You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Peter's Musical Origin Story

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

Peter tells you about his musical journey and the tunes that educated him the most in his early days.* Learn how to master the major scales - check out Adam's Major Scale Course* Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipe at https://link.youllhearit.com/speakpipe* Support the pod by spreading the word with the link openstudiojazz.link/yhi* Learn more about Open Studio Pro: openstudiojazz.com/proInterested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Hey, Peter. Yo. You know every good superhero story needs a good origin story. Oh, absolutely. So the question is, are you a Thor or are you a Thanos? Thelonious. I'm Adam Anis. And I'm Peter Martin.

And you're listening to The You'll Hear Podcast. Music, advice, and inspiration coming at you. Coming at you today, we're sponsored by Open Studio. Go to Open Studio atjazz.com to check out all of our courses, including my new course, the major scale course, big hit, Peter, for us the last week or so. Right. Actually, I'm supposed to say that about you because it's your course. I don't mind, man. I'm confident.

To your own horn there. Thank you, everybody, for the great feedback we've gotten on it. If you want to go practice the major scale with me in all 12 keys in a variety of different ways and finally get your beat together on it, now is your chance. It's good. I mean, I thought I knew all the different ways to practice the major scales. Actually, I do know all the ways to practice. But conceptually, this is new for me. And it's super interesting.

And I think it connects with people. You know, we always, it's like if you feel like you really know the basics, those, those fundamental. building blocks, and it doesn't get any more basic and fundamental than the major scale. It's always amazing when you can come back and look at it through a different lens and just come back and review as well. And for a lot of folks, it's kind of like a first time really getting them under their handle. So congratulations and encourage folks to check it out. Cool. Thanks, man. So what are we talking about today?

Well, today I thought it would be fun to do like a little two-part series. This would be part number one, as it were. Nice. And just talk a little bit about our job. jazz origin story. Nice. Because I'm always so interested in other musicians, music lovers, students. Anybody connected with jazz at all, like to find out how they got into the music,

when they got in. So naturally, we'll do yours today. Yeah. I'm so interested in others, but I'm especially interested in myself. But let's talk about me. Let's start with me. Well, it's like the thing, I got a question for you. I got a big argument with somebody the other day.

Okay. If you're sitting at a table, and I'll, ask you this because you went to finishing school right what finishing school what am i an 18th century debut time what are you talking about they still do it yeah they do i guess yeah well you have very good manners that's why i was wondering thank you very much sir i know you're supposed to be thank you very much and how are your manners oh pardon me pardon me yeah so anyway you're sitting at a table with you know a myriad of people yeah a group a group of more than three or four and somebody says you're eating family style though the plates are on the table.

This is not an individual order of situation. Okay. So, you know, maybe you'd like the Brussels sprouts. And you say, hey, Peter, can you pass me the Brussels sprouts? And I say, sure, my liege, I will pass them to you. So I pass them down. And then somebody on the way down that hands them before they hand it to you, they serve themselves. Is that, oh, you're already shaking your head.

See? That would not have been a lot in my house. Really? That's a faux pa. That's considered rude. I think it's foie pa. I think I would actually... Now, I'm not talking about you finishing it off.

Obviously, that's... Yeah, I think I would teach my kids, especially in a situation where they are a guest somewhere or we have guests. I think amongst the family, this is where you would kind of teach these manners, but I would, of course, be more lax at my own dinner table with just my immediate family.

However, I would teach my kids and probably have taught my kids, or at least Heather has taught our kids, that it would be rude to then take something before you hand it to the person who asked for it. But what if you're moving so quickly that you don't even slow the price? Like, just quick scoop. I think I know what happened now. Yeah.

No, I think it's, I think it's not the end of the world, obviously. But I do think that, yeah. Ask Chris Thomas about that. It's just the end of the world. Okay. Anyway, didn't want to name names, but there you go. All right. We'll cover that in another episode.

In dinner etiquette? Sure. Yeah. But yeah. So anyway, jazz origin story. I thought it would be fun to lay mine out. And basically, just talk about some recording. that I heard early on that made me, you know, want to do this forever.

I can't wait to hear it. But before we move on from the dinner table, though, if it's between you and Chris Thomas, though, I mean, you guys have known each other for like 40 years. That's what I'm saying. It's not like you're the Duke of whatever and he's the prince of, you know what I mean? It's like, it's Peter and Chris who've known each other since they were kids. I think Chris did go to finishing school now that I remember. He did do like a deput, like he escorted at a debutante.

Of course he did. He's very fancy. He's very fancy. Yeah, he didn't. This was years ago. we're on the road. He got on me for, I took a quick scoop and passed it on. Sue me, I like to eat. It was not the last scoop. All right. So we're going to listen to some things that were very formative for you then.

Yes. And I put together a little playlist just for my own convenience, but if it's of interest to anybody. So before we get started with listening to that, just when did you, your parents are both musicians. Yes. Your father played viola in the St. Louis Symphony for years and years. Your mother is a violin teacher. Yes. And so when did, I assume, I know we've talked about a little bit, but were you two? Are you three? When did you start with music? As soon as you could walk kind of thing?

Well, I mean, I was hearing a lot, of course. I think I officially started violin at two. Wow. But it wasn't really two or three. Maybe three. I can't even remember. My mom was teaching Suzuki method, which is for really little kids. And I was with her because I wasn't in school yet.

So she definitely had put like a violin in my hand and I was doing something with it. Wow. But I was always watching my sister play piano and my dad too and my mom. Everybody played piano in the house. You had a piano in the house growing up. We had a piano in the house growing up. And like my mom's best friend was a really good piano teacher. We were living in Florida.

Of course. So she did like an exchange, a little barter, 70s style, where she taught her son, her kids violin. And she taught me piano. That was my first teacher. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, because they were like, you know, both my parents could play piano, but it's always good to get somebody else to teach you. But you're also, I would imagine, too, just you're in a musical.

As my kids, our kids have grown up with rehearsals in the house and musicians coming in and out and all the stuff. Drugs, alcohol music, all the things that go along with it. But it just is. So music is just part of the family business. For sure. For sure. That's great.

And so the first song I was going to play first tune, and really this is my earliest recollection of jazz and what really first attracted me to playing jazz. I don't know that I knew that it was jazz. I wasn't, you know, the cool thing about it when you're really young and you like music and you hear it, especially in the kind of pre-internet, I wouldn't say pre-television stage because I was watching TV a lot, but my parents were pretty, I don't know. I would definitely watch a lot of TV, but I was never one of those, like, sit down in front of the TV for hours.

Partly we had a black and white TV until I was in high school. Yeah. Which was crazy. So like black and white TV is not that interest. And it was small. And it had rabid ears because it didn't attach the cable or anything. So I definitely remember liking music and just going out and playing or whatever. But this was the first song that I really connected with, I think.

It really was the impetus for my original love of jazz. So here you go. Ever heard of it? Once or twice? And there was a movie they came out. I think called The Entertainer when I was maybe The Sting, wasn't it?

Oh, the Sting, exactly. And I don't even think I saw it because it was probably I was too young. I've never seen it either but all of my aunts would always say, play the Sting! Yeah, and they met the entertainer.

They met the entertainer. Yeah, yeah. But I heard this, I remember my mom had a 1975 Dotson Blue Wagon and with an eight-track player in it. She bought it brand new. And it came with like

hits of years gone by or something. It was just random songs. But the entertainer was on there because that was big from the movie, I guess that year or whatever. So I don't know. I was hearing that and I was like, wow, I love the way that sounds.

This recording I just played is actually from a piano role that of Scott Joplin actually playing. A lot of people don't know that that exists. He recorded on the role. Of course, there's no dynamics or anything, but the time and everything is the way that he played it. That's awesome.

So next up, any questions so far? No, I mean, I feel like that's, that is very common to my story too. In fact, I'm putting my playlist together here of my origin story, which will be part two. Yes.

There's also some Scott John. Well, you're doing that while we're doing this? No, no, no, no. I'm saying, multitasking. Well, yeah, yeah. No, but I think it's a very common thing, especially for pianists, especially if you've gotten into jazz. It's almost impossible to ignore how important ragtime is to the development of our instrument, not just for jazz, but for any pianists. Absolutely.

I mean, the branches that came off of what that genius did is incredible. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So the next thing that I remember kind of consciously hearing and being like, oh, wow, I want to do that. I want to hear that. I love that. You know, it's like you take a bite of peanut butter and jelly or something like, okay, I like this. You're a kid, but you just, you attach in a very visceral way.

Was a record that my dad had, but this cut for some reason just really did it for me. Willow eat for me? Willow eat for me. Art Tatum, yeah. Art Tatum, live. Piano starts here. And the whole record's great. I mean, but I remember.

being like I wasn't thinking about improv I was playing I was playing piano a lot like classical stuff but when he I remember when he goes into the bridge here in a second that was my first kind of like he's already swinging yeah but I think that was just like the first of my really it's funny because it's not so much the incredible technique and everything which is amazing on here but this is not like the flashiest art tatum by far of many different things but I think it was just that groove and that feel and I love the way he played the instrument and I was just like wow. It's an amazing arrangement.

Yeah. It's amazing arrangement. That's great, man. Well, I mean, to have Artanum as an early influence must be. So how old were you when you're listening to that around the house? I mean, I was, my dad listened to that record a lot. He loved that record. So, but I was probably like 11 or 12 when I really was like, wait, I want to maybe listen to it, you know?

Yeah, it's very cool. Yeah. Okay. Now I'm going to jump. Actually, not that much later. Maybe you're right around this time to something that's completely different, but actually came out around this time and I'm going to jump right

to hold on a second see if I can do this Adam Hyde a little Stevie Wonder and you might say why how was that part of the origin jazz store but I'm going to jump to

ladies and gentlemen yes yeah maybe you can do that 410 oh yeah that's good busy still feeling great I know and I love how like Dizzy's not like...

A lot of people... He's not like playing his B-Bob stuff. He's like, I'm going to fit into what's happening here. Dizzy Gillespie was an incredibly adept entertainer. Yeah. Amongst being, of course, a genius, Bebop musician, which we think is a very artful, you know, almost like bohemian,

which he was at one point. Let me put my beret on. He was a public figure. He was a very famous person and a very, like, he could have this broad appeal, for sure. Yeah, yeah. No, I love. He's playing like funk trumpet on there really well.

He sounds great. But the reason this is part of my little or The origin story is I was listening to this song was big on the radio. Yeah. And it actually came out on the original Music Quarian, which was like a, that was, it was one of the only new cuts on there because it was sort of a greatest hits thing. I think it was some kind of Stevie thing he had to do for Motown, but he put this track on there. It was on the radio, but on the radio version, it stopped before this dizzy thing. Yeah.

And my sister was such a Stevie fan. She had gotten the album and she heard me listening. She's like, I, aren't you into getting into it? Because I was sort of starting to get into jazz around this time or doing something with jazz band in school. I can't remember. but she's like, you got to hear the whole cut and she played the thing for me. She's like, I don't know who this is,

but somebody's playing jazz trumpet on here. And so that's when I started, this was all like connecting the dots, you know, kind of. That's great. Then another big dot was connected with this. What do you know about this? Shall we go to Miami?

A little Miami Vice, maybe? No, this is not Miami Vice. It made me think of that. It sounds like, yeah. Doo do, do, do, do. That's like the only part that you can tell it's Herbie. like just the little thing that's like totally sort of takes it takes it out of that place but i had this

record from that's herbie hancock that's herby hancock rocket exactly from future shock huge hit on the radio on mtv and everything and that led to my dad seeing that record and he's like oh herbie hancock you should check him out on this record with miles davis and then i heard this you dad had this record yeah so that's the intro to stella by starlight live at um lincoln Scent, live at the Philharmonic. And I mean, I heard, like, Herbie's playing on that. And I was just like, wow. It was a similar thing to Art tape, just the piano, pianism, the touch, the soul, the vibe, everything.

And then I just, like, that was really when I started like, okay, I'm going to figure out how to do this. Or try to, like, reverse engineer, which didn't turn out too great. But it never does it first. Don't worry about it. But then I heard this cut. And this, I don't know, if you can jump to, like, 808. I mean, this whole cut, this is all of you. This solo.

And the way they interplay, you know, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock. Like, I started hearing them talking to each other. So I just kind of devoured all the Herbie I could find, and then, you know, McCoy Tyner, a whole bunch of people I kind of found out about. And then the last track I want to play was super important for my origin story because it's

it's Kenny Kirkland playing who I got a chance to meet like this is just going a few years stuff you know this was maybe like 1984 I got to meet him when he came to St. Louis play with Winton Marcellus and he was just hugely inspirational to me

and encouraging and so I was like checking out all of the stuff that he did around this time but it was coming out like in real time so I went back and I think this record had come out like the year before maybe when I first really started to try to get jazz records but it's from Wintin-Marceles Just think of one.

This one's a little lesser known for some reason. But I think is a really good, like, young, young Kenny. So, I don't know. We could check it out, like, at 3.30. There's some interesting Kenny stuff going on then. He's got his Kenny stuff together. Kenny Kirkland has his Kenny stuff together. But this really, like, typifies the sound of that.

What's the name of the album? Think of one. Think of one. And this is like burnout. The OG burnout. Oh, my gosh. Just playing. Remember the first time you heard the sound?

this. You remember what your feeling was? Yeah, I was just like, freedom. What the hell's going on? What the hell's going on? And how can I ever do that?

Yeah. I could never do that. I could never do that. I want to know. I'm going to try. It's like being at six flags and the roller coaster comes around and it stops for just a minute. You're like, do I want to get on or do I want to just? And then it goes again.

You're like, let me just try to hop on. But it never stops and you just have to get on. But this was so imitated, like, from this moment on, to this day, you know. I think I remember, I think I remember seeing Winton in high school. And would Eric Reed have been in his band? He could have? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It might have been Eric Reed.

And I just remember thinking, like, all right, I play piano. But I don't even know what that instrument is. It's happening. And it was some burnout stuff that was happening. Which is different from Kenny Kirkland, obviously. But I was still like, man, that's like, I love hearing that, man. Yeah. That's great.

But Kenny, because, like, he was actually doing this. I mean, Herbie was too, but I didn't see. him live and it was more, I was like listening to records of Herbie and Art Tatum and stuff from the 60s and 50s and going back, but it was like this stuff was coming out in real time. So that was super exciting. And then I just kind of ran with it from there. But those are like some of the recordings when I think back to like really touch points that, that really just did it for me. That's amazing, man. Yeah. Well, this is great. I'm so happy to that we got to kind of have a listen to what your early life was like. I wonder, Peter, do you have this all in a playlist?

I do. Can you share this? that link with our listeners and maybe they can check out Peter's Origin Playlist and then maybe I can add mine to that same link and we can do it. I look forward to hearing yours at. Oh, there's going to be some surprises in mine. Really? I know one surprise that's not going to be surprising something called secrets by any chance. Maybe.

I like, I am such a sucker for like 1972 to 1978. Almost anything that happened in there. I'm totally down for it, whatever reason. Cool. Well, um, until tomorrow. You'll hear it.