Good days and great days
I just released a massive two-part podcast featuring trumpeter, composer and entrepreneur Vinnie Ciesielski. Vinnie is a longtime stalwart of the Nashville music scene. His playing can be heard on countless recordings, commercials, soundtracks, symphony concerts, and the list goes on and on.
Vinnie is also founder of a group called Vinnie And the Hitmen, of whom you can hear some samples on his website.
In this episode, Vinnie talked a good deal about his founding origins as a trumpeter, and has some poignant insights into the importance of pop music, even for those of us who maybe have a tendency to thumb our noses at it while salivating over the likes of Mahler and Strauss.
You’ve got be able to put food on the table at the end of the day, and sometimes mastering the art of pop music is what is necessary if you expect to put some of that food on the table with your musical skills.
Our time went by so fast, which meant as usual we were just warming up to each other by the time we had to part ways. So we went ahead and scheduled another recording session! This Part 1 is great in many respects, and Part 2 is great as well, and deeply personal. So I highly recommend you listen to that one as well.
Probably best to listen to them in order as you get to hear host and guest establish rapport before diving deep into the “why” of doing music, and how it relates to the deep needs within all of us.
And then in part 2, Vinnie and I dove deep into the “why” of playing trumpet. The “How” tends to be rather superficial, which is why I don’t have much interest in podcasts like that.
But the “why” is what gets me excited, and Vinnie did not disappoint with his insightful comments in this one.
Here are the links to listen: