Bria Skonberg's Reset: From Pandemic to NYC Hot Jazz Camp Director

Lee Mergner hosted a Listening Party with Bria Skonberg who played tracks from her recent album, "What It Means," and then talked about the making of the recording. The album blends many different influences, but it has a decidedly New Orleans flavor thanks to contributions from Herlin Riley, Don Vappie and Ben Jaffe. 

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• Theme Music: Provided by Marcus Miller from his song "High Life" on his album Afrodeezia on Blue Note.

Transcript

Lee Mergner: Hi and welcome to Jazz Cruises Conversations. I'm your host, Lee Mergner. Well, this week's episode features another session that I hosted during the recent Journey of Jazz Cruise. I assisted Bria Skonberg with a listening party in which she played tracks from her recent album, What It Means, and then talked about the making of the recording. The album blends many different influences, but it has a decidedly New Orleans flavor thanks to contributions from Hurland Riley, Don Vappie, and Ben Jaffie. I hope you enjoy the music and the conversation. 

Lee Mergner: Good morning. How are you? Well, we're we're going to do a listening party here with Bria and uh we're going to be playing some tracks and been talking about the the music, how it was made and also a bit about her background. Please welcome Bria Skonberg.

Bria Skonberg: Hey, good morning everybody. Thanks for joining us. Thank you.

Lee Mergner: The album is called What It Means and uh of course everyone right away goes to "What It Means to Miss New Orleans". Why did you But it has a bigger meaning for you, right? It's beyond that.

Bria Skonberg: Okay, where to start? So coming out of the the pandemic and I have I was just became a new parent as well. It was let's say that it was a little unsettling time, you know, I just didn't know where I didn't have my feet on the ground. I didn't know what was kind of going on or had to make sense of this new reality. And uh the way that I got grounded was to go, okay, what is the music that I first fell in love with when it came to jazz? Um where did this all begin for me and for the music and how can I get grounded is basically the essence of the project. And so I worked with this wonderful producer named Matt Pearson and he said, "Why don't we go to New Orleans and record it there and that was a wonderful um yeah, we went we went for a week. We had this whole project in mind and uh ultimately that's that's it. It was just the fact of like let's go back to the beginning and lay a new foundation on this new reality so that everything can build from there for the next, you know, however many years".

Lee Mergner: Well, and you had your your background initially with jazz was with more traditional stuff. I I I look back at that first record. Was it fresh?

Bria Skonberg: Yeah. Yeah. 

Lee Mergner: She did a Mercedes Benz, you know, the Janice Joplain uh tune and then but you turned it into a second line kind of thing.

Bria Skonberg: Yeah. That's my gospel. 
 
Lee Mergner: That's how far it goes back.

Bria Skonberg: Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz? Yeah. Yes. And before that, so none of this is on uh Spotify, but uh growing up, so I grew up in British Columbia. Any British Columbians in here? Yes. From Chilli Chilli Chilli. Wack wack wack. 

Lee Mergner: Yes. That's her home. Uh that's her home. school cheer.

Bria Skonberg: Exactly. Which is prominently featured on my next album. So is the day not the one that I put out after Fresh. I wrote a song around that. Anyway, uh yes. Uh Chilliwack had a phenomenal um public school band program that was joined up with the local jazz festival. Did Yeah. Did you go to the Chilliwack Happy Times Jazz Festival? Oh, great. Yeah, it it was special. I don't take it for granted now. Um but uh Without getting too far into the history of it, I I recognize now that there was a whole revival of traditional jazz through the 1940s,50s,60s. It spanned all of these traditional jazz societies. And by the time I came up in the '9s, there were educational more um it was embedded more in the education and there were jazz camps. I went to a traditional jazz camp in uh California and all of that bubbled into you know ultimately giving me that foundation, the very first foundation of the music that I love, the music that I learned and ultimately a great uh start for a jazz education. You know, a lot of times we jump into jazz thinking, how do I play Be bop? How do I be Dizzy Gillespie? And it's like, well, that just is, you know, starting in the middle. You can go back. So, I'm grateful for all of that. Uh Chilliwack had great teachers. And again, yeah, they what was special is that they gave the youth a spot in the festival to perform and a ticket to the festival. And a lot of those people, those bands, um I'm talking about six or seven piece bands that would play the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Sydney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, people will probably talk about later today. Um, and they asked me to come sit in and so I was playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" or "Big Bear Stomp" or um, I know "Wine and Boy Blues" alongside some people probably before I was even ready to play those tunes, you know, musically, but that was it. That's how I learned the language.

Lee Mergner: Well, and in New Orleans, you you uh, featured some of your usual bandmates, but also some of the greats in New Orleans. Herlin.

Bria Skonberg: Exactly. Yes. So, especially coming out of the of the pandemic, I thought, okay, what are the what are the dreams now? If not now, then when Carpadium um and so I built it around the hero, Herlin Riley. How many of you have seen Herlin? Especially here on the Jazz Cruise. Yeah, it's uh I've just adored his playing so much and you can tell that he's a vibrant soul and thankfully he said yes to the project. And as far as the other musicians on the album, I'm smart. I know enough about music now to know that if the bass and drums are getting along, it almost doesn't matter what you do on top of it. If it grooves. If it feels good, if those two are having a good time, everybody has a good time. And so I asked Herlin, "Who do you want to play bass?" And he said, "Grayson Brokamp, who's not such a familiar name, but I called him an absolutely delightful delightful guy from originally from North Carolina. He studied in New York City for several years and then he's been living in in New Orleans for about 15 years. And uh yeah, he's the first call when um when Herman Riley and Shannon Powell and Jason Marsalis do their three drummer thing, Grayson's on bass. I mean, I think that's a testament. And uh filling out the rhythm section. Uh I I decided to bring a pianist by the name of Chris Padishall from New York City. We've played together for about 10 years. And he is just he's an artist, you know, he's a painter. He's somebody who's been doing more film score type work. So he knows how to create a mood, which is what I increasingly am getting into. You know, the visual aspect of music making. And uh rounding out the rhythm section, I wanted some guitar and some banjo. And the great Don Vappie joined I met him on the cruise a couple years ago.

Lee Mergner: Oh, right. Because of Wynton, he plays with Wsnton Marsalis and uh he was one of the winners of the Steve Martin prize for banjo players, but a very different kind of banjo. 

Bria Skonberg: Yeah. We just met after the the septet was playing here and right away just it was like just family and so he he joined and he's that special sauce that I don't think I only expected him to play on three tunes and he's on the whole record basically. Um 

Lee Mergner: what do you want to play something feature?

Bria Skonberg: Yeah, let's see. play. Well, with that, you know what? Maybe I'll start with um Oh, why not? Let's start with "Cornet Chop Suey". Armstrong hot fives. Here we go. Um, yes, the Cornet Chop Suey. And, uh, what do you need to know about this? I don't know. We'll listen to it. We'll figure it out. I'll say this. I When I was in high school, my high school band directors gave me this tune as a transcription to learn, and I didn't have a private teacher at the time. So I often think of Armstrong as my first teacher because you'll hear in these intro it's like a classical etude on a good day. Let's see here. Heat. Heat. Trying to hear the banjo. Oh yeah. Hey, hey, hey. 

Lee Mergner:  That's a hell of a lot of trumpet there.

Bria Skonberg: Some would say too much trumpet. 

Lee Mergner: Too Much Trumpet? Well, let's talk about the trumpet. It is I think it's the most demanding instrument in the jazz world, so to speak. I mean, I every trumpeter I talk to, if they take like a week off, it's like they're…how do you deal with that? Was the pandemic a help in finding a time to practice?

Bria Skonberg: Oh, man. By the time you find out how hard it is, you've already fallen in love with it. That's the problem. It's so demanding and so challenging and so satisfying. Um, yes. I'll say this. You know, going through the pandemic, And more specifically, becoming a mom uh shaped my playing, I think, for the better. You know, I think for for many years, how how well for many years you think as a female musician, okay, once I have kids, woo, it's all going to go downhill in all sorts of ways or what's going to happen? I don't know, the uncertainty, you know, you're just pushing pushing pushing trying to get it all done. And uh in retrospect, it's the best thing that could have happened because, you know, long story short, yeah, you can take a day off. I I took off. I mean, a couple weeks I tried to play, but I didn't really play. for several months after that happened. And it was like after having my son and playing the trumpet just felt like it felt like my my my my core strength that I had built up for decades just felt like tissue paper just um so I sought out a sensei. I found an excellent teacher. Um at that time I actually called up John Faddis because I thought who is going to be the right person for me right now. And I called him. I said, "Could I study with you?" And he said, "Why?" And I said, "You'll hear it". Um, and then and then for about 3 months, I met with him weekly on Zoom. And he just he brought me back. I laid that foundation of learning how to play a brass instrument, older, smarter. I mean, our bodies changed. You know this now. I'm in my 40s. And, you know, we you have to have that moment. I think playing the trumpet or playing a physical, athletic, any sort of instrument, you just have to kind of reset. So, I'm I'm grateful. I'm very grateful that I had that chance and realize and now I'll do it maybe once a decade. Just take some time off, not have a kid. No. Uh but, you know, go on some cruises or something. We'll see. And

Lee Mergner: of course, John has a direct connection to Dizzy. Yes. Right. It was his uh mentor. And we're going to do a thing with Sean showing some clips of Dizzy. And yeah, there's that direct line right there. You know, now another important figure obviously is is Armstrong. And you've been real active with the Armstrong. Is it the foundation or house or both? Strong House Museum. Yeah. Tell tell us about what you've done with that. Yes. How many of you have been to the Louis Armstrong House Museum?

Bria Skonberg: It's in Corona, Queens. Not yet. You will go. It's in Yeah, it's next time you fly into New York just it's right there. Um they it's been a museum. It's where Louis and his wife lived for the last 30 years of the life. And uh they've turned it into a museum and now there's a fantastic education center that's open up across the street. So when I moved to New York in 2010, I made my trek, you know, made my pilgrimage, met Ricky Riccardi and Michael Cogswell at the time and I wanted to get involved just to you know I'm here how can I help and they weren't ready for the education stuff yet but I would go in about once a week and volunteer to they had school groups that would come in little kid groups that would come in and they didn't know what to do because they could only send up maybe 15 kids at a time and then there was just dead time.

Lee Mergner: it's a pretty small house.

Bria Skonberg: it's small yeah it's modest for sure for what he could afford um and so I would talk to kids about trumpet playing and Armstrong for in these 15 minute sets and so that was kind of the start of it and since then And I've been lucky to perform in the backyard. They have a concert series. Uh

Lee Mergner: you probably done the camp. There's a camp too, right? Uh that's a different thing. Maybe.

Bria Skonberg: if you're talking about the There is a traditional jazz camp that I am extremely related. Uh the New York High Jazz Camp that one. I'm one of the co-founders. We can talk about that too. Um but we take the camp there. That's where our one of our field trips is usually. Um so yes. Yeah. Armstrong has had a profound impact on my playing. Not just because he was such a good musician, but a a wonderful human. being and you'll know that when you go to visit his house and hopefully I'll see you there because I kind of pop up. You know, the one of the times I went there and I was working with a school group. I think they were in town for the essentially Ellington festival and I was just going to hang out and and one of his neighbors, Jimmy Heath, came in and just started telling stories and talking and and that's what it was. Dizzy Gillespie lived around the corner, you know, Roy Eldridge lived out in Queens somewhere, too. And that's the Queen's like jazz legacy is is impressive.

Lee Mergner: What do you want to play next? What uh what do you got?

Bria Skonberg: Uh I was thinking here. I wanted to play um this version I did of Petite Fleur. Petite Fleure.

Lee Mergner: Oh, one of the things just briefly is that it's a really unique thing you do where you sort of mash up you'll do, you know, a popular tune, but then bring an unusual arrangement to it and even mix a couple tunes. Sure. So, talk about this tune that we're going to hear.

Bria Skonberg: Okay. Well, this album has a lot of those Easter eggs in it. You know, if you listen closely, You might hear some of my own little inside jokes. Um, actually, let's see. Yeah, here is a here's Petite Fleur. And there is a nod to another tune in there. This one also will have um tromb uh trombonist Ethan Santos, who's an up and comer in that area, and um bass clarinet, which was my special sauce for this album. There's no actual clarinet on on the New Orleans album, just bass clarinet. And that's played by Rex Gregory. It's fantastic. And play. Yeah. Heat. That's one of my It referred to the whole album. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. 

Lee Mergner: And what was the uh reference? Anybody? Uh yeah. Anybody get it? Don't think I don't know.

Bria Skonberg: Don't think you don't know. 

Lee Mergnerg: Okay, go. I don't know. There's Harlem nocturne. There's a arrangement of it. This big an arrangement boop bop. That's what all the horn players got to do. So there you go. So it's just a little sneak. I like things like that. And one of the I I wrote that arrangement. I did all the arranging on here. But there's a a part in that one I think when we come back in after the very sexy bar bass clarinet solo that where we're all just playing and that's the essence of, you know, traditional New Orleans jazz is just I'm gonna play the melody and they'll make up some stuff around it and it's going to sound great and then we come back together on the arrangement. That's stuff I like.

Lee Mergner: It sounds really great. I mean, the sound of it is really nice and clean, even though, you know, it's not uh overly produced, but uh did you record it in the old fashioned way of sort of the old in the same room thing? It feels like it.

Bria Skonberg: So, we recorded at Esplanade Studios and it's a converted church in New Orleans and they have a massive big room and Yeah. So, basically everybody So, Herlin was in a booth and I had my own booth because a lot of times I'm going, "Okay, coming up on letter B into the microphone a little bit just kind of directing some traffic but that I mean that's what I played as well on the record". Um but all the yeah all the other pieces are in this big wooden floored church room so it's natural reverb. Yeah. Breathability and also I I've worked now on I just recorded my fifth album with Matt Pearson, one of my producers who's an essential piece of the band and the musical portion for me as well as um the engineer Chris Allen we bring down. He's excellent. Uh so those guys deserve a lot of credit for this the sound quality.

Lee Mergner: Yeah. Matt was a longtime producer and record exec with Blue Note and Warner Brothers and then went on to managing and producing artists including Samara Joy was his uh uh was a big factor in her coming to our attention. Um what what would you like to play next? What do you.

Bria Skonberg: uh let's see. Let's let's you want to go up? You want to go down? Let's go up maybe. Um we were talking about some mashups.

Lee Mergner: Yeah, let's do Yeah. You have one of those.

Bria Skonberg: Let's do a mash up or.

Lee Mergner: Yeah. And a lot of them are are Well, do you have the Van Morrison one or.

Bria Skonberg: Oh, you want to do that one or Well, that one's I think a remix.

Lee Mergner: Oh, whatever you want.

Bria Skonberg: Let's play a little bit of this one. We might have to kind of pick and choose. These ones go into longer solos. Let's see what you hear. You know what song this is? Drums keeping them. to the brain. Daddy d was once the raised the page the mini skirts the current thing is the Newborn King. And the beat goes on. The beat goes on. Drums keep pounding. Daddy. So then we got that little bit of Sidewinder in there. Right. That's what Supermart. Little girls still break their hearts. Men still keep on marching off to war. Electric lead. They keep a baseball score. And the beat goes on. Yeah. The beat goes on. Drums. Keep pounding rhythm to the brain daddy. Here's my buddy Rich reference. Hey. Hey. Hey. bass and drums still all day, you know. Heat. Heat. Any guitar players in here? Just checking. Don Bing. Grandma sitting chairs and reminisce. Boys keep chasing girls to get a kiss. Cars keep going faster all the time. But I'm still crazy, buddy. And the beat goes on. Drums keep a daddy d. The beat goes on. The beat goes on. The beat goes on. Yeah. The beat goes on. I think that's what I was doing in the recording booth. You know, give it to her. It goes on.

Lee Mergner: your go- go boots and mini skirt. 

Bria Skonberg: When you get to LA, just rent a car and play that and just Yeah. 

Lee Mergner: Can you imagine the record without Herurland though? I mean.

Bria Skonberg: you know, it's hard. 

Lee Mergner: He's so unique, too, because.you know, clearly a new Orlean's drummer can do the second line thing, but you know, he can play that swing and jazz thing. I played with Whinton all those years. Not he can do both of those things and glides in between them. It's really amazing.

Bria Skonberg: There are some tracks like that one, you know, you're listening and you're like, how how did he play all those things at the same time? Like there's no over there was no overdubbing on that. Where did that cowbell come from? Like he's just got he's got 17 arms, I'm I'm sure. And he's so nice. Yeah, he's so nice. That's important to me. I pick my bands. I need nice people. Yeah.

Lee Mergner: Yeah. What has it been like? What have you learned o over these years about being a band leader? Because you're touring a lot. You know, your stuff you that tour, those tours you did with Benny and um what have you sort of learned from all this uh over these years?

Bria Skonberg: I mean, I became a band leader right out of high school. The band that was the combo playing the traditional jazz hits, a lot of us went into music and so I became a co-leader with the clarinet player and got on the phone, started asking for gigs, you know, Hi, I'd like to play your festival. Um, yeah, and it's ultimately like so much in life, it's not where you are, it's who you're with 100%. Because, you know, touring is chaos. It's having a family on family vacation all the time. There's so many details. And so, you know, having um I was saying before that the bands I recorded with before I moved to New York City, I actually recorded about 20 albums with two different B well three different bands. Um that band, the Big Bang Jazz Band, an all female group I had called Mighty Aphrodite Jazz Band and uh various other traditional jazz groups, the Louisiana Joy Makers and such. And um yeah, and those we had co-leaders and we all we all came together to figure out a lot of different details. You know, that being said, you know, you imagine I was like 20 years old going through college, but also learning how to apply for work visas and permits to work in the States, immigration, and getting enough people at going through that whole thing of getting people to treat you as an adult enough to pay you enough so that you can validate getting those visas and yeah it was it was interesting tricky in retrospect. You know, I'm so grateful I went through it definitely. Um but that's it that and uh you know the name of my album before this one is called Nothing Never Happens and that was a phrase I I adopted while band leading because like you'd get the airport and somebody lost their luggage or somebody slept in and this that whatever and you're like ah nothing happened though something will happen. Nothing never happens. Something will happen. You just have to keep going. And so that's like, you know, the overlying, you know, keep going optimism that I continue to put out. The beat goes on, right? We're coming out. Just keep the beat. Find find a way forward. That's what we're doing in jazz, you know, soloing a lot of times. Yeah. Oh, I'm in a corner. How do I How do I go forward here? I see a question. Can we take a question right now? Yes, sir.

Lee Mergner: I have got some uh uh mic microphones. Just make sure you're talking to the mic.

Bria Skonberg: We have time. Don't try to take the mic from us, though. 

Audience Member: Inaudible

Lee Mergner: Let me he was asked where did the uh song title blackout come from from the last.

Bria Skonberg: where that song it came from deep in my gut. That was um that was my go off the grid album and just same something go. I'm glad. I'm glad. I still it's it's a fun one to play live. I'll say that now. I definitely get a lot out in that song. Won't be playing it this week. Yes. Um You know, that's that's what creating music is about. Or when I go to write songs now, I understand that's the process. That's my writing process. I need to sit in silence in a clean space as much as possible, which is incredibly difficult with a toddler.

Lee Mergner: I was just going to ask how that's possible.

Bria Skonberg: I get 20 minutes every two months. I close my eyes. That's makes the room a lot cleaner. And I just and I just sit and I wait and I wait and see what kind of needs to come out. pay it off. And that's how I process these these times and were always taken in. And um yeah, so that's I guess where that one started to come in. And that and that being said, so many songs they morph as you perform them live and you get the feedback or you get the encouragement from people. I was I was petrified to play original music for a long time and then I realized as I put some of it out, like-minded people started to gravitate back like yourself. So thank you. That's encouraging.

Lee Mergner: Is there any other questions? Do you want to play something? else while people think of questions.

Bria Skonberg: Sure. I'd love to play this this track. Um not original. This one um this one is for my son. I'll say that and we'll talk about it after. Close your eyes. Have no fear. The monster's gone. He's on the run. And your mama's here. Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy. Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer. Every day, in every way, it's getting better and better. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful boy. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful boy. Out on the sailing away. I can hardly wait. to see you come of age. But I guess we'll both just have to be patient cuz it's a long way to go. A harder road to hope. Yes, it's a long way to go. But in the meantime. Out on the ocean, sailing away. I can hardly wait to see you come of age, but I guess we'll both just have to be patient cuz it's a long way to go. A harder road to hold. Yes, it's a long way to go. But in the meantime. Before you cross the street, take my hand. Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful boy. Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer. Every day in every way it's getting better and better. Oh, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful boy. John Lennon.

Lee Mergner: John Lennon. You know, I was thinking you have a different situation when you're choosing songs because as an instrumentalist and a vocalist, right? You're not instrumentalist. They're just looking for the changes and you know what, but you're now also looking at words and how you can have fun with them or or or of course in this case reflect upon your relationship. How do you find how do you I know listen to music all the time but how do you think oh this is going to work for me?

Bria Skonberg: Yeah. I guess I don't have a system. Yeah.

Lee Mergner: You just hear you just like all a sudden something gets your attention and you follow it and you go or like that song in particular. I've heard it but I didn't get it until about five years ago. And then they go oh. Oh, okay. And that's the beauty of life and having experiences and relating to people.

Bria Skonberg: I want to point out, too, that my parents are here. They're over there. You can say hi, Owen and Chris.

Lee Mergner: Was she patient? I love that line. I I think we both have to be patient. I'm like.

Bria Skonberg: Yeah, exactly. Boy, you cross the street. Take my hand." Um, I have two confessions on that one. One is that so um the beauty of that arrangement to me is there is another song embedded in it. Um In the beginning there's this like Count Basie little darling. So and the subtext this song is called beautiful little darling boy for John Lennon's son um Sean. And so there is that and then there's this interlude in the middle. I'm going to play it under the trumpet solo. Where do I get there? But I guess we'll just have to be patient. There's another part where I play the bridge of Little Darling. Harder road to Yes, it's a long way to go. But in the meantime. So, my confession is I was too cheap to pay for two songs. And we play that in the live version. Those are some things you have to think about when you do cover material. You bring people in, but it's a certain amount you have to pay per song. So, we're like, you know, let's just we'll just reference it. It'll be in bits and pieces, but if you see it live, that's in there. And another beautiful story just about that tune is on my way walking here today, um, a couple stopped me and she said, "I just have to tell you We heard you play Beautiful Boy on the Jazz Cruise two Januaries ago. And three weeks later or three months later, my son got engaged and I decided that was going to be our first dance. Our mother our mother um son dance and she showed me the video and everybody was crying. It was so sweet. It's so sweet. And so it's just so beautiful to get to obviously have these experiences and share them and come full circle. And there is some good there are some good things going on in the world.

Lee Mergner: Did you cry when he went to kindergarten?

Bria Skonberg: No. Love you. Yeah. Yeah. It took me a while to be able to play and sing that song without crying, but now I'm It's fine.

Lee Mergner: What else do you want to play?

Bria Skonberg: Let's see. 246. Yeah. Well, let me see. Do we have any more? We've got time for at least one more song, but any more questions?

Lee Mergner: We've answered everything. I think you know. or that you're curious about.

Audience Member: think about it for that. Yes. I came in a little late so I may have missed it. But um when you were growing up, did you have a lot of other musical people in your family?

Bria Skonberg: If you ask my dad, my my dad played trumpet back in high school. Um not musical hobbyists. We had a lot of musical instruments and we grew up on about two acres of a hobby farm. So my parents were teachers. We also had cows and chickens and a drum set and a keyboard and a lot of places to make noise. And my I have an older brother and older sister. My brother first gravitated toward the fiddle, not the violin necessarily, but the fiddle. And uh he would play old um like Celtic hits and we'd go we'd travel around in our family motor home and go to the fiddle competitions where I'd get a vault, a jig, and a reel and jump around and dance and it was so much fun. Yeah, that had a profound impact on me. Folk music, right? These melodies, just that like kind of that constant beat and also So, so my first experiences with music were communal, having fun, and also get that rhythm in your feet, you know, music built from the bottom up. Uh, that was a big part of it. And so then my brother played saxophone in the jazz bands, my sister played flute. Both of us took piano lessons at a young age. I think my parents are smart enough to, you know, you've got kids, you got to give them something to do or they'll find something to do. So, we always played sports and music on top of everything else. Uh, So that's it. And now my dad will be proud to tell you he still plays the gut bucket, the wash tub base. And we when we go home, my brother plays fiddle and I play piano. And we have a good old hoot and jam. Now you know too much about me.

Lee Mergner: All right. What else do you want to play?

Bria Skonberg: Let's see who we got. How much time can we figure? That was sweet. Well, you know. Something classic or something clever?

Lee Mergner: I'm more of a clever guy.

Bria Skonberg: A clever guy. Okay, I'll show you one more. I'll show you one more. This is a mashup. Speaking of So, family, the ingredients that go into this album, what it means, what is important to me, music, foundations, family. And uh I always remember this is a the song is from an album that my brother would play. and we'd listen to it in the car. Billy Joel and I have joined it with something by Thad Jones because why not? "Good night my angel. Time to close your eyes and save these questions for another day. I think I know what you've been asking me. I think you know what I've been trying to say. I promised I would never leave you. And you should always know wherever you may go, no matter where you are, I never will be far away". I'm g stop for one second. Sorry to break the mood. Uh to say that the the second song is a child is born. And I want to point out that Grayson is improvised his part completely. All of the thing that he plays, he's bowing his bass right now. I gave him no music other than a lead. "Good night, my angel. Now it's time to sleep. And still so many things I want to say. Remember all the songs you sang for me when we went sailing on an emerald bay. And like a boat out on the ocean. I'm rocking you to sleep. The waters dark and deep inside this ancient heart. You'll always be a part of me. Good night, my angel. Now it's time to dream and dream how wonderful your life will be someday. Your child may cry. And if you sing this lullaby, then in your heart there will always be a part of me. Someday we'll all be gone. But lullabies go on and on. They never die. That's how you and I will be". Yeah.

Lee Mergner: I was I was telling Bria it sounds like a viola. Really? It's just beautiful. Uh bass uh bode bass. Yeah, Grayson's very special. Thank you for listening with me. That's one of my favorite moments of the album. Although, yeah, it's not as widespread. Well, now now um which of the songs came I would assume the Billy Joel song sort of came first. You I'm going to do this and then. No, you get just they come come.

Bria Skonberg: you know I have I have like yeah kind of a growing list of songs I'm like uh at some point I'll do this. and when is it going to make sense? It seemed like I do have like a you know a bunch of voice memos of original tunes and original ideas that it's like it's not just of what? But when. Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Mergner: Are there any questions? Oh. Oh, here you go. Melissa's coming. We put a deposit on the mic. So.

Audience Member: so what is it like touring with Benny Bennack?

Lee Mergner: Well, if I don't know if you heard it, but what is it like touring with Benny Baki?

Bria Skonberg: I like to joke when I got the call from Jazz Lincoln Center. They uh he said like, "What do you think about Benny Back?" And I said, "How long? How much? No. Uh, I said I think he's a heck of a great trumpet player and uh and he seems charismatic. He's wonderful. He's wonderful. I mean, he's my little brother".

Lee Mergner: you know. What What was the tour you did? What was it called?

Bria Skonberg: Great question. Uh, Sing and Swing.

Lee Mergner: Sing and Swing.

Bria Skonberg: Jazz Lincoln Center put together eight weeks of touring and Benny and I got to put uh together the band and put together the material and all they said was just, you know, singing and playing and duos of the era and almost whatever you want to do. And honestly, with Benny, it was so easy. It was so easy because we've heard a lot of the same things. We love a lot of the same things. And if anything, we came up with like 400 songs we wanted to do and had to just hack it away. Um, he's so musical. He's such a natural musician. And he obviously is a third generation and he had all the proper mentorship studying with Shawn Jones at a young age. I'm not that jealous, but just a little. But it's fine. I had my recordings to listen to. Um, yeah. He's cool. You know, I'll say this, like all of us, he's he puts a lot of energy out and and we make sure he takes time for himself, too, so he can balance that out. But he's he's he's pretty transparent. I'll say that. What you see is.

Lee Mergner: Yeah. There's not. Oh, yeah. We'd like to know if there's a dark side there, you know, like we want to see the sort, you know, depressed, unhappy.

Bria Skonberg: Oh, I mean, not before iced coffee. You got to Yeah. Don't talk to him before in the morning. He'll be doing one of these as well for one of his records. and we are playing our set. We get all the I I get the late sets this this crew. So I think we're at 11 o'clock. We're the party band this time. So we've got our set together.

Lee Mergner: sometime in the future. Yeah, I think I'm introing it. But I know Bria is too shy to mention that the album uh is in shop. uh uh it's called What It Means. Um and it's also in vinyl, which I think is great because I I like CDs, but I love my vinyl.

Bria Skonberg: Oh, thank you. That's what it looks like. like, "Oh, oh," he's like, "Thank you. Thank you". Oh, she has it. I will be happy to sign them. I have a sip and sign later in the week, too. And I and I uh released this album on a label called The Seller Jazz Label out of um Vancouver.

Lee Mergner: Oh, you have a sip and sign that's in the That's at that coffee shop area on the fifth deck right in the middle. Some of you may have gone to Frankie. Yeah, exactly. It's Cory Weeds is the guy who books that club and also runs this label. he even brought the albums for you.

Bria Skonberg: It's a real Yeah, it's a real kind of full circle moment because I used to go to that club in college to see Ingred Jensen play and then to come around and have this professional relationship with them is truly special and honestly I'm about to put out a holiday EP that's through seller and I just recorded two more albums for next year that are on seller. Like the relationship is strong and they are supporting me in all of the very real ways and uh. Yeah, exactly. I was like I don't want to shill but hey Corey he he he pulled up to the hotel we were staying at the night before with like boxes of vinyl for me and Warren Wolf and whoever else that he knows. He's your friendly neighborhood record dealer, you know.

Lee Mergner: Uh but of course he actually is a great sax player. Okay, we have time for one question.

Audience Member: Hot jazz.

Bria Skonberg: Yes. Yes. Asking um so I am the co-founder co-director of what is called the New York Hot Jazz Camp. We celebrated our 10th year last year. Yes. Even through the pandemic, we did some virtual outreach. It's a jazz camp for adults 18 plus in New York City and uh it's a week of instruction. What's it's it's immersive. It's the the faculty is top-notch. We've have Katherine R Russell is our vocal instructor this year. There's a max I'm the trumpet instructor this year. There's a maximum of six students per instrument and we do workshops, we do master classes, we put you in bands, we make you a repertoire and uh you perform at the end of the week and we go to the Armstrong House and we go see the Nighthawks and.

Lee Mergner: you have to know already how to play the instrument.

Bria Skonberg: Playing the instrument is helpful, but you don't have to know much more than that. You know, melodies, rhythms, and harmony. We'll we'll get you started on the way to uh to learning how to play play with others, get your own band together. It's it's wonderful. We all learn and grow. Um but we've had yeah 18 to 85 year olds from all over the world come and join us next year. It's in February, which is an excellent time to be indoors learning in New York City uh and going out.

Lee Mergner: It's cheaper there as well for hotels. That's not a small thing.

Bria Skonberg: Exactly. We have a partner hotel, you know, six minute walk away. Those things are important. We've, knock on wood, figured a lot of it out. It's just down in Greenwich Village. So, it's great. Or if you live in New York and you know that week is coming up, we'll be out and about and come to the final concert. It's truly special. People from all walks of life and want to make that jump to professional or just meet the community. It's it's so wonderful.

Lee Mergner: Well, please join me in thanking Bria Sconeberg.

Bria Skonberg: Thanks everybody. Yeah. I'll Yeah. Oh, you want play?

Lee Mergner: I'll play this while you walk out. This is called elbow bump.

Bria Skonberg: Walk out music.

Lee Mergner: There you go. Walk out music. Dance out music. Thanks everybody. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Everything. I'm here. Oh, I hope you enjoyed Bria's music and our conversation. You know, Bria first sailed with us in 2017, I think. I just know she's been with us ever since, and I think you can tell why our guests really do love her. Speaking of New Orleans, the Journey of Jazz Cruise will saill in 2027, starting on January 24th, going from Tampa to New Orleans. Did I say New Orleans? It's New Orleans. Ha. where we'll be in port for two days and then to Progresso in the Caribbean. The cruise which is hosted by Marcus Miller and Gregory Porter also features Wynton Marsalis as our very special guest in New Orleans. I mean who better than having Wynton Marsalis in New Orleans, right? Well, selling with Marcus and Gregory are Ledisi Cyrille Aimee Harold López- Nussa Gregoire Maret Edmar Castanada Sullivan Fortner Kurt Rosenwinkle and Gerald Clayton Wycliffe Gordon Shawn Janes and so many others. Learn more at journeyofjazz.com. Our theme music is by Marcus Miller from his song "High Life" on his album Aphrodesia on Bluenote. And thanks as always to Matt, the sound engineer in the rendevous lounge for his help with this and other sessions during the journey of jazz cruise. Next week's episode will feature another Jazz on film session. This one was on Dizzy Gillespie and my guest to talk about his life and legacy was Shawn Jones. Thanks for listening.