Music Life and Times

Charles Ives (1874 - 1954) was an American composer, actuary, and businessman, an insurance executive who came home every evening to write music. He is remembered today as one of the earliest American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. Largely ignored in his early years of composing, his music went unperformed for many years, until later in life when it received recognition through the efforts of contemporaries like Henry Cowell. He was known for his experimentation, which led to innovations that later were widely adopted, leaving him an enduring reputation as the leading American composer of art music of the 20th century.

Some of the best places in America and around the world to play music are provided by club owners who see their role not as businesses designed to create profits, but as a service, to musicians as well as their audiences. By providing work for musicians and a place for people to hear great music, they live at the heart of the music community and are key to the very existence of the profession.

On Saturday evenings at 7:00 on WABE 90.1 FM, the National Public Radio affiliate in Atlanta, jazz pianist Joe Alterman hosts a show titled “The Upside of Jazz.” The show is not so much about songs or albums but “it's more around how they find hope in the music, how they have found their sound, or if they work in a variety of projects, how they stay themselves in totally different things,” Joe says. Beyond the musicians, Joe talks with people whose lives have been significantly impacted by jazz, like Oscar Peterson's wife and comedian Robert Klein. In this episode we talk with Joe about, among other jazz related issues, the show and some of the iconic figures who have appeared with him.

Rich Matteson was a jazz euphoniumist, rare enough in itself, but also a legendary teacher who started the jazz studies program at the University of North Florida. He recruited Kevin to the University and had a major influence on Kevin's career as a jazz pianist. One of Matteson's favorite lessons to his students was based on an experience recording with Louis Armstrong. Matteson recounts the tale here, and the fundamental lesson he took from it, Armstrong's advice to always “play for someone you love.”

Inspired by Kevin's story in Episode 83 about how several people went out of their way to help him, against all odds, to get to an international performance, Mike talks about a few of the people he met early in his music career who gave him the support and confidence he needed to pursue his dream of playing and performing.

As one of the most in-demand products in the world, music offers lots of career opportunities. With the right amount of work and dedication, musicians can make a very good living playing and performing as well as in many other music-related jobs. Sometimes, though, life as a musician can be a little erratic, unpredictable. Playing so many different venues, sometimes in locations around the world, can lead to challenging situations. Still, those experiences can result in some of the most memorable and gratifying times of your life.

One of the life lessons you learn, learning to play music is how to be authentic. In music it means developing your own style and individual expression. Of course, you are inspired by others and you have to learn the craft, but as you mature you develop your own sound, your own “voice.” Being authentic takes courage, especially when you are performing, but the courage you amass will carry over to being authentic in whatever your do and with the people you encounter along your way. This episode borrows from and builds on themes from Music Life and Times Episode 63 from July 2025.

Like many accomplished jazz musicians, renowned trumpeter, vocalist and big band leader Joe Gransden is mindful of the need to play a role in ensuring the survival of that American art form. For Joe, that has led to the establishment of the Future of Jazz, a program he has developed in cooperation with the 100-plus-year-old Atlanta Music Club to cultivate the next generation of jazz musicians by connecting them directly with seasoned professionals through mentorship and real-world performance opportunities. The purpose, as Joe describes it, “is to nurture the future world of jazz by ensuring it is lived, felt, and passed on through authentic experiences.” In this episode we talk with Joe about jazz, his career as a jazz musician, and the Future of Jazz.

Jamie Hood is the owner-operator of the digital marketing agency, Jamie Hood Creative/Marketing, but also a lifelong musician. That experience and his passion to “give back” come together in a charitable initiative he calls the Fare Thee Well Foundation. For more than 20 years, Jamie and the Foundation have been staging music-oriented events, the entire proceeds from which go to provide music camp scholarships to kids who otherwise might not be able to afford to attend. In this episode, Jamie talks about how music has impacted not only his life, but the lives of those kids as they experience the joy of playing music.

Sonny Rollins passed away on May 25 at the of 95. The legendary saxophonist of the bebop era and beyond was famously unhappy with his performances. But the occasional bad night was worth the trade-off to Rollins. His refusal to play the same passages the same way from night to night, those risks he took regularly might go badly at times, but they were also responsible for his greatest moments. The example he set applies well beyond his playing, well beyond music in fact, to most of life. Staying safe, on the beaten path, is easier; but great achievements, life's most gratifying moments, only come to those willing to risk departure from safe, to take the road less traveled.

Will Scruggs is a noted jazz saxophonist with a head for business and a major commitment to the sustainability of jazz in the city of Atlanta. That has led Will on a three-year journey to establish a new home for jazz in Atlanta. Named after Sam Yi's historic Churchill Grounds and historic jazz figure Mary Lou Williams, Churchill Grounds at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Center will include a club with a stage large enough to accommodate a big band, a restaurant, a first floor retail and education center, and a top floor recording studio. We talk with Will about the project as construction is being completed for a planned Fall 2026 opening.

2026 Super Bowl winning quarterback Sam Darnold was once considered a “draft bust.” Interviewed after his Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots, Darnold told reporters, “As long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible.” Music is analogous to sports in many ways: performers can't hide; it's live; it takes years of hard work to become accomplished and failure along the way is inevitable; confidence is essential. Confidence but not arrogance. When players, musicians as well as athletes, are arrogant, all about themselves as opposed to working with and respecting their other band or team members, they misfire. When musicians fail to understand their calling, to work with each other for the pleasure of their audience, the night is a bust, the game is lost.

Guitarist Buddy Red describes his music as “psychedelic.” The son of Atlanta rapper T.I., a pioneer of trap music, the 26-year-old Red has adopted a style more closely associated with rock 'n roll and the blues. A regular at Northside Tavern in Atlanta, Buddy was chosen the opening act of the 2026 Atlanta Jazz Festival.

It's not an uncommon story: Musicians take another course in life to ensure a steady enough career to support themselves and their families. But sometimes, they have the courage and a passion for playing music to eventually leave corporate life and return to music as their full-time pursuit. The bottom-line reason: Nothing compares to the feeling of playing music well and seeing the enjoyment in the faces of your audience. That's the story of JPaul Whitehead as he tells it in this episode of Music Life and Times.

Steve Williams is a multifaceted musician: composer, arranger, saxophonist. His depth of expertise and versatility has led him over his more than 50 years of playing and performing into a wide range of musical arenas, from the famed One O'Clock Band of his North Texas University days, to the U.S. Navy Commodores, where he played lead alto, was musical director, and contributed some 70 compositions and arrangements, to his current role as lead alto with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. A devotee of big band jazz, his recordings include the Latin Grammy winning album, Caribbean Jazz Project's Afro Bop Alliance and his own album, Steve Williams and Jazz Nation.

In 2005, Mica Bethea, a 21-year-old jazz student at the University of North Florida, was driving back to campus when he was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer in stand-still traffic. The accident left him quadriplegic, with close to 90 percent of his body paralyzed. Doctors told him he would never again play his instruments, saxophone and piano. But he refused to let the accident keep him from music. After three years of rehabilitation, he returned to school to finish his degree, this time as a composer, and has since become a prominent figure in the North Florida jazz scene and a respected new voice in big band jazz writing. He has also built and operates NSF Ranch, a recording studio in Jacksonville, described as blending “iconic analog gear with cutting-edge digital technology to deliver uncompromising sound, comfort, and creative freedom. This is not a typical hourly studio — it’s a destination where artists come to focus, create, and bring meaningful projects to life.”

An entrepreneur is defined as someone who starts or owns a business and is willing to take on the related risks. As a musician, your business is your career, and while you might not have employees or an office to keep afloat, you are a service provider running your own business. In a Harvard Business School Online article, “10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs,” (https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/characteristics-of-successful-entrepreneurs) Kelsey Miller (https://www.kelseymiller.com/) delivers a list of attributes that, if coincidentally, unquestionably apply to playing music as a profession. In this episode of Music Life and Times, we take on the list and discuss how each characteristic applies to making a living as a musical entrepreneur.

Howard Paul is well known and respected as a highly accomplished jazz guitarist. But he is also a pillar of the Savannah, Georgia music community. He has served as Savannah Jazz Festival chair and president of the board of directors of the Savannah Jazz/Coastal Jazz Association for a combined twelve years. He was inducted into the Savannah Coastal Jazz Hall of Fame in 2011. Howard continues as a member of the Association board, which oversees and manages Association activities, including the annual Savannah Jazz Festival, educational programs, and the Savannah History Museum's Savannah Jazz History & Hall of Fame Exhibit. In this episode of Music Life & Times, Howard recounts some of the history of jazz in Savannah, which, he explains, is similarly rich and deep as that of New Orleans, and how the city, including through the annual Festival and an extensive and impressive calendar of performances throughout the year, continues to provide jazz fans access to some of the today's most outstanding jazz musicians and music.

Reverend Timothy J. Mercaldo is a professional musician and, for more than 35 years, an evangelical minister who uses music as his primary way to connect with people. With music and worship as centerpieces of his life, Tim founded WorshipPlus to equip local churches and Christian organizations to think creatively, that is, to use the creative arts to enhance their worship experiences and outreach events. In this episode, Tim talks with Mike and Kevin about how playing music, in particular the piano, has impacted his life as well as the people he encounters wherever he plays or prays.

Howard R. Paul is one of those rare individuals with the talent and energy to successfully navigate a dual career as business person and jazz musician. Paul has established himself as both as an internationally acclaimed guitarist, whose CDs include “Tony Monaco/Howard Paul: New Adventures,” “Bob James & Howard Paul: Just Friends: The Hamilton Hall Session,” and “Ali Ryerson: Jammin’ At The Jazz Corner,” and a respected manufacturing executive as president of archtop jazz guitar maker Benedetto Guitars. Paul is a pillar of the Savannah, Georgia music community, having served as Savannah Jazz Festival chair and president of the board of directors of the Savannah Jazz/Coastal Jazz Association for a combined twelve years. In this episode of Music Life & Times he talks about the evolution and challenges of sharing life between music and business.