You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Victor Goines In The Pod

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

Adam and Peter get a chance to interview the great Victor Goines on life, music, STL, and his new job as President/CEO of JazzSTL. Want to check out Victor's album? You can find that here. Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open StudioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

What's up everybody? Peter Martin here. We are so pleased today on the pod to present a discussion, a conversation, a homecoming with Mr. Victor Gollins, my friend of 30 plus years, one of the finest saxophonist educators and administrators and cultural ambassadors of this music that we call Jazz Anywhere. He is the incoming president and CEO of Jazz St. Louis. We discussed that. We discussed New Orleans back in the old days. I even surprised him with a video clip that he wasn't aware of himself on YouTube with one and a half million views. So Adam and I had a lot of fun. Let's get into our discussion with Mr. Victor Goens. What's going on? Victor, welcome. All right, Peter Morton. Man, so glad to have you here.

This is Victor Goans, and we are so glad to have you on the pod here. So glad to have you in St. Louis as a, can we call you a resident yet? I don't want to jinx it. Yeah, I'm buying property, so I'm a resident. All right, right. We're so excited. It's a wonderful thing. You've only been here a few weeks, but you look like you're settling in, you're finding your way around.

What's your initial impressions? Well, that's an optical illusion that I'm settled down. I've been here though for a couple of weeks now. My impression is that's a great city. I'm happy to be in your hometown. You spend time in my in Crescent City. Now I'm in St. Louis with you. That's right.

That's right. We've really come full circle and, you know, one of the joys of my professional and personal career and how they've intersected has been our kind of almost near constant involvement, although we've taken some. some breaks from each other that are caused by others more than us. But, you know, some of my happiest musical memories and, you know, periods of intense development have been with you because of you and alongside you at different times. So to have you back here now makes me feel like, you know, being in that student and development, period again. So I'm really excited. Well, it's, I thank you for that compliment.

You know, actually, I was the student and you all were the teachers with you and Chris, Thomas and Brian Blade and Nicholas Payton, man, I was just holding on to coattails. I was an old man in the band. Well, it was, no, it was such a cool thing, and we're going to listen. I actually pulled up a little bit of footage, but of course it's not moving because it was so long and it was stationary footage. But that was such a great period. Yeah, so you had a band and you invited us all to join Nicholas Payton on Trump, and Nicholas

was like, he was about 14 or 50. Oh, yeah, yeah, he was, I was going to say a kid. He was almost pre-kid, but basically sounded the same as he does today. Yeah, he had a sound that was unique and he had a voice that was his at that time. And it has evolved, obviously. But it is the same voice that you can recognize over time. Yeah, absolutely. And then Brian Blade, Chris Thomas and myself were kind of a rhythm section that, you know,

became a little bit known after that. But really the genesis of that was with you because you're the first one that put us together. Like we were playing as a trio, but we didn't have any gigs. So you actually made us into a rhythm. Because you're not really a rhythm section if you're not playing with anybody, you know. That was the last time any of you three had no gigs. Right, right. Right. After that, I was the one without a gig because I didn't have a rhythm section.

It's funny because you all, obviously, I could tell a story. I remember the exact story behind how that all evolved. We were prepared to play the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. And George Ween was, he had his young lines out at that time. You all were going to be, I think, the second generation of the young lines. And we had like the prime spot on the Jazz and Heritage Festival. And Mr. Ween wanted this band, this rhythm section of Peter, Brian, and Chris, and Nicholas. So he said, well, we could change your time.

I said, well, I don't want to change from the prime time. I said, let them make their decision. Initially, they all were like, well, we're going to stay here and make the gig. But obviously, George Ween being who George Ween was, he added his influence to it. and they went on the road with the Young Lions. And ultimately that rhythm section became Joshua Rampman's rhythm section, which was kind of interesting because the whole time I was trying to get us on the road as a band, but all of you all ended up going out of the band and I stayed in New Orleans.

But I was happy for you all to be out there with Joshua. And Nicholas ultimately had his own band when he joined, I think he joined Verve, right? Yeah, he joined Verve. And then was playing with Elvin Jones, I think, right, around that time and right after that. Right. No, I think I smell a reunion concert at Jazz St. Louis. coming on well they did that once already the trio was in a club yeah and I was playing across the street at the Fox at the Powell Hall at the Powell with the

symphony and with Jay's and Lincoln Center yeah and our gig was kind of side by side so as soon as we finished I packed it real quick and ran down to the bistro yep and they had just finished playing so I was like oh man I said well man can they play another song yeah and nobody objected so we got to play some rhythm stages together I remember well because I remember we talked and I was like come over right when you're done and And, you know, musicians are always like, oh, yeah, I'm going to come down. But I was kind of lingering on that second sec.

Because I was like, I know Victor is one of those guys that will. If he's saying he's going to come down. So I can be like, no, man, I was going to come. You see him the next day? Yeah. So we're kind of like vamping, but it's like sort of time to go. And then I look out of the corner of my eyes saw big. I was like, yep.

And he had like, he was dressed, but he had his horns. I was like, exactly. Let's do this, you know. So that was the beginning of reunion. But we have to get it. Maybe another reunion happening somewhere. Yeah, absolutely. Because I mean we, and I mean, even after we were all traveling and you were as well, you try to make it sound like we all laugh. You know, you're out there.

But the great thing was we were, you know, we did a lot of playing together, of course, with Jermaine Basil as well. That's right. You know, really was a, you know, like a musical mother to all of us. Yeah. Yeah. But we always had that foundation in New Orleans. I mean, you had it growing up, but I felt like the warm embrace of the musical community with so many different folks. But especially with you and with Nicholas and Walter Payton and Ellis Marcellus, of course, that was a really. really special thing. It was. And New Orleans was very lucky for you coming to the city at that time because you filled a generational vacuum that had potentially vacated itself when Harry Connick left town. You know, you all probably close to each other in age and whatnot. So there was really no one with your level of proficiency at that age there to be able to come on a bandstand and play like

you did. And very few people after that, you know, to be honest with you. But it was great to have you at town because you also brought the knowledge of the Lonese Mark with you. So I remember you had shared a lot of Monk during that time. So it was a chance for me to learn more of the Lonnie's music with you. Yeah, that was fun. We used to play, I mean, you were so open. Everybody was so that we used to play all that stuff. Can we listen to this band?

Yes, listen to it. Okay, so I pulled this up. I don't know when the last time you saw this, Victor, but I want to introduce you to your grandson, a young Victor Goetz here. Who's on my record cover? But it's funny because you were saying you felt like the old man, but we must have been like toddlers, because you look like you're about 17 years old here.

Yeah, another one was, you know, makeup kind of things. Yeah, this is cool. So this is from either, was it 91 or 92? I think it's 91. I think it's 91. Yeah. Victor's Owen's Genesis, the same quintet we were just talking about.

This is the title track. This was such a great period because, okay, now you can correct me because I know you have a great memory for these things. But didn't you have like finale printed charts for all these tunes back then? Yeah, well, what happened is I used to write them out, but every time I come to the gig, someone would lose a part. So I finally said, I have to go digital now. So then I started going digital.

It made life a lot easier in terms of being able to reproduce parts along the way. But think about this, Adam. Okay, 1991. We're talking about what is that? What is that right? 41 years ago? No, that couldn't be. Oh, my goodness.

No, 31 years ago. Don't put those extra years off. No, but I mean, that was the first time I saw like actual digital copies that somebody had printed out. I remember the first time for me too.

Yeah, I was like, and then I remember he was like, oh, I'm going to change and then he came back the next day. Of course, it would take a day but I would have thought it would have taken six months to redo it, like re-engrave it. I was like, how is he doing? Me and Brian and Chris are looking like, this is like magic. This guy is like, how is he doing it? So it was, that just, you know, came back.

With so many great musical memories, we all had fun too because we had a lot of the same sort of musical heritage I think like language. A lot of it we sort of developed together but we also kind of brought this sort of you know vibe and sensibilities and things that we listened to you know the vernacular of like how to play with each other so it was a real natural thing. You know we will listen to a lot of I know I was at the time listening a lot of went and his his body and then it was starting to be his sex step but I had listened

to a lot of he and Bramford of course having come up together so it's funny because when I listened to this now and I haven't listened to to this in a very long time. But I thought I was writing in 7-4, but it's just 4-3, 4-plus-3. And I didn't realize it was so symmetrical along the way until I was listening. I was like, wow, it's just very symmetrical.

But it was really interesting to be able to really share it with you all because I remember I lived on Music Street, ironically, in New Orleans, and I had a back room where I made sure I had a drum set, we had an electric piano. They're known opera at the time. But we were able to get back there and shade

didn't have jam sessions and whatnot. So it was a really, really special time. It was really a point that need to be reproduced in modern times where people come together. It is not always about what money am I going to make on one gig or this gig or that gig or that gig. You just constantly involved in the music. And that's what New Orleans was about at that time.

Yeah, we were like hustling, but it wasn't really hustling, it was hustling to like rehearse and play and get arrangements together and learn monk tunes and stuff. But we were always like, we go to Victor's house. We're like, man, this dude, he owes, like, he was. Like, he was always a little step ahead of his. He owned a house. We were like, can I get a roommate?

Do I have to sleep over here? Brian would be like, oh, I can't stay in my apartment anymore? Can I stay with yours? I was like, this dude owns a house, man. He's next level. It's amazing how old the 26-year-old seems to be 21. Exactly. Well, it's funny.

I remember there was a time. Brian had a gig one day, and he lived in the uptown era of New Orleans. He went up. He loaded his truck, he said. He went upstairs to get one thing. He forgot. He forgot. He went upstairs to get one thing.

You remember that? Yeah, because he lived in the hood part of Uptime. Oh, right? In the central city over there. Exactly. But he called me, he said, hey, man, somebody had thrown my stowed my drum set. Can I borrow yours? I said, yeah.

So he ended up playing this big 22-inch baseball for a lot of gigs. But it served the purpose that I was happy he was able to do it. Yeah. Well, I want to have you back because we're going to do like 17 different. We're going to do a whole series of podcasts episodes just talking about the new one of this. I want to get some playing going in here at some point. Yeah, we've definitely got it in there. But we wanted just to talk to you about your new position.

You are CEO, executive director, head honcho, big man in charge. What are the titles are all there? For Jazz St. Louis. Yeah, it's a huge point of pride for our city, Jazz St. Louis. As you know now, I'm sure you've been here for long enough, which is not long, long enough for everybody to tell you how much they love the institution, you know. And I wonder what it's like coming into this institution. Your predecessor was here for quite a while.

Yeah. Well, it's really unique for me because I remember when it was just jazz at the Majestic Hotel. And everybody played where the pool table is at in the corner of the joint, but some of the best music that I remember checking out Tim Warfield with Nicholas Bacon there one time. And then obviously it moved down on Washington Street where it became known as Jazz at the Bistro. And the bandstand was way in the front and everybody was in the back. Back left, of course, was kind of like the musician's corner where people could. you kind of sneak in the back door,

there's no more sneaking in, y'all, so I'm watching. And then I was fortunate to be a part of the renovation process when Jazz on Lincoln Center played for the grand opening. And I think it's one of the most beautiful rooms in the country to be. I think it's the pride and joy of St. Louis, and it's affiliated with the only jazz institution, downtown in Jazz, you know, in St. Louis.

You have the orchestra here at St. St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, you have the opera and all this thing you have. St. Louis. So we represent, this is what we would call St. Louis for the Performing Arts at Grand Center. And I'm kind of using the name of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where they have all of their institutions in one location. Well, this is where all the institutions are located for the performing arts in St. Louis. Not to overlook what's taking place in Forest Park with all the museums and everything else. There's a tremendous amount of art and the arts in St. Louis, as everyone has been really,

really kind enough to tell me, especially for the population of the city compared to others. I mean, New York is a huge population, and while it has a lot going on, per capita, St. Louis, I think outdoes New York easily. Well, we always mention, you know, in New York Times, Jazz Critic, Nate Chen, wrote a book called Playing Changes about Jazz in the 21st Century, and he lists three major jazz institutions, jazz at Lincoln Center, SF Jazz, and Jazz St. Louis. Fantastic. And I always say like, that's amazing for City Our Size to even be mentioned in the same breath as those other two is incredible.

But it does speak to what I love about Jazz St. Louis is just the amount of respect that it gives the music that we all, of course, think it deserves. But it's pretty, when you set the table that way, when you set the scene for your community, they show up and the musicians show up. And it's pretty incredible. And the history is so deep here, you know, I'm. When I first took the job, I did some research to see about people who were from here. And I'm not going to remember all the names now. But, of course, everybody associates Miles Davis here. He was acting from Alton, Illinois, which is part of St. Louis.

People claimed it as. But someone who was definitely from here, the phenomenal was Clark Terry. Yeah, we need a Clark Terry statue in Grand Center. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, absolutely. And then, Zellma Middleton from Louis Armstrong's van. That's an interesting thing. And then there's a whole popular music scene and the hip,

pop and all of that, those kind of stuff. There's artists from all different genres, and who are from St. Louis. So, I mean, it makes sense that it's organized from there. And it kind of puts us in a, and I say, I'm talking about New Orleans. It makes us realize we need to have something that's competitive and even not competitive, but representative,

maybe, is a better word, as the other three major arts institutions that you mentioned are. It's the home. It deserves a home base, for sure. I love the concept of a little bit of healthy competition and helping each other. And I think that you're going to be, and you already are, such a great asset to us here in St. Louis, not just for Jazz, St. Louis, but for the greater arts community. Because you're so well-versed with these other institutions and, like with New Orleans, really, that very unique thing there,

but also your long-time connection with Jazz and Lincoln Center from the very beginning back before, you know, when it was still at Allist's time. Tully and everything back in those days. I was around a little bit then, but I mean, so you saw that grow, but also S.F. Jazz, you played here. You play on the very first concert, you know, as a musician. That alone. Yeah, exactly. A huge sire elite.

Yeah. And then also, you know, as being the first director at the Juilliard jazz program, so the education side, I think that you bring a unique perspective and intelligence about the music from both sides, institutional and as a musician, that is really going to be able to propel this situation to the next level. So I'm super excited to see where it goes. I'm looking forward to it. I have to tell you, of all the things

that are descriptions inside of it, I was really excited to see so much of an educational component inside of Jazz St. Louis. I mean, they were very adamant about wanting somebody with an educational background of an extended period of time.

I think at least eight years is what I remember seeing on the job description. Right. But that's not something that usually is a priority for a job requirement at an arts institution. It might be other things, you know, along the way,

especially in this position, the president and CEO. But I was excited to see that, and I happen to know a lot about education, so I've been in a while. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I mean, there's such a great foundation and a track record. And we've all been, and, you know, Caleb is involved currently on the faculty, on the education side, and we've done many things, and I've been advisor there. But there's a real track record not only with stand-up.

players, you know, like a Nathan Pence and, you know. Jacob Mousha. Jacob Mousha and Scooter Brown and like, you know, really good players that came up in the Jazz You program, but also just really excited, well-rounded, you know, culturally diverse students of the music. They may not go on, you know, to jazz super-starter, but they have an appreciation for the music. They're going to go on to be directors or band directors or have nothing to do with jazz but still

be connected with it. And in a city that has traditionally been one of the most segregated cities in the country and doesn't have some of the advantages in New Orleans where there's sort of that cross-pollination that's built in, although as we know, New Orleans has its own problems too. But in St. Louis, Jazz, St. Louis, and the Jazz U program in particular, I felt it's done a great job of bringing together students from East St. Louis, from U.C. City, from West County, from all these different places under the auspicious of not competing. Because kids will get together in a football game

in an adversarial standpoint. But how many situations are there from kids from actual different social economic backgrounds in different parts of the city come together to make music, to learn about music? It's a really special way. What about our shared cultural heritage here? You mentioned the history and the musicians who are from here.

It's great that kids who are from here get to learn about the musicians that are from here. It's amazing. Yeah. And the one thing for me coming in is I'm not trying to change and I'm not going to change anything in the beginning of this to be asked, which I want to hear what's already here.

Because I know that to survive for 26, 27 years, that's a pretty good foundation. There was something in place already. So the question now is, what exists to date that allows me to build upon? It's like having a good five-story house that you decide you want to make 10-story or even a high-rise for that matter.

You review what's already here, and then you see how you strengthen the foundation so that you can build it up with. And that's really what I'm trying to learn now. I'm in a study mode, more or less, not only about the position, but the community and walking around and kind of talking to people as they're willing to have a dialogue and learn about the city and learn about downtown, learn about all the things that are here. The great things and the challenging things because those become energetic things that make, you know, things go around, so to speak. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah.

Yeah. So how do you see the future of, you know, as you're learning about kind of where it's come from and kind of knowing where it is, what do you see, have you had enough time to kind of see a vision in terms of like where you see this going? Are you modeling that off of your experiences with Jazz and Lincoln Center? Like how does all that go into your thinking about what's happening here? Well, I certainly want to utilize the experiences that I've taken from Jazz and Lincoln Center. but I'm in no way trying to parallel to make it a Jazz at Lincoln Center because it's St. Louis.

It's J.S. St. Louis. It has its own identity. It's just like somebody said, well, we could do a New Orleans show. I said, but we can do a St. Louis show. We don't have to do a New Orleans show. We can do a St. Louis show. So I want to take those things that I've learned.

But I remember one of the key questions that somebody asked me from the search firm, as I was considering this whole process, the gentleman said, jazz St. Louis is known around the world, but it's not world renown. So I'd like to work on exploring and putting into motion how we can make Jazz St. Louis world renown. Now I have some ideas that I can't necessarily put out there quite yet.

Can we get a scoop here? Because they take money. For our first listener who contributes to our... We got rich listeners. We got rich listeners. Come on. You give us a scoop. So if you put... But we have some ideas about what we can do because what we got...

to do is try to get the news outside of this area. I mean, many people I've spoken to thought that sometimes St. Louis is more of an insular type of town. It kind of keeps us rish inside of it. And the thing I think is a little bit of a challenge is that we have all these great artists come here. Regina Carter was there. At the beginning of the season, we have Stefan Harris going to be in town, AT&M.

Charles. We have Sean Jones coming in. We had Joey coming in. Unfortunately, he passed away. Joy Di Francesco. But all of these great artists coming in town, that's a great thing. They're bringing the riches from other parts of the country in town. But then they're just kind of also taking our riches and leaving.

So we have to find a way for us to go out and get the riches of the world and bring them back in. And I'll leave you with that much of a hint about what I want to do to kind of help us move to the next level. Yeah. Now, that's super interesting because, you know, we're always thinking about, you know, when you're, like, I think that you bring such a fresh perspective, especially now while you're fresh in here. Like once you've been here for a while, it's going to be harder for you.

You're going to be one of us, which is great. But it's like now you can see you've been in all these situations. I mean, I know I think about like, you know, you've come and played with the St. Louis Symphony. So you bring that element, but you work with like, you know,

the Berlin Philharmonic on extended projects and all these different things. And so like you bring that sort of global perspective that I think is needed here. And like we think about like St. Louis. You're right. It can be insular. but like the St. Louis Cardinals aren't insular.

They're not like, you know, we're not world class or we're going for the top. Yeah, we're going to bring in or if they're from here, whatever, we're going to bring it together. But I'm wondering, well, you know, our mutual friends Sam Burko, who the three institutions we talk about, SF Jazz, Jazz and Lincoln Center, Rose Hall, and Jazz St. Louis, he was the acoustics designer at all those, and we also brought him in for this space for some of those same reasons. But I remember him taking me to the side and said, Peter, he's like, what you guys have here in St. Louis is such a unique and special thing. He's like, you know why I came here?

I was like, well, because we've kind of been friends, and I asked him, he's like, yeah, well, I got a lot of projects I'm working on. But instead, I really believe, especially in this grand center area between Jazz St. Louis, the symphony here, what we're trying to do. And so I think for us to be able to leverage that kind of world-class talent and bring it in is a great thing and a great reminder to us that what we have is something, you know, really special here. Right. And this has been great as I've gotten to town.

so many people have reached out to introduce themselves to meet presidents of different organizations, CEO positions, artistic directors from St. Louis Symphony, St. Louis Opera, the Cranzburg, everybody. So I'm looking forward to meet more and more of them, but I'm looking forward to see how we can also collaborate because we should collaborate outside of St. Louis, but we can collaborate inside of St. Louis. That's great. You know, we can maximize what we have here and put our audiences together. Right. You know, again, we're not competing against each other. We're actually all on the same team because while each organization might have their part of the pot as big,

in terms of the population of people in St. Louis, we're small, so we have to be together. We have to be working together all the time. Yeah. When I think some, you know, we've seen some things that I think we need to do a better job and we'll definitely do it here on the pod and, you know, in trumpeting, if you will, or saxophoning, in honor of our guests. But, you know, examples that have been really successful, you know, jazz St. Louis and Opera Theater of St. Louis. Teres Blanche. With Terrence, his first, well, the first opera, like, that wouldn't have probably happened

had somebody not stepped up. And you could say, well, somebody else would have done it, but it's like, but we're the ones who did it actually. And so, and then it goes to the Met, and everybody talks about that, but that was born right here. That's right. And so there's definitely the talent here and there's the opportunity. So it's going to be fun to see where you take it.

We'll try to come up with some transformational ideas, as they said, that will help to expand the perspective of St. Louis and Jazz St. Louis inside the U.S., but also around the world. I think it should be world-renowned, just like Jazz at Lincoln Center has, and Winton, has done a magnificent job of making Jazz at Lincoln Center a world-renowned place. As if Jazz has done the same thing. Now we have to make sure that we at St. Louis, and that takes all of us. It's not just those inside of Jazz St. Louis, but the entire community do what we can

to elevate Jazz St. Louis because, as they say, a rising tide raises all ships. So we want to make sure that everybody is rising at the same time. And we want to make sure that the local musicians, which is a term that I hate, there's a better term that we can use. Those who, how did Bob decide to use it? But those who live here as opposed to those who reside here, because local, for some people, brings upon a negative output in other ways.

Right. You know, but people who have that world experience in bringing it back, it's important that they get to put that on display in St. Louis as well. I mean... Well, it's like in New York. Nobody minds being called a local musician in New York.

Oh, you're a local Broadway musician. You're a local Lincoln Center musician. Yeah. Well, that's great. All right, so I'm going to... We're going to go take a sharp left turn. I got a little surprise for you. Okay.

Okay, uh-oh, here we go. If you've known each other for a while, I've got to dig deep to find surprises. All right, go for it. Okay. Taylor, you got the Kill Switch ready to go? Okay. So this is something that I remember seeing,

and I think I texted you about this, so it might not be a total surprise. And I know you have an incredible memory, but are you familiar with this video? I'm just going to play it for you. I mean, of course you were there, but. Full selling.

Oh, man. The first thing about the problem is, another. Obviously, you probably didn't think you were being filmed at this point. You got that right. I love your look. It's kind of like, am I just gonna be sitting here? Am I gonna play it?

I don't, is it time for lunch? What's happening? Is that one and a half million? Yeah, well, this is what I was gonna say. Okay, so this is one of the most viewed jazz videos. Happy birthday? Yes, happy birthday. Went Marsalis and look, I got it.

I got a fast forward. Oh boy. Okay, so obviously it's killing, like the time is there, the intonation, Witton's playing, you play some nice improv after this, but it's also the kind of thing like, you know, anytime you get up to play, you're going to play at this level. But for whatever reason, this has a one and a half million views. So my question is, first of all, did you know that? And do you have an explanation for that?

It has one and a half million views because this probably was the last time you saw me in jeans and a t-shirt. You're right. I didn't know it was going to be, well, I wasn't even supposed to do anything with him. I used to always go and check out his workshops. So while I was there, he said, hey, you want a class? Sure, I'll play. So I'm sitting now in lounging. And even as we were doing it, I didn't see the camera.

Right. But we just happened to be doing it. And, you know, he asked me to be a part of it. So I was there. But one and a half million, I had no idea that had that many hits. Well, let me just jump. head because it's really killing what you guys are. I didn't mean to minimize it by saying I've heard you guys do this all the time, but that's more of a testament to just you stay at a high

level, but I want to. So it's not just your regular happy birthday. But it's like, man, a little side note for students out there, anybody who wants to learn about time, check out Victor Gowin's left foot. That's like a master class in how to just keep perfect, relaxed time with your, with your Reeboks there. You know, that comes from Tony Williams. You know, he's always play his hi-hat on every beat and he would shift from left to right i remember watch a vsop when went to bramphill in the band yeah yeah so okay now since you didn't know about that you probably don't know about this oh boy did i dress it better well check this out this this video only has 400 000 views but it's it's called this i don't know if you know rick biato but he's one of

the really i mean he's got three three million subscribers he's a big he's not a jazz he's just a music talking about music. And this is what he says is the greatest favorite. Hey, everybody, Emrik Biotto. So a lot of people ask me, what is your favorite, what kind of videos are your favorite YouTube videos to watch? Or even more oftenly asked, what's your favorite music YouTube video?

And I thought, oh, that's easy. It's actually a video that my friend Pat sent to me on my birthday years ago. And it was a video that got uploaded to YouTube way back in 2008. It's from 2007. And there's just two people playing. But no question.

Every time I put this on, it puts me in a great mood. And I don't typically like happy music. I like really, you know, music that's intense. But this is very happy music. Matter of fact, the title of this song starts with the word happy. So let me set up this video. There are two players, just a trumpet player and a saxophone player. And there are...

This side note, I love how he acts like you guys chore. I love how your tone is starting like, why just happened to be, you know, let me set the tone. Right, right. It's a movie set. Playing a song that you all know. This video is recorded in 2007, put on YouTube 2008. Check it out. You've heard this song before?

You've already heard this song? This is Whitney Marcellus on the trumpet. Now Victor's going to play the melody. And Victor is going to play the melody. Victor's going to play the melody and he's going to improvise around. Start to be flat. That's what was missing. Yeah, he's missing guitar.

Right. The internet is a fun place. And I definitely didn't know about that one. It's a silly place, the internet. I'm pretty sure you weren't thinking about the changes in the same way he's about it either. Could you imagine showing your 2007 self this whole phenomenon? But I think it is like, you know, this. And then now there's going to be this video.

of that video. Yeah, yeah. We're analyzing. We're getting your reaction to someone else reaction. We tell that Pascal's triangle in Massachusetts. Ten years from now, we're going to have to make a, Caleb's going to make a video of this video. All right, well, cool.

I got to surprise you a little bit. Yeah, yeah. You were jumping out of your seat. You were still relaxed about it. Well, Victor, thank you so much for being here. And again, welcome to St. Louis. And I couldn't be happier. We couldn't be happier that you're part of the St.

Louis musical family. You already were part of the same. musical family. Yeah, we had spent enough time here to be maybe a little bit, but now, you know, I'm a little bit more than my colleagues when they come in. We'll have to have some great St. Louis food for them when they come in town. No New Orleans food. We've done gumbo everywhere else, but we'll do some barbecue and some other things,

some fried ravioli, I'm told her. Ah, toast ravioli. You've got to have them up, right? Yeah, some things like that for where they come in town. But it's great to be here. Thanks for the welcome, and thanks for having me on the show. Absolutely. Thank you.

All right.