Rhythm Changes Podcast

Fredrik Ljungkvist joins me during his residency at the 2026 Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Fredrik is a Swedish saxophonist who has played with Talking Pictures and other ensembles already at the festival. He is the featured artist with Dean Thiessen's Stranger Friends Orchestra (of which I'm a member) tonight at Performance Works. Become a member for free today at rhythmchanges.ca . You'...

Wendy Eisenberg joins me (Will) for a conversation in front of a live audience at Tom Lee Music Hall, downtown Vancouver, recorded on June 30th, 2026 as part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Later in the episode, Wendy sings and plays a song, and we take a couple audience questions. Wendy is one of my favourite artists active today. Their new self-titled album is out now. Their big sh...

John Lee joins the show between his two nights at Frankie's Jazz Club at the end of February. He talks about playing organ, how he developed a personal language on multiple instruments, the positions of learning music in different generations, and hosting educational drop-in sessions in his home city of Victoria. John grew up in Nanaimo and is known for his prowess on four rhythm-section instrumen...

Mike Rud comes through town to play Frankie's Jazz Club (last Friday, Feb. 20) and talks about guitars, teaching at Selkirk College, studying with Jim Hall, the sources of the stories you tell in your artistic projects, and more. Mike is a guitarist and composer-bandleader who won a Juno Award in 2014 for his album Notes on Montréal, featuring Sienna Dahlen. His latest album is The Paranormal Adve...

Ron Samworth talks about "fearless" artistry and "playing for the song", drawing on a lifetime of creativity, improvisation, hangs, and initiatives. Ron is a guitarist who has played on the Vancouver scene since 1979. He is known for playing in many groups from Talking Pictures (going back through the 90s) to Electric Miles (active today), his long tenure in John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra, a...

Harry Bartlett talks about the left hand versus the right on guitar, bluegrass, jazz, and more. Harry is a Nashville-based guitarist originally from BC who has also spent time in Toronto. Harry is playing an early show at Tyrant Sudios on Friday, November 21st with his Mountain Air project , featuring Evan Snoey and James Meger. His latest release is Ontario , a solo guitar EP. Become a member for...

Jason Winikoff talks about Broadway songs, Zambian music, and more. Jason is a percussionist and ethnomusicologist known for playing in trad-jazz scenes and other music traditions. He first came to Vancouver from the U.S. in 2018 but moved back stateside earlier this year. Jason recently played the annual Rocky Horror Music Show and has upcoming shows while in town at Guilt & Co. on Wednesday,...

On the Rhythm Changes Podcast, Nick Peck talks about coming from England to BC, machine learning and the textures and forms that technology produces in collision with the arts, and guitars versus keyboards. Nick is an English composer, pianist, and computer programmer among other things. He is known on the scene for playing in bands with Len Aruliah, Jared Burrows, Nick Hempton, and more diverse a...

Bill Coon talks about his solo guitar album Standard Elegance releasing on Cellar Music October 3rd, the nature of music education, learning from Jim Hall, playing at O'Doul's, and what it means to be happy but not satisfied with your artistic work. Bill is one of our scene's long-tenured and treasured guitarists, known for his playing in groups like Triology with Miles Black and Jodi Proznick, wh...

Ardeshir Pourkeramati talks about meeting your heroes, staying hungry to learn more from mentors and friends in the music, practicing, confronting the raw truth of your playing by recording yourself, stories from coming up in the 2010s scene, and studying at the University of Oregon and the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. Ardeshir plays tonight (Saturday, Sep. 6) at F...

Trent Otter talks about his busy session playing lifestyle, bandleading, the battle of music labour versus streaming, gear, moving from teaching lessons toward full-time playing, and the nuances of how you start to enjoy playing when you're young. Trent is a drummer with an unmatched work ethic in our generation on the scene. Some bands he plays in are Bungalow, Meridian, John Korsrud's Absolute U...

Cole Schmidt talks about the upcoming 40th Vancouver International Jazz Festival presented by the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, where he is the co-artistic director. Cole is a guitarist and composer who is an absolute mainstay of our scene and has been for many years now. To say that Cole has a full plate at any given time is a gross understatement. His project with Peggy Lee, Forever Stories Of...

Jessica Hawkes talks about the Nashville songwriting scene and her perspective on that world coming from a jazz background. Jess is a vocalist, songwriter, producer, and engineer who goes way back with me to formative years at CapU. Originally from Lake Country, BC, she has split her time between Vancouver, New York City, and Nashville. Become a member for free today at rhythmchanges.ca . You'll g...

Dean Thiessen talks about his Stranger Friends Orchestra (I'm a band member) and their upcoming performance at the Fox Cabaret on May 31 presented by Infidels Jazz. The large ensemble will celebrate the release of a live EP that weekend on the Infidels Jazz label. Dean is a pianist and composer from Alberta who has been active in Vancouver as a working musician and composer-bandleader for over a d...

Biboye Onanuga talks about his latest of what is now several trips to Vancouver from Edmonton, and the different flavours inspiring him as he goes about his creative life today, from the literally food-based to the musical. He played two Infidels Jazz shows this weekend: one at the VIFF Centre playing the music of Thelonious Monk, and the other at Frankie's After Dark with his quartet, billed as "...

Shruti Ramani talks about her Juno nomination at the 54th awards taking place in Vancouver this weekend, for her band Raagaverse's album Jaya in the Jazz Album of the Year - Group category. Raagaverse consists of Shruti as the vocalist-bandleader and the composer of most tracks on Jaya , Noah Franche-Nolan as the pianist and co-arranger, Jodi Proznick on bass, and Nicholas Bracewell on drums. Jaya...

Ben Frost talks about the nature of composition, some anonymized tales of difficulty on the bandstand, and being a side musician versus a leader. This is Ben's second appearance on the show, the previous one having been hosted back in December 2022 by Will Chernoff . Ben and I will play together as a duo at Is That French? next Thursday, March 27; at the UNIT/PITT Society with Miles Wong on drums...

The entire Montreal-based band Bellbird sits down for our only 5-person episode ever! Reedists Claire Devlin and Allison Burik join Eli Davidovici and Mili Hong, who were influential on the Vancouver scene while they were based here and previously appeared on Will Chernoff's edition of the podcast as a duo . The members variously played four Infidels Jazz shows last week, including Jazz at the Bol...

Jacob Wutzke talks about his new album You Better Bet , which showcases his compositions alongside several Tony Williams tunes, and his first tour as a bandleader surrounding the album. After two performances here in Vancouver, Jacob continues on to Portland, Oregon and then to Edmonton and his native Calgary ( tour date info here on his website ). He studied drums at Humber in Toronto for his und...

Kevin Romain talks about his longtime creative residence in our local scene including a solo drum record called Autopoietic 1 forthcoming on the Infidels Jazz label, his band Salience Network, and much more. Raised in Windsor, Ontario, Kevin brings DIY values and "unapologetic" advocacy – as well as coffee roasting and brewing skills at his own initiatives over the years, like the Coffee Bus and G...

Jodi Proznick talks about becoming the Director of Jazz Studies at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music and her work there spanning more than a decade, her values as an educator, and her musical history where she has been one of Canada's most prominent jazz bassists since the 2000s. Jodi's current ensembles include the Ostara Project, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson and sGaanaGwa, O Come...

Jason Winikoff talks about playing drums and percussion in the Vancouver scene since his arrival in 2018 from the US, though he is now on the cusp of returning to the states. Jason came here to study at UBC after moving from New Jersey to New Orleans to Boston. He is known for leading his Hot Five, Crescent, and Postcards from Zambia ensembles, for playing widely in trad-jazz and dance music, and...

Chelsea McBride & Thomas Houlden talk about their experiences in grad school, the multitudes of musical identity, and developing a unique compositional style. We also discuss our favourite underrated Christmas songs. Become a member for free today at rhythmchanges.ca . You'll get the free weekly email with upcoming events from the gig list, plus artists, events, or recordings for you to enjoy...

David Sikula talks about guitars, illegal busking in Rome, and outdated recording formats. Dave is one of Vancouver’s premier jazz guitarists and one of the most in-demand audio engineers in the city. Dave has played with artists like Brian Charette, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Cory Weeds, The Inhabitants, and the Nightcrawlers. He is well-known for recording out of Demitone Studios, where he sat down for t...

John Gross talks about his origins in music, including the first time he heard Charlie Parker, and his long career playing with Shelly Manne, Oliver Nelson, Clare Fischer: just the tip of the iceberg. John is a saxophonist originally from Los Angeles who lived in Portland, Oregon from 1990 to 2016, after which he moved to Vancouver. He shares his thoughts on the artistic process, the duty you have...