Mike Essoudry: Drummer
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
01/14/23
•100m
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This episode features the fantastic drummer Mike Essoudry, who is a busy performer and composer in Ottawa, Canada, playing with many projects in the funk, jazz, and improvised music scene. He’s in the funk group Gephilte with a previous guest of this series, Josh “Socalled” Dolgin, and in the Together Ensemble with his partner Megan Jerome. Today also marks the release of my bonus catch-up episode with Megan, in which she shares how she and Mike fell in love as well as her new album and great advice about an important aspect of the music business as an independant artist. Her episodes are linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/megan-jerome-e10-s2This episode was unique in that Mike was sitting at his drumset during the entire episode and we talked in detail about the history of the drumset and evolution of different styles of drumming. Mike demonstrated lots of intricate grooves and finished the episode with a cool little solo. He also shared stories from his childhood and talked about how in his youth he built his drums and an intricate treehouse in a park. Transcript and Video: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/mike-essoudry-drummer
Mike's website: https://mikeessoudrymusic.com/home
Support this podcast with a tip, or consider becoming a monthly supporter with access to perks: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
photo: JC Batista
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:12) drum set history with demonstrations: bass drum, ride cymbal, Zildjian, Ludwig, Beatles, speed-metal
(00:12:51) tom-toms with demonstration
(00:16:54) brushes, cajon sticks, mallets
(00:20:26) the importance of drummers learning harmony and melody
(00:23:30) counting, knowing the tune
(00:27:03) Latin grooves
(00:32:32) drum solos, not losing the count, the advantage of having someone play with your solo
(00:36:09) poly-rhythms and groupings
(00:42:39) Mike’s book of beats and teaching, playing by ear and reading
(00:46:22) Foley artists, history of radio, silent movies, sound effects
(00:49:14) hand percussion, playing without shoes
(00:51:27) Mike’s childhood, rock drumming, blues
(00:55:31) drum pads substitute for drums
(00:57:45) marching bands, New Orleans, different traditions from around the world, Balkan music
(01:03:48) Mike’s parents, hand percussion on the drum set (demonstration)
(01:11:44) Mike’s father’s immigration story from Moroccon Jewish community, how his parents met
(01:17:37) carpentry skills, classic Lego, treehouse story, building his drum set
(01:23:53) visual and intuitive learning style
(01:26:24) Atlantis Jazz Ensemble, Alouette Space Agency
(01:31:24) solo drum project, balancing earning money with carpentry and writing and playing music
(01:34:39) how Mike practices and the importance of keeping your ears in shape, pushing boundaries like immitating machine beats
Previous Episode
Renée Yoxon
January 7, 2023
•84m
Renée Yoxon is a trans non-binary singer, songwriter, jazz musician, and trans voice teacher.
In this episode, Renee shares some beautiful and inspiring performances from their albums, as well as stories from life as a disabled person and how their disability and chronic pain has guided the direction of their career. We talk about their musical development, and their experiences both bad and good as they navigated their musical education (after finishing a degree in physics!). Renée explains the kind of work they do with trans vocal exploration and we dive into all kinds of topics in the usual tangential style of this series. The transcript and video are linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/rene-yoxon
Please consider supporting this series and get access to some cool and unique perks: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
Renée Yoxon website: https://www.reneeyoxon.com/
photo: Laurence Philomène
podcast theme music: Nick Kold
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:21) Renée’s physics degree, start in school band, Jazz Works camp
(00:04:19) free improv group, intergenerational friendships
(00:06:38) intro to “Willow Weep for Me” by Ann Ronell
(00:08:53) “Willow Weep for Me” with René Gely
(00:13:57) piano, ukulele
(00:15:26) “Beautiful Alchemy”, film with Teagan Lance and album
(00:17:14) “Terrible Alchemy”
(00:23:19) Blossom Dearie
(00:23:52) worldless improv
(00:24:37) studies in New York, living as a disabled person, vocal technique
(00:29:33) singing in rock band “Gorgeous George”, care of the voice and endurance training
(00:32:20) trans voice aleration, TikTok success, pitch lowering, taking risks and learning to be silly
(00:40:14) gender presentation and gender identity
(00:42:35) ways we can alter the voice
(00:45:09) different languages in terms of vocal alteration, vocal fry and gendered cutural coding for vocal characteristics
(00:47:52) TikTok
(00:49:22) teaching Trans Voice Alteration to other teachers
(00:51:45) the importance of teaching business skills to musicians, University of Limerick, Edel Meade
(00:55:58) Banff, McGill, growing up in Ottawa, the importance of mentors, Mark Ferguson, René Gely
(01:00:29) social anxiety, speaking in public with a different voice or new language
(01:02:38) different people who take Renée’s courses on voice alteration
(01:03:18) songwriting, Aoife McAtamney Pink Breath
(01:04:27) “Drinking Coffee”
(01:08:58) songs “The Bad Years” about their chronic illness
(01:10:27) Kazaa music sharing, learning jazz repertoire
(01:12:53) Renée’s perspective on the music industry as a disabled person, and experiences at McGill university with lack of accessibility
(01:17:46) Mx non-binary honorific, the importance of pronouns
(01:20:32) disability rights, more about their McGill experience
(01:22:45) Montreal
Next Episode
Polina Shepherd: Cultural activist, Singer, Composer, Choir leader
January 20, 2023
•81m
I was honoured to speak with the inspiring singer, composer, choir leader, pianist and cultural activist Polina Shepherd. In this episode you’ll hear Polina’s stories from growing up in Tartarstan, in the former Soviet Union, finding a bridge to her Jewish identity through Klezmer music, collaborating with her mentors, founding Yiddish and Russian choirs in the U.K., and many other creative projects. During the episode she sings songs from different traditions, including one of her compositions, and is such a warm and engaging speaker I trust a wide audience will find inspiration and food for thought in her perspectives on education, mentorship, creativity, health, identity, connection and collaboration.
The link for both the podcast and video is linked with the full transcript: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/polina-shepherd Her website https://www.polinashepherd.co.uk/
If you are specifically interested in Klezmer music, you may be interested in previous episodes with Alicia Svigals, Josh “Socalled” Dolgin, and Marilyn Lerner.
Please encourage me to keep this series going. https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
photo credit: Shendl Copitman
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:27) connecting through music, COVID, Sing With Me workshops
(00:05:14) Polina’s childhood, family music-making
(00:07:16) intro to Russian Romance by Lermontov and Shashina
(00:10:14) Polina’s musical training and voice
(00:12:16) Tomsk, Kazan, growing up in Tartarstan, Jewish community, perestroika
(00:16:27) Yiddish song, Polina sings “A Frisher Vind” Dovid Hofshsteyn poetry
(00:21:31) secular Yiddish culture, song cycle with poems of Troim Katz Handler
(00:24:11) falling in love with Merlin Shepherd, experience of immigration to the UK
(00:28:17) first trip to US, Lorin Sklamberg, Adrienne Cooper, Zalmen Mlotek
(00:31:07) 150 Voices with Lorin Sklamberg, part in “The Crown”
(00:35:09) The Caravan Orchestra and Choir, teaching improvisation, working with youth
(00:40:39) Tartarstan cultural influences
(00:42:40) Polina’s advice for musicians, collaboration
(00:48:13) memorisation, playing by ear
(00:49:15) advice for health for singers and everyone else
(00:52:48) accompanying silent films
(00:57:43) collaboration with dance, community outreach
(00:59:22) Polina’s way of manifesting projects, starting her choirs, Jackie Fuller
(01:04:12) working with community choirs
(01:06:55) learning from Adrienne Cooper, Zalmen Mlotek, Lorin Sklamberg, Frank London, Merlin Shepherd, Psoy Korolenko
(01:13:37) Niggun Koyach
(01:16:14) Polina’s reflections and advice
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