Michael Dease Interview
Welcome to the show notes for Episode #36 of the Trombone Corner podcast. This episode features trombonist Michael Dease.
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About Michael Dease
Michael Dease is one of the world’s eminent trombonists, lending his versatile sound and signature improvisations to over 200 recordings and groups as diverse as Grammy winning artists David Sanborn, Christian McBride, Michel Camilo, and Alicia Keys. Born in Augusta, GA, he played the saxophone and trumpet before choosing the trombone at age 17. In 2001, Dease moved to New York City to become part of the historic first class of jazz students at The Juilliard School, earning both Bachelors and Masters degrees, and quickly established a reputation as a brilliant soloist, sideperson, and bandleader.
Best Next Thing (Posi-Tone, 2022), Dease’s newest release, his ninth on Posi-Tone, gathers together an assemblage of exceptional musicians to help him interactively explore the essence of the blues and reframe the abstract truths of jazz as the “Best Next Thing “for today’s audience of listeners.
Dease, the winner of the 69th Annual DownBeat Magazine Poll for Trombonist of the Year and multi-Grammy award winner, is also a sought-after lead, section and bass trombonist with today’s leading jazz orchestras. His experiences include bands led by Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Charles Tolliver, Rufus Reid, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. However, it is on the frontline of quintets and sextets led by master musicians like The Heath Brothers, Winard Harper, Renee Rosnes, Bill Charlap, Claudio Roditi, and Lewis Nash, where Dease has revitalized the trombone’s image. Not content to simply improvise, Dease arranges and composes for many different bands, constantly adjusting his tone and timbre to add just the right flavor to the music.
Dease’s unique blend of curiosity, hard work and optimism has helped him earn worldwide recognition, including awards from ASCAP, The International Trombone Association, Yamaha, Eastern Trombone Workshop, New York Youth Symphony, Hot House Magazine, Michigan State University, among others. Dease was profiled in Cicily Janus’ book, The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today’s Living Legends (Random House). His experience in the studio has led him to produce several recording sessions for emerging artists, often composing and writing liner notes for the releases.
Dease’s singular talent has made him an effective and prolific teacher, resulting in invitations, master classes and residencies at University of North Texas, Scranton University, University of Iowa, Florida State College, Broward College, and many institutions abroad. He serves as Professor of Jazz Trombone at the renowned Michigan State University jazz program and has also been on faculty at Queens College – CUNY, The New School and North-eastern University. Many of Dease’s current and former students are enjoying successful careers in the music world.
Always an informed, but forward-thinking musician, Dease learned the craft from trombone legends Wycliffe Gordon and Joseph Alessi. His associations have run the entire spectrum of musical experience: Alicia Keys, Paul Simon, Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra, Elton John, Neal Diamond, Illinois Jacquet, Slide Hampton & The World of Trombones, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, WDR Big Band, George Gruntz, Billy Harper, and numerous others.
Dease enjoys spending every possible minute with his extraordinary wife and Professor of Percussion at MSU, Gwendolyn Dease, and their daughters Brooklyn & Charley. Michael Dease is a Yamaha Performing Artist and uses Pickett Brass and Vandoren mouthpieces exclusively.
View Michael’s All Music Guide entry here for a partial listing of his sideperson credits and discography.
Michael Dease Links
Other Links Mentioned in this Episode
Join the Los Angeles Brass Alliance (LAB-A) at 7PM on May 4th at Glendale First baptist Church for their second installation of Next Up! This free concert (generously sponsored by Bob Reeves Brass) spotlights LAB-A’s annual collaboration between emerging LA-based composers and brass musicians. Learn more at: www.labrassalliance.org.
Podcast Credits
- Theme Music: The Trombone Choir Arrangements of Jay Friedman, Vol. 1
- Audio Engineer – Preston Shepard
- Cover Art – Frank Gladstone
- Podcast Hosts – Noah Gladstone & John Snell
Transcript
John Snell (01:08)
Well, it’s such an honor to welcome to the Trombone Corner Michael Dees. Michael, how are doing today?
Michael Dease (01:13)
Hey, I’m great. Yeah, thanks for welcoming me. I’m looking forward to talking with y’all.
John Snell (01:16)
Yeah, we’re excited to have you on. What? Let’s start right from the beginning. How did the trombone find you or did you search the trombone out?
Michael Dease (01:25)
Yes, this is a late addition to my instrument repertoire. I started trombone when I was 17. I started as a sax player in school band.
And I loved the saxophone, but I heard Curtis Fuller play on John Coltrane’s record, Blue Train. And that made me immediately seek out a trombone and start learning the solo by ear. That’s actually how I learned the instrument was by learning a jazz solo and figuring out where the notes lay on the slide and how it worked. It helped that I played trumpet a little bit too. And those are all self-taught things. Before I knew it, I was…
going to fs you want a full scholarship for jazz studies and then i transferred to juliar to be part of the first year of jazz study students there and trombone was my thing i fell in love with it
Noah G (02:13)
So that all happened pretty quick then, I guess.
Michael Dease (02:16)
Yeah, very quick, within a within, you 12 to 18 months. Yep.
Noah G (02:23)
from starting the instrument to in college as a trombone major. That’s wild.
Michael Dease (02:28)
Yes,
yes. Yeah, it was a wild time. Yeah, but you know the other side of that coin is that my folks were going through a pretty tumultuous divorce. Separation is sad stuff, but it’s also relatable. know, a lot of people kind of, especially our generation, you know, we know a lot of people who grew up and dealt with divorce on our own terms, but my folks, you know.
would be an interesting movie. But the trombone ended up kind of being my, you know, the gazebo I would go to to get away from everything, you know. It became a place that I could put all my energy into and I really just fell in love with jazz music and the sound of the trombone even more at that time. So I kind of feel like the trombone got me through that really tough emotional
challenging time and it helped me learn how to play better. know, getting my feelings into the instrument and trying to connect with it on an emotional basis rather than just a technical.
John Snell (03:37)
Making that connection. you said completely self-taught, saxophone, trumpet, trombone. Who was your first trombone teacher? When did you finally start taking lessons?
Michael Dease (03:47)
You know, it was really nice Wycliffe Gordon is from my hometown or I’m from his hometown or we’re from someone older’s hometown. You know, I reached out to him. He’s like the hero in Augusta, Georgia. So he he met with me and gave me a couple of lessons and but they were really.
John Snell (03:58)
I love it.
Michael Dease (04:11)
you know, just like big brother mentoring, almost like therapy sessions, you know. Sitting down with the trombone, you know, in a lesson, lesson type thing happened when I went to college. And that was John Drew at Florida State who just retired. He was a great teacher for me. He made me feel like I could do anything. He was always trying to make me feel okay mentally learning the trombone at a later age.
And then I was, we didn’t have a jazz trombone teacher at Florida State and I wanted more jazz oriented teaching direction and he said, hey, you gotta find it. And I said, what if I switched to performance and studied classical music?
And you’re the best. And he was like, I’d love to have you as a student, but you’re jazz all the way. Like you’re you’re if you should do something that your heart’s really in. And and he was great. It was like the nicest like rejection ever. You know, yeah, he just he just said, like, you know, I would love to have you as a student. You would do well. But I could tell that you would be thinking jazz, jazz, jazz all all day long.
John Snell (05:30)
Mm-hmm.
Michael Dease (05:30)
That’s not what you want to be thinking of with Roshu’s.
Noah G (05:30)
That’s a hallmark of a great teacher though, think, is really
connecting with the student and really understanding and not trying to force anything upon anybody, but letting you find your own way.
Michael Dease (05:41)
Right. Yeah, we’re
still really close. We talk like a few times a year and and it’s funny, I didn’t study with Dr. Drew very long, but his impact on me is like huge. He’s the one that gave me the advice. Because I because in my eyes being I’m the first person in my family to go to college.
I didn’t really grow up around a lot of academia, so being around someone with a doctorate in music was fascinating. And I said to him, I said, you know, you’re a doctor, you you could write prescriptions on how I’m supposed to play. Tell me what I have to do. Like, where does my tongue go? How do I use my air? What’s the right speed of vibrato? What horn should I be playing? What mouthpiece? See? See what I did there? No.
But he was like, Michael, try everything, use what works. And that’s been something I tell my students to this day, and I kind of practice as a musician too.
John Snell (06:47)
Try everything. Great advice. So you were down in FSU and then went up to Juilliard, which, correct me if I’m wrong, you were in the first jazz class, right? Or jazz major at Juilliard? I mean, was that, I mean, obviously Juilliard’s known as being, you know, the cream of the crop, so to speak, at conservatories, but it being the initial jazz class. I mean, did you have any trepidation going or would you excited to go?
Michael Dease (06:57)
Yeah, it was wild. Yeah, absolutely wild. Yeah.
yeah, yeah,
I was excited. I was terrified. I mean, I was excited because I knew I had to, you know, like I was chasing after, you know, being in an environment that was just all about excellence and moving forward. And I wanted to be around people that were pursuing the music and being serious. that, Juliette represented that to me in a lot of ways and New York City as well.
John Snell (07:17)
Mm-hmm.
Michael Dease (07:42)
But I was terrified. You know, I got there and my colleagues in the first year were Jen Krupa.
who had been playing for a bit at the time and she was fantastic, she still is. But just someone with a lot of experience and performance and stylistic expertise, something that I didn’t have. And then Ryan Keberley, who’s another really good friend of mine, amazing, perfect pitch, can blend in any ensemble, sight read, anything and just…
Being around those two like titans of trombone was like, wow, I am so bad. And I have so much work to do. then being like hard on myself and imposter syndrome and like I don’t deserve to be here. But then being so grateful at the same time, like wow, get like, I used to.
Noah G (08:24)
you
Michael Dease (08:41)
This kind of a joke. I didn’t really learn how to play a pedal tone until I was 20 or 21. And I would try to play these low notes because it didn’t make sense as a woodwind player coming to trombone. They’d say, just put your lips in the mouthpiece and go, you know, I would try to do that. But I didn’t they didn’t say like, keep your the far corners firm so that there was some tension. They just, you know, it’s a like an anecdote.
So I would try to play these notes and fail. And Ryan would look at me. And Ryan’s dad’s a trumpet professor. He’s, know, Ryan’s been around music since he was like negative one, you know. And he would just look at me and be like, he’s got like kind of a high voice or he did back then. He’d be like, wow. And just hit me, like slap me on the leg. Ryan, I hope you see this. But he’s a he’s a huge hero and friend of mine. And even though he’s just a year or two older than me.
John Snell (09:30)
You
Michael Dease (09:38)
He came out as guest artist to my school, Michigan State, and did a great job. But yeah, they taught me so much. And I studied with Joe Alessi for a year at Juilliard. I chased him around and eventually made him trade me lessons. I would give him a jazz lesson and he’d give me an Alessi lesson.
John Snell (09:57)
So you taught you taught Joel S. Jazz. I love it.
Michael Dease (10:01)
I started it, now everybody does. It’s like his thing now with jazz majors, he’s like, I’ll teach you and you trade me a lesson, you know. That’s what it’ll do.
John Snell (10:03)
I love it, I love it.
So what was it like studying with Joe for that year? Sorry Noah, go ahead.
Noah G (10:16)
It’s of knowledge. It’s
good thing.
Michael Dease (10:18)
What?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn’t take it too seriously. Like, I mean, he he worked with J.J. Johnson. What am I going to show Joe Alessi about jazz? But but but I gave him my my my thoughts. You know, he did one thing that a lot of a lot of players do where they when they go from like trombone mode, you know.
Noah G (10:28)
You
Michael Dease (10:44)
orchestral foundations of rich long tone and support and dynamics and filling up the horn, getting the bell to ring. He did a version of this, but I’ve seen it really done on really poor levels where people switch to what they call a jazz sound or a jazz mentality.
And all of a sudden the big sound goes away. gets really small. It gets really squirrely because the vibrato is in and out and inconsistent. somehow like jazz sound is softer and less has less of a core and has more of air in it. And, and that, that’s, that’s something that, you know, I took a position on a long time ago that there really is no jazz sound as a jazz style.
And there’s a, just like there’s a style of every type of music from Baroque and romantic to avant-garde and to, you know, contemporary creative and to funk. And there’s a style, but there’s really one great trombone sound that we all strive for. And that’s getting the instrument to respond and be full and not overblown and not under supported. So.
Noah G (11:59)
Absolutely. And I always like to bring this up in every podcast episode that the trombone was perfect when it was invented and used across all of those different genres from the very, very beginning. So I didn’t know that when I picked the trombone, but what an amazing gift the instrument is that we get to play all of these different styles from Renaissance to Baroque and crazy temperaments to jazz and classical and, you know, ripping the paint off the back of the hall. Like it’s a
Michael Dease (12:07)
Yeah.
Yeah, like Gary Valenti.
Noah G (12:28)
Exactly, like what a great instrument. It’s so simple and
Michael Dease (12:29)
Yeah, yeah.
Noah G (12:31)
so wonderful. just it makes me happy to think about so.
Michael Dease (12:35)
Yeah,
yeah, totally, Yep.
Noah G (12:37)
We’re very lucky
the instrument finds us, think. It’s funny when you look at all the other instruments of the orchestra and no slight on any other instrumentalists, but, you know, there’s something about trombone players and this collective of trombone players that, I don’t know, I think there’s something with the instrument, like we just appreciate it and it kind of becomes a thing. Everything I have in my life, I’ve gotten, you know, with the success in the studios and all that stuff and recording.
Michael Dease (13:00)
Great.
Noah G (13:07)
from the trombone which I think is fascinating to me. I didn’t know when I picked it when I was 11 years old, you know, but that’s what a cool thing. So there you go, plug for the trombone in the trombone corner. We love the trombone. We should make shirts, John.
Michael Dease (13:13)
Yeah.
Yeah, Trumpet’s kind of like this too.
John Snell (13:23)
Yeah, that’ll be next. We’ll do shirts.
Noah G (13:27)
get out of here, Preston. That’s not a real instrument.
John Snell (13:32)
So, Michael, speaking of like the resonance and whatnot of the trombone, was that something that you had to develop, you know, through your studies, or was that something early on you had picked up a knack for?
Michael Dease (13:44)
You know, I’m an only child growing up. You know, I had to entertain myself. My parents were working all the time. And one of the things I would do, you know, just to kind of fill the silence was I would imitate people. I would imitate voices. I would, you know, come up with spontaneous poetry and, you know, just creative things that kids do to stay occupied.
So that translated to picking up jazz music, just trying to imitate the sounds that I listened to on the CDs. That was one of the most helpful things, and I have my students do that to this day. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know the melodies or the tunes, but I knew the solos. And trying to, you know, match my tone.
I could hear the difference between what I was playing and what I was listening to. And just experimenting with more air, tongue placement, diaphragm support, even having a mental picture of what the sound looked like to me. I’m sort of infamous for my terrible analogies.
You know, it’s like if J.J. Johnson is like a BLT, and Curtis Fuller is like a Reuben, and Julian Priesters like a turkey on rye. It’s like, they’re all like famous, legendary sandwiches with stories and histories, but they have such a unique flavor in a place in history. You can all trace them back to the early loaves.
All right,
Noah G (15:35)
What
kind of sandwich are you, Okay.
John Snell (15:37)
You beat me to it, Noah!
Michael Dease (15:37)
Man,
I am a Jimmy John’s Italian nightclub. Yeah, that’s terrible. No, just a silly analogy, but nonetheless appropriate because I try to get further than the very surface things of pitch center and where the articulation is. mean, to me, that’s a given, but.
Noah G (15:45)
nice.
Michael Dease (16:07)
really inhabit the mental space of like what what do these artists feel like when they’re creating these sounds. You know it’s got to go beyond just you know physicality you know mouthpiece lips and although I’m super into that too I’m a gearhead so.
Noah G (16:24)
Me too.
Michael Dease (16:26)
I know. Yeah, no, I know. know I should. You should. You should get a restraining order for my stalking of your website.
Noah G (16:27)
Yeah.
I
John Snell (16:34)
Well, and we’ll get
to that. I mean, it’s not too early to drop the fact that we have both owners of Sterling Silver Bob Reeves Brass Mouthpieces on the podcast together.
Noah G (16:43)
This is true, the only two, the only
two I believe.
Michael Dease (16:46)
Yeah, you don’t
want to drop that too much. I actually already dropped it. I dropped the actual mouthpiece.
John Snell (16:48)
The… Yeah.
That’s like the Lord of the Rings, though. getting we have we have both rings here, both sterling mouthpieces. Well, we’ll talk about that a little bit later. And you mentioned what Curtis Fuller you mentioned, JJ, who else did you listen to kind of during your development, Michael?
Michael Dease (17:07)
Yeah, I heard Wycliffe around Augusta, but it’s one of the best compliments you could give somebody. I heard Wycliffe play and immediately was like, wow, I’ll never play that instrument. Because when you play it like that, what else is left to do? I mean, he’s such a big presence in heart and mastery of the instrument from its…
from the beginning of its sound to the sounds that he creates today. It’s really, can’t say enough about him. And as a human being, he’s done so much for my career. Like I wouldn’t, I know I wouldn’t be talking to you guys today without him. So the, but when I heard Curtis, Curtis was a bebopper. And then, you know, one of the creators of the hard bop sound. And he became the most sought after.
Noah G (17:51)
It’s really remarkable.
Michael Dease (18:06)
collaborator trombonist in original jazz music alive. He was the de facto go-to, I need a trombone in my band, who do I call? And that was my dream, that’s what I’m pursuing.
that’s that’s you know i don’t need to be everybody’s favorite but i want to be somebody’s you know i think that’s fair and um and so so curtis fuller’s on so many blue note records that he can’t you know last last we spoke about it he was still discovering records in the 2010s that he he’s like ah michael did you i’m what have you heard this before i just heard this i you know in uh
So I got to know him and be mentored by him and it was a life changing experience. He gave me one of his mouthpieces.
Noah G (19:00)
Music.
John Snell (19:00)
So how did
you get to meet him? When was the first time?
Michael Dease (19:03)
I auditioned and got accepted at this residency program for emerging composers and players called the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program. And it’s a two week residency in DC. It’s all paid for by the Kennedy Center. And you get to work with this amazing faculty of legendary artists. It was run by Dr. Billy Taylor back in those days. so, Fuller was the trombone faculty. And I had written a tune for him.
on Fuller called Fuller Ups on my first record. And I gave him the CD and the music and I was like, Mr. Fuller, I’m so honored to meet you. I do this because of you and I want to be just like you. You know, my,
buddies in the class were laughing at me because they thought I was kissing, kissing ass or whatever. And I was just like, I’m sorry, but this is just what it is. We should all be so lucky to meet someone that inspired us from the very beginning. And we became friendly and-
He became a mentor, somebody I could call with questions. And then I went to go see him play at Iridium in New York City with his great band. And we were backstage and I was asking him about his horn. And he was playing a Yamaha 691, the same model that JJ played after he played his infamous 3B with the 2B slide. And…
And I said, Mr. Fuller, know, what kind of mouthpiece do you play? And he was, he played a King H & White Equitru that had the shank built up. it fit, originally it fit his old opera. And then he had the shank changed so that it would fit his Yamaha.
Noah G (20:50)
Mm.
John actually knows about old opera shanks. Yes. Yeah. As a mouthpiece maker, often specialize in.
John Snell (20:58)
Yeah.
Michael Dease (20:59)
yeah, yeah, man, we need to talk. We need to talk. How about
John Snell (21:03)
We specialize in those.
Michael Dease (21:06)
when Yamaha was using this thick bracing here as inspired by olds, I think. Anyway, that’s another area, but I saw that recording you have for 875 on the Brass Arc, so is it still there? We gotta talk.
Noah G (21:10)
that old school right there. Yep, yep.
Yeah, it’s it’s nice. Yeah, it’s just came in and super nice.
Okay.
John Snell (21:26)
This might
be the first sale on the trombone corner.
Michael Dease (21:29)
We gotta
Noah G (21:29)
Hmm.
Michael Dease (21:29)
talk, we gotta talk. I’m an olds junkie. I’ve had, I’ve probably had 15 olds in my life.
Noah G (21:35)
It’s a nice one and
it’s got a story behind it. the family that has it, they just want it to go to a really good player. so it’s, I do too. So I’m looking at them. So we’ll talk. Yeah.
Michael Dease (21:39)
Okay, well as of now it’s hell. Please hold it.
I know one. OK, thank you.
So so yeah yeah so Curtis you know he had a Mr Fuller had another mouthpiece there. It was a gold plated Dennis Wick 9BS. And and I tried it and it felt great on my horn at the time and. And he just did the kindest thing. He just said Michael here.
You know, think he knew how much it would mean to me to have that as a part of him, a part of his musical legacy. And it’s a cherished piece that I have. And then, you know, really quickly to answer the actual question, like I started going through the history of the greats on our instrument. Bill Watrous, Carl Fontana, Jack Teagarden, Bill Harris, Frank Rossellino.
to players that are alive today like Andy Martin, Bob McChesney, name it, John Allred, Bill Allred, all the Allreds really. I’m pretty pleased to say it’d be hard to find a trombonist I haven’t checked out or transcribed.
Cuz I just love it. I love the trombone. I love the way people’s personalities play. And I love learning how to play in different ways. That’s something that Curtis and JJ, and then Steve Turay, I have to mention was one of my big teachers. I didn’t study with him through a university, I just went and got lessons. Same with Sly Hampton. I just went and met him and went to his place.
Tried to be a sponge, you know, cuz I’m trying to catch up after starting the trombone like eight years late
John Snell (23:43)
Well, yeah make up for lost time, but it seems like you seems like you did and And you’re me in New York at this time. Were you also starting working freelancing?
Michael Dease (23:47)
Yeah, yeah, trying.
Yeah, I started working pretty soon after I started my undergrad at Juilliard. I subbed at a, James Burton sent me to sub in a rehearsal with Illinois Jacket. And it was great because Jacket hired me on the spot and let go of the person that I was subbing for, which thankfully wasn’t James. But I got to, it was so great to get to play in that section early. I was 19 or so at the time. And…
That was my first kind of like, know, wow, I’m in this band type vibe. From there, I started hanging out in the city when I could, which is hard to do when you’re a college student in New York. But I started a weekly residency at the Fat Cat Jazz Club, which is now called Cellar Dog. They had a band called the Fat Cat Big Band. We played every Sunday night for years. Started doing record dates, playing in big bands for a lot of people, and then
And then people started to be able to tell I could solo. And that led to small group dates, a lot of sextet recordings, quintets. I started noticing I kept doing repeat records on different record labels. And Positone started calling me for several dates a year. And that led to a relationship that we still have today. It’s 12, 13 years old.
I’ve recorded, I think, 10 albums for them as a leader and probably 40 or 50 as a side person. Yeah. Yeah. Try it. You know, just trying to play different styles and play like myself, but carry the, you know, like I want people when they hear me to, to.
John Snell (25:25)
Jeez. So everything just kind of bloomed from New York. Like one thing led to another.
Michael Dease (25:41)
You know, I’m drawing upon all the good things that the people that innovated these sounds did. So that whoever hires me, you know, doesn’t just get me, they get all the good stuff I’ve checked out.
John Snell (25:55)
Yeah, and is
that like a discussion you have with the producer or, you know, the MD or something? Like, hey, you want Blue Note on this or do you want Michael D’s?
Michael Dease (26:01)
yeah, you know, it’s, you
know, you know, yes, sometimes that’s happened where people will, a producer, a really savvy producer might know what they want or a producer might know to be quiet and let me do my thing. but, there’s a range of it and it’s, and it’s all just has to do with communication. you know, having good communication skills, having respect for each other.
A lot of what I tell my students is like how to draw upon different language and different techniques and sounds and inflections to capture the right style for the music. As opposed to just saying this is me, this is my style. I do this, I do this on that, I do this on that, and that’s what you’re gonna get. I hope you like it. You know? Like that feels a little bit arbitrary to me. I think you can like…
have your voice and I think you can also take the musical style that you’re playing into account and make something really special happen. Yeah.
John Snell (27:07)
Great advice. mean you’re southern boy coming into New York, know, and you had no musical family. Were there any things you had to learn on the job? Now speaking specifically about the business of music versus, you know, obviously just the technique and playing of the instrument.
Michael Dease (27:23)
yeah,
yeah, yeah, totally. In New York, you learn sometimes by making mistakes. And so I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. Understanding the hierarchy of bands, who you need to talk to about substitutions. Sometimes equipment, although different groups…
I’ll give you an example, it’s probably the easiest way to say it, is in big bands there’s different theories about the size of the instrument that you should play on what part. So that lead instruments in a big band or maybe all the horns should be small-bore tenors with eight-inch or under bells and 508 or smaller slides. And then with playing a horn like that, you have to have a mouthpiece that matches appropriately.
because I can make or break the success of the horn and the player playing it. I was really fortunate because I learned so much from buying and selling horns. Sound familiar, Noah? I learned so much from buying and selling horns that I learned how to make a 547 with the 5G mouthpiece.
pop and crackle and sizzle and find a really perfect place right between the bones and the trumpets. Just boom. And no one ever gave me any grief about it. Jimmy Heath, Charles Tolliver, Nicholas Payton, the Dizzy Gillespie big band. Oh, sorry, I’m dropping all these names. but, but, but yeah, yeah, well, you know, you know, just fast forward past the
John Snell (29:05)
You’re allowed to it’s your episode
Michael Dease (29:11)
25 other big bands of note that I’ve played with. And no one’s ever given me any grief about equipment because I really work hard to put the right sound of the band at the priority. And you know who really has issues with that are other trombonists. And I just, you know, I think a lot of that comes down to, you know.
Why has he got the gig? He plays a big horn. And I actually got away from playing 547s when I was about 35 or so. Cuz I was listening to Herbie Green and I was thinking, wow. And I was watching a video of Melba Liston play. And Melba, she’s not unsung, but she could be sung a whole lot more.
She’s an amazing lead player and a ghostwriter and for Quincy Jones and a greater Ranger in her own, right? You know hearing her sound the purity of it and the richness of it along with her be green I just said, you know what? I’m gonna go back to playing a smaller horn. I’m gonna play a six and a half ish Mouthpiece which is comfortable for me. That’s about as small as the diameter that my lips can feel good on and I’m just gonna
I’m going to hear the big sound that I want and make it happen. I’m tired of relying on this 547 equipment, this big bell, these wide throats, know, these far apart tuning slides and bracing and wide slides. I’m tired of relying on that as an ingredient in my sound conception.
So to that end, I was going by Yamaha on the way to a record date with Michelle Camillo. And I stopped in and tried out the 891Z and it just fit to a T. Felt great.
John Snell (31:09)
it. So I mean we dropped a lot of names in there. You also played with some pop stars and done recording sessions. Any particular sessions that stand out in your memory?
Michael Dease (31:09)
Mm-hmm.
yeah, yeah. know, Earth, Wind & Fire is one of my all time favorite bands. I mean, I kind of joke to people that if their trombonist ever needed a break and said, hey, could you come cover me for a little bit? I’d just quit teaching and playing jazz and then I’d go out on the road and then I wouldn’t give him his gig back. So, but that’s, man, man, please.
John Snell (31:48)
We won’t let Reggie know about that. What a
sweet guy. Amazing player. Yeah.
Michael Dease (31:52)
I love Reggie, man. I’m
a big fan. But he’s just like, I love that music so, so, so much. And I think he’s, you know, it’s a perfect fit for Reggie. he sounds that horn section sounds so good. So in Christian, I play I’ve been the lead trombonist in Christian McBride’s big band for the past 16 years. And from Earth, Wind and Fire, we get a Philip Bailey sometimes.
comes over to sing guest tunes with the band. And more than once, I think twice, I’ve gotten to play solos behind him while he’s singing, which is one of the honors of my life. Like the whole point is to really not be heard. But I have like four, eight bar chord change selection.
John Snell (32:41)
Right.
Michael Dease (32:46)
And I get to listen to one of my favorite singers from one of my favorite bands of all time. And then just play like a little tasty joint. What a great feeling that’s been.
John Snell (33:00)
Maybe we can get you to do reasons with them. And instead of the sax solo behind, we’ll have you playing trombone.
Michael Dease (33:03)
God.
man, I love that solo. That’s actually one of my favorite solos of all time is Scott Mayo’s solo on Reasons. What else? Alicia Keys was one of my first pop dates. I had to learn bass trombone for that. I stayed up all night learning how to play trigger C and B.
That was really fun. And then we got to the date and all of the parts were orchestral. I was 20 or 21 at the time and I had just finished some lessons with Joe Alessi. I was like, thank God I worked on this. I was thinking, I was still kind of under the delusion that studying jazz studies meant that people were, you’re jazz guy, so let’s come get you on some hot solos, young man.
No, the whole thing was just, boom, boom, boom, boom. They should have called Weston Spratt or Nikki Abisi or somebody. But the reason they called a jazz person is they wanted someone that they thought might be flexible in some unusual ways. And sometimes, orchestral players aren’t. A lot of times they are. Sometimes they aren’t.
That was really fun. Getting to play at the Obama White House was really fun with the Ray Charles tribute in 2016. That was amazing.
You know, I did a… Strangest gig? I’d say a strange gig is more of a fun, good, good strange. I did a big band record in 2011. Came out in 2012. And it’s an all-star crew. I mean, it was a project I had planned really well for. Tom Bones Malone, Wycliffe Gordon.
Noah G (34:48)
How about the strangest gig?
Michael Dease (35:17)
Greg Gisbert, ATN Charles, Ulysses Owens Jr., Linda Mahan O., just a Seneca Black from Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra playing lead trumpet, Alex Norris, amazing trumpet player, and we’re playing all 10 of my big band arrangements at that point. And we did it in one day. One day,
I rotated in another trumpet section because I knew they would fold first.
John Snell (35:54)
We’re known for that.
Michael Dease (35:56)
But honestly, I learned that from producing a record and having a trumpet section, like overestimating the durability and underestimating the unplayability of the charts we were recording. So we did all 10 tracks in one day within the span of probably eight hours and at least two takes apiece.
And I don’t know what happened, but I kept getting stronger throughout the day. Like I started out a little squirrely and I had to just like, need to know the take y’all. I just was, I didn’t find my center and it ended up like on take 28 of the 10th tune. I’m like, come on y’all. What’s the matter? Let’s go. And then like, you know, you’re hitting all these high notes and stuff. I’d never, I don’t know.
What happened? And Bones came up to me and was like, Mike, you’re supposed to get fatigued as you play throughout the day. And you’re stronger now at the end of this day than you were at the beginning. And I wish I could figure out what I ate or what somebody slipped me something or something. I’ve never felt like that since. I don’t know what happened. I think it was adrenaline.
John Snell (37:15)
You transcended on that day.
Michael Dease (37:21)
I think just being in that situation and feeling the pressure from the level of musicians, and that was something that one of my teachers, Steve Turay, told me. I gave him my record, Clarity, and he was lukewarm about it. And I said,
And I was really trying to impress him. I mean, I’m not ashamed of that. I was young. I wanted his approval and affirmation. I I personally felt like I was getting better, but just not that good. And I wanted him to tell me, man, this sounds great. You’re really doing it, Mike. Stick with it. You’re going to be a great kid. That’s what I wanted him to say. He was like, OK, that’s cool. And I was hurt.
I went up to him again, said, Steve, I feel weird because I don’t think you like my record and don’t, could we talk about it? And he was like, I didn’t say I didn’t like your record, I liked it. And I said, okay, really? But you don’t sound like you liked it. And he’s like, well, it’s good.
And that’s not, didn’t want him to say it’s good. I wanted him to say it was great. But he’s like, it’s good, but it’s not great. I said, can you tell me why? And he asked me who was on the record. And most of the record are my peers, my people that we were just recently students together, or we’re all kind of in the same pot, same boat, same area. And he was like, Mike, I think that’s the issue.
You’re playing with people you’re really comfortable with. Like they don’t challenge or push you. Like they know you and they’re trying to help you. But they’re the same age as you. Everybody’s like just trying to like do their thing. And there’s nobody that has the type of experience that they need to lift you to the next level.
And that’s one of like, I don’t have a whole lot of strong points, but one of my good things is like every once in a while I can be a really good listener. And despite how much I’m talking in this podcast, and I listened and he was like, Mike, man, you gotta hire people that have the goods that know how to make you sound better than you are.
John Snell (39:45)
You
Michael Dease (39:57)
And I was like, but won’t better players, like older, more experienced players, like mow me down and make me sound like I can’t play? He was like, no, no, that’s not, if they’re there for you, they’re there to make you sound good. And older players know how to do that. So I listened, I took his advice. My next record had.
Noah G (40:17)
Mm.
Michael Dease (40:21)
Rufus Reed, Gene Jackson, Cyrus Chestnut, Roy Hargrove, Eric Alexander, Mark Whitfield, all people at least 20 to 25 years older than me. And man, they were like, I felt like a baby, like this is being held and nurtured and they all had my back. It was an amazing experience.
John Snell (40:26)
Jesus.
Geez, great experience. I’m glad you shared that. I gotta ask as a Trump player, so what was it like playing with Roy? mean, being in the studio with him?
Michael Dease (40:54)
man, many times. I mean, first of all, huge hero since I first started getting into jazz. Him and Winston Marsalis were like my, and Maynard Ferguson were my three kind of goats, as the kids say, goats. I can’t think of goat without thinking of, you know, type of thing. But yeah, I originally loved Maynard and
John Snell (41:10)
GOAT.
Michael Dease (41:21)
listened to Big Bob Nouveau and then Wynton with the septet, had just come out with Live at the Village Vanguard, and then Roy Hargrove, RH Factor and all his work, I got hip to. And that was one of my dreams. I tell my students to really be intentional.
about having dreams about who you want to play with and what you want your career to look like, you know, because, you know, dreams are free and, and, and it’s better to do that stuff when you don’t have bills, you know, cause then you can actually use your dreams to fuel, you know, your practice in all the work that you do on hooking up your career. So my dream at that time was I want to play with Roy Hargrove and he has a big band. So I want to, so I went out and
saw his big band a lot and then one day I was playing with my girlfriend at the time who was a really great saxophone player. Roy Hargrove came in and he had bought a rose off the street and he went up to my girlfriend and gave her the rose and I was like man and but to her immense credit she was like thanks Roy but
Noah G (42:38)
Yeah.
Michael Dease (42:45)
You know, you’re my hero and I don’t really, that’s, not, anyway, my boyfriend’s right over there. And so Roy turns over and looks at me and goes, pfft. You know, it’s a complete dismissal. And I was thinking to myself, well, shit, there goes my chance of ever playing with Roy. I’m always gonna be that, that, that girl he likes, dumbass boyfriend, you know, in a.
And so that actually continued a couple more times. And then I found myself at the Blue Note playing with the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. And that band was like a, you know, I love actually being the young cat on the gig, because I’m just going to get like more and more experience than everybody else. So the sax section was Gary Smollion, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Frank West, Antonio Hart.
The trumpets were Claudio Roditi, John Faddis sometimes, Frank Green, Diego Urquilá, Greg Gisbert, and then Roy Hargrove on that night. Trombone section was Douglas Proviance, Steve Davis, Jason Jackson, and myself. And Benny Green, I think, was on the piano that night.
And I had a solo on Jimmy Heath’s arrangement of Una Mas written by Kenny Dorham. And I had a good night. I love that tune. It’s like a blues. So I took a solo and behind me I hear, whoa, I hear like all this cosigning. know, and y’all know what cosigning is, right?
Noah G (44:25)
yeah.
Michael Dease (44:26)
Yeah, you know, hi, yeah, you know, that type of stuff, man. And I’m I’m just trying to stay focused, you know, because I’m the kid in the band. I’m trying to play my butt off. And because I’m not thinking about my voice or any of this bullshit, I’m thinking about keeping the gig. Like, how do I contribute so that they want me back the second time? Because that’s another paycheck. That’s another experience with these musicians. And that’s a part of my career, like hopefully leveling up.
Man, I leave the club and I’m with my girlfriend and Roy runs out the club. And he runs up and he’s like, yo, yo, and he runs up to me and I’m thinking to myself, crap, he’s gonna mackle my girlfriend again. And he comes up to me and he’s like, yo, Deez, you’re in my big band. We leave for Germany next week, peace. And that’s how I started playing in Roy’s big band.
Noah G (45:16)
Wow.
John Snell (45:21)
love it.
Michael Dease (45:22)
And he ended up playing on my next record and he gave me a trumpet lesson one time that I recorded, that I still listen to. And he made fun of me in front of the band once for being a dummy. I I have these great memories.
John Snell (45:45)
Yeah, we need to do another episode. Just talk about Roy.
Michael Dease (45:49)
I could give you
one thing he did for me that you’ll like. Like Roy, like a lot of the greats, man, lot of the greats of greatness, they just don’t have any time for lot of BS. They’re live and what they do is too important. Winton’s like that, I just did a month with Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and I was…
This is probably my seventh or eighth time playing with the big band over the past 20 years, but we were out for a month. So I got to spend a lot of time with the great members of that band. They’re all lovely people. as you know, I mean, incredibly amazing players, every single one of them. And I love how at the rehearsals, Wynton is just straight, just focused on the facts. Like, let’s get to the music, y’all. We’re here. We’re here for a greater purpose.
And it’s not like an office job or a business or, you know, like a, let’s do this up, union break. No, it’s really like we’re here for this music and we need to get to it. And then we can mess around and joke and make cracks on another situation. So I love that. And Roy was like that. Roy had, in his own way.
And I remember at the end of a really good gig, we went out to a bar in Barron and he said, hey everybody, great job tonight. I’m getting around, bartender, get my band whatever they want. And that was crazy because Roy didn’t really do that. And that was 20 people.
So I was feeling a little loud, much like this hat. And I said, I want a pitcher of Long Island ice tea, stat. I made some joke about I’m about to drink a whole lot. And Roy said, Deez, shut your mouth. You’re the straightest arrow in this whole band.
John Snell (48:08)
Yeah
Michael Dease (48:09)
man and everybody fell out laughing. Cause I am, cause I’m
like, you know, I’m like the last person to do anything. Like, like I’m the, you know, I’m like the mama’s boy of the band. so I just, I…
I wasn’t drinking or smoking or out at a club or anything like that. He just called me out. was like, and the lesson besides it being just really funny was like, why did I feel the need to be unauthentic at that moment? And that I was like, wow, Roy just called me out for trying to front. Yeah, trying to be something I’m not. And I love that.
John Snell (48:51)
He saw that. Yeah.
Love it great story. we’re almost out of time. I want to make just a couple things I want to hit I want Noah you guys take it over I start talking about the equipment the mouthpieces the horns. I know we talked a little bit about it earlier
Noah G (49:07)
Well, I mean, we might as well just jump into the sterling mouthpiece stuff, because I have one, you have one. The backstory behind it was COVID hit, and I had a crazy idea to get a bunch of silver, casting grain silver, and make an ingot. And John humored me and said, OK, well, we’ll do one for you, because we’re slow, and we have nothing else to do, and you’re a crazy person.
Michael Dease (49:08)
yeah.
Right.
Noah G (49:32)
But you
know, the Almont mouthpieces are pretty legendary. The Dorsey Band and all that stuff. I was able to acquire one and it’s pretty beautiful. I mean, he made them a little different than the way that we made them, but…
Michael Dease (49:45)
Mm-hmm.
Noah G (49:46)
I
just thought it would be super cool to do it. So we did it. We had a couple of experiments, a couple of failures, you know, learned a lot about machining silver, which is a lot different than brass, different properties, nearly binded up the lathe a couple of times, but you know, we got a really great mouthpiece. I love it. I still use it. It’s my…
Michael Dease (49:52)
Hmm.
Yeah.
Noah G (50:08)
I haven’t played a mouthpiece longer than this one ever in my entire life. So it’s pretty remarkable just the sound. I’m curious, you have one as well. You’re the only other one that we’ve made. For me, the thing that I thought was so interesting from it was that since Sterling has that extra density to the material itself, the silver.
Michael Dease (50:12)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Noah G (50:28)
you’re getting like a lot more from the mouthpiece without adding weight per se, mass. You’re adding weight but not necessarily mass like a heavy mouthpiece, which is for me the thing that I noticed the most. And I felt like just the, there’s a unique quality, a unique timbre to it that like really gets to the focus, that quality of that real dense core sound.
Michael Dease (50:39)
Right.
Noah G (50:56)
At least that’s my experience with it. What’s been your experience?
Michael Dease (50:59)
Yeah, wow.
Yeah, Noah, that’s really well said, I haven’t seen an Alamont other than pictures. Yes, yes, yes.
Noah G (51:06)
Well, they’re really tiny. you know, they’re
really hard to play and they’re very, very old school, but they are really, they look like Giardinelli’s. think that’s what he copied, but yeah, they’re real interesting.
Michael Dease (51:11)
Yeah.
Yeah, I don’t think I would like it.
I think I would like that it’s silver and then I would polish it a lot and show it to my friends at parties. the, yeah, so what you said rings true a lot for me. Specifically, when I was much younger, I played a Bach 42B0 silver plated and I used a Monat TT4 with the heavy blank.
Noah G (51:23)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Michael Dease (51:44)
And I played that, I mean, you know, the throat was about that big around and I loved it because it let me, was trying to imitate or be influenced by a slide Hampton at that time, playing a big horn, using a big mouthpiece, but not nearly as big of a cup and throat as slide used. He used like a one and a half G for his jazz playing. But I found that I liked the density of
Noah G (51:48)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Michael Dease (52:14)
I like the way I feel with heavy, heavy weight equipment, but I don’t like what all of the extra mass does, just with the weight of things. So when things get too heavy, they get dull for me and they get, and, and, and they get difficult to push against. but I, and, and then I also feel the same way about very lightweight mouthpieces.
Noah G (52:21)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Michael Dease (52:43)
I don’t work well with those. I need the mass and I need the weight, but I don’t need all the weight… all the mass to get the weight that I need. So based on what you said and how I feel, like silver kind of ticks both of those boxes for me. Sterling Silver. Because I get the shape that I want and I get the extra weight that I want with that feel that the extra mass gives me. Yeah.
Noah G (52:52)
Earth. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Without the compromise, I totally
agree.
Michael Dease (53:14)
And then
there’s a couple of other aspects that I like. I think the size is just fantastic. It’s right in the sweet spot for me where I can, you know, if I need to like lean in and kind of kind of get a grip in a certain way to push something fast, it lets me zing it. And then if I want to relax, relax back and use the depth of the bowl and the and get a bigger sound.
Noah G (53:41)
Remind me, which
model, is it a Clark that you’re using? Yeah, so I mean, I have the original Clark. That’s like the original Clark that we used from my collection, hand stamped by Vincent Bach himself on the original.
Michael Dease (53:45)
The Clark, yeah. Yeah, I’m super into it.
That’s beautiful.
Yeah.
So I have a, have, I don’t have a Clark, but I have a New York box, six and a half that,
Noah G (54:04)
It’s different,
are very, they’re subtly different. They’re subtly different. find like the Clarks have this really unique richness to them. And the contour of the rim is also a little different. It’s not quite, it’s like semi-flat with like a really nice inner bite, but like not too much. Like it’s just kinda, like you said, it’s like a Goldilocks mouthpiece. It’s a…
Michael Dease (54:13)
Yeah, yeah.
Right. Yes. Yes. I love it.
I love it because
flat doesn’t do it for me. Like I get tired really easily on a flat mouthpiece. And then round, like two round makes me feel like I’m in hot tub. You know, and I’m struggling to get out. I also like, so the crazy thing with this mouthpiece is that I had received it and I’d played it little bit, but then I’ll be honest, I just got scared of playing it. Because it’s silver.
Noah G (54:43)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. It’s a lot. It’s
a lot. costs a lot for all of you listening. It costs a lot for us. It’s telling silver mouthpiece, but no, but mean, it is like, it is a, the thing that I love about all, you know, B and I think you’re the same way with gear. Like for me, it’s playable artwork. Like, you know, a lot of people invest in paintings on their wall or, know,
Michael Dease (55:01)
Yeah.
Yeah, if anybody wants to know, if you want to know the specifics, it’s a lot.
John Snell (55:05)
It’s not for the faint of heart.
watches.
Noah G (55:21)
watches
or or jewelry or whatever for me like there you go we all we all go on there so or we can add that on the after podcast
Michael Dease (55:23)
yeah.
I’m watch guy, so… And I’m an art guy. I’m a… I
John Snell (55:33)
Yeah. I
didn’t wear my Seiko today, the way, my grand Seiko. I was going to. I was going to for Seiko time just for that.
Michael Dease (55:35)
just…
yeah!
I adore Seiko watches. I teach a jazz camp every summer in Tokyo.
John Snell (55:47)
Noah! I said,
Noah G (55:48)
We gotta
John Snell (55:48)
I texted
Noah G (55:48)
go.
John Snell (55:48)
him this morning, I said I should have worn my Grand Seiko
Michael Dease (55:51)
I would have worn mine.
But this is an Orient. It’s discontinued. It’s Seiko. Seiko owns Orient. So the crazy thing with this mouthpiece is I was going to New York. I was bringing my daughter with me. And I said, you know what? The only way to really find out if this is going to vibe is if we put it in real world conditions.
John Snell (55:58)
Yeah, great watches.
Michael Dease (56:20)
And so it’s a little insane, but I’ve been waiting my whole life to record with Jeff Tain Watts. And Linda Mahano is the leading bassist for Generation and a good friend of mine. And I said, man, you you cats put so much heart and soul into this mouthpiece. I got the blessing of Peter Pickett to try this project. And I said, you know what, let’s just…
let’s take it to New York. And I brought the picket as a backup just in case something happened. I I played the whole two days, 19 songs on this mouthpiece. And I don’t have a whole lot of adjustment period with this. It just felt good right away. I felt like it was with the silver.
The, it feels different on your chops. There’s like a, there’s a warmth in a, a, in a, something maybe to do with the softness of the metal, that, that, that helps it go easy. And I was, I didn’t get tired. I mean, I’m kind of still ripping in my own way at the end of the, at the end of the session as I am in the beginning.
Noah G (57:13)
It does feel different on your chops.
Yeah.
Michael Dease (57:38)
And we did like nine tunes a day.
Noah G (57:41)
It was real interesting
because we did my prototype in kind of different waves. So we did the rim first. So I had just a sterling rim on a brass under part for about four or five months, something like that, John, before we did the under part. And it was really remarkable. Just changing the rim for me was like, wow, that’s remarkable. Just the feel wise, it like, it just feels different. There’s something a little different.
Michael Dease (57:49)
Mmm.
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
John Snell (58:09)
There’s a security.
Noah G (58:10)
There is something about you. Well, you have a rim. You have a sterling rim.
John Snell (58:10)
I use one on my, I use a sterling rim. Yeah.
Michael Dease (58:13)
Wait, so
if I send my brass Clark, y’all can make it a screw rim and then put a silver rim on that? That’s next.
Noah G (58:19)
Yeah.
John Snell (58:20)
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
Noah G (58:22)
Yeah,
it’s it’s wild. So then you know, we decided like, I want to because I’m not like, let’s do the whole the whole mouthpiece, which was that took that took a lot of time.
Michael Dease (58:30)
Mm hmm. I’m glad you did man
because this is I mean, I
Noah G (58:33)
No one’s doing it. mean, and you you need to have,
it really requires that knowledge, the tools, the, you know, the skill to machine this stuff and just like how to make a mouthpiece from scratch basically. And pretty clever the way that Brett came up with, you know, how to just machine this thing from scratch.
Michael Dease (58:45)
here. Yeah.
I should tell you, I should add to this
like, so I’m just gonna shift this. You can see just a random bunch of cases. And then I have a room behind that about 20 more cases. that’s about a third of the mount pieces. So, and I’m not purging anytime soon because I learned something from all of them. And I like my students to be able to try things. That’s super important to me.
Noah G (58:58)
Yeah, yeah.
see a lot of mouthpieces over your shoulder too.
Michael Dease (59:19)
Like I’ll have my students come over in little clumps and they’ll try out, know, sterling silver 5B, 4B, 3B, silver tone, old opera with a new cut bell and three new tuning slides and different metals. I have my mouthpiece in lightweight, medium weight and heavy weight so they can really get an idea of like how equipment changes the feel of playing and the sound. Yeah, the
Noah G (59:27)
Yeah.
The nuance of it all. Exactly. Yeah. Totally.
Michael Dease (59:49)
So I almost got arrested for buying and selling trombones. They put me under surveillance for three months because I kept bringing these boxes to and from the post office. Turns out somebody was using my social security number and he vaguely looked like me and he was shipping electronics to Africa from Best Buy. So a detective came to my apartment back when I lived in Union City, New Jersey and he said,
Noah G (1:00:00)
Hahaha!
Really?
John Snell (1:00:12)
Jeez.
Michael Dease (1:00:18)
Mr. D’s we need you to come downtown or we need to come to the police station. And I said, why? He’s like, if you don’t come right now, we’re going to arrest you. So I called my attorney and then she said, listen, if they said they’re going to arrest you, should just go before they arrest you because the arrest is going to be on your record.
So I said, all right, I’ll go. I got to the precinct and everybody’s glaring at me. You know, like, like when they know someone’s guilty and they’re like, you know, like I’m this big wanted criminal and they’re just looking at me like they could kill me. And I sit down and I say, listen, I’m a detective. You must have the wrong person. I’m a, I’m a student at Juilliard. I’m a jazz musician. And he’s like, we’ll see about that. We’ll see about that. So, and uh,
Noah G (1:00:44)
Yeah.
Michael Dease (1:01:03)
So I said, go to my website. I had one of the early websites back in the 2000s. And I had to sit there and convince this detective that I was a music student. And finally he sits back and he’s like, you’re really not putting me on. You go to Juilliard and these are trombones in these boxes.
And I was like, yeah, I just sold an old studio and a Reynolds and a this, that and the other. it turns out they had been making this huge case against this guy using my social security number. And he felt so bad about it, he took me to a Brazilian steakhouse for dinner. And then his cousin, the detective’s cousin is Ozzie Melendez. Great.
Noah G (1:01:38)
Wow.
Wow.
A lot of trombone from you.
Really?
Michael Dease (1:01:50)
great trombonist, like talk about a small world.
Noah G (1:01:52)
Eh.
John Snell (1:01:53)
funny
what a coincidence
Noah G (1:01:55)
I mean, I have my picture up at the post office too, as you can imagine.
Michael Dease (1:01:55)
So we’re out of time.
Hey,
I tell you, do we have time to get in some of the projects?
John Snell (1:02:04)
Yeah, yeah, I was just going to ask you,
Noah G (1:02:04)
Yeah,
John Snell (1:02:06)
yeah, what you’re working on these days and what we have to look forward to.
Michael Dease (1:02:10)
It’s insane right now in a good way. I have a record coming out June 20th. It’s a double CD first time I’ve ever done a double album. It’s called City Life and it’s music that was picked and selected that represents the good, the bad, the pretty, the ugly, the sophisticated, the rawness of New York City. So it’s just, you know, the whole record is just Gotham.
inspired and and it combines two ensembles one is a trio with Jeff Tain Watts legendary drummer of note and Linda may hand so amazing bassist plays play with Pat Matheny for many years and now leads her own band the second record I had Jeff Keizer who’s actually in LA right now but he’s an amazing genius and virtuoso of the music and and then the
tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, who’s burning up one of the best saxophonists alive today. So this record comes out June 20th. It’s the most adventurous and daring and emotionally wearing things on my sleeve in the music as I’ve ever done. Really, really proud of it. It’s got great liner notes and we’re going to be touring the music in New York and throughout Michigan.
very proud of the project so I hope everybody gets a chance to check that out.
John Snell (1:03:41)
Great, yeah, looking forward to that. We’ll make sure we have, will that be available through your website, Spotify, all of those places?
Michael Dease (1:03:48)
Yeah,
we’re gonna release singles coming out. I think starting in later this month, we’ll release a movie theme, which is part of the video that I sent to y’all to be included. And then the whole album will be released on June 20th, be easy to find.
John Snell (1:04:07)
Wonderful and that’s MichaelD’s.com and we’ll have links to all of that stuff and I should mention yeah we’re gonna actually use in a small clip of from the behind the scenes because we’re dropping a Behind the scenes of making the sterling silver mouthpiece on our YouTube channel
Michael Dease (1:04:12)
Yeah.
I was so impressed
with that video. It’s y’all really I mean you got Spielberg to direct it or something. It’s really
John Snell (1:04:29)
Or a good high school friend Paul who happens to work in the TV business.
Michael Dease (1:04:32)
He’s got
Noah G (1:04:35)
All
Spielberg-o, actually. I think this isn’t right.
Michael Dease (1:04:35)
some serious skills. I was watching this. was like, wow.
John Snell (1:04:41)
He… He… He is…
Noah G (1:04:41)
Paul is the greatest. He does a lot of our
videos at the recording studio too. He’s a genius.
John Snell (1:04:47)
He’s, yeah.
You never know that tenor saxophone player is sitting in marching band next to you. You never know where they’re going to up. So make sure you say nice things about them. Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Dease (1:04:54)
Really?
Noah G (1:04:55)
Be nice to the tennis act player, exactly.
Michael Dease (1:04:58)
Oh man, yeah, well,
they hit all those keys. They gotta have all that finger independence helpful for something, you know?
John Snell (1:05:04)
Yeah,
so we’ll have the link to that Sterling Silver video because you’ll be able to hear parts of the upcoming album in that. And yeah, Michael, absolute wonder. Amazing having you on.
Noah G (1:05:17)
Real pleasure. Thank
you so much.
Michael Dease (1:05:18)
Oh
man, it’s my pleasure and y’all are doing such great things for raising the bar of excellence and the way that you foster and support community and the music is super important. Like when I see your videos and read your content it just makes me want to make up some reason to go out and see you guys. I was researching scorpions.
Noah G (1:05:40)
Come on out. We’ll get a pitcher of Long
Island iced tea for you.
Michael Dease (1:05:45)
Yeah, God, God, God. and then to know it’s good to finally connect and I love all that your insights and how you connect your career and all the things you’ve learned from equipment. It is very, very, very cool. So thank you for inviting me here and it’s been great to talk with you all.
Noah G (1:05:51)
absolutely.
Thank you, appreciate it.
John Snell (1:06:07)
And
Noah G (1:06:07)
Pleasure’s ours. Absolutely.
John Snell (1:06:07)
we’ll hang and talk about watches.
Michael Dease (1:06:09)
man,
we can do watches or we can do bourbon. I have some Blanton’s and Pappy. Yeah, anytime y’all are in the Michigan area, need to come help me drink some of this stuff. Responsibly though, very important.
Noah G (1:06:17)
I see that.
John Snell (1:06:18)
Man, all right, it’s getting dangerous. So yeah
Let’s do it responsibly. Exactly.
Noah G (1:06:29)
I’ll see you
John Snell (1:06:30)
Absolute honor, Michael. Before I let you go, one last question for you. If you could leave our listeners with your best piece of advice, what would that be?
Michael Dease (1:06:40)
Ooh, wow.
Noah G (1:06:45)
John likes to put people on the spot.
Michael Dease (1:06:47)
That is on
the spot. You know, don’t be afraid of ghosts. No, I’m kidding.
John Snell (1:06:51)
Yeah.
Michael Dease (1:07:00)
Communication is key. Like if I had to think of a little saying, communication is key. Be open to listening, be open to sharing, be your authentic self, and don’t be afraid of sharing that authenticity with the world. A big umbrella philosophy like that touches all the individual points that we have to work on to be a great musician and to be a great community member.
John Snell (1:07:29)
great advice. Michael, absolute honor having you on the Trombone Corner. Thank you.
Michael Dease (1:07:33)
great thanks yes see you soon
Noah G (1:07:34)
Until next time.
