Jonathan Baylis - Learning To Improvise

On the Rhythm Changes Podcast, Jonathan Baylis talks about being a lifelong learner and becoming an improvising jazz double bassist.

We talked about:

• Jonathan’s 130-year-old bass that he got from Rick Reynolds
• Jodi Proznick’s praise for Jonathan and how she inspired both of us to play bass
• Our bass instructors: Jodi, André Lachance, Darren Radtke, and Rene Worst
• Jonathan’s memories of when he and I were both students at the 2014 Douglas College Summer Jazz Intensive
• How teenage jazz musicians treated him as an adult learner
• What lifelong learners need to remember
• The benefit of playing in a community big band where you pay dues to join
• James Danderfer’s advice out of left field when Jonathan was learning to solo
• Why I saw a chiropractor at age 17
• Why I started drinking coffee for the first time
• How Hamilton Street Swing did a front-lawn concert with the audience dancing in the street (I was there, as were Will Clements and others)
• The members of Jonathan’s groups: Michael Radnai, Strauss Whiteside, and guests Tyler Murray and Kayden Gordon (also Ben MacRae)
• The genre of music (not jazz) that the Baylis family plays together
• My mum gets proven right about the Halifax area’s climate
• What music meant to Jonathan’s dad
• The hardest part of his journey learning to improvise