Episode #14, Evan Taylor

In this week's episode we speak with trumpeter Evan Taylor

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Modern Trumpeter Podcast. For this week, our guest is Evan Taylor. And I first met Evan when he was a master's student at the University of Utah studying under Chris Johnson, and he has gone on to do some incredible things in his career, which we are excited to talk about and learn more from. So here's a little bit more about him. Throughout his career, Taylor has supported artists such as Frankie Valley in the Four Seasons, Gloria Estefan, Dave Cause, Kirk Whalem, Regina Bell, The Righteous Brothers of Delphil Marcellus and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Eric Darius, Justin Lee Schultz, Nicole Henry, the Chris Johnson Big Band, and others across North America. Taylor frequently collaborates with industry producers to develop music for Netflix, HGTV, BET, and other television programs, and was assigned to Warner Chapel Music as a recording artist in 2018. Taylor served one year in Miami, Florida as the jazz trumpet professor at Broward College and currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana, where he is employed by the African American Arts Institute as an assistant instructor and arranger for the Indiana University Soul Review while also frequently performing and recording abroad. In addition to this podcast, we are writing a book called The Modern Trumpeter, a guide to building a versatile and successful career. Whether you're a high school student dreaming of playing the rest of your life or a college musician unsure of what comes after graduation, the Modern Trumpeter Book is your guide how to navigate the world of a professional trumpet playing. And inside you'll find practical answers to questions every aspiring trumpeter player asks. Like how do you get started in the industry? What's life like on a cruise ship? What songs do you need to know for wedding and corporate bands? How do you find work as a solo artist? What are some important skills to develop just outside of Jess Plane? The list goes on and on. With insights and stories from dozens of professional trumpet players, this book gives you the tools, mindset, and insider knowledge to turn your talent into a sustainable career. Insights, stories, and behind the scenes of the music industry are provided by the likes of Wayne Bergeron, Bobby Shu, Michael Sachs, Rhea Skonberg, Bajan Watson, Marcus Print Up, Glenn Marhevka, Dave Richards, Jay Webb, Jerry Hay, Brian McDonald, Kiku Collins, and many, many more. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Modern Trumpeter Podcast. We get to speak with uh Trumpet Player today, Evan Taylor. Evan, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Man, thank you for having me. Appreciate you and appreciate everything that you're doing with this podcast. I think it's gonna be a lasting thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Well, thank you. I'm sure your stories and experiences are gonna enlighten a lot of people as well, because there's I mean, there's yeah, there's so much to talk about. Me and Evan met uh quite a while ago. It's been it's been a number of years. We came in uh to the University of Utah as a grad uh graduate assistant with Chris Johnson when he was teaching here. That's how we met, and then he's gone on to do some fantastic themes, all of all of which we're gonna be learning about and hearing about. We're looking forward to it. But to start off, tell us a little bit more of your background of where you're from, how you first got in the trumpet, and like the moment you're like, yeah, I really want to do trumpet as a career.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, for sure. Um, so I was I was a youth worship minister and I grew up playing in church. I'm playing guitar first, that was my first instrument. And basically, I you know, I've told this story several times, but when I was getting ready to go into school, go into middle school, high school, my mom really wanted me to learn how to read sheep music. So she, you know, kind of forced me to be in high school band. And I wanted to be a rock star, I wanted to be a guitar player, drummer, whatever. So those were like my instruments. So I, of course, asked the band director if I could do percussion, and there's all these like percussion rental fees and da-da-da. And plus the first year they were like, you have to play a wind instrument. And my mom was just kind of like, Your uncle Steve has a trumpet that you can play for free. Like, so he pulls this old raggedy trumpet out of the closet, and it's like dusty and like hasn't been cleaned, hasn't been kept, the valves are like stuck, you know. Man, old case, like, and everybody, you know, in middle school, they all have their like brand new Yamaha trumpets, and like everyone's like pulling out their like brand new, like rental, whatever. But like I can't it was like the equivalent of driving like a 93 Honda Civic, like that's rusted out and like got a crack in the windshield. Like that was basically me with that trumpet. So that's how I got started, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Oh, who would have thought that's one of the greatest starting stories I think I've I've heard so far on the podcast. Oh, that's awesome. And so so then what happened, like you got more into it and started loving it more, I imagine.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yeah, no doubt. Within the first couple years, I've you know, kind of realized there's certain things with your facial structure, right? Like your corners and your omouche that some people like yourself, you know, are kind of just naturally gifted with. It's like a thing that you know not everybody can like put a mouthpiece up and like create a buzz and like everything like that. So I realized like, okay, I have like a natural omateure that works, and my band directors commented on it too, you know, like all your face is like set up trumpet, and you have a natural like kind of affinity for it. So I started playing, you know, a lot of stuff, and pretty much any time we had like an excerpt or an audition piece or whatever in middle school and high school. There was some struggles, but I had a great teacher named Bob Parker, who was the choir director at my at my middle school. He was very kind. He was like, he was like, hey, if you pay me$15 for private lessons, that was that was how much I started paying for private lessons uh with Bob Parker. So very kind, very generous. He just wanted to help me. He wanted to spend time with me. And uh I worked with Bob for a few years, and he was so encouraging, like such a lively, happy, smiley person, and just like instantly had energy, and he was a cancer survivor. And so, you know, when he first became a band director, he was like this big guy with a with a beard, and you know, he's a hefty guy, and like but when I had met him, he was like as skinny as a rail and like had no hair, and you know, just looked like he had really been through it, but but his spirit took 20 three 24 years off of him. Like he's this older guy, but he seemed like he was like in his 20s, like he was just so all about life, and so he's like, Evan, like I gotta show you this. And he he loved YouTube, man. Like we would sit around like watching YouTube videos of like different trumpet players, and he loved just like sharing those uh yeah videos with me and being like, see, like this, you could do this, you could play like that. Yeah, yeah. Check this out, and he would hop on the piano and start playing some stuff, and I was just like, I don't know, I'm 13, I don't know anything. But that guy really, really lifted my spirit, and especially I, you know, I went through a lot of stuff in high school, um, just family issues and some other things for have having like a mentor like that, somebody who really poured into me. And I I think that's kind of what led me to want to pursue education because I think without people like him, Chris Johnson, TN Charles, you know, some of the mentors that have kind of came through for me over the years, especially in harder times, music educators were the people who poured into me and kept me afloat, kept me alive, kept me wanting to continue doing things in life.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah. Wow, that's great. Yeah, I I think there's and this has happened with other guests as well, but there's so many of us like have that mentor, that educator, those people who have like really like inspired us, you know. My junior high director was great, and then my high school director would come in to the junior high sometimes, and he was a big jazz guy, and he would like get us excited and play some high notes or something, and we're all just like and like I had a choice between going to his school or like another school which was very, very prominent, had like the best march band in the state and all kinds of stuff. But because of him, I was like, I want to go here, I want to go learn more from this guy, and that changed things too. And like I can count, you know, I'm sure we could all count like the people that have inspired us in ways that we're like where we're at now and why we keep going. But yeah, it's it's such a big understatement is mentors and educators, it's yeah, absolutely one of the most important things. So tell us more about like so after high school, but where'd you go to school and what was your degree in? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Um, yeah, so uh coming out of high school, I got a scholarship in jazz studies to Michigan State University, and that came by way of Rodney Whitaker and ATN Charles. And my high school was part of the circuit of like we did the the jazz competitions, right? So, which that's another conversation, competition and jazz. I don't know if I agree with all that, but but uh it was cool in the nature of like you your band goes and competes, and like you get to see other high school bands and people who are like at your same level, but then you might hear a band from a different city, like you know, Grand Rapids and Detroit. I grew up in a really small town, so Luddington, Michigan is where I grew up in. We have we had a great band program, great funding for the arts in Ludington, even though it's a really small city. Um, but like if you go two hours south, there's like Grand Rapids, Lansing, Detroit, some of the bigger cities. And obviously, like those arts departments are a lot more widespread. Maybe they have multiple ensembles, so there's like standards, and um we would show up to these like the essentially Ellington regional competition, and these like bands would come in and just like cats are 13, 14 years old, like playing changes and like playing like Charlie Parker and stuff. So, you know, that was inspiring to me as a as a 14-year-old in high school. And then I connected with ATN and uh ATN Charles, who's I'm sure you're familiar with him, but he's a trumpet player from Trinidad who went to Florida State University and then later became a music educator and now is a Guggenheim fellow, you know, worked with jazz at Lincoln Center, works worked with SF Jazz and did all that stuff. He's really incredible. Amazing improviser, amazing composer, arranger for big band. And so I met with him. I went to the jazz summer camp for two years in a row uh at Michigan State. So Michigan State hosts a uh summer solstice jazz summer camp. So as a high school student, I would attend that over the summer. It was like a week-long thing. You go stay. There would be kids from all over the country. It was kind of like a bant or or um Stanford does one, right? A jazz workshop, kids from all over the country. So then you get exposed to like, wow, oh my gosh, these kids from Florida are like burning, man. Like they come in, like changes, and they're like, they sound you know, like dizzy. So that kind of messed me up. I was like, I don't really even know how to play like a B flat blues, I don't even know how to do any of this stuff. Yeah, yeah. But Etienne was super kind when I was young. He was like, Come on, man, like, you know, teach you how to do this stuff. So he's like, Come to Michigan State, come be my student, and you know, we can work on things. And so he gave me a scholarship to do my undergraduate degree at Michigan State. And um, my undergraduate jazz degree from Michigan State was like, I think the predecessor to like everything that I'm doing now and all the relationships and connections I made while in college.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Obviously, that's what led me out to Utah too, because Chris Johnson, who's also a graduate of Michigan State, yeah, um, teaches at the University of Michigan now, but he's a Detroit native. And so I took some private lessons with Chris, and then Chris got the job as a director of jazz studies at University of Utah, which you know. I got an assistantship, came out to Utah, did my graduate degree there, and then after shortly after that, I moved to Miami. So kind of was like, okay, I did the two degrees, time to move to a big city and go like put my feet in the water and see if I can swim. And I could kind of, and then I was like, oh man, like I might want to go back to school for a second. I might want to go check some other things out. Right. I went back to my doctorate at Indiana University, which is where I'm at currently. Um, and I I've been teaching at Indiana University for four years now.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Okay. Wow, man, there's so much to unpack. This is a great can we rewind for a second back to the summer camp? Because part of one of the sections in the book will talk about the importance of summer camps and what opportunities there are. Because I feel like here in Utah, you know, there's not we don't really have a lot of jazz camps here, and then I just never heard about anything like at all. And so I'm just like, yeah. And I was like, then but I would never go. And then now looking back, I'm like, dang, I wish I would have like taken the chance to go to one of these places. I feel like it would have changed my trajectory even more than some other things that I'd been able to do prior. So can you tell us more about like that camp and what was so special about it and like kind of how how that one was structured and just kind of your overall experience there?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Absolutely. Yeah. Um man, there there is a lot to unpack there. I think probably the first thing that comes to mind is is like um I'm gonna talk about diversity, like and how important I think diversity is to an upcoming musician, somebody who's trying to like find their way, whether they're a student or a faculty member or what have you. Diversity is really important because what for a student like me, I was 14, I was a white kid coming from a primarily white community in Ludington, Michigan, you know, and that's just a matter of geography, right? Like that's yeah, all of the people who live up in northern Michigan, a lot of them were like settlers from Germany and Finland, right? A lot of like lumber people, fishermen, stuff like that. So came and settled in Michigan. That was the place that they and uh and there are like and there's a lot of stories about that in Michigan, but versus, right? You go to a summer camp and you might bump into people who are from you know Louisiana or Florida, where there's like you know, Caribbean influence, there's black, there's all these different communities, Spanish speaking communities, Latin Americans. And for me, I think the most important thing was like being around people that were just thinking differently than I thought. You know, I think that's important for everybody, especially, you know, you grew up in Utah, like who's in Utah? It's it's also like a lot of white people out in Utah. Yeah, you know, something I noticed when I stayed out there for two years, and and this is like, you know, it can be like a touchy subject because people like get uncomfortable. Oh, oh, now we're talking about race. Oh no. Right. Man, it's so important that you get around people that are not like you. And being is because it expands your way of thinking. If you if you're constantly around people who are just like you, who think just like you, you're always gonna be stuck because like you're just thinking the way that you that you thought, that your ancestors thought, that your grandparents, your mom and dad, and everybody down the line, they all think one way. So you're gonna end up just like them, which is fine if that's what you want. But if you want to like expand your horizons and maybe like take in some things from other people, it's important. That's really important. So, what's the importance of summer camp? Man, get around people from different cultures, different communities, different cities, and you're not gonna find that if you're just like hanging out at home or if you're you know doing whatever you're doing with your family during the summertime. Like, go spend a week in Florida. You're gonna jump into Latinx communities, you're gonna, you know, run into black people, you know. So I I think that was like probably the most important thing for me at a young age was like getting exposed to like just other communities and other other races and ethnicities and ways of thinking, ways of life. And that continues to be a major part of what I do. Like when I'm trying to figure out how to like work on an RB in our arrangement, like I'm not calling my band director from Ludington, right? Like I'm calling like you know, Josh Isaac from North Carolina, or I'm calling Marcus Anderson, or or I'm calling, you know, some of my cats down in Florida, or I'll call like Aaron Smith from Cleveland, Ohio. Like they people with gospel experience, people with like in in when you talk about regions in music, I think there's there's different influences wherever you go in the country. That's why we have all these different sounds, is because there's like a West Coast thing and there's an East Coast thing. There's a South Florida thing that's like all Latin American music, and like there's all kinds of stuff happening down in Miami. Yeah, so when I teach music at a professional level, and also when I write music at a professional level, I'm always like trying to figure out because I'm I always just go back, I'm just a white kid from Michigan. I I didn't know anything, and I just I got exposed to all this stuff, and I was like, oh man, there's so much amazing music and so many amazing ways of thinking out there, and so just always trying to like absorb from other people, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah, yeah. And then was that uh the case also like with each school that you've studied at, has that also been the case?

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Totally, totally, and I mean Utah, um, there was like a few major influences for me, but the main one was Chris, you know, Chris Johnson. Like, dude, I I would hang out in his office, like just watching him work like a fly on the wall, like every day. And I I became like a sponge. Like, I was just like, anytime I had a question, anytime I had a thing about and Chris, and even Chris sometimes wouldn't have the answers, but he would put me onto a recording for a person, and he'd be like, contact this person, talk to them about it, and see what they think. Yeah, and I'd be like, Okay, all right, I'll do that, you know. And now now that's just how I think, right? Like, if I don't know something, there's somebody who understands it. But Chris, Chris was a major influence. Obviously, like when I was in Michigan State, I got a handful of that. Rodney Whitaker, the director of the program, is from Detroit, and then you know, Etienne's from Trinidad. So he has like this whole other, you know, Caribbean music, like way of thinking. And yeah, yeah. So he uh he had a completely different taste. He lived in New York for a long time, too. So he just had like a lot of you know, New York is one of the most culturally rich cities in the entire United States. So he had all of that influence, man.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Everything. Yeah, those influences and everything, yeah, it's totally different. And that's like kind of what I'm trying to get across in the book, too, is like if you can like go out places, go somewhere you're you're not comfortable with. I tell uh the young musicians I'm working with here is like they're like, I think I want to do music, but I might stay here. And I'm like, apply to UNT, apply to Berkeley, go like go to these other places and at least see, go for a semester, and if you don't like it, come back. It's okay. But like go and just have your world rocked a little bit and go from there, because I think it's it's so important. Not not that the programs out here aren't great, that's a whole nother conversation of kind of the music scene here in Utah versus other places and whatnot. But but I think yeah, for anybody, it's like, yeah, get out and go somewhere else and figure things like and then you want to come back, yeah, come back. But take a chance, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Yeah, yeah. Take a take a risk, you know. Don't be afraid of what's out there. I think what what you find when you search a little deeper is that what's out there isn't so scary, it's actually like enlightening, and it's it's important to experience those things so that you can grow as a human being. A lot of people are really trapped right now. I think the thing that this world needs the most is some unity and some sense of like we're all on this planet together, and we're all not as different as we think, you know. There's there's two things. I was talking to Dr. Charles Sykes, who is the retour I I work at the African American Arts Institute here, and Dr. Sykes was the person who hired me into the department. And Dr. Sykes retired uh two years ago now. But I had lunch with him a couple weeks ago, and he was like talking to him about next steps in life. Where am I gonna move? What am I gonna do this? I'm finishing a PhD. I'm interested in, I want to have a family, I want to buy a house and have kids and have a dog running around. And I'm trying to finish a doctorate, I'm going on tour, I'm arranging music for all these different artists, I'm recording, doing recording contracts from my house. A lot of things to juggle, right? And he goes, he he like slowed me down because he's an old soul. So he slows me down and he's like, hey man, what are the two most important things for a human? I go, I don't know, like and he's like, the first one is that you have something to eat, because if you don't have something to eat, you're gonna die. The second one is that you got somewhere to lay your head at night, and he's like, Beyond that, everything else is just you know, but those two things make us all the same. Those two things make us all we all gotta have somewhere to lay our head at night, and we all gotta have something to eat. And so I think like, yeah, anyway, we're getting in it's it's becoming very esoteric, but that is how I'm trying to frame everything about how I teach, how I play, how I connect with people. It's like we're all the same, man, and we all gotta have something to eat. And after we get off this call, you and I, we we both gotta go find a a breakfast bagel, you know?

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Yeah, exactly. So yeah, I I love that. I I I want to move go back to where you your time in Miami. So you finish your two jazz degrees, and what was your thought process for Miami? What was your goal as a trumpet player in general, your career, kind of what were what was going through your head all during those handful of years? I know that's a big question. It's a crazy story.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Audience is ready. I was in Utah and um I got to a point where it almost like makes me emotional to think about it because um I was with my homie and like we we were producing music. Every day. And this was like during COVID. This was 20. So like COVID had just hit the US. I had applied for unemployment because my assistantship had expired at the University of Utah. I had applied for other jobs. I started driving Lyft. Um and I was still playing like I was playing a lot of gigs in 2019. So I was cool. But when 2020 hit, all those gigs obviously like went away. So I didn't have income as a musician to be able. And I was like, well, that was how I was paying my bills. So like what I'm what I'm gonna do now. Like I applied to all these jobs. No universities are hiring a kid who's just fresh out of college with a master's degree in jazz. Like nobody's hiring that. So and you can't go play gigs, which is the other source of income. I got a fellowship from Salt Lake City, um, and that was like uh their their arts center, the arts center in Salt Lake City wrote me a grant that was um really nice because that grant the artist funding helped me for those couple months to create some music. I did a project for the virtual NAM conference in 2020. We did like a live recording. I was doing a lot of those like virtual concerts, like yeah. I worked with Social Antidote, which was another company in Salt Lake City, and we were just like doing virtual concerts, we're doing like you know, outdoor concerts with masks on, and like you know, everyone's like pulling their masks aside, but it was like crazy times. So yeah, during that time, I say that all to say, like my my finances were not in the greatest place, and I started dwindling through all my savings, and like and I get to a point where I look at my checking account and there's like nothing left, like there's just no money left, and so I I was paying, I think,$1,800 a month for like an apartment, and I paid my last rent payment, and then um I had to put some stuff on credit, and then I had like a a check bounce from a from a client, and that was the week I was supposed to like because I was already thinking ahead, like I need to I need to move somewhere. And my homie had a house down in Miami that was like a bunch of jazz musicians living in a house, and he was like, hey man, we have this, we have this other room here, I'll rent it to you for like$350 a month, which was like incredible. It was like three times less than what I was paying. So I threw my stuff in my car, I made my last rent payment, and then I have that check bounce. And so as I'm leaving Salt Lake City, I like look at my bank account and I have negative$500 in my checking. And I'm driving across the country to Miami. So, of course, you know, calling friends, like, man, like I'm you know, I'm crying on the phone, and I'm like, I'm losing my mind. You know, I'm about to move to Miami, I have no money. I feel like everything I've like done in life has amounted to nothing. Like, I'm like, I went to school, I got a master's degree, and I'm I'm ugly crying in the car. And it makes me smile now because it's like, gosh, I just didn't know anything. But uh so then I get to Miami and I I remember I had these two gigs lined up. One was at the Lowe's Hotel in South Beach, and that was like a promise gig. It was an Ellington tribute concert, and you know, so anyway, I get down there in this house, like you open the cabinets, and there's like cockroaches. It's South Florida, so there's like cockroaches running around, and I just remember thinking like that I have this mattress in the like the bedroom I was staying in was like a garage conversion. So you just put carpet down in the garage, now it's a bedroom. That's basically what it was. So I had my bed in there, I found like a desk um that I found like just at a at a goodwill store, and I like set my laptop up on there. I have my trumpet, my laptop, and this mattress, and like I'm living in like this cockroach jazz house with these three other dudes. It was me, Alex Larinov, Jack Branfield, and Leo Folsom, who's out in LA now, he's crushing it. Well, the four of us were just like shedding, and then we would go play these like corporate jazz hits on Miami Beach, and the gigs would pay really good. Like they were killing like South Florida at the time, even though it was COVID, like I guess everybody just escaped to Florida and was like down to clown. So we went out there and hustled, and we would play these jazz gigs, make some money, pocket it. I started paying my bills. Uh, you know, first gig was like 500 bucks. So my$350 rent payment, you know, I'm good. But I had two gigs that week. So I remember I paid my$350 to Alex for the rent. I um paid off that negative$500 that was in my account, and then I had like$250 left over. So I was like, what do I do? Go get groceries, right? Gotta have something to eat. So I went to the grocery, went to Publix, and got my stuff. And this was like week one. Then my friend Blake Cross uh recommended me for a party band called Rock With You Wedding Gigs. Wedding gigs, playing trumpet with a DJ. Um I started racking these up like boom, boom, boom. I was doing like four or five of them a week. Yeah. Got called for a few other wedding bands. So now I'm doing like four or five wedding gigs a week. I'm crushing it. You know, yeah, that's great. And then, like about six months into living in Miami and doing five wedding gigs a week, coming home at two in the morning, I get a call from Anthony Stanko, who's now the jazz trumpet professor of Michigan State. Anthony calls me and says, Hey man, I'm leaving Broward College. There's this position open to teach trumpet at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale. Are you interested? And we had that whole conversation. It was like about a month of negotiation, talking, paperwork. I get a job as the adjunct trumpet professor at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

So now I'm like, I can breathe. Like I have I have not only like gigs coming in, but what I'm teaching too.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Uh and then I met Teddy Moulette, who came to do a master class at Broward College with the Miami Sound Machine, Gloria Estefon's band.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

So then this other person reaches out to me and they asked, like, we want to come over to Universal to record Gloria Estefan's Christmas album. Nice. Like, let's do it. So I go over there and did that, and it was like quick in and out thing. You know, Gloria was there and we got it done. Um, a couple months later, I got a call from Rodrigo Gallardo, who was a trumpet player down in Miami, who had a a lot of gigs playing with like different wedding companies and stuff. And he was out at the time, I think, with KC and the Sunshine Band. I could be wrong on that, but Frankie Valley in the four seasons needed a trumpet player for a short run down in Florida. So Robbie Robinson reached out to me and um I took that gig as well. So within like one year, like my whole life was like different. Like now I'm playing with Frankie Valley and Gloria Estefan, and I'm like in the studio, and now like you you do a couple things like that, and then there's like maybe a little bit of a buzz or whatever around who you are as an individual, and like people you're relied on. Like that is so important as a musician, is like your name is everything. You know, you if your name is getting tossed around, like, oh, that guy's like not reliable, he doesn't show up on time, uh, he can't really make it through, you know, high note stuff, or like or like he can't really improvise that well. Like, people talk, you know, everybody, but I was showing up. I just kept showing up and showing up and showing up, even when it got like really, really challenging. I just was like, man, I got I gotta make this happen. Yeah, and uh, you know, so one more call comes through a major call for a major tour. It was talk about a crushing blow. It was a tour in Europe, and it was playing third trumpet in the band. I'm not gonna say like like what it was, but the MD calls and says, you know, here are some charts and here's the MP3. Can you just send us back a recording? Well, I had taken a couple weeks off playing, like I was burned out, and I just I had taken a couple weeks off and shoot, man, like that call comes through. I'm like, Yeah, yeah, man, yeah, I'm I'm super down. Like, let me let me get it right back to you. So then I'm like hurrying up, like trying to get my face back together. Yeah. I like send this clip over to him, and then I hear nothing back, like for like a week. So I keep reaching out to the MD, like, hey man, like, did they make a decision? And he was like, Yeah, yeah, we decided to go with somebody else, man. Like, sorry, you know, maybe next time, maybe if there's a gap or whatever. And I was like, crush, dude. So at the time, that was that was uh that was a time where I I I was coming to the end of my first year at Brower College as a professor and was kind of like, are they gonna extend my contract? Are they gonna let me work here another year? Or am I gonna do a tour? Am I gonna go to Europe and go on tour? Do I I need to find another way to supplement my income because man, I am struggling down here. Miami's expensive. You know, you go out for a meal and it's$70 for a meal or something, you know. I was tripping about rent and payments and stuff, and I decided it's time to go back to school. God was telling me that it's time to go back and go work on school again for a little bit. And I was I also saw that like, you know, something that genuinely happens with a master's degree in music versus a doctorate in music is like you can double your income just by having that certificate that says you're a doctor. So um, so I was like, yeah, I want to go back. So I called a bunch of schools, UNT, South Florida, UCLA, USC, Indiana University. Got a hold of John Raymond, who had came out to the University of Utah when I was there. We had a good hang. This is where your relationships come into play, right? Like somebody who I had met four or five years ago, who I had a good, good standing relationship with and had a good time, you know, chatting with. And he was like, Yeah, man, there's a brand new doctoral program at Indiana University if you want to come be a part of the Trumpet Studio. And I was like, Well, the the main thing is like I need to, I need to, you know, get a job right now. So I was like, I as much as I'd love to come get my doctorate, like, I gotta figure out financial circumstances. Well, the African American Arts Institute had assistant instructorship open. So the way those AIs work is that like you can get paid to go to school, basically. So as long as you're enrolled in six to twelve credits per semester, the university will uh fund your school and it'll also, you know, pay you like salary and health care and stuff to come work. They're they're rare. You have to apply for them and you have to, you know, be a valid candidate, but um, I was a valid candidate and I did my interviews and submitted all my paperwork, and they decided to hire me, which was a huge blessing. Yeah, for sure. I moved to Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana, four years ago, and that is where things really started to get interesting and get spicy.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Man, how so? Tell me more.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

I'm on the edge of my seat here. Well, I connected with this guy, James Strong, who is my director, he's my boss, and that's who him and Dr. Charles Sites hired me for this position. It's the the mission of my job is I work for the IU Soul Review. So the IU Soul Review is uh ensemble dedicated to preserving and performing black popular music. Um it was founded in 1970 by Portia K. Maltzby and Dr. Herman C. Hudson. And the department is is brilliant, man. They have a multimillion dollar facility where they have students come in. Students audition, it's an audition-based ensemble that promotes black popular music. And so these students come in and we do like American Idol style auditions, panel auditions. They audition, get the students in, and then we go to work. We basically like put them right into the industry. We have a room set up, like a rehearsal hall, grand rehearsal hall, just like if you were at center stage in Los Angeles and there's like microphones set up, a back line drum kit, keyboard, bass, amp, everything. And it's like set up like a professional rehearsal space. We have a sound team running front of house and recording the rehearsals, and you know, all that. So I am the arranger for the band. So cool. My boss, James Strong, who was musical director for Tupac, LL Cool J, Stephanie Mills, Beyoncé, list of names goes on and on. DW3, new edition, envogue. He's done all kinds, he was in LA for 20 years. So he's a great bassist and musical director. He'll send me a playlist in August, and then my job is to like write arrangements, right? For the for the ensemble. It's like a 25-piece ensemble. We tour, we travel, we go do jazz venues and concert halls and stuff like that. It's a collegiate ensemble, though. That's cool. It's beautiful, man. So for the last four years, I've just been shedding my chart writing, creating stems and logic, playing keyboard when necessary, playing trumpet in the band when necessary. Sometimes my boss goes out, he's still touring with Switch. So when when my boss is out, I step in and direct the ensemble as well. And all those things just become assets, right? Like they just become, they help your way of thinking, help your process for when you get called for things. So then when I got the call to go be a part of Dave Cons's stuff, like my mind was already like in the right place. Like I still had things to learn, but like my mind was ready for it. Like I was like, okay, cool. I got I got a call. It's a very professional call, and I'm gonna go do this with the best intent and the the skills that I possess, I I will bring those to the table, bring a good attitude. I'll be on time, make sure I respond to my emails and try to just you know put my best foot forward here.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Yeah, yeah. And here we are. And here we are. So cool. So you're still still Indiana, still working, graduated. Are you or are you still working on your doctorate?

SPEAKER_00 35:49

Yeah, so I'm done with coursework, so I no longer am required to be on campus. So just I I show up and teach, but I still have like a dissertation that's being written and yeah, some just back end stuff.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Sure. So soon, soon you'll be a doctor. Soon.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Soon. Yeah, uh it's like a seven-year process. I'm like year four. So okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Well, good for you, man. That's that's awesome. That's not a not an easy endeavor from people that I've talked to and heard about it. And so that's well done. Good for you. Thanks, brother. And so before we were started recording, you mentioned how you might be applying for some places out in Utah. You just talked with the one of your mentors a few weeks ago about what's next and whatnot. So since then, since you've talked with him and as you've been thinking, what what is your plan moving forward? What are you thinking you're wanting to do and kind of the next steps for you and your career and your life and whatnot?

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Sure. Well, um, yeah, I mean, that's uh there's a bunch of things. I'm putting a record out in May, which is really exciting. I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about the album yet. We might have to like touch base in May, you know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

But I'll just say there are some people being featured on this album that I'm really excited that they're being featured on that because yeah, big names. So it's it's a smooth jazz record, and I'm putting it out through MBF Entertainment, which is the label I signed to in October of 2024.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

And so the guys that are on the album are kind of like the the royal throne of smooth jazz, like is being featured on this album. So let's go. I'm super stoked about about the names I have on here. Um not only from a perspective of like musical marketing standpoint, but but more the perspective of like the actual music that they bring to the album is really exciting because they're just yeah monster players, amazing. They're so detailed and so like in touch with like how to make music feel and sound amazing, you know. So yeah, yeah. Their intention to detail has been really helpful. They've been two dangerous to me. So I'm gonna release that album. Um, I'm going on a tour with uh Dave Cause in June. Um it starts in April, kind of, because we're playing New Orleans Jazz Inheritage Festival. We're playing Seabreeze Jazz, but we're headlining Seabreeze Jazz Festival, which is super exciting. Seabreeze got a stellar lineup this year. I mean, they have like the Commodores and like Morris Day in the Time, and like it's like, man, you should go check out that poster. I was so stoked when I saw it. I was like, oh my gosh, what in the world? But it yeah, yeah, in June, we're going to doing a Southeast Asian tour. So we'll start in Jakarta, Indonesia, or doing uh China, we're going to Japan, going to Tokyo, and playing, we're doing like a Blue Note run over there. We're doing Java Jazz Festival, Blue Note, and then and then on our way back, we're going to Hawaii and playing Oahu and playing Blue Note Hawaii. And then I think the final date of our tour is Newport Jazz Festival. Um it's a stellar run. I'm just like, like if you talked to me five years ago and told me that I was gonna be doing all this stuff, I was like, you're lying, right? Like I don't Yeah, yeah. But life equips you in the weirdest ways. Like you, as long as you're like open to receive the things that are coming your way, and you pursue things with like a intention and kind of I don't want to say aggression, but it's kind of it's kind of like an aggressive thing. Like you have to be like, I want this, I want this more than anything. Or life rewards that action, you know, you can kind of get where you need to go.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

Yeah, yeah. And so yeah, that's great. So you're after all that, are you still gonna be in Indiana or you'd mentioned applying to some places out here, kind of what?

SPEAKER_00 39:42

And uh like do you want to I'm applying to uh several positions. Um I actually I I did submit an application to UVU. Really? Yeah, so they have like a commercial music professorship open at UVU. Okay. Um so I I applied for a commercial music professorship there. Okay. I've applied to USF and Tampa, Florida. Um I applied to UNT in Texas. Uh North Texas has that's a jazz lecturer position, uh, trump trumpet, you know. I do a handful of things and I compose and arrange, I record for film, I do film music, so I produce and I play keys and I'm a multi-instrumentalist, and I play trumpet too, and when I tour. So uh I can teach a lot of different things, but I'm I'm most interested in like teaching students how to record and how to themselves. And so I think the commercial music position would be a good fit. I also apply to UCLA, so we'll see what happens. I and SUNY, SUNY Purchase had a professorship open as well. So I've just been like submitting applications around the country and putting fields, and in the meantime, I'm working on like getting this record out and trying to go do an album release tour and you know do some different shows. So I'm actually I'm heading to LA this weekend. I have a show in Los Angeles on Sunday. Nice. Well, in Seal Beach, California, Spaghetti Jazz Club. Okay, world-renowned jazz venue. So I'm excited for that. And that's coming on Sunday, and then I'll be Monday. So the day after that show, I'm going to Center Stage in LA to go rehearse with Dave. And yeah, we have a full week long of rehearsals. So I'm rehearsing with Jonathan Butler, Dave Cause, and a list of other people. A bunch of stuff. I've had like a lot of stuff rattling around up here, but week long rehearsal, and then we head to Brazil on on March 19th. Busy time, lots of fun.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

That's so cool. That's awesome. Yeah, literally, just you're just going all over the world, just playing. Man, trying to make the dream work. It's so cool. Like, you know, it's the the travel aspect of like music is so like cool because it's like you know, people paid thousands and thousands of dollars to go to Asia and Japan and like all these places, and then just like you're getting paid to go. It's like, yeah, you don't get to maybe stay there for a week and relax per se, but like you get to go in all over the world. It's like that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

No doubt. No, I I I I do love touring for that reason because you know we play our 80 or 90 minute show in the evening for an hour, but then the rest of the time we're just in different cities. We're maybe there in Jakarta for two or three days, and it's just like you get to go explore and see what it looks like and what's what's out there. I've never been to Jakarta, so this will be cool, man. Like I've never been to China either. Uh, it'll be it'll be interesting. I'm I'm excited to just see some things that I've never seen before. Yeah, kind of like what we talked about earlier, just exposure, exposing yourself to you know what's out there and just taking the risk.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Yeah, I love it. I think that's that's great. Like, I I tell some kids that are here, like they're like, I think I want to do music. And okay, well, when when you go, you know, if you're going to school here during your summer, like go out on a cruise ship, go to Australia or something, like right, like go get some experience and go do that and then come back, you know, pocket your money. That's a great summer gig. Like go make more money doing that than like your McDonald's job during the summer, with like kind of not as many like gigs or stuff. I'm like, go get out, go go do stuff, and then come back, you know, like really get that real world experience and cut your teeth on a real bandstand, you know. So I'm like, I wish I would have done that when I was younger, but and had no idea. But I'm happy also, everything's everything's worked out perfectly for me and everything that's been happening in my life. So I'm totally happy with it. I'm like, man, in another life, maybe I would have done more of this stuff and gone a different direction, but but it's okay. I want to go back to a couple things that we talked about. So you you mentioned in Miami how you had like a burnout kind of a burnout period and wanted to take a couple weeks off the horn, for lack of a better term, what happened there and kind of kind of what led to that point. Because I feel like that's like, yeah, we like we have this idea of like, oh, I play the trumpet and I'm working five nights a week and that's ideal and that's great, and how can anybody not love that? And each person's different, you know, and whatnot. But I think it's more than just I'm playing for for like all these gigs and I'm and that's it, and I'm totally happy. Like it it's there's there's more there's like the real side of it of like I'm tired. And so I'd love to hear your perspective on that and your experience with with that two-week of just like I need a break.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

Man, well uh so I've had I have I've had burnout happen a few different times in my life. I mean, even like it happened like last year when I got off tour, like in August, I was just like sorry, September, September when I got home, I was just kind of like, oh my gosh, like I'm I don't even want to do music right now. And like I think anytime that happens, it's a combination of things. It's usually a lot to do with like how you're eating, how you're sleeping, how you're processing. My director always says, You gotta let the tape play back. Gotta let the tape play back. Like you watch a great football NBA team, like they play, they play, they play, they play, they practice, practice, practice. Sometimes you gotta go sit in a room and watch the tape.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

And that to me has become a paramount infrastructure of how I do things now. Sometimes I just watch the tape. And I think it's like important to like have time on the face always, because that is like a muscle where it's like if you take two weeks from going to the gym and then you try to bench press 250 pounds, you're gonna be like, like you're done. Like you can't do it because you're just like your body's not used to like putting that kind of weight up. So your arm be wobbling, you'll be shaking. It's the same thing with the trumpet. So you can't really like afford to like not put time on your face, but sometimes it's okay. Like, if you're you know, if you need to take a break, like go watch some YouTube videos, but like I'll listen to my own tracks and I'll listen to tour tracks and stuff like that. But yeah, I think when I was in Miami, a lot of it was just the running around that's a big city, there's a lot of traffic, and um, you'd be driving to a gig that says on Google Maps that it's three hours away, but it's more like five hours away because of the traffic, and the same thing happens in LA or New York, it's just yeah, you gotta budget extra time for yourself. I was doing that a lot of nights a week and staying out late, and honestly, like to tell you the truth, I was you know, sometimes indulging in you know, alcohol and stuff like that, and so it was like if you're out like the gig ends at one, but you're out till 3:30 in Miami Beach with your boys and like kicking it, whatever, and then you gotta do the same thing tomorrow. Yeah, so that that was that was part of it, and part of it was just like I was so tired of like man, I'm always hustling, I'm always doing stuff, trying to do stuff for other people. When's when am I gonna get time for me?

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Sometimes you can be doing all the stuff, but it's not all the right stuff. Yes, you can crowd your calendar and be busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. But if you're not working toward a goal and you don't have like the the end, the finish line in mind of like where you're actually trying to get to, you can be so scrambled eggs just doing this, that, and the other thing, and just like have no end goal. So now I try to I think my maturity and like the things that I've discovered is like to move with intention of like this is the direction I'm trying to go. There's a reason behind why I'm doing this. Yeah, I don't just take any and every recording that gets sent my way because some people send me tracks and they're like, hey, can you record on this? And I saying no is important, learning how to be like, hey, I can't do that because I have this, this, and this going on, or I don't have anything going on. But sometimes the mental capacity that it would take for me to like sit down and like exert that creative energy, it might be better used somewhere else, where like applying that energy to a collaboration that's going to significantly impact my future, or applying that energy to myself so that I can recharge and that I can come with 110% every time, you know.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Yeah, yeah. That's another part of the book. Like, there's people who've like the theory that's worked for them is like say yes to everything and just absorb and everything that's like, yeah, but also like but then the other side of it is being able to say no. And I think there's important times for both, you know, when you're young, yeah, trying to get as much opportunity experience. But like there's also, you know, guys like Wayne Bergeron and Dan Fernero aren't really doing weddings anymore. Like, as an example, where it's like, could they? Yeah, absolutely. It's but like they're they're it's the time for that is kind of gone, you know. If it works out, maybe, you know, or whatever, but but yeah, being able to say no. And so so that for you, it sounded like it just got to a point you're like, I just need two weeks to detox for me, yeah, for lack of a better term. Just like I just need to chill for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Yeah, I think well, I was facing just in the face of everything that I was dealing with and like feeling like my life was moving a hundred miles an hour all the time. It's like I didn't have the same structure that I do now. Like, yeah, I have structure now. Like I had two calls this morning before this call, and like I went to the gym already and like had my smoothie for breakfast, and like give some structure to like how I do, but that's also that's because I shut everything off last night at 10 p.m. and like went to bed because I knew that tomorrow morning is coming, right? That's just something you learn when you grow up. Like, like, okay, like I could stay here and watch four more YouTube videos, or I can scroll on my phone for another hour. Yeah, but you're gonna pay for that tomorrow morning when you wake up because you're gonna be tired and you're gonna have bags on your eyes, and you won't be able to talk, you won't be fluid in the things you're doing. So just a little more discipline and a little more like okay, let me go to bed on time, let me eat the right food so I'm not dragging through the day, and like yeah, that stuff is just learned, I think, over time. When I was in Miami, I wasn't doing that. I was like eating Taco Bell at 2 a.m. after the game, like, why am I so tired? And that's what I see in a lot of my students now. It's hilarious, man. Yeah, you know, you ask them about it, and they're like, I'm just so tired and I'm so da-da-da. I'm like, Well, what'd you eat for breakfast? What'd you eat last night for dinner? What time did you go to bed? 2 a.m. Well, why'd you go to bed at 2 a.m.? Well, I was at you know, something's house, and then we came back here, and you know, I'm like, Well, what do you expect?

SPEAKER_01 50:29

Yeah, you are kind of like you're you're the result of your action and inaction, so yep, and that's you've just described like every like young uh young adult that I know, it's like uh you know figuring it out, so it's uh that's great. But it's I mean it's true, it's true. Um yeah, um, so you're talking about how you know like multi-instrumentalist, you're doing the recording stuff, you're doing the commercial music, and you're just super versatile across music, not even just trumpet. I think, and maybe to tell me if this was the case for you early on, and if you see it in your students, uh, I certainly saw it in me was like trumpet and I'm just gonna play trumpet and that's it, and I'm gonna do great, and that's all I need to worry about. And that's what being a trumpet player means is you don't do you don't do the arranging, you don't do the recording, you don't do the the multi-instrumentalist stuff, it's just like it's just trumpet. Do you feel like that is the case for a lot of young musicians, or maybe maybe not? That's what I see a lot of the time is I want to just do trumpet and so they don't spend time in some of these areas, other areas of music that know that you and me have delved into that also are a part of our career besides just playing the trumpet.

SPEAKER_00 51:49

Yeah, I think like there is something to be said for being a specialist, like you know, like I specialize in you know saxophone playing, but like any saxophone player you know that is like really, really, really out there, like playing professional gigs for you know, whether it's an orchestra, Broadway, Justin Timberlake, or something else, they do double. They have to play flute, they have to play clarinet. I mean, even like Leo P, who's on our tour, very sax player. There's a moment in the show where he like pulls out a clarinet and like takes a clarinet solo. Dave Coz plays, you know, alto saxophone, but he can also play amazing tenor saxophone, and he also plays the soprano or sopranino. Yeah, you know, and they're all different skill sets, and those skill sets become assets. So my thing is, is like the more tools you have in your tool chest, the more things you can go work on, you know. Yeah, it's great if you're an electrician, but what if you're an electrician and a plumber and you can fix the car, you know? Like you're an automotive repair man. Like, if you can do all those things, those are just extra paychecks that might come across your desk, and then you can you could take that check and sign it, right? Because you did the work. So to each their own, I think there are people out there who are certainly like a Wayne Bergeron, but never not everybody is Wayne Bergeron. More power to you. Like, if if that's how you can operate personally, I don't think I'll ever be good enough as a trumpet player to just be a trumpet player. Like, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I play keyboard and guitar and bass and I write music and I can write charts and I can do stems, and I love a good specialist, but I like to be multi multifaceted because occasionally I get a call for something and I'm like, yeah, I got you. I can do that.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

Yeah, yeah. I think it's yeah, like in some jobs or some scenarios, yeah, it's just playing the trumpet, like the military or playing in an orchestra, but like the odds of getting those gigs are like not that high. So, like, for I would say like most musicians are not in those groups, you know, and so it's like, yeah, unless you're doing something like that, unless unless you get it, like you have to have some sort of other stuff going on, right? It's like like right, you're getting your doctorate, you're applying for these college positions, and like like right, you have the structure from when you were teaching at Brown and now teaching at Indiana, and then teaching somewhere soon, where it's like, okay, I'm teaching, I have the stability to like that the money is taken care of, the business is taken care of, and then the other stuff on top is like, okay, now I can do other things.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Yeah, yeah, multiple streams of income, and then also just like what I picture is like sometimes you gotta like pick up the slack on the rope and throw it over your shoulder. Because like not everybody can do everything. And if you're in a leadership position, especially, oftentimes there are people who kind of like fail out or they they can't make it to whatever, and it's like now there's a hole, there's a void. And as a leader, your job is to fill that void. Um, otherwise you wouldn't be the leader, like you would you would just be a side man or anything. But when I look at like great leaders, a great leader can fill those voids and can pick up the slack. Oh, our bass player is gone today, so I'm gonna go play the bass. Our drummer's gone today, so I'm gonna go play the drums. Our keyboard player can't make or how about you know, we're getting ready to go play the Hollywood Bowl with Regina Bell this past summer, and we're doing her song Baby Come to Me, which is a famous, famous song, and she has this brilliant arrangement of it that's got these hits and this da-da-da. And now it's gonna be Regina Bell and the Summer Horns live at the Hollywood Bowl. And Dave came it, you know, we're on the road traveling when this decision was made, so there's only a couple weeks out until the show, and now Dave and his team are thinking about well, we got to get some charts made for the horn players because we'd we need to have like a official horn arrangement for this song. So Dave pulled me aside one night, like before a show, and we're walking, we went and got a coffee, and we're on our way back from the song. And he was like, Hey, Ev, I wanted to ask you something, and like I don't want to put too much on your plate because you have enough on your plate as a trumpet player, and like we're busy right now, but uh we're doing Regina's song Baby Come to Me at the Hollywood Bowl. I'm like, Yeah, and he's like, Would you be interested in doing the horn arrangement for it and like printing us charts so we can rehearse it and da-da-da. And I was like, Absolutely, I'd be honored to do it because it Dave Cause and Regina Bell. I couldn't be more honored, and it'd do it on such an occasion like this. I was like, This is incredible, it's a great great opportunity. And so I accepted the offer. I sat in my hotel room for a couple days with my little MIDI. I have a MIDI keyboard that's like this big, and I take that with me everywhere I go. And it's like I sat down, I wrote this arrangement, we rehearsed it, and then Regina came in a couple days later, and we we performed it with Regina. And it was that to me was like, that's why we do this. Like, it's like those on-the-fly decisions that need to be made. I mean, he could have called anybody in LA to like go get these charts and put together an arrangement, you know. He could have called Nick Patrillo or, you know, there's there's a million amazing arrangers out there. Nick's trombone player who writes all this amazing amazing horn stuff, you know, did the uh the hornheads, you know, arrangements. But but like he pulled me aside and was just like, hey, Ev, I think you'd be interested in doing this. I was like, yes, like it was a surreal feeling, man, playing at the Hollywood with and I'm watching Regina come out, and we're right there. You know, I was like, man, what the heck? This is sweet. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean, I don't know. Should should you just be a trumpet player? I don't think so. I think try to diversify your assets, man. Like add some tools to your toolbox so you can like take over the world, you know? Yeah, be an asset to people, be something that they're like, they're proud to have you on the roster because you bring all these things to the team. You're not just a three-point shooter, you can dribble, you can make great assists, you can pass the ball when necessary, and you're good in the locker room. You know, you can talk to people in the locker room, and and when you're watching the tape, you're looking at the tape going, Hey, what if what if you switched over here and you move to the three-point line and then we do a switch, and then I can get inside the paint. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, yeah. That's that's why LeBron is LeBron. That's why Kobe was Kobe, because they they're great assets and they have multiple tools in their tool chest, so not just a three-point shooter, you know.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that's so important for for young players to realize. Is there's one kid that I have teaching, he's great, very excited about trumpet and everything. He's like, but he's like kind of has that mentality of like, I'm gonna play jazz. Okay, and you want to but you want to make a music career, yeah?

SPEAKER_00 58:47

What kind of jazz?

SPEAKER_01 58:49

I'm like, like, he's like, I don't want to do any classical, I don't want to do any of blah blah blah. I'm like, okay, so where are you gonna like like trying to walk him through like well where where are you gonna work? Well, I like Utah, and it's like, no, it's like no no no dude, like that's not that's not how it works. Like, there's so much more beyond playing jazz. Like, again, that's phenomenal, but not everybody's gonna be a Marquise Hill, not everybody's gonna be a Wynton Marcellus.

SPEAKER_00 59:15

You can go for it, I mean, and that's great, but look at Marquise Hill and look at Wynton Marcellus and their career. I mean, both of them are profound arrangers and composers. So even the the you know, Diego Rivera used to talk about teaching a class called Jazz 101, and it's it's it's a 24-hour class, it's not a uh hour lecture, it's a 24-hour lecture, and and it goes seven days a week, and it's basically you're like running from one meeting to the next, and you're like up at two in the morning, like arranging a big band chart, and then you like take take like a quick like two-hour nap, and you wake up and drink a cup of coffee, and then you like go to oh that's that's pretty great. Teach jazz, jazz improvisation, and then and but then you have a gig at 11 o'clock at like a jazz brunch, and you gotta go like play standards, and then you yeah, it's like yeah, oh man, it's just around the clock, man. It's not just you want to do jazz, man, you can have a hard time, bro. That's that's one of the toughest industries there is.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

Yeah, and that's I think so. Like trying to get across to you know, to some people is like when they get so zoned in on one job, it's like I mean, that's great and go for it, but but like the reality of being a musician is not that, you know, and that's the purpose of the book, too, is like look, if you want these certain things, like like this is kind of what you're gonna have to sacrifice is what you have to give up, or this is if you want to be a freelancer, like you can't just be to it but be doing classical stuff, like you can play as many wedding ceremonies and church gigs as you as you want. Church happens on Sunday, what about the rest of the days of the week, you know? And like so, and so trying to open up young musicians' eyes to like really what it takes to to do this is and the whole goal of the book and and the goal of all these podcasts as well in these interviews, because it's and it it's different for everybody, but it's I think hearing everybody's story is super important. And so maybe last last couple things. I would love to know more about how you got with Dave Coz and how that's going and your experience there. Uh, and then yeah, we'll start there.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:21

Yeah. Well, Dave is one of the most incredible humans that I've ever worked with. Just start by saying that the guy is the most personable, genuine, kind human being on the face of this planet. I mean, for real. Like, guy is an amazing, amazing saxophonist, but an even better person. And his musical director is Randy Jacobs, who is also one of the greatest musicians. He's so talented and also a very kind human being who cares about the younger generation. And both of these people are very, very strict about who they let into their circle and how they manage their time and how they manage the millions of different tasks that they have to, you know, conquer. I mean, Dave does multiple things throughout the year. He does a summer tour usually, um, he'll do a spring cruise, jazz cruise, yeah. That hosts about you know 2,500, 5,000 people. Um he hosts a cruise, like a Soma cruise in Italy every fall, and then he'll do a Christmas tour. So that's four times a year that he is completely active as a musical director, as a you know, uh coordinator and manager of hundreds of emails and relationships. And what fascinates me is that he knows every single person's name. Yeah, that's crazy. Everybody. I mean, it's it's fascinating. So very successful human being. Anyway, Randy Jacobs. Um so I I did this gig in Daytona. Uh, the first year I got called for it was 2020, I believe. And I played with Eric Darius and his horn section. Uh and one of my friends, Kyle Schroeder, who I actually have a show with on Sunday, Kyle was like, hey man, there's this guy, Eric. Like, he's got a smooth jazz gig up in Daytona, blah blah blah. He's looking for a horn section. I was like, smooth jazz? What? Okay, and I'm like coming out of jazz school, so like I'm super heavy in the Bebop stuff and playing Eternal Triangle and one ITG, and so I'm like super heavy and straight ahead stuff. I was like, man, I don't know if I ever want to play smooth jazz, but like how much does it pay? You know? Yeah, yeah. So Kyle's like, it pays$400, man, come up here. So I jump in the van and I drove three and a half hours up to Daytona to go play this gig. And I got up there and like Eric's set was slamming, dude. It was like so. I mean, Eric is he's become a great friend of mine, and and I love his music so much. But I played that gig and um the following year, November rolled around again, and I got called back. He was like, hey man, you want to come back to Daytona in November, come play my set? I'm like, sure, let's do it. Come up, play the gig a second year, start to develop some more relationships, you know. Things happen. Well, they called me back a third year, so November of 2022 comes around. I get called back again to Daytona. Well, the third year that I did it, Randy Jacobs was at the festival doing his own set, and Eric asked him to come play guitar on his set. So Randy's playing guitar. I remember he had this black t-shirt on with a pumpkin on it because it was Halloween. Randy was playing guitar with Eric, and I remember I came up to him and was like, Man, I really like your pumpkin t-shirt. That's so funny. Like, da-da-da. He's like, You got style, man, you know. I'm just talking to him. He's like, Oh man, appreciate it, you know. And uh that was how I met Randy Jacobs, who is Dave Cause's musical director. I had no idea about that. A few months later, it was like January of uh 2022, 2023, January 2023. Uh, I got a call from Pete Klingon, who is um Dave Cause's like travel liaison for the Dave Cause Jazz Cruise. Hey mate, this is Pete Klingon calling with the Dave Cause Jazz Cruise. Wondering if you're available for and blah blah blah. I was like, okay, what what's what's it about? You know, and he goes, you know, we're going out to Greece and Malta and Sicily, and he was like, I'll I'll forward you the contract if you're available. I was like, man, that sounds amazing. So I took the job, and the job was to be a backup trumpet horn section, like play lead, play the lead book, right? For like 12 different artists. I was like, oh my gosh. So the first year I did it was Kirk Whalem, the Righteous Brothers, Kenny Lattimore, Paul Jackson Jr. It was like this crazy look, Candy Dolfer and Dave Coss. And I was just like, My goodness, man, like this is a lot of music. And then so I learned all of it and went and went and did it. And then I was honored that you know they called me back a second time year. They were like, Hey man, we really liked your playing. Happy to have you on the ship. We'd like you to come back a second year. Second year rolls around, and then I got a call later in that fall. And Dave was like, Hey, I know you're coming on the cruise, but would you also be interested in doing a summer tour with myself and Marcus Sanderson, Leo P, Jeff Bradshaw, and anything for Dave Coss? I was like, Yeah, it's like I'm like, man, he's taken such great care of me. He's been such an incredible mentor, and he's been like so kind and put together so many, so many amazing shows that I'm like, dude, anything you need, like I'm I'm there. So yeah, that was it. That was that was kind of how that happened. And and now we're going on tour to China this year. This is my fourth year, I think, working with Dave. And crazy. I couldn't be happier than this. He's a great guy, great friend of mine.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:42

Yeah. Who would have thought, right? Driving to Miami for the first time in a few short years traveling the world with Dave Cause. Pretty insane, man. It's pretty Yeah. Maybe last question before we let you go. Uh, is there anything you know now that you wish you would have known when you were younger?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:02

There's a lot of things. I mean, there's a lot of things that I wish now, or that I wish I knew then that I know now. So it's a heavy question. I think like you get a lot of um assets in life, but the most valuable asset that you have is your time, and everything else is depreciating. So when you buy something, say it's a car, it's known to be the world's worst depreciating asset, right? It's like the minute you drive that thing off the lot, it starts depreciating. It's it's worth less now. The minute you drive it off the lot, it's now worth less than what you bought it for.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:38

Even with mortgages and homes, like sometimes they can be appreciating assets, but sometimes they can be depreciating assets. You know, it just depends on market value. But anytime you buy something, whether it's like a pack of bananas from the grocery store that's going to be rotten in two weeks, or you buy a computer, and then now the computer requires multiple updates. Now it runs a little slower than when you got it. Now it like everything starts slowly kind of depreciating once you purchase it. But the one thing that does not depreciate is your time. Your time is the most valuable appreciating asset that you have because what you do today sets you up for tomorrow. What you do today sets you up for five years from now. What you do today sets you up for 10 years from now. So I always like, now I think like that. What's happening in 2030? What's happening in 2035? What's happening in 2040?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:32

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:33

I'm willing, I'm still here, and I've created this beautiful, beautiful life for myself. Had I thought like that when I was in my early 20s, or had I thought like that when I was in my, you know, when I was 18, like nobody's thinking like that when they're in their early 20s. You just think life's a party and like everything's brand new, and like you're getting all these new experiences, and you hear all the old people around you telling you, yeah, man, I remember when I was young. You know, it's like, what are they talking about? Well, they're talking about time. They're talking about the things that they wish they could have. We're not talking about just financial investments, we talk about our your relationships. That time you wish you could get back with your mother, that time you wish you could get back with your father or your brother or your sister or your cousin, or you know, people grow up, they get old, not to be morbid, but you know, like your life will come to an end at some point. So the most valuable thing you have is today, is your time today, and what are you gonna do with your time? Yeah. And I think that's the most important thing to me ever. Now I'm turning 30 this year. What I wish I knew then is that time is the most valuable thing. Don't don't waste your time or your, you know, don't waste your time or your energy on things that are not appreciating for you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:48

Yeah. 100%. Oh, that's great. Well, thank you so much, Evan. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to chat and tell us your experience and your insights and just looking forward to all the great things that you're gonna be doing in the future. It's gonna be it's gonna be awesome. So thank you once again.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:07

Man, no problem. Thank you. I appreciate you, man. Yeah. Thanks for having me. And I'm you know, like I said before, man, thank you for just hosting this thing and like getting knowledge out to people, you know. And it it is what what we just did is valuable because we spent our time creating a future for for other people, which is yeah, really, really important.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:29

Yeah, knowledge is power, and that's the goal. Try and get that knowledge and wisdom from everybody out to the next generation of players. And so thank you again. No doubt.