Jesse Stewart: Percussionist, Composer, Community Activist, Artist, Writer, Instrument-builder
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
04/30/22
•84m
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Jesse Stewart is an award-winning percussionist, scholar, composer, artist, writer, instrument-maker and community activist. In 2012 he founded “We Are All Musicians” founded on his belief that music is a fundamental human right, through which he helps create opportunites for people to make music regardless of age, musical training, socio-economic circumstance and ability. During the conversation he demonstrates how any object can be used to create interesting music, and we also get to hear him improvise on a waterphone, as well as with me on my violin, with a unique instrument which he explains. I do hope you’ll find Jesse to be as inspiring and interesting as I do! Below are timestamps for all the topics we covered.
The video is close-captioned and the transcript will be published soon, at the same link on my podcast website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jesse-stewart-e13-s2-percussionist-composer-community-activist-artist-writer-instrument-builder
Jesse Stewart website: https://www.jessestewart.ca/home.html
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photo credit: Michele McMillan
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:50) percussion
(03:48) waterphone
(07:06) discussion of Pulse water dripping on drum head
(09:18) intersection of visual art and music, Reinhard Reitzenstein, Gayle Young, Suzy Lake
(12:09) building a vibraphone
(14:31) Glacialis ice music
(16:43) exploring boxes and balloons, and different instruments in teaching orchestration
(26:28) studies in composition and ethnomusicology James Tenney, David Mott, Rob Bowman
(32:07) recovering from brain surgery, making videos of many different instruments and found objects like canoe paddles
(37:35) demonstration of different found objects
(42:20) snare drum compositions with demonstration of sonic exploration with wrenches
(46:06) Community activism: We Are All Musicians
(49:16) Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, Pauline Oliveros
(56:38) improv with violin, waterphone and the gongs with the AUMI
(01:100:32) Ajay Heble and upcoming book about the pedagogy of musical improvisation
(01:07:38) improv with dancers, cellist Peggy Lee, Propeller Dance, Natasha Bakht
(01:11:56) notating the drum studies, discussion of jazz drumming, Elvin Jones
(01:20:43) fond memories of playing with Kevin Breit, Matt Brubeck, David Mott, William Partker, playing for the Dalai Lama
Previous Episode
Diane Nalini: Jazz singer, Ukulele Player and Educator, Composer, Scientist
April 23, 2022
•105m
Diane Nalini is an incredibly nuanced jazz singer, and composer. She performs in 4 languages and teaches jazz ukulele as well. I hope you’ll join me in my fascination with the incredible range of Diane’s interests and expertise. Besides being a phenomenal musician she also is a Rhodes scholar with Phd in Applied Physics from Oxford university and presently works in environmental science policy for the Canadian government. Not only is she a great lyricist, but she has also written songs inspired by great literature including Shakespeare, in jazz, blues, gospel, folk and bossa nova styles. During this conversation, she performs some of her original songs for us, and I’ve added timestamps in the description of the episode for the many interesting topics we touched on as well as her incredible performances.
The video version is linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e12-s2-diane-nalini
Diane Nalini's website: https://www.dianenalini.com/about/
Give me a tip? You can get access to unique perks: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!
Timestamps:
(00:00 Intro)
(00:53) Shakespeare “Songs of Sweet Fire”
(03:30) Rhodes scholar, and Chinese calligraphy and watercolour painting with Virginia Chang, Bill Evans
(08:07) paintings for “Songs of Sweet Fire”, role as album producer
(10:55) Diane’s experience as a dancer and also starting to sing jazz songs at 3 years of age, also her experience of strict piano lessons
(14:18) National Ballet School summer program experience
(15:49) first professional jazz gigs
(16:57) Science mentors at Dawson College Richard Shoemaker and John Mohamed
(17:58) intro to her baritone ukulele and “Winter Eclipse”
(19:04) Song “Winter Eclipse”
(23:13) discussion of her song “Kiss Me Like That” and astronomy
(26:18) Diane’s work for Environment, Climate Change Canada
(28:13) discussion of her song “The Last Hurrah”
(29:50) discussion of the challenges for individuals to limit consumption
(34:48) jazz ukulele, Diane’s YouTube Ukulele for Jazz Singers, her workshops and teaching
(39:48) teaching and performing online, connecting with people worldwide
(41:37) learning Portuguese
(47:23) Syncspace Live with husband Adrian Cho
(56:00) some advantages to online teaching
(58:02) introduction to song “Le Tournesol”
(58:58) Song “Le Tournesol”
(01:02:01) discussion about languages, etymology, Diane’s father
(01:06:13) singing Schubert Lieder, learning German
(01:10:52) turning down a recording contract offer, balancing a life in Science and Music
(01:14:39) producing her first album, the process of putting together albums
(01:16:34) making new musical connections in England, joining a salsa band
(01:22:04) Diane’s ukulele made by Luis Feu de Mesquita, also history of the ukulele
(01:29:36) Future Perfect album, pandemic challenges, new songs
(01:33:42) Diane’s creative process and memory for music
(01:38:19) Diane’s music in movies and tv shows
(01:41:01) how listeners interpret songs so differently, including her song “After Dusk”
photo credit: Adrian Cho
Next Episode
This is a short bonus episode in my Inspiring Excerpts series, featuring the violinist Veronica Thomas. She speaks about some of the incredible outreach the unique Préville Fine Arts Centre is doing, of which she is General Director. There’s also a clip about her experience of being on the jury of the Canadian Music Competition. In the full episode, she speaks about her unique and fascinating childhood, and reflects on her life in music.
The link to the full transcript of the whole interview is here along with all the links to the video and podcast versions of the full episode, and bonus episodes as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e6-s1-veronica-thomas
Préville Fine Arts Centre: https://centrepreville.org/
Support this podcast and get access to unique perks: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
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