067: George Crotty
Good morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.
On Wednesday, December 9th of 2020 Music is not content, it’s connection.
I’m glad to be talking with you today, over this amazing little pop-up radio thingy we call podcasting. There are a million shows, so thanks for tuning into this one. It’s about music. Could you tell?
Folks have no idea what music is, least of all the people who make it and listen to it. We care about it, but no two people will define Music in the same way. It’s just this thing that we either can’t turn away from for love or money, or the thing we have to get away from at any cost. Depends on the moment of course, and the band.
I’m pleased to announce that I got a big chunk of work done on my studio, so stay tuned for some videos and some streaming coming up very soon. Keep an eye out there.
On the topic of personal media development, someone who’s given me quite a bit of guidance over the years is a previous guest on the show, Todd Reynolds (@digifiddler). He’s a dear friend who happens to be one of the biggest gearheads on earth (at least as far as string players go). He’s been helping a lot of people get their stuff in gear for recording, improvising with electronics, video streaming. I’m gonna plug his online workshop this weekend, it’s totally free and just the ticket if you’re curious about getting your rig tight.
If that’s you, click the link!
Register for Level Up Your Virtual Presence with Todd Reynolds, a free 2-day online workshop, Dec 12 & 13.
[Photo by Shjaane Glover]
Canadian cellist George Crotty follows the path of many diverse cello forebears, filtering an inquisitive eclecticism through a vibrant sonic imagination. His approach introduces nimble fiddle-derived chording and ornamentation, agile one-finger gestures from Indian classical music, electric guitar-esque manoeuvres, and good old standup jazz bass. He sounds pretty damn decent if you ask me.
He leads a trio as a vehicle for his unique vocabulary on the cello and his compositional sensibility. Their music has a dynamism and conversational interplay that makes you listen.
[Photo by Shjaane Glover]
George and I go back a bit, I’ve checked out his bands live and had some good hangs at certain music festivals. He’s got a lot to say about the world he’s navigating as a young graduate of the Berklee School of Music, working on the road and then off of it too, because covid…
He’s got a new single being released this week on his Bandcamp page, check out Prayer Dance as our segue music. It’s a Brooklyn Raga Massive commission.
Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:
Without further ado, here’s George Crotty.
It’s an honor to have him on the show.
Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with George Crotty.
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Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to George Crotty for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at George Crotty dot com. Go buy his music at Bandcamp and follow him on IG @georgeqrious.
(Mentioned in this episode: “Don't play the butter notes!”)
I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 67 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:
Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.
We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.
But you gotta keep playing:
We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.
As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.
You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out.
Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.
Big love to your ears.
Trevor
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