Go with Elmo Lovano

Episode 93: Christian McBride Part 2. He's back! Nine-time GRAMMY winner Christian McBride returns for Part 2 of our conversation. In this episode we pick up where he becomes a bandleader and makes his first album. From there we cover his journey through leadership, creativity, and legacy. We talk about his work with Chick Corea, his solo albums, and the moments that earned him nine GRAMMY Awards....

Episode 92: Joe Lovano. Joe Lovano is one of the greatest musicians of all time. A Grammy-winning saxophonist who's been on the cover of DownBeat magazine multiple times (as well as many others), a Blue Note Records legend with 25 releases, a Berklee alum, and he holds the Gary Burton Chair in Jazz Performance at Berklee College of Music, which he’s had since 2001. He also happens to be my cousin...

Episode 91: Christian McBride. Nine-time GRAMMY winner Christian McBride is one of the most influential jazz artists in the game. His collaborations span icons like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, James Brown, and Sting. He’s the leader of multiple acclaimed bands including the Christian McBride Big Band, Inside Straight, and New Jawn. He also serves as the host of NPR’s Jazz Night in Am...

Episode 90: Chance the Rapper. Chance the Rapper is one of the biggest independent artists in the history of music. He’s a multiple GRAMMY winner, including Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Performance. He’s hosted Saturday Night Live twice, been the musical guest three times, headlined the world’s biggest festivals, and done it all without a record label. He’s the definition of a cre...

Steve Ferrone: The Legendary Drummer Behind Tom Petty, Average White Band, Eric Clapton, Duran Duran Episode 89: Steve Ferrone. A nearly 3 hour deep dive with one of the greatest groove drummers of all time, Steve Ferrone. He joined Average White Band after the passing of their original drummer and went on to create “School Boy Crush,” one of the most sampled grooves in hip-hop history. From there...

Antonio Sánchez: Drumming Legend, Birdman Composer, Pat Metheny Group, The Studio, 4 GRAMMYs, Emmy Episode 88: Antonio Sánchez. Antonio is one of the most celebrated drummers and composers of our time. From shaping the sound of the Pat Metheny Group, to scoring Alejandro Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning film Birdman, to composing for Apple TV+’s The Studio, Antonio has pushed the boundaries of what a drum...

Episode 87: Daya At 16 years old, still in high school, Daya dropped “Hide Away” with no label, no team, no social following. Just a song she believed in. It exploded, racked up hundreds of millions of streams, and suddenly she was on the radio while still in class. She followed it with “Sit Still, Look Pretty,” then connected with The Chainsmokers to record “Don’t Let Me Down,” one of the biggest...

Episode 86: Travie McCoy. You likely know Travie as the lead singer of Gym Class Heroes, the multi-platinum genre bending band behind a generation of hits. His first solo single, Billionaire featuring Bruno Mars, was the track that launched Bruno into stardom. He’s also collaborated with Sia, Ryan Tedder, Adam Levine, Tyga, and many more. Now, 20 years after the release of The Papercut Chronicles,...

Episode 85: Miles Bonham. Known to millions online as Miles Music Kid, Miles Bonham has become one of the youngest and most talked-about musical prodigies on Instagram. His videos have gone viral around the world, showcasing his natural talent, creativity, and unique ear for music at such a young age. He is one of the most followed under-10-year-olds in the world, and already, at just 9 years old,...

Episode 84: Dave Weckl One of the most influential drummers of all time, today’s guest is the legend, Dave Weckl. From his legendary years with Chick Corea’s Elektric Band and Akoustic Band to his groundbreaking solo debut Master Plan, to his session work with Simon & Garfunkel, Nile Rodgers, George Benson, Mike Stern, Robert Plant, Madonna, and more, his drumming has defined modern fusion and ins...

Episode 83: Narada Michael Walden Part 2 At this point in the story, Narada has gone from a jazz fusion drummer with Mahavishnu Orchestra, to a major label solo artist with hits, to a Grammy-winning producer with Aretha Franklin. And now... Whitney Houston enters the picture. We kick off this episode with the moment Narada and Whitney's journey starts together. He gets a call from Arista A&R exec...

Episode 82: Narada Michael Walden. He went from being the drummer of Mahavishnu Orchestra and landing the cover of Modern Drummer Magazine, to producing Whitney Houston’s biggest hits and winning the GRAMMY for Producer of the Year. This interview is the epic journey of Narada Michael Walden. I loved this conversation so much. Narada’s positive, creative energy jumps out at you immediately. We go...

Episode 81: Kevin Lyman. The Vans Warped Tour is the longest-running touring music festival in North America, drawing over 750,000 fans every summer at its peak. And it all started with one guy — Kevin Lyman. In this episode, we sit down in person with the man who turned parking lots into punk rock playgrounds, helped break some of the biggest names in music, and built a generation-defining cultur...

Episode 80: Mike Caren. If you’re in the music industry, you hear the name Mike Caren all the time. He’s one of the most powerful people in music, with a career that’s led to billions of streams, multiple GRAMMY wins, and chart-topping, career-defining hits as both an A&R and executive. He’s signed and/or helped break artists like Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, Ed Sheeran, Kehlani, YoungBoy Never Broke...

Episode 79. Omar Hakim, Part 2! We’re back with the drumming legend Omar Hakim and pick up right where we left off in Part 1. We start with the wild story of how he met Sting while recording Brothers In Arms with Dire Straits… ON AN ISLAND. This story blows my mind. From there, we continue through his career with Sting, Miles Davis, Madonna, and the crazy story of making the Daft Punk hit "Get Luc...

Episode 78: Omar Hakim. Today on the pod we’ve got one of the most recorded drummers of all time. The legendary Omar Hakim! We went deep for over 2 hours, and unlocked SO MUCH GOLD, so we’re releasing this conversation in two parts. In Part 1, Omar shares the stories behind some of his most iconic recordings, including his legendary session with David Bowie on Let’s Dance, his deep musical relatio...

Episode 77: Steve Smith. The incredible, multi-faceted, Steve Smith was one of my favorite drummers growing up. His playing with Journey blew me mind, and the fact that he had a full-on jazz career alongside his rock success made him even more inspiring to me. Steve made Modern Drummer’s Top 25 Drummers of All Time list and won the #1 All-Around Drummer Award five years in a row. His credits are s...

Episode 76: Jerrod "J-Rod" Sullivan. If you're a drummer, chances are you've seen J-Rod pop up in your feed. He's one of the most exciting drummers to watch, and now he’s holding down the drum chair for Janet Jackson. From uploading his first drum video to YouTube back in 2006 to building an audience of over 700,000 followers, J-Rod is living proof that consistency and passion pay off. We get into...

Thomas Lang: Drum God Mode, Practice Secrets, Clinics, Social Media Trends with guest Luke Holland! Episode 75: Thomas Lang. Thomas Lang is one of the best drummers of all time. His drive and focused, intentional practice has led to him being one of the most sophisticated drummers, producers, and composers, with the ability to do four-limb separation beyond pretty much anyone else. On top of that...

Episode 74: RedOne. RedOne is one of the most successful producers and songwriters of our time. From Lady Gaga’s Just Dance, Poker Face, and Bad Romance, to J.Lo and Pitbull’s On the Floor, and Nicki Minaj’s Starships — he’s helped shape the sound of modern pop. In this episode, we go deep into RedOne’s story — from being broke in 2008 to producing The Fame with Gaga and changing pop music forever...

One of the best things about being on the road is catching up with friends all over the globe. In today’s episode, we’re in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tonight is the Formula 1 Grand Prix (you know I love F1), and headlining it is J.Lo! I got to catch up with my longtime friends Charles Streeter, Brandon Brown aka Pastor Funk, and Javad Day. Streeter has been J.Lo’s drummer for many years. Pastor Funk i...

Ash Soan is one of the most sought after session drummers in Britain, who has worked with the likes of Adele, Taylor Swift, Seal, Billy Idol, Tate McRae and so many more. Ash's 5th gig was Woodstock '94 with the band, Del Amitri and then went on to support Van Halen (which was my first concert) and Bon Jovi. Recently, Ash has been touring with Snow Patrol and Tori Amos. Ash has also been collabora...

Tom Stingemore is one of the most knowledgeable minds in music sync licensing. He was President of Sync at Hipgnosis, the multi-billion dollar music catalog fund that owns thousands of No. 1 songs. Before that, he was SVP of Sync at BMG and Creative Director of Sync at Universal Music Group. In this episode, we link up in London to talk about Tom’s new company, Alloy, and his mission to fix one of...

Welcome to the first episode of our new On The Go podcast series — stripped down, run-and-gun, recorded in different cities around the world, and still packed with all the good stuff: behind-the-scenes stories, insights, lessons learned, and more. I’m traveling right now and wanted to keep the podcast conversations going, so here’s what we’ve got for you. For this one, I caught up with my friend D...

Episode 73: Keyon Harrold. Everywhere I turn, I see Keyon Harrold. He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest trumpeters alive today, pushing the new jazz generation forward with power and soul. His solo album Foreverland was GRAMMY-nominated this year for Best Alternative Jazz Album, and his resume is stacked — Jay-Z, Common, Erykah Badu, Diana Ross, Mac Miller, Robert Glasper, the Count Basie O...