Brave Musician

In this episode, Monica talks and plays with NY saxophonist and flutist Jenny Hill. They talk about being in the same Chamber Music America Performance Plus grant cohort in 2023 and how they executed their projects. Jenny's resulted in her latest album, Floating, which featuring all her original compositions. They discuss Jenny's brave decision to transfer schools in college, moving to NY after gr...

In this episode, Monica talks and plays with Brooklyn-based trombonist, writer, bandleader, and vocalist, Ginita (Benalcázar-López). We covered so many topics, including mentorship and breaking into a scene, reframing neurodivergent distractions as something to embrace rather than shame, how everything we do serves the art, and having some audacity to reach for the things we want. We also talked a...

In this episode, Monica talks and plays with Lisa Parrott, a saxophonist, composer, and bandleader based in New York City, about how much we both love Ornette Coleman - she has a band called "We love Ornette!" - and how we each incorporated his "Harmolodics" concept into our playing and approaches. Lisa talks about growing up in Australia, and practicing with other people, while also being somewha...

In this episode, which is episode 6 in the Creative Residency series where Monica talks and plays saxophone with fellow jazz instrumentalist bandleaders who are women, Monica speaks with Marta Sánchez, a pianist, composer, bandleader based in New York City.   https://www.martasanchezmusic.com https://www.instagram.com/martasanchezpiano This series is made possible by the Jazz Road Creative Residen...

In this episode, which is episode 5 in the Creative Residency series where Monica talks and plays saxophone with fellow jazz instrumentalist bandleaders who are women, Monica speaks with Arcoiris Sandoval, a pianist, composer, and bandleader based in New York City.   https://www.instagram.com/arcopolo/ This series is made possible by the Jazz Road Creative Residency grant organized by South Arts w...

In this episode, Monica reflects on her time in New Orleans for the first part of her Creative Residency.  This series is made possible by the Jazz Road Creative Residency grant organized by South Arts with support from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. ___ Brave Musician® is a space for all musicians to share their stories and talk about what it means to be a human making music...

In this episode, which is episode 3 in the Creative Residency series where Monica talks and plays saxophone with fellow jazz instrumentalist bandleaders who are women, Monica speaks with Zahria Sims, a saxophonist, composer, and bandleader based in New Orleans.   This series is made possible by the Jazz Road Creative Residency grant organized by South Arts with support from the Doris Duke Foundati...

In this episode, which is episode 2 in the Creative Residency series where Monica talks and plays with fellow jazz instrumentalist bandleaders who are women, Monica speaks Amina Scott, a bassist and composer based in New Orleans.   This series is made possible by the Jazz Road Creative Residency grant organized by South Arts with support from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.  ...

The podcast has returned! In this episode, Monica shares what she's been up to since the last episode and talks about the creative residency series, "Here, There, and Everywhere" where she talks and plays with 18 fellow jazz instrumentalist bandleaders who are women. This series is made possible by the Jazz Road Creative Residency grant organized by South Arts with support from the Doris Duke Foun...

In this episode, Monica and Quez Cantrell ( an artist, MC, producer, and web designer from Nashville, TN) continue their conversation where they left off in Part 1. They dig into their personal experiences with isolation, emotional incarceration, self-guilt, forgiving, and moving through deeply painful experiences. They talk about reading and sharing books they have found helpful and figuring out...

In this episode, which is part one of a two-part series, Monica has a profoundly honest and deeply vulnerable conversation with Quez Cantrell, an artist, MC, producer, and web designer from Nashville, TN. They talk about how they met (it all started with an NPR article about the Nashville Hip Hop scene that came out during the pandemic) and Quez's unconventional journey that led him to put his bru...

In this episode Monica is joined by drummers Matt Crouse (from Nashville, TN) and Zack Albetta (from Atlanta, GA) who are the hosts of The Working Drummer podcast. They talk about some of the challenges and rewards of producing a podcast, the story of how Matt and Zack started working together and what they each bring to the table. They share how they both enjoy talking about making a living playi...

In this episode,  Monica chats with singer and songwriter, Chelcie Jette about her journey as a songwriter, how she ended up in Nashville after graduating with a degree in music business from Berkeley, and all of the different odd jobs that she has done. They talk about being inspired by others, learning from co-writing, researching and finding sounds that resonate. Chelcie shares her songwriting...

In this episode, Monica has an inspiring conversation with Ashley Shabankareh - a musician, musician educator, and administrator based in New Orleans. Ashley is a trombonist, vocalist, the Director of Operations and Programs for the Trombone Shorty Foundation, works with a wide variety of organizations, teaches at Loyola University, and is an artist, costume maker and dancer. Monica and Ashley tal...

In this episode, Monica has a conversation with pianist, vocalist, and composer Rachel Eckroth about the process of creating, including composing, songwriting, collaborating with other musicians, and production. They talk about  expressing yourself through lyrics, working with synths verses acoustic instruments, how to decide what to keep when faced with limitless possibilities, self-confidence, a...

Welcome back! In this episode, Monica revisits her definition of what it means to be Brave and shares her updated definition and how she arrived at it (hint: with a little help from Glennon Doyle, Martha Beck and Brene' Brown.) Monica offers three "easy" ways to get started connecting with ourselves in integrity and some further reflections about what it could mean as a Brave musician.  __________...

In this episode, Monica is joined by Tanner Guss, a drummer and podcaster from New Orleans to discuss being a musician, the value of mentors, joys and struggles of creating a podcast, jam sessions, playing with people and forming relationships with fellow musicians that ultimately make the music better. They share their experiences of moving to a new city and getting into a new scene, the importan...

In this episode, Monica sits down with bandleader, composer and drummer Sofia Janelle to talk about her life, career and the making of her second album. Sofia shares how she started playing drums, how attending Berklee's 5-week summer program in high school and learning under the wing of Esperanza Spalding and spending time in Boston affected her. She shares her experiences while a college student...

In this episode, which is part 2 of a 2-part series, Monica continues her conversation with saxophonist Joel Frahm about rebuilding in Nashville, why he chose Nashville, and how they are starting to see things sputtering back to life. They chat about the importance of keeping plugged in and being social, how they both enjoy bouncing ideas off other people, and mitigating negative thought loops. Th...

In this episode, which is part 1 of a 2-part series, Monica sits down with saxophonist Joel Frahm to discuss his musical upbringing, the first jazz LP's he was given, and his early professional gigs and record hunting with pianist Brad Mehldau, and his move to NYC. They talk about the importance of listening, first transcriptions, going through jaw surgery, and have an honest discussion about perf...

In the episode, Monica talks with music teacher, trumpet player, classically-trained singer, and author, Nick Burdick about his book The Practice Habit. They discuss creating an intentional life, coping with severe burnout, the importance of reflection and experimenting with your goals and different sources of influence. They dig into the three different pieces of the book: direct practice, domain...

In this episode, Monica talks with musician, clinician, composer, and Tube Visionary, Bill Muter about creating job security and empowerment in the music industry through diversifying income streams, preparation vs impossible situations, building relationships and bringing what you can to the table. They discuss individual goals with social media, musical resumes, over-producing vs putting out con...

In this episode, Monica sits down with saxophonist, educator and advocate, Jessica Stover to discuss her musical journey from how she got started with music to realizing that teaching music was her passion. She shares how the challenges she has faced being legally blind has inspired her to advocate for herself, her classmates, and her future students. They talk about learning music, both by ear an...

In Part 2, Monica continues where she left off in Part 1, and Bravely discusses her journey and process rebuilding her "profession", her career struggles, goals, and possible solutions. She shares some of the questions that she uses to explore what's going on inside her brain, how she is learning to trust herself again, what she wants to do professionally, and some of the mental blocks that she's...

In this first episode of season 5, Monica talks about this season's theme, which is "Rebuilding"  where we explore how Brave Musician's are overcoming challenges around passion, creation, and music-making opportunities, and talk about how we are rebuilding and reconnecting with our Brave selves musically and personally. Monica shares her personal rebuilding and introduces a new Q&A segment to the...