rachel’s life partner. As well, Rachel very generously made a special recording of the prelude from JS Bach's fifth solo suite for this episode in 2022, and her heartfelt introduction to the power of this music is right after our conversation, so please keep listening till the end.

Rachel Mercer’s website: http://www.rachelmercercellist.com/

Support link to buy this independent podcaster a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!

Complete Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about

Newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman

Next Episode

Martha Mooke: Electro-Acoustic Violist, Producer, Composer and Educator

June 8, 2024

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103m

Martha Mooke is a pioneer in the field of the electric five string viola and transcends boundaries as a performer and composer. This episode features insights, stories and music, including from the beautiful album by Carla Patullo So She Howls which just won the GRAMMY® Award for “Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album.” as well as from several of Martha’s solo and collaborative albums. You’ll hear about the unique multi-style string program she’s helped launch at New Jersey City University, and about many of her mentors and collaborators from David Bowie to Tenzin Choegyal to Laurie Anderson to Jean-Luc Ponty. Martha is passionate about the breadth and diversity needed in music education for the 21st century, and it was a joy and an inspiration for me to be able to hear about the arc of her multi-faceted career so far.

Like all my episodes, you can also watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/martha-mooke

Can you buy this independent podcaster a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Martha Mooke Website: https://www.marthamooke.com/

Complete Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about

Newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

Linktree for social media: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman

photo of Martha Mooke: Ebru Yildiz

The podcast theme music was commissioned from composer Nick Kold, and you can use the timestamps to navigate the episode:

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(02:59) electric viola demo with explanation of gear and effects Edmar Castaneda

(09:01) Martha’s creative process

(13:41) clip from Ice 4 from No Ordinary Window