Finding Peak w/ Ryan Hanley - Lessons in Leadership and Jazz | Jesse "JTJazz" Thompson

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

Spartan philosophy, built in the black-ops lab of business: https://www.findingpeak.comFinding Peak podcast: https://linktr.ee/ryan_hanleyJazz and leadership harmonize in this episode featuring the exceptional Jesse "JTJazz" Thompson, a composer and musician whose upbringing in a musical household shaped his passion for jazz.Dive deeper down the rabbit hole: https://linktr.ee/ryan_hanleyConnect with Jesse ThompsonWebsite: https://jtjazz.com/Jesse reveals the dynamic parallels between leading a jazz band and managing a team, emphasizing real-time integration of diverse ideas. Discover how solo artistry skills can elevate teamwork and transform both business and personal life, drawing on Jesse's rich experiences in both solo and collaborative settings.Amidst the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jesse's journey from band musician to solo artist saw an explosion of creativity and boldness. Virtual collaborations became a game-changer, fostering new relationships and highlighting the importance of networking and availability. With adaptability as the key lesson from isolation, Jesse's story underscores the enduring power of remote artistic connections, exemplified by iconic collaborations like the sax solo in Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."We also navigate the indie music scene, reflecting on the unique challenges and joys of collaboration, the significance of community support, and the nostalgic charm of mixtapes and vinyl records. Jesse shares his experiences overcoming technological and financial hurdles, and the conversation underscores the importance of mentorship in nurturing young talent, particularly within church environments. Join us for a heartfelt discussion that blends music, leadership, and the timeless authenticity of vinyl.--Recommended Tools for GrowthOpusClip: #1 AI video clipping and editing tool: https://link.ryanhanley.com/opusRiverside: HD Podcast & Video Software | Free Recording & Editing: https://link.ryanhanley.com/riversideWhisperFlow: Never waste time typing on your keyboard again: https://link.ryanhanley.com/whisperflowCaptionsApp: One app for all your social media video creation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/captionsappGoHighLevel: It's time to take your business workflow to the Next Level: https://link.ryanhanley.com/gohighlevelPerspective.co: The #1 funnel builder for lead generation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/perspective--Episodes You Might Enjoy:From $2 Million Loss to World-Class Entrepreneur: https://lnk.to/delkFrom One Man Shop to $200M in Revenue: https://lnk.to/tommymelloIs Psilocybin the Gateway to Self-Mastery? https://lnk.to/80upZ9This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators. 👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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It really helps the show grow. From all of us at Believe, have a Merry Christmas, everyone, and a happy holiday. It's one thing that grabbed me about jazz, freedom, liberty, and how I was raised and taught is that one band, one sound, to know your place not to outshine or try to outdo one another. Let's go. Yeah. Make it look, make it look, make it look. The Ryan Hanley Show shares the original ideas, habits, and mindsets of world-class original thinkers you can use to produce extraordinary results in your life and business.

This is the way. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the show. We have a tremendous conversation for you today with Jesse J.T. Jazz Thompson, a multi-discipline composer, pianist, keyboardist. In this episode, we relate working in a jazz band to how we operate as leaders inside of a team, how we manage the flow, and how we integrate different ideas in a kind of real-time nature. I talk about the business of music, and we dissect the differences between Jesse's solo career to being part of a band, what that looks like.

and how you take both the kind of self-oriented nature of being a solo artist and integrate that into and how you can use those skills to be a better member, a more productive member, a more integrated member of a band. All of this relates back to how we operate our businesses, how we operate our life. And it is so much fun for me when we're able to bring in individuals who come from disciplines, such as the music industry and take their stories, their ideas, their insights, and apply them back to how we improve our business and our life. Jesse is an exceptional guy. I really enjoyed this conversation, and I know you will too. If this is your first time here, make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you're listening or if you're watching on YouTube. If you have thoughts,

comments, if you want to just give Jesse a shout out, leave that in the reviews or in the comments if you're on YouTube. Appreciate the hell out of you for listening to this show. I love you for listening to this show. Let's get on to Jesse Thompson. Jesse, phenomenal to have you on the show, man. Excited for our conversation. What's going on?

Thank you, man. I'm blessed to be here. Thanks for having me. It's an honor. Yeah. So we, you know, I mentioned my good buddy. You know, we're friendly competitors. Mick Hunt, you were on his show, Mick Unplugged.

So, you know, we got to find some space in here where we can, We can one up, one up your conversation with him. And for all the listeners at home, you guys know that Mick's a buddy of mine. And I highly encourage everyone to listen to Mick Unplugged show too, which Jesse was on. And my first question for you is why jazz? Like what was it about that particular genre of music that just grabbed you and said, you know, this, this inspires me. This is a place that I want to put some time in. Well, you know, first of all, it started, believe it or not, it started with the gospel church because my mom was a church wardenist pianist and then my dad by him being a retired professional jazz drummer, he was deeply into the church as well. So I did a lot in the gospel area there with church. But my dad by him being a professor jazz drummer that kind of like leaked me into that field, right? Yeah.

playing field. And so we would always listen to, you know, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Richard Groove Holmes, Jimmy Smith, Charles, Erland, all these different type of LPs back then and eight tracks, believe it or not. Yeah. So as a kid, we're sitting on and listening to stuff and he's having me study stuff and I just enjoyed it as well as we had other genres in the house playing. But it was something about jazz. One thing that grabbed me about jazz, one word I can say is freedom. Liberty. with jazz, you're able to go different places without maybe, for me anyway, without feeling constrained or without feeling like, oh, I got to keep it right here. It allows me to express

myself a little bit more. So that was one thing that really grabbed me. Then I also found out that it also involved a lot of different other types of genres, kind of like a melting pot full of ingredients. Yeah. You can, you can trickle into jazz, whether it be some gospel, classical, you know, and then, you know, different forms, maybe some rock, little R&B, whatever. So I really, I really like jazz and I like the way that it allows me to express myself. So it really grabbed me. Well, it's the original American art form. I mean, we invented the genre.

I mean, that's one of the things that I love about it. And I love, you know, the other thing I love about jazz. And so you know, I am, I have this enormous and wide-ranging appreciation for music, yet I am one of the least musically inclined humans. Oh, I, you don't sing or nothing, don't play anything?

I mean, I sing, but not well. I have a guitar that I have tried to learn how to play many times and just never seem

to make it make the sounds, but I have this appreciation for it. And one of the things that has always, and I enjoy jazz, I won't say that I have as deep a knowledge as I wish I did, but I've always been enamored by

the blues, and particularly the deep south blues, I love it. And I, I fell in love with, like, Taj Mahal and, and, and, and, and, and all of them come back to being inspired by and spent, spending time in jazz in some way, shape, or form. And, you know, I guess my, I'm going to ask you a bunch of esoteric questions. I'm just so interested in this, in your creativity. Like, you know, how, when you, when you're, when you're, when you're, when you're, when you're taking in, say, another genre, like maybe, maybe you hear a blues riff that that someone plays, you know, it feels to me like the beauty of jazz is that it allows you to have this form and then pull in these other forms as they fit and as, and as you're inspired to do so.

And that's a very unique quality. Is that, am I describing that properly? Yeah, no, yeah, you're right on it. you know, with jazz, like you said, you can pull different pieces, right, from different other elements, if you will, music elements, and you can really make it work. So, for example, like the different types of instruments are off there, you know, I mean, of course, we have the piano, but then we have different type of woodwind instruments that we can incorporate in there. And it's almost, it's really like orchestration, right? We can orchestrate different things to make it work, to make it work, to make it. have our freedom of expression musically. And, you know, plus we can add in the different syncopated rhythms,

which is a lot of fun, mixed meters. Then stuff is like, wow, that, it doesn't make sense, but it does. You know, and so it's just, yeah, you're right. It allows you to pull in different things and just do things created to, you know, very in a creative form and have fun with it too. Yeah. I was in New Orleans a few years ago and, you know, one of my favorite things to do, after probably having a few too many cocktails is finding like the most like backroom jazz,

you know, live jazz that I can find. And I try to stay off, I mean, there's great stuff on Bourbon Street. But man, you get some really cool stuff. If you ask the right person, you know, that looks like they've been there for a while, they can usually point you in a good direction. So my, I did that and went with a couple friends and we sat down and were listening. and what someone like me, who is not musically inclined, appreciates but struggles to understand, is how a group of musicians in a jazz band can play off each other.

Like, as much as you can, I would love for you just to explain how you guys work off of each other because you'll hear, say the pianist, well, bam, it goes off and he's doing his thing, and you can tell he's got the lead and everyone's just kind of following him. And then at some moment that I can't understand, but obviously the band can, the trumpeteer will take over or then the saxophonist. And then now the guitar will take over. And then the pattern, it's not like a pattern. Then maybe it'll bounce back over to the trumpet. And you're like, it's brilliant.

I mean, you appreciate it so much, but I have no understanding of how you're able to do that. Yeah. So, you know, you say the key word, band. And how I was raised and taught is that one band, one sound, meaning to know your place not to outshine or try to outdo one another. There's a time to step out, and there's a time to step back. And one way of making sure that that's done creatively is where, you know, like you were saying, we're bouncing off another.

It's a form of communication. And one word I love to use is. called connection, right? So we're connected. So musically, we can feed off from one another. We communicate. And it's just sometimes it's indescribable because it's such a vibe that, you know. Are you tired of endless follow-ups and missed opportunities in your sales process? Chasing leads is a losing game. That's why I created the one call closed system, a battle-tested sales system that uses behavioral psychology to close deals in just one call. No more.

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Ready to stop chasing. leads and start closing, visit master of theclose.com today. Close twice as many deals this time next week. Visit master of theclose.com to learn how. If it's a tune, let's say it's a tune I'm leading off playing piano and got bass, guitar, you know, and drums and sax, something like that. And so I may be leading it off. And then it's like everyone knows their place. So maybe the saxophone is a come up and do a little solo riff off or whatever, and then it goes off, pan off to whoever else. And then it may be like a free pool, as I call it. And that's when you really get the vibe going off of each other.

It's just amazing. It's really just another form of communication. And being able to bounce off on one another is so key and listening. You know, part of really listening is key too. So, I mean, it's a lot of fun. And it allows you to know one another even more. And you know, the funny thing about what music is, it's, it's like I tell people, it's a universal language. It's a way of bringing people together.

So I may not know you from Adam or from whenever, but if we sit down and we're playing something together and this has happened quite a bit, automatically we connect. It's like music is that nucleus. It just attracts and it just make things cohesive and it makes it work. And it's amazing. It's amazing to me. Yeah, I joke all the time. That's the question. No, no, you definitely did.

So I live where I live the greatest horse racing track in the entire world, Saratoga is, and, you know, for anyone who lives in Kentucky, Churchill Downs is a dog track compared to Saratoga. No, I just joke. But I make this joke all the time that there's only two, there's only two places that you can see a woman dressed to the nines and $10,000 with a clothes sitting next to a guy with a pitts. stained wife beater that he's owned for 20 years. And that's the horse track and a really good live music performance. Like that's the only two places, right? Like it doesn't matter where you're from, what you believe in. You know, the horse track and a live music performance,

anybody's just there to appreciate and share and feel the vibe and the energy and everything. It's so wonderful. You know, another thing I love about conversations like this with people like yourself is that you could replace everything you just said with a business context, with a sports team or a community group context or a not-for-profit or any type of thing, that connection, listening, knowing where you fit in, understanding when to take the lead. You know, what was that like in, like when COVID hit and you guys weren't able to play together? Did you feel that loss of

connection? What was that like for you? Yeah. That, So when COVID hit, at that time, that was before, that was before I decided to become a solo artist. So I was playing with a lot of different other artists and different bands, you know, like Eric Darius, Nick Coleone before he passed. You know, Jeff Koshua, out there, Renee, just to name a few. And so when that happened, I actually had a show that was scheduled to play with Eric Darius. And it was like, yeah, the show was canceled. I'm like, okay, canceled. Okay.

And then the next one, the next one, the next one. And it was like, oh, wow. And then that's when the announcement came about, you know, COVID. So at that moment, everything was at a standstill. At that time, I was still working at 9-and-5. So I really wasn't impacted as much as a lot of my other fellow musicians and artists were. So I was fortunate. However, you know, it still was a major impact.

It was just like a ghost town. So at that moment, that's when I was led, you know, it was like I was just telling me, and I was saying, I got to do something that's like make you happy, make people inspired, kind of get their mind off of this craziness for now. So that's when my first single weekend grew, that's how it was created. And it was just about energy, about, you know, promoting, you know, good stuff, you know, taking people to another realm. and positivity.

So during that time, that allowed me to become more involved with doing things as an artist and doing more online things. So the other thing is, although it was a catastrophe, it wound up birthing or illuminating virtual connection for artists and musicians. So it allowed us to become more interactively involved remotely and virtually. So at that moment, it was like, hey, I need to ask. add this base. Can you add this baseline? Yeah, send it to me. Right. Email it to them or whatever. They do it. They send it back. We were still able to create and get things done, which was really,

really beneficial without leaving our homes, without paying for a plane ticket or, you know, or a transportation company, right? So that really allowed us to really grow and to do things that way. Did you see, was the creative process different? Did you see any new? aspects of creativity coming out of the limitations of not being able to sit in the same room and create together? I think it brought about another level of boldness of being able to do something that you always wanted to do without feeling restricted. And it also allows to have more versatility in diversity in dealing with, you know, collaboration, right?

Because there are some people who may not have been available, but guess what? Hey, Ryan's available. I'm going to hit up Ryan. Ryan said, he'll love to do it. I'll have Ryan do this part, right? And then it allowed us to grow. So it also brought, to me, it helped strengthen relationships a lot. So although I may not have been able to hang out with whomever, by us doing the things together

as a collaboration, it really, you know, strengthen the relationship and build it even more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the availability and access probably because everyone's looking for something, for some place to play and contribute and work on projects is, you know, I watched, I like Pink Floyd. Probably most people do like that genre. Oh, yeah, Pink Floyd. And I was watching the Dark Side of the Moon documentary. And what I found, so in Dark Side of the Moon, the actual song, there's that saxophone part is just, you know, it's like you're going through this song and the build up and they're changing keys.

And you're, you know, I'm going to butcher some of this. They go from like a four tempo to an eight or an eight to a four or something, which is very unique for for rock and roll. And then they, and then this saxophone hits, right? And it's like this epic saxophone. whenever you hear it, you know exactly what song it is, exactly what band is. The guy that did that solo for that song was like the sixth guy they called. The guy they wanted wasn't available. And they started going down this list.

And they just got to the next guy who could come into the studio. And you think about that and you're like, wow, would that song be different? Would it sounded different? Would it be as epic if this particular individual who they had no intention of being on record was just available showed up and played it the way he played it and now it's this epic you know one of the greatest uh albums ever created probably um amazing and you're just like man being available being open your word networking like these are core aspects for for for everything not just a business context where it tends to sit it's like man in your world just people knowing that hey man if i if i need

if I need a track on the piano, someone who's really going to think about it and get me something back, man, man, Jesse's there. I can just send this over to him. He's there. He's available. We can get this done. That's a wonderful thing. Yeah.

Yeah, it is. It's a great thing. And then it also, like you said, it's networking and collaboration. And you learn off of one another. And, you know, it's like another classroom model. I mean, you know, I was to say it, right? You know, you learn off of one another. of each other and you learn some things to do what not to do and you also learn some new some new

techniques and skills uh which is really cool so oh yeah it's it's i think the covid thing um i hate to use the term blessing and a cursing but i think it was a a good lesson that helped us all to become stronger uh and to persevere through things and to and to bring us all together unify us more um and to let, you know, let things go, you know what I mean? And just say, hey, you know what, we're human. And unfortunately, that experience with COVID, it kind of dehumanized us as far as the sensitive, emotional touch type of feel. So that's why now it's, you know, things are coming back, which is good.

But it, but you have some people who are still reserved in, you know, shaking hands, giving a hug, you know, because of that. And really, that's what we were born to do. born to interact with one another. We're born to feel one another, you know, emotionally. You say, hey, you know, what can I do to help you out, right? Or this person's going through something or, hey, I'm so glad to see you. Uplift one another is so key. And, you know, to have that kind of shut down for, what, two years or three years or whatever, it's pretty tough on it. It's just like, wow, what just happened? But, you know, fortunately, things are

starting to come back and, you know, we're able to go out more and do more things together, you know, as a human culture, which is really good. Talk to me a little bit about the experience of creating your first solo single and then an entire album, right? You ended up being an entire album. Like, what was that like having never gone through it before, you know, did it feel like a grind of filling up the tracks

or were you just, was it just pure inspiration? Or, you know, having never created something like that before, what is that process like? I had already had libraries of tunes that I just didn't do anything with and didn't know what to do. But this project, so the single weekend groove was definitely something that was inspired by what was going on, what we're going through. To take some people get their minds off of the stuff and just say, hey, let's do something that helps to promote a good time, you know, of us, you know, going out, hanging out, doing whatever. So that was definitely an inspiration. And then the rest of the songs on the album were also inspirations.

I think there was maybe only one song on there that I had in the library. But the rest of them were really all fresh. So to go through that as an artist was kind of different for me at first because I was so used to being the guy behind the scenes or on the sideline. And it's like, wait a man, all of a sudden, now you're the quarterback, you know, in football, right? It's like, oh man, you're the quarterback. It's like, what, you know, but it, you know, it was, it's fun. It's fun. And it also showed something about myself as a leader and as a people person

and as someone who loves to orchestrate and put things together because on my project, I've pretty much collaborated with almost, you know, I think every song was a collaboration with someone. And I love doing that because to me, I feel like, you know, Ryan, we're in this together. And it allows us to help one another in so many different ways. And so, you know, going through that process was, it was different, but it was fun. And I did have a couple of challenges, you know, dealing with, you know, limited with the technology or with the instrument, the virtual instruments.

But I was able to overcome it and then, you know, able to, you know, work with other people who were able to help me out. So that worked out really good. But, you know, the number one thing for that, I think the cause for that was money. Right? You know, the finances as an indie artist, it can be financially challenging at times. But when you have, you know, you know, you just have the love of the people who love music and who supports you. I mean, that's a blessing within itself. So that goes a long way. So but yeah, that experience doing with my own project, it definitely wasn't anything just to fill up space. It was something to say, hey, this is my first coming out, my little inauguration of who I am. the man behind the keys, uh, welcome.

Yeah. What does the like, like how do you get that out into the market? Like what, what's the process? How do you market your own album? Like what does that even look like? Especially when you're an indie artist. Yeah, yeah. So internet.

Internet is really good. You do with different distribution companies. Um, you know, I don't know if I'm allowed to name. name some, but there's some distribution companies out there. You can look up and research, as well as having social media is so key, you know, very key in having that presence and helping you out and having a website and definitely word of mouth. But yeah, getting that out there marketing-wise is, you know, it can be a little bit challenging depending on what your funds are like. But thankfully, we have, you know, different tools online now with different social

media outlets that can help us do ads, can help us do stories, can help us do, you know, video clips, that sort of thing, which is really good. But once you land into a distribution, whoever that might be, they all hit all of the major stores, online stores. So that's key. You can still, you know, I still get CDs printed today and USBs because a lot of people still want something tangible. I am thinking about doing a vinyl or some sort. work because I love vinyl. Yeah. And the vinyl's are still hot over in the UK.

I mean, they have, they never left. And so our cassette tapes. Really? I mean, they're, yeah, they're even like, cassettes are even coming back more because you can put more on a cassette tape. And it has that little nostalgic type of organic vibe, right? So it's really a cool thing. But yeah, it's, it's amazing how things are like revolving back to what they used to be.

Yeah, so I mean, but it's also good for us artists because streaming streaming is okay. It gets you a presence, but you get better paid when someone actually purchases the actual material. That makes sense. So that helps on that. You know, I was some obviously my kids being 10 and 8, they've grown up with Spotify and they've built their own Spotify playlist and they add songs to it and all this kind of stuff. Yep. But I was explaining them the other day about how. we used to make mixes when I was growing up in the 80s where I was like you used to sit by the radio

with a cassette tape and you're like waiting for the you know trying to figure out what the song was as the host is bringing it in and then you'd like press the button real quick and every song had like was like kind of cut off at the front kind of cut off at the end and you'd always have like the DJ's voice on it in between songs I was like and then you'd have like these mixtapes that you created and hopefully one of your friends had one of the dual cassette players that you could then transfer the mixtape and copy. I was like trying to explain and they're looking at me like, they're like, what are you talking about?

Like that sounds awful. Like I can just press my finger on this little piece of glass here and play any song that I want. It's funny. But see, that's what that's what, that was one of the things that made our generation so unique and able to do multiple things at once and able to look forward to be.

building something with our hands because we were we were mixing this putting this here, putting that there, and flipping this. And then like you said, it's, I think it was a part of engineering. It was another level of engineering, right? I mean, we're able, you listen to the radio. You got a cassette tape. You hit record. You record that. And then you try to hit pause or stop it before the radio commercial comes on. And then the next song comes on, you hit that. And then like you said, you make a mixtape and you kind of. And then we used to splice our own stuff back in the day. And then it's just, it's just, it was a lot of fun. And it, and it, and it kept your mind going and thinking, what can you do next or how can you do it differently? So it was, it was really cool. It may seem like busy work to our generation today, but, but man, in our day, that was the way to do it. I mean, yeah, I remember. So we didn't have, like when I was growing up, which kind of sucks. I loved, I loved, I loved hip hop even from, you know, like, even the early, early stuff.

obviously the 90s, Hibaba's epic. And I remember someone had a cousin who lived in New York City, so they had Hot 97, and they got juicy from Notorious Big IG on their cassette tape. And then dubbed, you know, copied it and got it to my friend. And he walks into, I remember I was like, I can't remember what grade I was in. I don't even think it was high school. It was like middle school or whatever. And he walks in with this cassette tape over his head going,

I got B-I-G on cassette. You would think he was like the king. Like people just like swarmed him. Like everyone like wanted to, Hey, can I get a copy of that? Like, because he had this one song on this cassette tape that his buddy had dubbed off a hot 97. And it's just like those type of experiences. Like they'll just never understand what it means to like, you know this song exists.

You've heard of it. But like you can't get on the radio where you live. And oh my God, it's amazing. And they were they were talking shit one day. And I have a. My dad gave me his record collection, and then I've kind of, I've built my own over time. And I remember one day they were like talking, they always like to bust my chops, like I'm old. And I don't understand.

And, and I was like, all right, I'm going to play you. I go, you, so parenting decisions aside, I decided to introduce my kids to what I would consider good music very early. And the first band that I introduced them to, um, really. really the first three bands that I introduced them to were Pink Floyd, Taj Mahal, and Wu Tang. So those are the first three. Wow. This got, you know, the first three sets that I went through. So I wanted blues.

So, and I love Taj. So I went to Taj Mahal. And then Pink Floyd for rock. And then Wu Tang for hip hop. So they're talking shit one day. And I said, okay, put, put your favorite Wu Tang song on, on Spotify. Play it. Play it. So they play it and, you know, whatever.

It's great. And then they didn't know. that I had Wutang Vinals. So I go and I put the gold Wutang Forever on vinyl and I turn it up and I hit play and they're like

Holy shit. Literally my 10 year old, that's what he said and again, I'm a single dad so I let my kids, I let him sorry a little bit. My 10 year old goes was nine at the time and goes, holy shit he goes, that sounds so much better. And I was like,

What have I been telling you? I was like, this is the closest that you get to being with the artist, you know? And then I played them, you know, all the rest and stuff. Like, I was like, Bohemian Rhapsody, like, you haven't heard it until you've heard it on vinyl. Like, you haven't heard these guys. You haven't heard muddy waters until you've heard them on vinyl. Like, you haven't heard these guys. Unless it's in person, you have not heard them until you've heard them on vinyl.

It's just so much different. So I'm completely with you there. Plus, it's cool. And they like flipping the album. and they think that's cool too. They get a board of it after a little while, but they like that too. Man,

it's a cool look, man. I mean, that's what's going on now. I mean, the vinos, man, and it's,

you get, you know, the vinyl is you capture the true authentic sound. Yeah. Analog, you know, it's like, it's like that sign wave.

You're getting everything on the sign wave on the rise and fall, you know, and, you know, digital is super clean, but digital square. So, you know, what you normally get in that curve has been squared off,

right, by ones and zeros, but, but you get, you know, the tube mics and stuff like that, you know, two microphones and tube amps and some of the two keyboards and definitely, well, behind me, Hammett B3 organ, right, too. I mean, it's like, I love that because it has that warm, sensitive feeling and you can,

and it bends, it bends that sound in a certain way. It's like, oh, man, it's just great. So you get that on the vinyl, man, I love it. I love it. I was watching a documentary on rock and roll in general. and there was a section on amps. And I don't remember the lead. If I told you the band name, you would know it,

but I can't remember it. It doesn't matter. Then the lead singer, lead guitarist is talking on this documentary in there, talking about how the question was really like, why does music sound different today? And one of the things that he said was, we do not make amps the way that they used to be made. And he said, I don't even know if we can make them the same way.

Like, I don't know that the tech, like the manufacturers are set up to even do it. He's like, so this dude, and it's crazy, he now doesn't do big shows anymore. He only does small shows. And he said he brings his own amp gear with him because he's got all these old like 60s and 70s amps. He's like, because I don't like the sound out of the new amps. And I was like, that's, it's wild to me. And it makes sense. but it's wild that like the era that you're producing music in

is not just the culture or whatever in the moment, which obviously that impacts it. But literally the technology available to you at the time impacts what you're able to create so much as well. Absolutely. Absolutely. The technology and then the materials. So now the manufacturers may not even have access

to some of those different types of materials that we used to have access to back. in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, right? Because you got to remember, now we're living in an age where they're trying to cut down on certain metals. They want certain plastic things that are cheaper to make and maybe easier to break. You know what I mean? So it's like, you know, so it's a total different mindset now.

And then people want to make things super fast, fast, fast. It's about, you know, quantity versus quality. So they want to get a huge stuff, you know, rushed out for production. But I mean, you absolutely correct. I don't think, I don't even know if we really have the true capability of recreating what we did back then because at times are different. The availability of materials are totally different. And, you know, processing is different now. So I get what, where they're coming from.

There are some things that are still somewhat available, but it's kind of also like, you know, think about like one of these historical classic cars to collect. it's like a collector's item, right? They really can't get a lot of the original parts anymore. They come close and it looks good, but it may not be the actual original part that it was, that really it was designed for from back in the day. So it's kind of like that with the music and material

and speakers and instruments and everything. Yeah. Totally different. So what was it like, so you spend, We'll call it this period of time where you're forced to create on your own and you do your own solo album. And now you said you're starting to play again and play in groups and bands and stuff. Did your style change at all? Did anything change going from having that period of solo time to coming back in and working with a group again?

Yeah. It changed a little bit. Um, with when working with groups, there's a certain style or puzzle piece, um, that has to fit for that group. Um, or even if you're backing up another artist, there's a certain style. You have to, you know, because you're accompanying the artist or, or the lead of that group, right? So there's a little different that the genres may be very similar, but actual seasoning of that job. is different. So then with me, with what I do, you know, like I said, my household, we had everything from gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, you know, the Sugar Hill, you know, hip-hop stuff, right? All that stuff was going on in my house. Plus, my brother who played keys for one of the Dayton, some of Dayton's hottest groups like slave, and then he went on to play for Parliament and stuff like that. So I'm getting all these different sounds in my head. So, Those things that I have in my head, I like to somehow put them out as a solo artist.

Now, I may not sound exactly like those things I just named, but it's a part of me. And it's a part of what I want to express. So that's where it's different. That's where the seasoning is different on that genre for me versus me playing with someone else. So it was different. And it is still different, you know, because even a day when I get called to play with other artists as an MD or whatever, I have to make sure that I adapt to their sound and to what they want, their product. That's their brand, right?

I can't go up there, like, oh, no, I'm Jesse, I'm JT. I'm doing my way, you know, I'm, you know, no, no, no. For one, you're out of order. For two, you're not being a team member or band member. And for three, that's not a leader. That's just, it's not possible. So what you do is you have to make sure that you understand who you're playing for and understand their concept, their brand, their style,

and do everything that you're supposed to do to help. keep that and even polish it even more so that, you know, you're helping them. And at the same time, it's helping you as well because it's helping you to be more versatile. And also it's a good look because they'll say, you know, hey, you know, if we're on keyboards, we've got, you know, Jesse JT. Jazz Thompson, who has a project guy on blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, you know, some people may not hurt me. Oh, he does. Okay, cool.

Right? So it goes a long way. So it's kind of like it's a two-way street. No, that's phenomenal. That's phenomenal. I appreciate this kind of. conversation so much. I just a couple more questions.

One answer however you want, I'm just intrigued. So many, like, rich artists, and I don't mean rich in wealth. I mean, rich in music, have come out of gospel. Why do you think that is? You know what? I hate to sound biased. You can go right ahead. But, you know, when you go through different hardships and, you know, you go through different hardships

and you realize there is a spiritual connection and you realize that within that connection, you're feeling something. There's a spirit there. First of all, in music, if I played a C-7 chord right now, it doesn't matter if it's a C-7 chord in jazz, classical, or blues, or gospel.

The question is, what is the intent behind the C-7? So what kind of spirit, am I pushing behind a C-7? Am I pushing something that's, you know, telling people to go crazy and bang their heads on the wall? Or am I pushing something that C-7 that says, hey, peace, love, harmony, uplifting, right? Positivity. So that there is a spiritual connection, you know, regardless. And a lot of, a lot of musicians and artists, I mean, they were born and raised in the church.

It started there. And then I also think it has a lot to do with our culture. It has a lot to do with mainly some harsh. some struggles, some overcoming, some blessings, things that just impacted people so closely. And again, because of that connection, and then there, and they're able to really elaborate. And then there's also a thing where when you play in the church, it's kind of like your first audition. Because now, you know, you got some people in the church that they may say, oh, yeah, that's okay, baby. you did a good job. You do better next time.

And although you're talking, I really sucked. But it encourages you to go ahead and keep going, right? And then eventually, boom, you know, you get there. But I think, you know, it's a lot more than what I'm saying. But just to get the nuts and bodes of it, I think it has a lot to do with a spiritual connection and a lot to do with the fact that when you're in there, you're exposed or you're able to expose yourself musically in an emotional kind of way. that sometimes it's taken from an all level of,

or I should say it's received in all areas. And it also helps you and encourages you to keep going and keep going. And then at that moment, you may connect with other musicians or other singers in there, and then it just becomes harmonious, and then it just gets greater and greater and greater. So, you know, I think that's where it starts. Now, as far as when musicians, if they leave the church and they never come back or if they're still there, but partially, you know, that's some kind of personal thing. But a lot of times it may be because they want to do something outside, something different. They may feel like they're being restricted and being able to express something differently.

Oftentimes, it may be where they may feel like I need to say something else. but because of maybe the quote unquote walls or the borders that are put up or the standards that are in place, I'm not able to, right? Because, you know, you have some situations. It's just like that. So I think it's, I think it has a lot to do with those variations. And it's just, man, it's really amazing. I see young kids that are like five and six years old that are sitting on a Hammond, B3, Oregon, and killing it on the piano, on drums, on bass, killing it.

And it's like, wow. And I think church also gives you the opportunity. Again, it's an audition. It gives you the opportunity to feel invited and to be able to feel apart. And, you know, you may be clonking along and clunking along, but eventually if you keep at it, something will come out of it, right? And I do have a friend of mine that he was part of a group of kids when they were growing up. And they had their trumpets and they had their congos and or bongos.

And they were sitting on the front pew and it's making noises while the real musicians are playing doing services. But now these guys are like phenomenal. They're playing all over the place. One of them is Sean Jones. He's one of the best trumpet players out there. He's played with Marcus Miller. He played with Winton Marcell as our orchestra. and he's one of the ones.

He was the ones that's sitting on the front pew. And then now he's just, he's a professor at the University of Pittsburgh of Music Conservatory. I mean, he's, you know, so you just never know. And I think it's a way of just encouraging. I love that.

Yeah. I'd like to close, actually, with a personal anecdote that you shared before we went live. And I'm just, I'm just interested. I now kind of can see how it all ties together. But you said you recently sponsored a student and that it was an experience that you found tremendous joy in and that you you want to expand

as part of your life. I'd love to know what maybe the impetus was to take on something like that because not many people are willing to do that and it's a wonderful thing. And maybe how that died your soul. Good question. Yeah. So, you know, I was I was blessed. less man to be able to mentor the student. And so for one, you know, they're getting rid of music,

getting rid of music, excuse me, from schools. They're trying to close the programs out. They're firing the music teachers or making music teachers become teachers of some other subject. And music is everywhere. Sound is everywhere. Frequency are everywhere, even for those who are deaf, they can go off for the frequencies, or they can just feel the vibes, right? And it's like getting rid of music is like saying we're getting rid of a language to me,

and this is a universal language. So there are a lot of students who, for myself, when I was coming up, coming up in Dayton, music helped was one of the things to help save my life. It kept me off of the streets. It kept me off from being involved in trouble gangs or stuff like that kept me away from maybe even being beat up by gangs.

And so those times back then helped me and I want to like restore and to extend those times for today and for tomorrow. And so, you know, I've noticed where there are a lot of students who are discouraged in school and they discouraged in doing anything like music. And so I was very blessed and fortunate to team up with the Charlotte Wood Madison. city schools and the virtual academy, their RAM country, which is right there by my home city in Dayton. And we were able to partner and we came up with the mentoring program. And so I was able to mentor a student. They were having some difficulties in school, some challenges academically. And so what we want to do is we want to make sure that we are there for the

students to help them with tutoring, with learning, for academic stuff. any financial assistance is needed for the school program because it costs to graduate. You got to pay for your robe. You got to pay for the graduation fee. You got to pay for this fee. And some families just are not in a financial position to do that. So my goal, our goal is to be able to help out with that as much as possible. That being able to do that, man, it really allowed me to see things a whole new different level,

a different platform for our kids, our youth. And that's what it's all about. You know, one of my purpose here on earth is to help and especially help young people. I love helping young people. I love talking to them doing clinics. And then I also love this mentorship program that we just launched off. It's really, it's inspiring to me. Hopefully it's inspiring to others.

And what we want to do is we want to be able to assess. some point be able to get as many as many students as possible to impact their lives and their family lives and to let them know that it's it's okay you're not alone you know don't stop don't quit you may have to pause right and pausing is okay that's allowed but don't quit don't hit the stop button you allow to pause but you cannot stop you got to keep going and as long as we can get that message into the kids and they help them understand that they are the future they are tomorrow that they can do it and to stay positive, then I think we're going to be on the right track. So that was a good drive for me in getting this thing going is to be able to reach out

to students and just be an impact to them and help them out as much as possible, man. And, you know, if we're not helping one another out, man, I don't know, what are we really doing? You know, that's the question. You know, if I'm not able to inspire, what am I here for? You know what I mean? It's just so I have to. Amen to that, brother. I'm right there with you. I love it. I absolutely love it. This has been such a pleasure. I am so glad that we had a chance to hang out. And so you have your album.

We'll make sure that's all linked up in the show notes, and everyone can check that out. I know you're working on a new single that's going to be coming out soon. Where can people maybe get on a waiting list for that, get more of what you do, maybe buy your album. Where do you want to send them? Absolutely. They can go to my website, jtijazz.com.

and I'm on social media as well. Facebook is JT. Jazz. I also have a fan club so you can go out there and sign up and we'll get you on all the secrets and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that you can get as well. And I'm on Instagram as well. But to buy my product and to get autographed copies and I'm sending different stuff in addition to what they buy

as a thank you gift, just go to JTJazz.com. And, man, sign up there. Sign up on the email list there. And I look forward to seeing you all there. I appreciate you so much, man. Thank you. Let's go. Yeah, make a look.

Make it look easy. Thank you for listening to the Ryan Hanley Show. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts. Game in a game for me. I never switched to no change in me. The only thing. Close twice as many deals by this time next week. Sound impossible.

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