Mike Jeffers Audio Experience

Episode 055 Chicago Music Revealed with Special Guest Thaddeus Tukes

Tukes is a Luminarts fellow and recipient of the Vivian G. Harsh Emerging Artist Award. He has been featured at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and more. When he's not performing, Tukes is an educator, giving master classes and workshops to students from pre-Kindergarten through undergraduate.

Episode 054 Chicago Music Revealed with Special Guest Ryan Cohan

Motéma recording artist Ryan Cohan is a composer of keen intellect and a powerfully expressive pianist. Recognized for his “ingenuity and virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune), his versatility and inventive vision have distinguished him as a vital original voice amongst the elite pianist/composers in today’s global music scene.

Episode 053 Chicago Music Revealed with Special Guest Hrayr Attarian

Hrayr is a professor of neurology at Northwestern hospital with his clinical focus is diagnosing and treating sleep disorders particulary those in neurological illnesses.

 

He writes a column on Chicago Jazz Magazine, Music and the Brain.

Episode 052 Chicago Music Revealed with Special Guests Steve and Stephen Maxwell

EPISODE 052 CHICAGO MUSIC REVEALED with special guest Vintage Drum Expert Steve Maxwell and Stephen Maxwell from Steve Maxwell Vintage and Custom Drums.

Host Mike Jeffers discusses the how they started the business and how they have grown it to be the top vintage and custom drum shops in the world. Visit www.maxwelldrums.com for more information.

 

About Steve Maxwell Vintage & Custom Drums
Steve Maxwell Vintage and Custom Drums operates locations in Chicago, NYC and also  Fork's Drum Closet in Nashville. They are the world's largest dealer of USA made Gretsch drums and Craviotto drums, and the largest vintage dealer worldwide.The Fork's location is the largest independent DW dealer as well. Through their network of shops you have access to over 6000 cymbals, 500 drum sets, 500 snare drums plus hardware and accessories. They truly believe in the independent drum shop model. They strive to bring you an experience that can not be replicated with an online-only store model. Let them help you find the sound you are looking for!

Episode 051 Chicago Music Revealed with special guest Billy Branch

Billy Branch (born William Earl Branch, October 3, 1951) is an American blues harmonica player and singer of Chicago blues. Branch is a three-time Grammy nominee, a retired two-term governor of the Chicago Grammy Chapter, an Emmy Award winner, and a winner of the Addy Award. In addition, he has received numerous humanitarian and music awards.

Episode 050 Chicago Music Revealed with special guests Michele Thomas, Darren Scorza and Bill Chapin

Bill’s early training consisted of 13 years of traiditional piano study with Earl Ricker of Sterling, IL. Ricker was an innovative, dedicated piano educator who was one of the first to offer group piano instruction. Bill benefited greatly from taking lessons and playing with four other young piano students. After college, Bill decided that he wanted to continue playing the piano, and this decision led him to undertake a journey into playing jazz. Below you’ll see the stops on this journey:

• Studied jazz piano and improvisation with Alan Swain, from 1981-1982
• Attended Jamey Aebersold Jazz Combo Clinic in 1979 and 1982
• Led his own jazz combo/wedding band 1981 to 1996
• Provided solo jazz piano entertainment for hotels, private parties, and private homes 1980 to present
• Taught jazz piano at the College of Lake County 1988 to 1996
• Taught jazz piano and improvisation privately 1996 to present
• Directed and taught group (combo) jazz instruction since 2001 through the Grayslake Jazz Combo Workshop
• Studied with Jim Trompeter, 2011 to present
• Played in the College of Lake County Monday Night Jazz Band, 82-84, 95-96, and 2006 to the present. While there, he has played with a host of guest artists, including Bobby Shew, Rufus Reid, Ashley Alexander, and Rich Matteson.
• Directed Warren Twp High School pit bands–2012 & 2013–for Annie and Hairspray
• Director of Carmel Catholic High School Jazz Combo, 2016-2017 school year

 

 

Episode 049 Chicago Music Revealed with special guest Liz Mandeville

Liz Mandeville is an American vocalist, songwriter, and Chicago blues musician known for her versatile voice, high-voltage performances, insightful songs, and traditional blues guitar playing. She has written and produced hundreds of original songs, including the songs on her albums. She has received critical acclaim and has toured internationally. She owns the record label Blue Kitty Music.

Episode 047 Chicago Music Revealed with special guest Monica Staton

Monica Staton graduated from Columbia College Chicago; She chose news writing and reporting as her discipline because she is a naturally inquisitive and patient person, the profession requires both. She has consistently published long and short form articles since college on topics ranging from Chicago politics, student government, local physicians, music, centenarians…. Recently her focus has been jazz music and its creators.

Episode 046 Chicago Music Revealed Special Guest Jake Trussell

Jake Trussell is the founder and principal of Metabolize, a human-centered experience design and brand strategy consultancy.

 

He organizes diverse coalitions of government, civic, and private sector stakeholders around shared goals to make award-winning digital products and experiential marketing campaigns that create value and drive awareness.

 

As Creative Director at World Business Chicago — the City’s economic development organization chaired by the Mayor — Trussell managed the brand of Chicago as a global business destination (#1 for corporate investment for 6 years in a row).

He serves on the board of directors for the Arts and Business Council of Chicago, is a mentor at the 2112 creative industry business incubator, a member of the GreenHouse Innovation Braintrust, and a member of the Chicago Ideas Radical Creators.

 

He's also an award-winning web designer, DJ, recording artist, event producer, record label founder, and writer.

 

Trussell has a BFA in Interrelated Media from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, an innovation certificate from IDEO U, and a blockchain certificate from the Linux Foundation.

 

 

Episode 045 Chicago Music Revealed Special Guest John Bailey

Known as one of the most eclectic trumpet players in New York City, Bailey is an in-demand musician and teaching artist on call for everything from traditional jazz, to R&B and Pop, to classical. He became a member of The Buddy Rich Band while still in college, and his career has included long-running gigs with Ray Charles, master conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto, The Woody Herman Orchestra and Frank Sinatra, Jr. His work with Latin Jazz innovator Arturo O'Farrill won two Grammy awards for the albums The Offense of the Drum and Cuba - The Conversation Continues. He has played on more than 70 albums and, as a jazz educator, has taught at the University of Miami and Florida International University.

A trumpet prodigy, Bailey's spectacular gifts began to be noticed as a high school musician in 1984 when DownBeat Magazine cited him in its annual Student Music Awards for outstanding performances in both the classical and jazz trumpet categories, noting “Shades of Wynton!” The same year, he was a finalist in the National Foundation for Advancements in the Arts (NFAA) Arts Recognition and Talent Search, along with Donny McCaslin and Bill Charlap; and won the National Association of Jazz Educators’ Youth Talent Contest. Later, as a senior at the Eastman School of Music, he won DownBeat’s Best Instrumental Soloist award.

Looking back, he says, “It all started for me when I discovered Clifford Brown. Clifford was the centerpiece of the golden era of jazz trumpet, and a great place to begin my lifelong study of the instrument. He was influenced by everyone before him, and became an influence on everyone after.”