Follow Your Dream - Music And Much More!

Ara Dinkjian is a master of the oud, an ancient Middle Eastern fretless lute. Ara is of Armenian descent. He and his band, Night Ark, have recorded four CDs and given concerts in 24 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. His compositions have been recorded by various singers in 16 different languages. His composition “Homecoming” was performed at the closing ceremoni...

Ariadne Trujillo Durand is a powerhouse Cuban-born, Grammy nominated, virtuoso pianist and singer, one of the world’s leading Latin Jazz musicians. She began performing at age 14 with Cuba's top symphonic orchestras. She’s worked with Paul Simon, Paquito D’Rivera, Wynton Marsalis and Esperanza Spalding. Her vocal technique ranges from opera to jazz. This past March she released her first solo albu...

Giora Schmidt is a virtuoso American-Israeli violinist. He has appeared as a soloist with many prominent symphony orchestras around the globe including the Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia symphonies and the Toronto, Vancouver and Israel Philharmonics. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He has collaborated with Itzhak P...

Martin Porter and David Goggin are the authors of “Buzz Me In: Inside The Record Plant Studios”, which chronicles the history of the famous Record Plant recording studios. This studio was the hit factory of the 1970s, where Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Prince and many others recorded. In 1976 alone the studio recorded three #1 albums. At the same time the studio was al...

Julian Schwarz is a Grammy nominated cellist. He’s won several competitions. He made his concert debut at 11. He made his U.S. touring debut with the Moscow State Radio Orchestra. He’s toured China as a recitalist. He performs frequently with his wife, pianist Marisa Bournaki. He’s a founding member of the New York touring ensemble “Frisson” and was recently appointed the newest core member of the...

Andrew Gerle and DJ Salisbury are musical theater stars. They operate as a team. They develop the story together. DJ writes the book and Andrew contributes the music and lyrics. And they share thoughts and ideas with each other. Andrew has served as musical director and pianist for Jennifer Holliday, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Leslie Uggams. DJ’s background is as a director and choreographer with o...

Chris Walden is a 7x Grammy nominated, German-born, composer, arranger and conductor. He’s scored more than 40 feature and TV films. He’s written more than 1,500 orchestral and big band arrangements for artists including Michael Buble, Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, SEAL, Stevie Wonder, Rihanna, Barbra Streisand and Josh Groban, and orchestras like the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmo...

Laurence Juber is an extraordinary, Superstar British guitarist and 2x Grammy winner. He played for three years with Paul McCartney in Wings, Paul’s post-Beatles band in the ‘70s and ‘80s. His first project after graduating from college was working with George Martin, the Beatles’ producer, on an album for Cleo Laine. He also worked with Charles Aznavour. He played on the soundtrack of the film “T...

This is a Tribute episode to Allan Sherman, one of the greatest song parodists who ever lived. He emerged from nowhere in the early 1960s to become one of the biggest selling musical artists in the pre-Beatles era. His album, “My Son, The Folksinger”, released in 1962, shot to the top of the charts, and became the fastest selling record of its time. It captured the entire country. His next album,...

Asta Bria is a Lithuanian-born Pop Star and Virtuoso Violinist. She grew up under a Communist regime in Vilnius, Lithuania, only able to catch snippets of Western pop music on the radio. Her journey led her to freedom in the UK after the fall of Communism in Lithuania. My featured song is my reimagined version of “Free” by the band Phish, from the album The PGS Experience by my band Project Grand...

Carl Miller is the author of the book “Backstage Chronicles”, about his long career as a tour manager for Cat Stevens and many others including Ginger Baker, Uriah Heep, Iron Maiden and even the Kirov Ballet. A fascinating discussion of the backstage antics of the rock stars. My featured song is my version of Skip James’ “I’m So Glad” popularized by Cream in the mid-’60s, from the album The PGS Ex...

Claudia Acuna is an exquisite Chilean jazz singer. She is a Latin Grammy Nominee and an npr Tiny Desk Concert artist. She blends South American folk music with Jazz and World Music. She’s collaborated with stars like Branford Marsalis, George Benson, Kenny Barron and Herbie Hancock. She’s released five albums, and was the first Latin American vocalist to be signed by a major record label. My featu...

I call Tracy Silverman “The Jimi Hendrix of the violin”. He’s no ordinary violinist. He plays a 6 string electric violin with loops and pedals and effects. He plays everything from violin concertos to rock, jazz and hip hop, and that included Hendrix and Miles Davis. He’s performed with the jazz group Turtle Island String Quartet, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony, and he’s pla...

This is a Tribute episode to Tom Lehrer, who passed away last week at age 97. For anyone unfamiliar with him and his music, he was a brilliant musical satirist who wrote incredibly clever, interesting and topical songs in the 1950s and 1960s. He was not a full-time musician. His true love was mathematics and he was employed for years as a professor at Harvard and MIT. Periodically, however, he eme...

Juancho Herrera is a World Music star. He’s a Latin Grammy nominated guitarist, producer, singer-songwriter and vocalist. His background is Colombian and Venezuelan. His music combines Latin, world music, jazz, blues, African and electronica. He’s performed in Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, US, Spain, France, Hungary and Venezuela. And at major venues such as the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note and Symp...

Martha Kato is an acclaimed Japanese jazz pianist, composer and arranger. She’s performed at all the major jazz clubs including the Blue Note, Dizzy’s and Smalls. She;s released two celebrated albums. And she’s won a whole bunch of honors and awards. My featured song is “March Of The Diplomats” from the album Trippin by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link . -----------------------------------...

Lucas Richman is a Grammy winning composer and conductor. He’s the Music Director for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and previously for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. His work spans classical music, ballet and opera, film scores and pop music. His film conducting includes “As Good As It Gets” and “The Manchurian Candidate”. As a composer his works have been performed by over two hundred orchestr...

Scott Bernard is a sensational Nashville-based guitarist and vocalist. He’s performed with Kenny Loggins for 17 years as guitarist and background vocalist, and as musical director for the past 7 years. Recently, he’s also appeared with Kansas, the classic rock band, And he’s deep into Christian music too. My featured song is “Ma Petite Fleur” from the album Spring Dance by my band Project Grand Sl...

Magos Herrera is the extraordinary 2x Grammy nominated Mexican jazz singer-songwriter, activist and educator. She’s known for her vocal improvisation and for combining contemporary jazz with Ibero-American melodies and rhythms. She’s released 11 albums including “Aire” her latest. She’s performed at top venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Montreux Jazz Festival and t...

This is an Encore Presentation of my May 2022 interview with Chuck Rainey, one of the greatest electric bassists of all time and studio musician extraordinaire. He’s played on over a thousand recording sessions resulting in so many hit records. He’s revered for his legendary work in the ‘60s and ‘70s with artists like Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, The Jackson 5, Roberta Flack and Quincy Jones. He t...

Alexa Constantine is an L.A.-based collaborative pianist. She’s the pianist in Take3, the phenomenal classical crossover trio. She’s also a staff pianist at UCLA. And she is the accompanist in the National Trumpet Competition. My featured song is “Stinger” from my 1996 album Prisoners Of Love by The Robert Miller Group. Spotify link . ------------------------------------------ The Follow Your Drea...

Steve Beck is a virtuoso classical pianist known for his brilliant technique and wide-ranging repertoire. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony among others. He’s a regular at the Mostly Mozart Festival and at Bargemusic, where each Christmas Eve he performs Bach’s Goldberg Variations. And he also performs all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in a single day.  My feat...

Marshall Terrill is a celebrated author of more than 30 books covering Hollywood, Sports, Music and Murder. They include biographies of Steve McQueen, Elvis, Johnny Cash, basketball legend “Pistol” Pete Maravich, boxers Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers, and music stars like Ruth Pointer of the Pointer Sisters and Laurence Juber, who played with Paul McCartney in Wings. He’s known as the premier biogr...

THIS SPECIAL EPISODE introduces “WHAT’S UP!”, my new compilation album featuring 10 of my recent singles. The songs run the gamut from instrumentals to a few vocals, and they cross genres from Jazz to Rock to Pop and Fusion.  This episode features excerpts from the songs. “Rough Rider” captures a cool, 1960s, Spaghetti Western kind of vibe. You can almost picture Clint Eastwood giving it to the ba...

This is an Encore Presentation of my July 2024 interview with Steve Gadd, World Class Drummer who has played and/or toured with a Who’s Who of Superstars including James Taylor, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Chick Corea, Frank Sinatra and Luciano Pavoratti. He’s played on countless hit records including Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” and “Late In The Evening” and Steely Dan’s “Aja”.  My fe...