Media

Fooling Yourself with Tommy Shaw

Tommy Shaw. We have shared stages and music since 2006. His musician is natural and inspiring and the depth of his style is rich. His love of music is so infectious and rejuvenating that every time we collaborate I come away knowing more than I did, and loving what I do even more than I believed possible. At the start of the pandemic, I reached out to him to see if he was down to do a project with my students and without hesitation, we were in production. This was recorded in May, 2020 and mastermind Michael Bradford is the producer of this incredible sound.

Working with Graham Nash

This man is a tremendous human being.

It’s hard to overstate Graham Nash’s impact on the landscape of modern music. As a solo artist and as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, his words and songs have reverberated through decades, inspiring musicians of all kinds, from all walks of life. The music we selected of his was focused on social issues - all that were relevant when written from the beginning of his career and are still relevant today. It was touching history through music in a very authentic way. His impact is so strong that I have his script tattooed on my baton wrist in the word ‘TEACH’.

Like The Way I Do with Melissa Etheridge

In 2006, I said outloud what I had been thinking about for years - to produce a show with Melissa Etheridge and orchestra. In 2017, the show was on. Melissa is generous and music radiates from her being. The energy radiating from the stage with Melissa and the orchestra was palpable. We were in a zone of rhythm and bass lines and blues and rock and gutsy musicality. Every moment of our collaboration was filled creativity, and passion for the music. She sang full voice for each rehearsal and then brought her musician to a level that was jaw-dropping.

We left it all on the stage.