The Upful LIFE Podcast

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Oblighetto - Brother Jack McDuff (J Dilla remix)

Wednesday Nov 30, 2022

062: DAN CHARNAS [author/journalist - Dilla Time book, NYU professor]

Wednesday Nov 30, 2022

Welcome DAN CHARNAS! His latest book - Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm (2022) - is a New York Times Bestseller. Award-winning music and business journalist, author of four books, producer of records and television. Associate Arts Professor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU. In the 1980's, Dan was part of the opening team at The Source magazine, in the 1990's he worked A&R for Rick Rubin at American Recordings.

3:00 - The Upful Update
9:30 - introducing DAN CHARNAS & Dilla Time
17:45 - INTERVIEW (102min)

The product of four years of research and nearly 200 interviews, Dilla Time emerged from a course on J Dilla developed by Charnas at NYU in 2017, but its roots go back to Charnas’s time in the record business, when he first made the trip to Detroit to work with the producer then known as Jay Dee.

A huge fan of both Dilla & this expansive book, I'd been waiting since Feb.2022 to speak with Dan about this project, his process, & the Church of Dilla. I've been through the 430-page tome twice, listened to him on numerous podcasts in preparation for this conversation, still Dan was kind enough to give me nearly 100 minutes of his time and thoughtfully answered each inquiry with intention. This topic was so wide-ranging and engrossing that we didn't have the time to get into his long, colorful career path, we stuck exclusively to Mr. Yancey.

As a music journalist and lifetime hip-hop head, Dan Charnas is nothing short of a North Star to me; as such it was an honor, privilege, and educational exercise to host him on Episode 062 of The Upful LIFE Podcast.

Funk It's Dilla Time Mixtape 2022

33-hour J Dilla Anthology courtesy of Mista Vee

Vibe Junkie JAM

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Listen on Spotify !

Saturday Oct 15, 2022

061: LEAH SONG [Rising Appalachia]

Saturday Oct 15, 2022

Live & direct from the Park City Song Summit with the sensational LEAH SONG ! An 80+ minute deep dive with one-half of the siren sisters Rising Appalachia. Explore the passions, pathways and pillars that built the bedrock of their unicorn sound. Unspooling Rising App fifteen years in: ambitious activism, adventurous travels, treasured traditions, and a kaleidoscopic career. Musicology and cultural anthropology. Community, collaboration, catharsis. This is powerful podcasting.

2:30 - The Mertails / The NOHM Co
6:00 - The Upful Update
10:00 introducing LEAH SONG x dedications
18:00 Conversation w/ LEAH (81 min)
1:40:00 - reflections / Vibe Junkie Jamz

Leah Song takes us back to the early days in the filthy dirty South. Coming of age with one foot in fiddle camps with Mama Appalachia, and the other kickin' Dungeon Family rhymes in the high school cafeteria. Leah's version of the heroine's journey, and the sisters' half-decade long Crescent City swoon. Coming full circle to the French Quarter for a live LP from the prestigious Preservation Hall. We unpack the improv-heavy, surprise 2020 album The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know and get a window into it's ethereal masterpiece "Silver".

Leah Song loves long and hard on her sister and their ever-loyal squad: essential contributions like Chloe's magnum opus "Resilient". The unique skillsets of multi-instrumentalists David Brown, Biko Casini, Duncan Wickel, Arouna Diarra, plus longtime Bayou collaborators Aurora Nealand and Brandon Lewis. Get hip to brand-new girl-band Starling Arrow, a celestial acapella quintet featuring Leah, Chloe, Tina Malia, Marya Stark, and Ayla Nereo.

Rising Appalachia has always been proudlly - and defiantly- an activist band. Leah discusses retreating from front line justice work, she ruminates on softening the storytelling with regard to protest music in a post-pandemic landscape. With her band hitting the road again, dealing hopeful global soul in search of community and spreading catharsis, the veteran songwriter reflects on the effects of the epic pause.

One of the more profound programs this podcast has produced, a proud day from Atlanta G-A all the way to the East Bay. Big Up Leah Song and Rising Appalachia.

Give Thanks! Yes, indeedy.

Stream / Download links

Vibe Junkie JAMZ

"Downtown" - Soul Visions

Rising Appalachia/The Human Experience

"Novels of Acquaintance"

Rising Appalachia - live in Switzerland,

14 Sept 2018

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Monday Sep 19, 2022

060: JOEL CUMMINS [co-founder/keyboards - Umphrey’s McGee, author]

Monday Sep 19, 2022

Checking in from the Asking For A Friend Tour, Umphrey's McGee keyboardist/co-founder JOEL CUMMINS saddles up for an insightful chat. I was lucky to run right into Joel at Sacred Rose outside of Chicago at the end of August, where UM headlined with two sets on Saturday night. Turns out the multi-faceted artist was keen to come on this show! I'm a bit less familiar with this band's catalog than many of the guests who bless up these podwaves, yet I've always been friendly with Joel over the past decade or so. I have a tremendous respect for what he - and his brothers in Umphrey's McGee - have worked so diligently (and independently) to build over the course of twenty-five years.

2:45 - The Upful Update
7:00 - Introducing JOEL CUMMINS of Umphrey's McGee
14:00 - Interview- JOEL CUMMINS

I was stoked to link up with Cummins right after Sacred Rose, and chop it up on the backstory on his band's new album and the latest on the tour behind it. We get into Umphrey's McGee road-dawg trends and preferences, the advantages to routing weekend runs, keeping an improv band fresh and focused onstage, getting along off of it. We hear about the music business book that Joel authored a couple of years ago, plus some wisdom and perspective on the back end of the pandemic experience.

Cummins touches on his passion for the iconic Fender Rhodes electric piano. Nods to Keith Jarrett, Donny Hathaway, his love for Claude Debussy and classical music, as well as Metallica's 1988 prog-metal masterpiece ...And Justice For All. I was sure to sneak in a smidge of Steely Dan debate before our time ran out. Big thanks to Joel Cummins!

Vibe Junkie JAMZ

"So Much" Umphrey's McGee - Asking For a Friend

"Tonberry" lespecial Live from Rick's House June 2022

EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com

www.Polyrhythmics.com

Friday Aug 19, 2022

059: POLYRHYTHMICS : [Ben Bloom - guitar, Jason Gray - bass]

Friday Aug 19, 2022

Welcome BEN BLOOM and JASON GRAY of POLYRHYTHMICS! This wide-ranging conversation took place on the Sunday of Suwannee Rising, after the band dropped a pair of scorching sets on SOSMP. With the fest raging in the distance, the three of us snuck off to have a lengthy discussion on the band's journey, inspirations, intention, mission, future and more.

3:25 SACRED ROSE & BROOKLYN COMES ALIVE
8:30 The Upful Update w/ B.Getz
13:25 Introducing POLYRHYTHMICS
18:45 INTERVIEW w/ Ben & Jason of Polyrhythmics

A hard-driving modern afro-psycho-beat squadron, Polyrhythmics feature the heart-thumping bass lines of Jason Gray, and the colorful, intricate phrasings of Ben Bloom’s guitar. A true “democratic” collaborative, Polyrhythmics includes three horn players, guitar, bass, drums, percussion and keys. Meditative hypnosis and elements of surprise make up a sonic foundation for their mystical, genre-blurring brand of sound art. The collective continues to mature into a muscular live unit, known for painting vivid instrumental imagery using complex rhythms, impressive dynamics, and a searing level of precision.

Ben Bloom and I go back almost 25 years, to the fertile embryonic jam scene of the Northeast, and 1.0 Phish adventures too. So we were well acquainted before this chat. Bloom began playing guitar at 9, attended college at Boston University. By high school, he knew music would be his life’s work. Later, Bloom moved to Seattle, honed his skills with bands in local clubs, before co-founding Polyrhythmics in 2009.

Ben connected with Jason Gray, a Californian who had moved away from music while doing a stint on submarines in the Navy, eventually landing in Seattle. Gray found his way through to the city's musical bosom and into one of it's hottest bands. In addition to holding down the low end with Polyrhythmics, Gray operates Blue Mallard Studios, where he produces and engineers.

Vibe Junkie JAMZ !

"Stakes is High" - yasiin bey (fka Mos Def) w/ Robert Glasper Experiment

Live at Vaulx Jazz - 2019

"Chelada" - POLYRHYTHMICS

KEXP Live 2019

EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com

"Terrapin Station" - The Nth Power Ball

Thursday Jul 14, 2022

058: NATE EDGAR [bass, The Nth Power, ex-John Brown’s Body]

Thursday Jul 14, 2022

Welcome virtuosic bassist NATE EDGAR of THE NTH POWER to Ep.058! Nate is a helluva player, and he takes us inside his process, influences, mindset, and intentions as a bassist, band member, brother, and low-end medicine man. Heaping slabs of musicology with a healthy serving of humanity. Nate Dawg doesn't do very many interviews - certainly not lengthy, super-personal purges - so this ep is a real treat, and an emotional sledgehammer. A gentleman, scholar, subsonic sorcerer, and servant of the song, Buckle up fam, we're goin IN! Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Nate Edgar.

3:00 - new sponsor! THE LEGION OF BLOOM
5:00 - Upful Update
10:00 - Introducing NATE EDGAR
16:00 - Interview - NATE DAWG

We hop in the wayback machine to discuss Nate's roots in New Hampshire, from nascent backpack rap steez to a teenager runnin' away on Dead tour, playing in newgrass bands or working as a garbage man. Boston/Wally's/NE jam scene back in the day, learning tuba to get into college, and other random historical minutiae. In a touching, insightful segment, Nate takes us through his experience working with pioneering American reggae band John Brown's Body, and expounds on the legacy of his dear friend, JBB bassist, the late Scott Palmer.

Naturally, we dig DEEP on all things The Nth Power, past, present and future. Ruminations on his bandmates as family, the core trio perservering through adversity, the inherent spirituality in their music. Plus reflections on collaborating with Weedie Braimah, Nigel Hall, Rob Marscher, and the friendship, mentorship, kindness and unbelievable talent of the late, great Kofi Burbridge. We unpack Nth's unparalleled tribute mojo: from Earth, Wind & Power to Bob Marley to Steely Dan, High Sierra's Gospel According to Nth, and a little teaser for Cool Cool Cool just around the bend at Brooklyn Comes Alive.

MY MAN NATE. Came thru and came CORRECT! The Nth Power really does LOVE us.

Vibe Junkie JAM

Suwannee Rising 4.9.22

EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com

Tuesday May 31, 2022

057: RON JOHNSON on the Bass [Samantha Fish, Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, Anders Osborne, ex-KDTU]

Tuesday May 31, 2022

RON JOHNSON on the bass. Ron Johnson on the BASS! Currently holding down the low-end with red-hot guitar phenom Samantha Fish. Ron worked extensively with Gregg Allman at the end of his life, developing a profound friendship in Gregg’s final act. Ron toured hard with Warren Haynes Band, has collaborated with Anders Osborne. Chris Cain, Nigel Hall, and dozens of others. Ron was the longtime sturdy anchor for Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, during what I firmly believe to be their mightiest era, 2000-2006.

3:15 - PSA from your humble narrator
4:20 - Derrick Freeman & Smoker's World "HoTel" + BG catches Covid during Jazz Fest
10:00 - Introducing RON JOHNSON on the Bass!
19:00 - RON JOHNSON INTERVIEW (85 mins)

A few weeks back, Ron was traveling through NorCal, and we finally connected for a proper chat, all about his musical journey and more. It was long overdue, & nothing short of an absolute joy! Ron grew up in SoCal, came of age in NorCal, I met him 20 years ago when he was living in Brooklyn. Now he's got about a decade in NOLA. We had a LOT of ground to cover!

Please welcome to Ep.057 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* the very first musician to pull back the curtain for yours truly, my first friend in the game. Fantastic bass player, gem of a human, open book. Ron Johnson LIVE & DIREKT from the Vibe Junkie Studios -aka- my back deck in Oakland.

Vibe Junkie JAMZ

KDTU - "New Tune" - Late Night Bonnaroo, June 2002

GREGG ALLMAN - "Whipping Post" - Wanee Festival April 2016

NIGEL HALL BAND- "God Bless the Absentee" (Paul Simon) Sullivan Hall, NYC 1/27/13

EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com

Wednesday Apr 27, 2022

056: SKERIK [saxophonist: Garage a Trois, Bastard Jazz, Emerald Quintet, Critters Buggin, DRKWAV, Syncopated Taint Septet, Bandalabra, Lorbo, Dead Kenny G’s, Omaha Diner, MORE!]

Wednesday Apr 27, 2022

Please welcome SKERIK, Seattle's inimitable master of saxophone skronk, to Episode 056 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast. Brilliant on both tenor and baritone saxophone, most often mixing in electronics, effects, and loops, Skerik is nothing short of a pioneer in saxophonics.

3:15 - Introducing Skerik
9:30 - Skerik interview

Co-founder of Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois, Tuatara, DRKWAV, and Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet. He is also an original member of both Les Claypool’s Fancy Band and Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. Skerik has worked extensively with Stanton Moore (drummer-Galactic) and Charlie Hunter (8-string guitar) across numerous collabs, including Bastard Jazz, Emerald Quintet, plus Omaha Diner, Coalition of the Willing. His list of projects and peers is far too long for a podcast synopsis! Skerik is a son of Seattle through and through, even briefly working with grunge super-band Mad Season. We touch on a number of these topics in this wide-ranging conversation

Vibe Junkie JAM

30 mins of Col. Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade

LIVE from Tipitina's Uptown in New Orleans, during Jazz Fest late night May 2002

EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com

"Walk on Water" - The Nth Power, AURA Studios 2014

Saturday Mar 26, 2022

055: The Return of WEEDIE BRAIMAH (djembefola, Hands of Time, Nth Power, Trombone Shorty, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah)

Saturday Mar 26, 2022

Welcome back the great Weedie Braimah to Ep.055! An educational, inspirational, international deep dive with a man who is sworn to the drum. Topics include: recent trip to the continent, Ghanaian heritage, reflections on 'East St. Africa', the concept, players, intention and evolution of his band 'The Hands of Time', their GRAMMY-nominated self-titled album on Stretch/Ropeadope, his parents/ancestral lineage as a drummer and teacher, Idris Muhammad, the intergenerational connection between Baba Olatunji/Grateful Dead in the 1980's and what Weedie & Co are doing today, and more! Ruminations on his collabs with The Nth Power, Trombone Shorty, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Oteil Burbridge and others. This is a profound conversation that stretches nearly two hours, and I really had to run the whole thing in full because not a Weedie word is to be missed. Proud of this one, fam. Buckle up !

3:00 - Love That Baby plug > Isaiah Sharkey "If I Had The World To Give"
10:15 - introducing WEEDIE BRAIMAH
16:15 - interview w/ Weedie

Vibe Junkie JAM

BUY Weedie Braimah & the Hands of Time debut album HERE

Special thanks to our friends at LOVE THAT BABY.

Peep the fire threadz!

The Music Cellar x Music Right

fundraiser for children's music education!

DONATE HERE!

check out Return of Goree - Youssou N'Dour (w/Idris Muhummad)

bio from Bandcamp

Weedie Braimah is a djembefola—a master of the djembe, a West African drum with a hollow wood body and an animal skin stretched and fastened over the top, the origins of which date back to the 12th Century. Braimah, who was born in Ghana and raised in East St. Louis, is the product of a family whose musical history goes back centuries. His father, Oscar Sulley Braimah, was a master drummer and composer whose Uhuru Dance Band made remarkable records that bridged the gap between jazz and traditional African music. Braimah’s mother, Ann Morris was a gifted jazz drummer, and his great-uncle Idris Muhammad played with everyone from Grant Green and Horace Silver to Pharoah Sanders and Roberta Flack, while also leading his own ensembles. Braimah has been making music with The Nth Power, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave,

Braimah’s latest album The Hands Of Time puts the interconnectedness of African diasporic music into practice. Featuring a variety of collaborators from around the world, he & his eclectic band infuse jazz with hip-hop and funk, while the sound of the djembe and the spirit of West Africa gives these modern styles a timeless pulse.

EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com

"telepatía" (Kali Uchis funk cover)

Wednesday Feb 23, 2022

054: The Return of ERIC KRASNO [Soulive, The Assembly] + The Music Cellar fundraiser w/ Jonny G [lespecial]

Wednesday Feb 23, 2022

Welcome back the great Eric Krasno! The Soulive guitarist, Lettuce co-founder, The Assembly bandleader, and producer extraordinaire. Kraz has been a very busy bee of late, forming a new band, releasing solo LP Always, plus marriage, fatherhood, a new crib and studio in LA, and hosting the popular Plus One podcast. Kraz's Fall 2019 appearance on the Upful LIFE pod was quite well-received, so with all the exciting developments in his life and career, it feels like the perfect time to get up to speed with all things Eric Krasno.

Stick around at the end for The Music Cellar x Music Right campaign, an effort to raise funds for youth music education. DONATE HERE!

3:30 what's poppin & a special shoutout
14:00 - Welcome Back KRAZ!
21:30 - ERIC KRASNO interview
2:03:00 - The Music Cellar X Music Right w/ Jonny G of lespecial

* thumbnail photo: Aaron Bradley for Suwannee Hulaween

During the past couple of years, Krasno's life and career began to evolve in major ways. Kraz credits his young family as the revelation and motivation behind this latest collection of songs. A cross-country move after 2 decades defining Brooklyn. Soon thereafter, a swiftly-prolific musical partnership between Kraz and Bay Area-based producer/multi-instrumentalist Otis McDonald, then creating Eric Krasno & The Assembly.

Always finds Eric Krasno at a peaceful, introspective place in life and his career. What began as some innocuous demos of a Dylan cover blossomed into a full-fledged coalescing of musical souls. The duo subsequently put together Eric Krasno & the Assembly, that includes Upful LIFE pod alumnus Wil Blades. We hear a bit about Kraz's forthcoming new D'Angelico signature model guitar, his fondness for Hawaii, what's next for Soulive, plus the nuts and bolts of going on tour in pandemic times.

The Music Cellar x Music Right fundraiser for children's music education!

DONATE HERE!

The Music Cellar is a space in central Millerton, NY dedicated to music education, operated by Jonny G of lespecial (ep.040). We offer private lessons on many different instruments, including guitar, bass, drums, and piano, as well as group lessons and “toddler jam” for younger children. In addition to lessons, we also offer recording sessions, rehearsal space, equipment rental, sound reinforcement services, and even podcast recording.

Music Right is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization supporting music education initiatives. Scott Sacks shares their mission: collaborate with a growing network of incredible educators, musicians, business, individuals and community leaders to help shine a spot light on the incredible efforts of our partner programs of music education.

Eric Krasno - The Upful LIFE Podcast Episode 025 (Fall 2019)

VIBE JUNKIE JAM

SCARY POCKETS ft. Vidya Vox, Eric Krasno & Otis McDonald

Episode 054 bumper music provided by ECHT!

EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com