Getcha Some Productions Podcast Episode 69
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A podcast covering all things related to music production: from the first note to the last fan and everything in between. We create music and inspire others to do the same. Every episode is a live business meeting between me and Dan (me and Keith) as we build this media empire right before your very eyes/ears.
In this episode we discuss:
Special guest: Gene Segal
Gene is originally from Russia and he moved to the Kensington area of Brooklyn in 1979. He went to Ditmas Junior High School and Midwood High School.
He went to the guitar arm of Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. GIT. Guitar Institute of Technology.
We talk about Jude Gold for a second because of the GIT connection. He listens to Jude’s podcast, No Guitar is Safe. Gene recommends the podcast Guitar Wank which Scott Henderson is on regularly. Podcast is with Bruce Forman.
I wish I would have asked more about GIT.
But where he really flourished in school was William Paterson where he studied with Gene Bertoncini and Vic Juris. Vic was one of the few teachers with an actual pedagogy.
Gene has one self produced record and a few under the Steeplechase label.
Gene comes from a musical family. His father was a Drummer and his uncle was one of the top session guitarists in Russia. He remembers always going to rehearsals and gigs for his family members and he would always pick up the instruments and try to write something. Far as long as he can remember his main motivation was to actually write music, so when he was a kid he would sit down on the piano and try to write a little Melody or something.
I try to just close my eyes and play sometimes. You know, Music gets complicated, and you have to read music know all the theory, but sometimes you just have to play. I don’t think of anything when I play.
I added Gene’s trio record to my trio grand playlist. Double Rainbow is the name of the record.
Playing with Adam Nussbaum and Jay Anderson, those guys are special. They have a connection. The record sounded like they were a band with a strong connection but that was actually the first time they ever played together.
Every guitar player has to do a trio record, it’s kind of a right of passage.
We talk about the John Scofield record En Route and Bill Stewart and Steve Swallow and how great the trio is. Jean recommends listening to any record that Steve swallow made with Paul Bley.
Jean lists all of his big influences which he already mentioned John Scofield. Jim Hall, West Montgomery, Charlie Christian. Gene really started out as a rock ‘n’ roll player and got into jazz through fusion. So of course Mahavishnu Orchestra and John McLaughlin were a good introduction to jazz but after that he got into the more traditional stuff. He also he also mentions Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans as being big influences.
We talk a bit about the Lincoln Center jazz phenomenon and the dichotomy between innovation and jazz and classicism. But Gene thinks that Lincoln Center is doing a good thing on balance by bringing jazz to the public and giving it the respect of deserves. But also, he says that he believes that jazz is as adventurous as as it has ever been nowadays.
We spend some time talking about how to monetize Internet performance. It’s much harder for musicians nowadays to make a living when gigging is not an option. So of course we discuss lesson content and donation links. Stuff like that.
We talk about teaching music for a while. Jean says that it’s clearly an essential part of being a professional musician. However, he loves to teach but he also loves to pick his students.
Gene talks about his first jazz teacher who whose name was Alex Adrian who he was from Czechoslovakia, he was a great unknown jazz guitarist.
Gene says that a lot of people who teach get caught up in the money and lose sight of the art form.
Next we transition into a gear conversation.
I like to play a lot of different guitars. Some people like to play just one guitar but I like to think of them as colors.
His favorite is Gibson 335.
You can play any style of music on a 335. You can play you can go from metal to jazz. He also has a 58 reissue Les Paul with the fat neck. He also has a fender telecaster.
He mentions a couple of jazz telecaster players, Ed Bickert and Bill Frisell. Dan mentions Julian Lage.
Gene says that he thinks it’s the overtones that you get from the steel plate on the bridge that you don’t get from other guitars.
Of course, we get into the perennial conversation, do tonewoods matter on an electric guitar?
Gene also has a 59 reissue 175.
Gene‘s plan for the future involves producing more music for himself and for others. So, he is opening a recording studio where he’s the producer and producing music for other people. He’s also working on his first record with vocals. I’ve heard a few tracks pretty much in the funk and R&B vein and they sound great but he’s working on that record of more funky music with with vocals.
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