What I learned this week

Interviewing the new Coastal board members

I released a bonus episode of the Rhythm Changes Podcast this week, featuring Julia Ulehla and Meredith Bates; they gave an interview about the Coastal Jazz transition.

This excerpt is a bit long, but it highlights the biggest thing that I took away from the interview.

From time 7:09 of the episode, edited for brevity with my emphasis in bold:

JULIA ULEHLA: "When I first moved here, maybe like a year after we arrived [this would be around 2015], Rainbow invited me to share my work with Dálava in Winterruption, which is the winter festival that Coastal puts on [...]

"I just remember this feeling of being so deeply listened-to, like the quality of listening of the audience, for one thing; and then this whole series of conversations that emerged from that event, that have really stretched years [...]

"Rainbow, after that event, was like 'You need to do these workshops, where you bring your theoretical practice and your creative practice together.' And so she created these containers for me to keep sharing my work, where an intellectual approach and an embodied approach could merge.

"And that was so fundamental to my whole degree, like I really owe it to her. Because at least in the academy, it's like, 'No! Keep your body and your creative practice out of your research,' in a field like ethno-musicology.

"And my life totally changed, because there was this way of seeing what an artist needs, that I feel like she had – and in general that she engendered in the community, and that others in the community also bring: this kind of attentiveness to the imminent poetics of each person: the voice that each person has, the kind of contours of what they need to explore to serve their art and participate in this kind of community thing."

And here is Meredith agreeing at time 12:10, talking about her successful jazzfest debuts with Sean Cronin's Very Good as well as Pugs & Crows:

MEREDITH BATES: "We got this double-hitter, little bit of attention, and that was Ken Pickering and Rainbow Robert. It's like Julia said, they would infuse you with a sense of, 'You're on the right track. You're doing the right thing. Your art should be heard.'"

As the Coastal story played out, the #savejazzfest people were often a black box to me. One of my weaknesses is that I can be insensitive, too focused on goals, facts, and outcomes and not attuned enough to feelings.

This interview helped me finally understand the feeling behind the movement. Someone gave these artists reassurance like they'd never had before, and the board – like "the academy" in Julia's quote – seemed to take it away from them without justification.

That said, I can't shake my own feeling: that this story isn't over. So I'll still be here, looking to listen and learn from anyone I can.