Bookies New and Use Books is a supporter of WXAV88.3 FM and WXAV.com. Located at 10324 S.H.W. in Chicago, Bookies offers a selection of new and use books with orders available for books not currently in stock. For more information, visit their website at bookiesbookstores.com.
This podcast is being brought to you by WXAV88.3 FM and WXAV.com. WXAV bringing the best podcast to you. Hi, I'm Peter Creighton and welcome to this WXAV podcast. Over the last few years, I've noticed that jazz music has been making a little bit of a comeback.
Almost every day, I have WXAV and Zavirite staff members talking to me about jazz. It really warms my heart because I grew up on jazz music. My dad is a jazz guitarist and growing up, it was normal to hear the likes of Johnny Smith, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, George Van Upps, and Django Reinhardt playing in the background. So when I came across the music of Jocelyn Gould, I was immediately reminded of some of the great jazz guitarists I listened to when I was a kid.
Jocelyn's style is a tribute to the past while at the same time forward thinking and uniquely her own. It's incredible. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with Jocelyn over Zoom recently, and we talked about her most recent Juno nomination, her latest album entitled Portrait of Right Now and so much more. Here now, my conversation with Jocelyn Gould.
So I think we got to start first off with congratulations on getting nominated for another Juno award. Was it feel like, I mean, this is your third nomination? Yeah, it's my third nomination in, I first was in 2021. So my third nomination in, I guess, five cycles.
So yes, third nomination in five cycles and I'm really just so, I don't know, I'd like to finish off very surprised and just really honored. It's an incredible list of Canadian musicians up there. So I'm just so thrilled to be a part of it and be in that company. Oh, that's wonderful.
Now, does it ever get like old? Like, is this just as sweet as the first nomination was? It is just as cool as the first nomination. I think because every project is a different version of yourself, I'm so different from my first album.
And additionally, I didn't get to go to the Juno's in 2021 because they were held on Zoom. So I actually got to go to the nomination party a couple days ago in Toronto. And I couldn't go last year because I was on a tour. So this is actually kind of like the first time that I've really been able to take it all in and just be a part of everything the way I want to be.
Oh, that's wonderful. I'm glad to hear that. Now, when's the actual ceremony? When does that take place?
So they're the last weekend of March. Okay. And I believe the majority of the Juno's will be announced on Saturday night, the March 29th. And it's in Vancouver, which is one of my favorite Canadian cities.
So I get to go early and go hiking. Oh, wonderful. I'm so glad to hear that. Well, good luck.
And I look forward to hearing that you have won once again. Oh, thank you so much. Thanks. So the new album is absolutely phenomenal.
It's called Portrait of Right Now. And it's really blown me away. Can you talk a little bit about the approach you did with making this album? Yeah.
Well, I was doing a lot of writing about a year ago. I tend to go through periods of time where I'll just get really into composing. And they tend to coincide with when I have a little bit of time off of the road. So I was doing a lot of writing about a year ago and sat down to at one point to look at all the music I'd written and said, oh, wow, I have another album, which was wild because I had just put out an album a couple of months prior.
And so I was not okay. I guess we'll go in and record it again. And record it again. And so I did an all men at Yoga group for this one.
All of the band members, the three other band members are people that I knew from my time living in Winnipeg. We recorded in Winnipeg. And so for me, it sort of felt like a hometown record, a hometown project. And the band, since we all used to live in Winnipeg, everyone's gone out and lived their lives and played all over and lived all over.
And so it really was very cool to have these musicians come home and to get to play. We did the whole record in one day. Holy cow. Wow.
And because of some flight delays, we didn't even rehearse. Wow. That is unbelievable. It was one day, kind of like 10 a.m.
to 10 p.m. type of day. And we did 10 tracks. And I just ended up so proud of it.
And it just felt to me just really like I was, I kind of wrote about it the other day. It just feels like the record that I've made that is the most me and is the most. Yeah, kind of like moving a little toward authenticity, I think is always the goal of artists. And when you hear something you've done and feel like, oh, that's me.
It's really exciting. That's wonderful. I mean, it's incredible that you did that album in 10 hours. It totally reminds me of The Beatles and when they recorded Please, Please, because they did that in a very long session too.
And that, which is just it blows my mind. With that happening, did you kind of like that approach where it's like, okay, we only have a day. So we got an outlet like, did it give like an extra like energy to the room? It did.
It kind of keeps you, you get some adrenaline flowing. If I don't get an album today, then there's no album. Yeah. Everyone's getting on flights in the morning.
So you can't mess up that take. No, no, you gotta, you have to get it. So yeah, it does add a little bit of energy. Nice.
So it almost sounded like it was kind of like a quasi live performance then for you. Yeah, we did two or three takes of every tune. Kind of trying to stick on the one tune per hour max. And we were doing 10 tunes and some took a little longer, some took a little less long.
And we, the first track was sort of like a rehearsal take. Okay. I think I used a few first takes though, because there's something about the first take of a tune that can feel really magical too, even if it's not like totally perfect. Yeah.
I totally get what you mean with that. And there is that little like beauty and imperfections in that. Yeah, absolutely. And that's I think the joy of improvised music, group improvised music is that it's not, you practice for the interaction and you practice for, you know, to be able to make music together.
But you don't practice for, you know, totally perfect execution of everything. You practice so that you can react to what's going on and contribute to the musical conversation. Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. So let's kind of go back in time in a little bit. We'll come back to the album, but I'm curious. Why music?
How did you discover music? Well, I've been really into music since before I could even talk. I don't know. There's something since I was really young, apparently I was, you know, singing before I was able to speak, like singing, singing nonsense before I could talk.
And I just grew up singing a lot. And I come from a, in central, central Canada. There's a lot of choirs, a lot of singing that goes on. And my dad for his career was an elementary music teacher.
So he would put on musicals at school and he would come with them. And so I would always, I would learn like it was a DeBaz or whatever it was, any, like all these musicals. So I could help him practice. And music is just, it's always been central to my life.
It's just is how, what, what makes me feel the most alive and how I feel, I think most connected to other people as well. It's just always kind of been at the center of things. I love that. I love that.
And for me listening to the new record, there's, there's an album. There's a song that really like comes out of that connection I feel like. And it's the Be Witched, Bothered, and Be Woldered song. So I got to ask you, because there's that great Ella Fitzgerald song.
And I was listening to your version because I thought it was a straight cover, but it almost sounds like you did like this combination hybrid of there's some of your lyrics, and then there's some of the older song and everything. Did you do that? Yeah. So I didn't write them, but there actually is this like whole other second verse, second set of lyrics to the tune that is rarely sung.
But I heard Anio De do it. And that's how I sort of got hit to the, to these lyrics. I said, what is, what is Anita singing? Yeah.
So I think that's so cool. It is. And it's a great song and you're playing on it. It's incredible.
You're singing on it. It's beautiful. I absolutely love that song. Oh, it's so great.
It's so, yeah, such an incredible composition. I'm kind of curious because I mean, you're on the road, you're a touring musician, musician, and that is jazz having like a little bit of a resurgence because you never really hear people talk about jazz over the last like few years, but I feel like over the last five, maybe since COVID, like there's a lot more people talking about jazz, like working at a university. I have students coming to me and talking to me about jazz and everything. So do you think there's a little bit of a resurgence happening?
Yeah. Well, I think one of the most special things about improvised music and so that includes jazz music is that it is, it can only be done by real humans who get in a room together and interact together. And so it's a real time human connection happening in a room. And I just feel like that's happening less and less these days as you know, music can be so electronic, which is also great.
But jazz music, you really, you can't create music with other people. You can't improvise music with other people in this way without being in the room. And it's acoustic. It's happening.
It will never happen that way again. It's happened like one time only every night is unique. And so I just feel like maybe my hypothesis is that just given where we're at it, where we're at in the world, we're also connected to devices all the time. And so I feel like we're starting to find ourselves leaning towards more human connection because we need it.
We need other people. And I think jazz music just gives that to audiences and to the musicians themselves. That's wonderful. Is that collaboration kind of what drew you into jazz music then?
Definitely. I actually was not, I was a science major before I switched over and dove into music full time. And what absolutely drew me to jazz music was the community 100% and how the music made me feel. So I have a couple of fun questions for you.
Three albums that you have to pick for someone who's never really listened to jazz, but you want to get them into jazz music. What are those three albums you're having them listen to? Oh Hank, Mobley Soul Station. I just think that it's really approachable, really just so swing in.
Hank plays so great. Everybody plays so great. West Montgomery, smoking at the half note. That's kind of my Desert Island guitar album.
It's just the one of the great jazz guitar albums. And what would I say? Maybe a love supreme. Just something so iconic.
And maybe a little more abstract for a first time listener, but I think just so important to hear. Now WXV were at College Radio Station here on the south side of Chicago. How is College Radio? Has it played any role in your career whatsoever?
And what are your thoughts on not only College Radio, but kind of like community radio as a whole? Yeah, I mean, I think it's just incredible. I'm such a podcast listener, so I love putting on just radio and podcasts. And for me, it's been especially in Canada, the College stations have played my music a lot.
And I'm just, I think community oriented art is the best. So College Radio is awesome and we should keep doing it. Wonderful. Now you mentioned on your socials that you're going back on the road soon.
Were you hitting up and working people will come to check you out? I am headed to New York next week. I'll be playing at Smalls next Thursday, the 20th, with one of my really good friends and also the drummer of Portrait of Right Now, Curtis Noah Sad, will be playing his music. And then after that, I'm headed to actually East Lansing for a few days, which is where I went to school.
My teacher lives there, my mentor that I know it's been learned everything. He teaches at Michigan State, so I'm going up to do a couple gigs with him and playing with him and generally just to be around him a little bit, to get to get to, you know, it's important to see your teachers. Absolutely, absolutely. Now if anyone wants to get more information on you, where can they follow you and do you have a website?
Yes, my website is jostlinggold.com. So tour dates will be up there. I'm also really active on Facebook and Instagram. Both those handles are Jostling Gould music.
And I would say that's the main place. Be sure to give her a follow. Jostling, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Thank you so much for having me.
And that was my conversation with Jostling Gould. For more information, check out her website at jostlinggold.com. Her latest album, Portrait of Right Now, is available now. Be sure to also check out our website, wxav.com.
I'm Peter Creighton and thanks for listening. Thank you very much for listening to this WXAV 88.3 FM podcast. Be sure to visit our website, wxav.com for more information on your escape from ordinary radio. Support for WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com is being provided by Cardenalis Cardenalis.
Located at 9915 South Walden Parkway in Chicago, Cardenalis Cardenalis is a men's store that has clothing, accessories and gifts. Information at cardenaliscardenalis.com.