Love That Album podcast Episode 118 - Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues Interview Special

I love a music festival. It had been a long while since I last went to one, so a few months back I decided to book a weekend away at the Victorian rural town of Wangaratta and attend their annual Festival of Jazz And Blues. I’d promised myself that I’d attend the fest years ago…this year I finally did it.

“But hey”, I thought to myself, “why not incorporate the podcast into the weekend????” With the approval of the festival PR, I was granted media access and was allowed to approach musicians for interviews.

Welcome to episode 118 of Love That Album podcast.

The beauty of a festival is you can wander from stage to stage and take risks with seeing performers you’d never heard before as well as long time favourites. So it is for the show, I approached 4 musicians - two drummers I’d long been a fan of and two guitarists I only became aware of as a result of the festival. All were wonderful musically and as interview subjects.

Drummers Anthony Shortte (formerly of Collard Greens and Gravy, currently of Opelousas), and David Jones (Pyramid, Atmasphere, Peter Cupples Band, Third Ear and many others) are very different stylistically, but I’m a huge fan of them both and they told great stories of their passion for their music and how they approach their playing.

Guitarists Alex Stuart and Ben Hauptmann were new to me. Both graduated from ANU in Canberra, but both take a different approach to their composition and arrangement. In each case though, their music tells stories of their experiences and responses to those experiences. Their recorded work and their live performances were highlights of the festival.

Regardless of whether you know these musicians or their work (or even care for jazz and blues music), if you like hearing about creativity and how life inspires one's art, you’ll (hopefully) enjoy these discussions. I feel privileged to have been a part of them.

You can download the podcast from Spotify, iTunes (search for “Love That Album podcast”) or from the website at http://lovethatalbum.blogspot.com.

You can follow the artists via these means:

Opelousas: https://www.facebook.com/Opelousas-Band-428336044323888/

Alex Stuart: http://www.alex-stuart.com/

Ben Hauptmann: http://benhauptmann.com/

David Jones: https://davidjonesdrums.com/

Send the show feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum.

If you’d consider writing an iTunes review or recommending the show to a friend, I’d be immensely grateful.

Right click to download episode 118 here.