Speaking of the Arts

Welcome to another episode of Speaking of the Arts. We have a great episode for you today. Today, we are featuring Lydia Liebman of Lydia Liebman Promotions. Lydia is a publicist specializing in the jazz genre and works with a large roster of amazing artists. If you go to www.lydialiebman.com you can see who she's working with and some of the amazing success stories she's had for her clients. In this episode, Lydia and I talk all about the world of PR. Why should an artist hire a publicist? What does the publicist do? How has the role of the publicist changed since Lydia has been doing this for over a decade now? All these questions and more are answered. I am grateful to Lydia for her time and really enjoyed speaking with her. I think you're going to learn a lot. Without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Lydia Liebman.

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of speaking of the arts. I’m your host Mike Epstein and I’m excited to tell you about today’s episode. We’re featuring Joel Pierson. Joel is the founder, bandleader, and arranger for The Queen's Cartoonists, an ensemble that performs music from cartoons. Joel had this great idea to combine his passion for animated film, and live music to create a really unique experience for audiences, so he’s cultivated over 100 years worth of animation from all around the world and has largely by himself, transcribed the scores to these films and then put together a great ensemble to perform them. There are a few different versions of the show that we talk about. One is Simply called "Ages 2 to 102" which is a program that's really for all ages and it’s a lot of fun. Another version of the show is a holiday program which has a singer and animation with live music, but obviously focusing on holiday content. There is also a version of the show where they feature international cartoons and one more version of the show that features the ensemble with cartoons and with symphony. It was really fun to talk to Joel about how he came up with the idea for the ensemble and some of the things that audiences can expect during a performance. Please enjoy my conversation with Joel Pierson of The Queen’s Cartoonists.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am Mike Epstein and today's episode features Sebastian Rios of New Jazz Underground. New Jazz Underground is an American trio featuring Abdias Armenteros (Saxophonist/Composer), Sebastian Rios (Bassist/Composer), and TJ Reddick (Drummer). They have been described as “an innovative and ultra creative collective striving to establish themselves as a defining voice for the genre of Jazz and beyond”. Their music signals a merging of traditional sensibilities in Jazz with the modern influence of swing, hip-hop, house/afro-beat, and afro-cuban music. Millions have viewed their viral videos such as: “they can hate but we still swingin’”, “f**k/s**t/c**t/jazz”, “sad boy jazz”, as well as many others featuring the band's exuberant chemistry, effortless musicality, and raw ambition in sound. In this interview, I talk to Sebastian about the formation of the trio and their upcoming, debut album titled Hoodies. I encourage everyone to check this group out and catch them on the summer festival circuit where they will give debut performances at the Newport, Montreal, and Monterey Jazz Festivals among others.

Episode 82: Stella Cole by Mike Epstein

Welcome back to Speaking of the Arts! Today's guest is Chris Mees, founder and director of the B Natural booking agency. I've known Chris for several years now and was really looking forward to our chat. Chris is a driven, smart, successful entrepreneur who has built a respectable agency from the ground up. We were able to cover a wide range of topics in our conversation including the importance of mentors, taking risks, the challenges and opportunities associated with being an entrepreneur, and specific topics related to the agency-artist-management relationship. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Thanks for listening.

Episode 80: Cyrille Aimee by Mike Epstein

Hello Everyone! And thank you for tuning in on this new episode of Speaking of the Arts. My name is Mackenzie and I am the Operations Manager at Epstein Fox Performances and I will be your host for today’s podcast. I am so excited to bring you guys a really special guest, critically acclaimed composer, bandleader, and most importantly Tenor Saxophonist, James Brandon Lewis. We are going to invite him into the conversation on everything music. Today’s episode we are touching on topics regarding his musical history, inspirations, Molecular Systematic Music, and of course his lovely new album, For Mahalia, With Love.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts! My name is Marie Le Claire. I’m the east coast agent at Epstein Fox Performances and your host for today! Today, I’m excited to bring you a conversation with famed singer and one of the newest artists on the EFP roster, Magos Herrera! We discuss Magos joining the roster, her journey as a Mexican artist starting over in the US, some of her various projects and of course, her beautiful new album. You will also hear clips of the songs, "Gracias A La Vida" and “Aire" from her new album also called Aire. I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation!

Hello and welcome to Speaking of the Arts https://www.speakingofthearts.com/ . Today we feature Epstein Fox Performances https://www.efperformances.com/ , the new booking agency I have co-founded with my partner, Michael Fox. (For more information on Michael, you can listen to Speaking of the Arts Episode 68 https://www.speakingofthearts.com/episodes/68 where I featured Michael and what was then his new agency, Fox Performances). There’s a great saying in the world of entrepreneurship: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” From July 2013 to August 2022, I was in the fast but alone category, running my previous agency. (OK, I wasn’t entirely alone and I need to give a shout out to Marie Le Claire who helped keep things running smoothly from the moment she signed on and whom I’ve had the pleasure of seeing evolve into one of the best agents I know). Along the way, one of my primary goals was always to build a bigger team. When I first met Michael Fox several years ago, I was impressed with both his knowledge of the industry and his passion and drive for helping artists succeed. To my credit, I actually tried to hire him a few times over the years. To his credit, he kindly passed each time! When I found out Michael started his own agency in 2020 my first thought was “Yes! This just might lead to a bigger opportunity for us to finally work together.” Fast forward to June of this past year when I called Michael and asked if he would consider becoming a partner with me so we could build a brand new agency and company together. Spoiler alert, he said yes and here we are. This episode features our new team and you will hear from Michael, myself, Marie Le Claire and Mackenzie Whitman. We talk about the mission of Epstein Fox Performances, some of the new artist projects we are excited about, how we try to offer a unique experience to the artists we work with, general advice for new and established artists, and much more. I truly believe that my career in the music industry, which celebrates 15 years this October, has been leading to this moment. Everything I’ve tried to do before now has all been R&D and I am really proud of our team and what we are building here. You can check out all of the great artists we are working with at https://www.efperformances.com. I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. Our guest today is Katherine McVicker. In 2014, Katherine founded the boutique agency, Music Works International https://www.musicworksinternational.com/ , after three decades as an agent developing the touring careers of dozens of artists such as Brad Mehldau, Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and many others. In 2000, she launched the European touring career of Norah Jones and spent seven years developing Jones’ profile internationally. Most recently, Katherine published the online course “Anyone can book a gig,”https://musicworksintl.thinkific.com/courses/anyone-can-book-a-gig which breaks down the core components of what goes into booking shows for independent artists. I recently spoke to Katherine about the course and wanted to share our conversation with everyone so they can learn more about this and where to find it. Independent musicians will find this episode particularly useful.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Speaking of the Arts. Today we are speaking with members of the vocal group Kings Return https://www.kingsreturnmusic.com/ . We just signed these guys to our booking agency https://www.epsteinco.com and I am so excited for everyone to check them out. Recently, Kings Return posted a video on YouTube of their version of Ave Maria https://youtu.be/dRzI8y-EJJ0 , sung in an acoustically gorgeous sounding stairwell, and it has gone viral with almost one million views. Watch that video and you’ll see why. The band consists of Vaugn Faison, Gabe Kunda, JE Mckissic, and Jamall Williams. In December, they released a new holiday album https://open.spotify.com/album/3koALGOJF8Cz4jCUKUeirm?si=D7r2fqg2ScGdcA1W7fk53Q and the band is currently hard at work on their next major recording. You can check out their new single Beauty https://open.spotify.com/track/09weoaL9omm3CsgY472tjx?si=fde2caafb71e40bb which will also be on the album and you will hear it on this episode as well. This band is doing something special and I am grateful for the opportunity to be working with them. Please enjoy my conversation with Kings Return.

Hi! I’m your host this week, Marie Le Claire. I’m so excited about our guest this week, Nate Query, long time bass player for the Grammy nominated, Portland, OR based rock band, The Decemberists http://www.decemberists.com The Decemberists have toured all over the world, performing for an extremely dedicated fanbase for over 20 years and have an impressive body of work that continues to evolve with each project. In our conversation, we talked about how the Decemberists got together and what it’s like to keep a band together for such a long time and celebrating the band’s 20th anniversary during the pandemic. We also talked about Nate’s volunteer work with the organization, Open Hearts Open Minds https://www.ohomoregon.org OHOM is an Oregon-based non-profit organization that supports individuals serving prison sentences through arts and dialogue—facilitating personal and institutional transformation and growth. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Nate Query! Please check out these these helpful, informative and entertaining links from Nate. Nate's link tree https://linktr.ee/N8Q 9 solidarity commitments suggestions from Mariame Kaba https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ByMHRNbsntdyziubfPJq7vDzxiBFEqroxzCUgKsxp9E/edit?usp=sharing Black prairie on the streets of New York, 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STxtk09-2kw

Hello and everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts! We are changing up our content today to deliver what I hope will be a very informative and practical episode: Financial advice for artists. My guest today is Charlie Epstein. Charlie has always been a part of two different worlds - financial advising and the theatre. As a professional actor, Charlie has performed in roles from Shakespeare to Neil Simon, as well as stand-up comedy in NYC and improv with Chicago City Limits. Charlie’s financial advising experience is nationally recognized, as you will soon hear in his bio, so I figured, who better to have on this podcast to advise artists on their finances during a global pandemic, than someone who truly understands what it takes to be a performer? Charlie has over 40 years of professional experience in the financial services industry where he has worked with individual clients and companies of all sizes. His companies currently oversee more than 1B in assets under advisement. Charlie is known nationally as the 401kCoach (although he points out at the beginning of our conversation he is no longer going by this title..more on that later) Charlie has trained more than 10,000 financial professionals how to best serve the needs of their clients. He is the bestselling author of Paychecks for Life: How to Turn Your 401k Into a Paycheck Manufacturing Company https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/free-book-offer.html and Save America, Save! The Secrets of A Successful Retirement Plan. https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/free-book-offer.html Most recently, Charlie has combined his acting and financial talents in the creation of a new one man show called Yield of Dreams-Paychecks for Life. https://yieldofdreams.live/ Working with a team of professional comedians, Charlie has created a “Financial Theatre” experience designed to “make money funny” while illuminating the 15 Myths of Money that inhibit people’s ability to achieve financial independence and live the life they’ve always dreamed of. You will hear us refer to his show Yield of Dreams, throughout our conversation and I had the pleasure of seeing it premier this past August. I am confident our listeners will get a lot out of this episode. Charlie offers sound advice for musicians, presenters, agents, etc. or anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of how to save and invest. We talk about his 10-1-NOW Formula, the Desirement Calculator https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/desirement-mortgage-calculator.html he created to help people determine what their number is to be able to fund all of the things they desire in life, and his Myths of Money https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/myths-of-money-workbook.html deck of cards. If you would like to set up a free consultation with Charlie and his company feel free to call his office at 413-224-3606 or click this link here to submit an email https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/contact.html

Speaking of the Arts is pleased to feature Gordon Hanks and JazzSLC. Gordon co-founded the concert series in Salt Lake City over 27 years ago and I wanted to have him on the show to talk about his own unique background and what he has learned from producing the series for so long. Gordon is extremely passionate about the music and that clearly comes through in our interview. A little more on his operation: "JazzSLC is a non-profit, concert series funded and produced by the GAM Foundation. What began as a “let’s try producing one concert and see what happens,” has developed into a unique, nationally recognized not-for-profit jazz concert series. In the 27 years since the series’ inception, JazzSLC has featured world-class jazz musicians and proven the popularity of jazz in Salt Lake City." I loved speaking with Gordon and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Welcome to Speaking of the Arts! Today’s episode features an innovative company in the music industry called Open Studio. Open Studio was founded by the great pianist Peter Martin. The company has created a unique way of teaching music lessons online. They feature some of the industry's greatest performers by creating an immersive learning experience using innovative software called Living Notation. I took a few lessons prior to interviewing Peter so I could better understand the experience and I was very impressed by the variety of lessons offered as well as the incredible high quality of video and audio. We talk more about what Living Notation is during our interview but that feature alone makes the lessons worthwhile. A little bit more on Peter Martin...Peter is an acclaimed jazz pianist and entrepreneur. Over the past 25 years he has performed at most of the major venues and jazz festivals on six continents, including twice at the White House for President Obama. Peter was recently featured in the New York Times for his ground breaking work. Open Studio is offering our listeners $10 off any course of their choosing. Simply enter the coupon code WELCOME10 and head to https://www.openstudiojazz.com and sign up!

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. Today's episode is part 2 of my conversation with Ulysses Owens Jr. If you did not listen to part 1, I would suggest you start there before listening to part 2. In today's episode we cover what I would consider essential information for both artists and presenters including: How Ulysses avoids burnout How to break out of the artist sidemen mentality When you should start saying No Ulysses's new touring projects Diversity inclusion in the arts and why a comprehensive educational outreach program is essential for every arts organization What Ulysses is currently reading Thanks again to Ulysses for his time and wisdom. I learned so much from speaking to him and I hope you will too. Please enjoy part 2 of my conversation with Ulysses Owens Jr.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am Mike Epstein, your host. Today’s episode is a real treat. We are featuring the drummer, educator, entrepreneur, author, non-profit organizer, band leader, producer, etc. etc., the list really goes on and on, Ulysses Owen’s Jr. I’ve always been a fan of Ulysses’s drumming but until I did my research for this interview I had no idea how multifaceted he is. In fact, it was a challenge just to summarize his extensive biography for this introduction. A few quick highlights - Ulysses has been named a Rising Star by DownBeat’s Critics Poll for five years straight. He is a recipient of the 2013 ASCAP Plus Award, a Gold Medal winner of the 2014 Global Music Awards, a 2015 Jazz at Lincoln Center Swing! Awards Honoree, and 2019 “3rd Runner-Up,” in Classic Jazz Category in the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers Poll. Among many of Owens’s accomplishments are his performances on the 2010 GRAMMY award-winning Kurt Elling live album, Dedicated to You, and the 2012 GRAMMY award-winning Christian McBride Big Band album, The Good Feeling. His work with Joey Alexander, the Christian McBride Trio, and Gregory Porter have also received recognition by the Recording Academy, garnering GRAMMY nominations for the albums; My Favorite Things, Countdown, Out Here , Live at the Village Vanguard, Nat King Cole and Me. This is really just the tip of the iceberg with Ulysses and our conversation turned out to be part 1 of 2 because there was so much to cover. In today’s episode, we talk about his approach to jazz education, his new podcast series From the Drummers Perspective, his thoughts on entrepreneurship, and his new book The Musicians Career Guide. Ulysses is the real deal folks and be sure to tune in again soon as we will be posting pt 2 of our conversation in the next week or so. Thanks for listening and now please enjoy my conversation with Ulysses Owens Jr.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. My guest today is Michael Fox. Michael and I go way back and I’ve wanted to have him on the show for a long time. Fox is the Founder and Owner of the booking agency Fox Performances, LLC. Fox previously worked as the Midwest Agent at International Music Network. (Side note, you can check out Episode 12 of Speaking of the Arts in which we featured the founder of International Music Network, Scott Southerd). In his tenure there, Fox booked National tours for Buena Vista Social Club, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Dianne Reeves, among many, many others. In addition to booking artist tours, Fox also works as a consultant for San Antonio Parks Foundation to help curate Jazz S’Alive, an annual two-day jazz event in Travis Park. Fox has also served on panels at the Arts Midwest and APAP conferences as well as a handful of colleges, speaking about the cultivation of Global Music audiences, activism in art and artist representation. Fox holds a Master’s degree & Artist Diploma in Double Bass from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Our conversation covers a variety of topics including Michael’s own unique approach toward running his booking agency and what he is looking for in terms of prospective clients. Thanks for listening everyone and I hope you enjoy our conversation!

My live experience includes performing at Woodstock ‘94, supporting The Rolling Stones, REM, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Oasis and Bryan Adams at Wembley with my first band Del Amitri throughout 1994-97, followed by touring and playing with Marianne Faithfull, Sinead O’Connor, Sheryl Crow, Robbie Williams, James Morrison, Will Young, Squeeze, Lewis Taylor, Hamish Stuart, The Waterboys, Jeff Lorber, Trevor Horn and Seal, Rumer, Terry Reid, Ronnie Wood, Dionne Warwick and many more. View my Live credits. Other experiences I’ve had include playing the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony with Mike Oldfield, being the house drummer on the BBC/ITV TV show The Voice for 7 years and playing on the Terminator Genisys and Mission Impossible Fall Out (Bongos) soundtracks for composer Lorne Balfe also Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Lion King 2019 for Hans Zimmer. The main part of my career has been within the recording industry, and over the past 20 years or so I have recorded 58 Top 10 albums for artists including Cher, Seal, Robbie Williams, Billy Idol, Adele, Enrique Iglesias, Dionne Warwick and Rumer, James Morrison, Cee Lo, Celine Dion and Ronan Keating. My discography also includes 18 Top 10 singles and to date, I’ve recorded 29 No. 1 albums and 10 No. 1 singles which have featured on various pop and rock charts around the world. View my full Discography. Spoiler alert! This is not the bio for myself, Mike Epstein which I’m sure you’ve realized by now. I’ve just read the bio of Ash Soan, one of the top session drummers in the world. Over the course of almost 70 episodes for SpeakingoftheArts, I can honestly say I was both more nervous and excited in preparing for this one than probably any other. Sometimes we are lucky enough to meet our own personal heroes and people who have a strong influence on us and how cool is it that when you finally meet them, they turn out to be even more generous and kind than you’d hoped for. That was exactly my experience in speaking with Ash for this episode. We talk about his trajectory as a musician, how technology has changed both the way Ash records music and listens to it, how he prepares for sessions with major pop stars, what his process is for saying No and Yes to projects, and much more.

Alison Stolpa is the Content Manager for https://www.CareersInMusic.com and its sister site https://www.CareersInFilm.com. Founded back in 2010, CareersinMusic.com set off on a mission to curate and deliver truly valuable music career information, sourced by trusted experts. Their aim is to provide deeper insights, reveal more piercing data, and genuinely help users gain an edge on the competition through many Industry Insights articles, Gear & Software reviews, and over 100+ music career profiles. Alison's day-to-day duties include managing a staff of writers, publishing content, and interviewing industry experts. She is a graduate of the University of Westminster, London's Music Business Masters program and has worked in music retail, college radio, and entertainment PR. A Minneapolis native, she now lives in Los Angeles with her two work-from-home assistants/cats. Alison reached out to me to see if I'd be interested in talking about what booking agents do. I told her I'd be happy to and that I also wanted to use it as an opportunity for our listeners to learn more about CareersinMusic.com. We cover booking agent basics in our conversation as well as some of the many topics that CareersinMusic.com offers. Thanks for listening everyone and I hope you enjoy our conversation!