New York
New York was busy. It started with an interview with Tim Ries, a jazz musician and educator based in New Jersey who braved the snow to come and meet us at a small jazz venue in Manhattan, the Jazz Gallery. It was great to hear from someone with so much to say both about his fascinating musical career and his outlook on ‘the business’. The next few interviews then gave us the chance to compare Tim’s perspective with those of Mexican jazz singer Magos Herrera, who shared her insights on making it as a woman in the music industry, Oran Etkin, a young jazz artist originally from Israel who spoke with enthusiasm of the new system he has developed for teaching children music, and Fabian Almazan, a chilled-out Cuban pianist with a refreshing disregard for ‘genre boundaries’.
What struck me the most about all these musicians, as well as their very friendly manner and willingness to share, was how articulately they expressed themselves about it all. We have come to the conclusion that the fact that most of them are also teachers probably has a certain bearing on their success; at least one interviewee has commented on the great musical improvement that comes with imparting knowledge, since it forces a musician to make sure that he or she has a solid and integral grounding. But I also think their experience of teaching others makes them that much more expert at talking to us about their music. None of them hesitate too much before replying to questions, as if all the answers have already been lying unformulated under the surface for a long while, waiting to be put into words.
Our visit to New York also included a tour of Williamsburg’s once popular music venues, most of which have sadly closed down as part of Brooklyn’s evolution, from Ben Dorenfeld, a music producer for Grey Advertising. I was amazed with how much this guy knew, how he seamlessly guided us through various neighbourhoods as if he would have known the way with his eyes shut.
New York also offered one of the newest experiences I’ve ever had when we attended a service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The award-winning gospel choir absolutely lived up to the hype, but it was also the warm, friendly, convivial atmosphere that made it such a worthwhile trip. The Pastor instructed the ‘newbies’ to hug a couple of regular attendees, who beamed smiles and opened their arms. I went away from that with the impression that everybody should experience something like it, to venture into an unfamiliar place and see first-hand what others believe and how they believe it, without it mattering whether or not you will be back again.
Our stay in New York ended abruptly with the threat of an impending blizzard. With weather forecasters predicting the worst snowstorm in a generation, we decided to leave the city a night early to reach Philadelphia before it hit. This prediction, though, turned out to be notoriously overestimated, and we got just the faintest smattering of snow when we got to Philly.
