This week, SongTalk welcomed jazz pianist and teacher Steve Koven. Steve is a composer, performer, producer and educator. He has one of the longest standing trios in Canada, performing, touring and recording together for over 26 year. Aside from performing and recording with his trio – Steve Koven Trio – Steve also has other recording projects such as the Koven Collective and Koven & Law as well as Lazersuzan
We talked with Steve about:
- his process for writing
- how he communicates his song ideas to his bands
- the touring opportunities available through consulates and embassies
- where he finds inspiration for his music
- what improvising can bring to songwriting
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Toronto-based Saxophonist Richard Underhill talks about his work with Blue Rodeo, The Shuffle Demons, and how horns work within a song.
We talked about:
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Indie jazz pop singer-songwriter Jordana Talsky stopped by and shared tips on using looper pedals for songwriting and shared two original songs.
Listen to the show
Stuff we talked about:
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OK, so we’ve got a thing for the cowbell. Or maybe that was just Phil. In any case, the under-appreciated cowbell gets the most love it’s had since Christopher Walken’s fever.
We talked about:
- the history and distinctive sound of the cowbell
- the heyday of the cowbell in 70s rock
- syncopated vs.
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Sean Bertram returned to the show following the release of his debut album, The Right Place. We talked about:
- Sean’s studies at Humber College in Music Guitar
- poetics in your lyrics
- changing chords and melodic centre between sections of your song
- contrast in pop songwriting
- self-doubt in songwriting
- Taming Your Gremlin by Rick Carson
- how to change up your guitar playing from section to section
- how to use an AABA structure in your verse
- Sean’s new album The Right Place
- Sean’s dad, Allister Bradley and his appearance on the show
Listen to the show
Download the lyrics for Caroline and I Think Too Much
Watch the live performance
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Paul Novotny (born Peterborough, Ontario, 1958) is a composer, bassist, producer, and engineer. He is the bassist on the international runaway hit video-game, CUPHEAD; over 50,000 sales in 2017.
As a producer, his record label has achieved three Juno nominations and one Juno win for Joe Sealy’s Africville Suite.…
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Popular guest co-host and guest on Song Talk Radio, Patrick Ballantyne dropped by the studio to share two of his favourite Canadian songs. “Help Me” by Joni Mitchell is a great example of her unique combination of melody, structure, and lyrics to evoke a casual conversational tone.…
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Multi-instrumentalist and back up vocalist Sintja Baba has been playing alongside various Toronto acts and is currently playing that role in Marlon Chaplin’s band. She started her own band THE NAIVE, where her music has taken the shape of various genres.…
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Seasoned professional guitarist, singer-songwriter, and all-around nice guy Scott Neary shares some of his best kept songwriting secrets. Scott also accompanied the talented jazz songwriter Steven Teatz for his appearance on Song Talk Radio. We talked about:
- The great chorus debate – to repeat it verbatim or not?
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The very talented Kaleb Hikele stopped by during his tour and played some great tunes, even one written for a wedding.
Some stuff we talked about:
- theSunHarmonic.com
- working on pushing your limits
- playing for weddings
- strategies for lyric writing
- passing chords
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