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- [00:00]
A
WNYC Studios is supported by Apple TV. It's 1972. A young British family is attempting to sail around the world when disaster strikes. Their boat is hit by killer whales and it sinks in seconds. All they have left is a life raft and each other. This is the true story of the Robertson family and their fight to survive, hosted by me, Becky Milligan. Listen to Adrift, an Apple original podcast produced by Blanchard House. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts. This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. After beginning his career in New York City, Grammy nominated composer, jazz pianist and band leader Sean Mason decided to return home to discover a new creative path. So it's fitting that his new album is called A Breath of Fresh Air. Just two years after his well received debut, the Southern Suite, Mason's latest venture provides a multimedia experience in the form of an album, a short documentary film, photo essay and a video series. All of this at the age of 27. If the name sounds familiar, it's because the last time Kathryn Russell was on her show, she was singing his praises for an album that the two of them worked on. A Breath of Fresh Air is out now. Shaun Mason has a concert at the Miller Theater at Columbia University tomorrow, Saturday, November 15th at 7:30pm but today he's right over there. He joins me in studio for a live performance. Hi Sean.
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B
Hey, how you doing?
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A
I'm doing well. We're gonna get started with the performance. Tell us about the piece you are going to play.
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B
So I will begin with A bit of romance. The this piece is called Kiss Me.
- [01:57]
A
This is Sean Mason. That was Kiss Me from composer and pianist Sean Mason's most recent album A Breath of Fresh Air. He's with me now in studio for a special live performance from WNYC Studio 5 before his concert at the Miller Theater at Columbia University tomorrow, Saturday, November 15th at 7:30pm Tell us a little bit about the catalyst for your new album, A Breath of Fresh Air.
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B
Well, I decided to leave New York.
- [05:01]
A
Aw.
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B
And it was a temporary decision, but it turned out to be a longer one. It's not forever, but it was a temporary decision to just take a break and give myself some time to recalibrate and have this sort of pursuit of meaning and figure out what am I doing and all that. Everybody's been through it and so I decided to go home to my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina to do that and it was great. And out came this music that I wrote and the concept behind it was this was a breath of fresh air for me, it felt like I was finally coming up to breathe again after, you know, a Series of Unfortunate events. And I feel like this album brought a lot of optimism to me and it was exactly what I wanted to say at that period of my life.
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A
It sounded like it got real intense here in New York and when you went home, you could kind of relax and breathe a little bit, I think.
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B
So, yeah. I broke my foot, so a piano dropped on my foot. I got off this three month tour and the night I got back, I was like, I want to move my piano. And I moved the piano and, like, from one room to another room in my apartment when I got back at two in the morning and it crushed my foot. And I was like, all right, this is a sign that I need to. Something needs to change. Because the tour also was really hard and it was like one of those really hard tours. So I was already feeling like a little down, and I was like, all right, let me move this piano. And then I just crushed my foot. And then I was like, all right, I have to go home because I can't walk and New York is a walking city and this isn't gonna work for me, so I need to go home. And so it was really temporary. I thought it was gonna be for like the two to three months that it was gonna take to heal my foot, but it ended up being a year, so. Yeah.
- [06:34]
A
Well, first of all, is your foot okay?
- [06:36]
B
It's perfect. I don't know if the audience could hear it. It's stomping. It's stomping. Great.
- [06:40]
A
It was stomping. Good in your jack. What ideas and questions did you want to tackle with a new record? Now that you have this room to breathe, you can think a little bit. What did you want to investigate?
- [06:55]
B
I wanted to investigate what it meant to be an artist. What was my true purpose in this world as an artist? What was my voice? What did I want to say? Why am I here? Just very big questions that people have tried to answer for the eternity of life. And I wanted this album to represent at least where I am right now. I don't think that the answers will always get there, but at least I'm closer than I was before. I wanted to feel the depth of my emotions. And the more I sat at home in solitude, the more things just came up. And I was like, oh, my God, it just feels like things. Everything's just coming up. And it was beautiful for me to take the time to really have the opportunity to feel everything that I was Feeling and put that into the music, which is my outlet as an artist. And so a lot of those questions of what am I doing with my life and what purpose do I serve? And they sound miserable questions right now, but they weren't really that miserable at the time. It was really honestly what I was, what I was thinking about. And so this album was an answer to those questions.
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A
On the COVID of the album, you were just jumping in the air. Where was that?
- [08:05]
B
Yeah, that was in Charlotte. And I jumped. The photographer was literally laying on the ground. And the photographer's name is Alex Lockett. He was. He was jumping. I mean, he was laying on the ground in a very awkward position with the camera pointed upwards. And I was on this high, I don't know, stoop or whatever we want to call it. And I just jumped as high as I could and just spread out my arms and spread out my legs and just. Just free. And it was great. And he captured it and the sky was, like, clear behind it and it was beautiful. And I was like, that's the album cover.
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A
Yeah. Why was that the album cover?
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B
Because it represented exactly how I felt like coming out of that time and writing this music. And it just felt like exactly how I felt. I actually don't even know any better way to put it. I just felt free.
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A
Shaun Mason is my guest. His new album is called A Breath of Flash. Fresh Air. Let's hear another song. What are we going to hear?
- [08:59]
B
This one? Ah, actually talking about my foot. This one is going to be called Bone Back and I wrote it because my bone grew back in my foot. So it's called Bone Back and it's a celebration song.
- [09:10]
A
All right, this is Sean Mason. That was Sean Mason. We'll have more after a quick break. This is all of it. You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is composer and pianist Shaun Mason. He's discussing the inspiration behind his new album, A Breath of. Of Fresh Air. He's going to perform a few songs for us here in the studio ahead of his concert at the Miller Theater at Columbia university tomorrow, Saturday, November 15th at 7:30pm Sean, when did you gravitate towards the piano when you were a kid?
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B
That's a good question. Well, I grew up around music in general, but the piano specifically. That didn't happen until I was 13 years old.
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A
At 13 years old, what happened?
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B
I. Well, I started playing the trombone first. I didn't like that. And then I played the drums second. Also didn't really like that. Although I wasn't drumline in high school. And then I switched to the piano and loved that. And then I watched the movie Ray and that kind of sealed it for me. I was like, I want to do that. There was something like in my heart that like aligned and gravitated to that and I said, I want to do that. And so here I am.
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A
You didn't like the drumline?
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B
I loved the drumline, but the piano felt more aligned.
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A
What was it about the piano? Was it that you could express yourself what was going on?
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B
I think now looking back, there's a lot that the piano can do. So we can deal with melody, we can deal with harmony, and we can deal with rhythm. And I think looking back, I probably internally knew that where drums. I can't deal with harmony in the same way, of course, that I can deal with piano. And I love harmony.
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A
Do you remember the first song that you learned to play that you truly learned to play, that you felt comfortable playing in front of a group of people?
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B
Frosty the Snowman.
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A
Really?
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B
Yeah.
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A
Who taught you?
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B
I taught myself.
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A
You taught yourself?
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B
Yeah.
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A
You're not self taught, are you?
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B
I'm self taught. Totally, Totally self taught. And then I had lessons a couple years after I started. And then I like went to jazz camp and all that stuff. But yeah, I started self taught for sure.
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A
Okay, so you're self taught and then someone comes in and wants to teach you lessons. How did that work?
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B
It was hard because I'm like my nature. I'm such a free spirit. And so institutions in general are very, very, very hard for me.
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A
Explain. What do you mean?
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B
I don't know, I just.
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A
You fight against them.
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B
I fight, yeah. I'm not the best student. I don't know if any of my former Juilliard teachers are listening, but they probably agree.
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A
Well, when did you decide you wanted to be a professional musician?
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B
That didn't happen until I was going to go to college and I was applying to colleges and I said, I guess I figure I should figure out what to major in. And I decided to do music. There wasn't that much internal support. Like, it's not like my family, my friends were rooting for me. You know, I was like an outsider.
- [16:03]
A
Oh, that's interesting.
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B
Yeah, I was definitely an outsider. And so I just decided to do music. And, you know, I took it more seriously when I moved to New York, I think, but I didn't necessarily have. I guess I was too young to really have the self confidence to like really know that I Was gonna do it as a living.
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A
Do you remember your first paid gig?
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B
Yeah, it was my mom's company, and the CEO, like, hired me for a restaurant gig for their holiday party. That was my first paid gig.
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A
And what did you play?
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B
I played with the trio, and I played Christmas season, including Frosty the Snowman.
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A
Including. It all comes back to Frosty the Snowman.
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B
That's it.
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A
Let's talk about this album, A Breath of Fresh Air. You've called this a testimony of sorts. How does jazz lend itself for testifying, for speaking truth?
- [17:00]
B
Yeah, I could spend about three hours answering that question. I think the short version is that, first of all, from a musician's perspective, to really make the decision to play jazz, you have to be out of your mind. You have to be completely crazy, because the work that you put in and the time and energy that you put in the output and the reward on the other side does not match it. You have to be crazy to want to do jazz. It's already an unpopular kind of music to begin with, so the odds are already against you. You have to actually really, really love the music, which I do. I love the music. And so I think it's just a testimony every day to be able to play this music and to play it with the spirit of blues and happiness and joy, which I try to play in the music, because the music makes me happy and joyful. So in that sense, it's a testimony. I also think to the audience listening, it can serve as a testimony because of how vulnerable the music demands the listener. You know, most of the music is. You know, it can be, you know, challenging to listen to for a younger crowd, But I think it's very demanding, and it requires a certain focus and vulnerability that I think can offer real results and just beauty from the audience to consume the art.
- [18:21]
A
So A Breath of Fresh Air is your second solo project after the Southern Suite. And you also did an album with Katherine Russell, who was here, had nice things to say about you, called My Ideal. What's the difference between composing for yourself, just you, versus working with others?
- [18:42]
B
Well, I take composing very seriously. So whether I'm playing somebody else's compositions like we did for Kat's record, we played a lot of standards and a lot of tunes from the 20s and 30s, or whether I'm composing my own music, I really take composition seriously because I feel like the whole thing starts on the song. You have to have a good composition, in my opinion. And so I take composition really seriously, and I take a long time to write the music, and it's never really done. I'm always changing things. It's never really done. So I think, in general, I take composing very seriously. And when I learn other people's music, I take it really seriously. And so for the CAT project, I took that really seriously. And I memorized all the lyrics and memorized the. Even though I didn't sing. But I just really wanted to dive deep, as deep as I could into the music. So I just. As a person and as an artist, I take composition really seriously.
- [19:32]
A
It's interesting, when you play the piano, you sort of sing to yourself.
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B
Yeah, a little bit.
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A
Because at first I was like, wait, somebody's singing to my ears? And then I realized it was you.
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B
Yeah, A lot of pianists do that. A lot of pianists do that. I don't know why. It's not like we choose to do it. I guess it's. I actually don't know why. Yeah.
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A
Do you hear it? Do you hear it? And it comes out when you're playing or. I'm just curious why that I do it. I play piano a little bit and I sing along.
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B
Yeah. I have no clue. I don't know. I mean, if you know the answer, let me know.
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A
It's because I hear the music in my head.
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B
I think that's gotta go somewhere. I think that's right. I think that's exactly right. Yeah. I think if I were to think about it, that may be right.
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A
Yeah. So you came up to New York to go to Juilliard? Yeah. What did you get out of Juilliard that you use all the time during your studies?
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B
Wow. It's the first time I've been asked that specific of a question about Juilliard. I wish I had an answer. I don't know.
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A
All right, well, think about that. Do you want to play another song for us?
- [20:37]
B
I would love to play another song. I wish I had an answer to the Juilliard. A lot of things popped up. So maybe I'll say the first thing that came to mind. I think what I. Because, like, five things popped up. And I think my gut was just, like. I don't know, but, like, five things popped up.
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A
Go for it.
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Just go for it.
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A
The first thing.
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B
Yeah, the first thing that popped up was I learned, like, the value of human relations.
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A
Okay.
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B
And how to, like, talk to people, even outside of music. And that was. That's something I still use today. Just how to talk to different kinds of people. And Juilliard was great because of that.
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A
All right. That's a good answer.
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B
That's it.
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A
Yeah. My guest is Sean Mason. His new album is called A Breath of Fresh Air. Okay, so what's the song you're gonna play for us and tell us a little bit about.
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B
I will now play a composition from the album that I wrote called Unfinished Business, which is about the work that still remains that needs to be done.
- [21:27]
A
This is Shaun Mason. That was composer and pianist Sean Mason. His new album is called A Breath of Fresh Air. So you're going to be performing tomorrow at Columbia University in the evening. What are people gonna hear?
- [25:32]
B
They're gonna hear a quartet. So they're gonna hear a trumpet, a piano, a drum set and a bass. And they're gonna hear original music. And I'll throw a couple of standards in there, some good tunes to play.
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A
Ooh, what standards do you like to play?
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B
The first one that came to mind is on the Sunny side of the Street.
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A
And why do you like to play that one?
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B
Because it's really, really fun and it brings back great memories.
- [25:57]
A
Memories of what?
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B
It was a tune I played a lot. It was also the first tune I played for Branford Marsalis, who was my mentor. When he asked me to play a tune, it was on the Sunny side of the street. That was the first tune I played for.
- [26:10]
A
What's the best lesson he ever gave you? Brandon Marsalis?
- [26:13]
B
So many lessons. That's like the Juilliard question. How do I answer that?
- [26:20]
A
The first thing. First thing that comes to your mind.
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B
First thing is to not take things personally.
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A
To not take things. Oh, that's interesting.
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B
He's intense.
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A
Yeah, that's interesting.
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B
For piano, keep the. Keep the art. Yeah, keep the art first and center. Not my ego.
- [26:37]
A
That's smart. Sean Mason is a pianist. He will be performing tomorrow night at Miller Theater at Columbia University, Saturday, November 15th at 7:30pm the name of his album is A Breath of Fresh Air. Thank you for being with us. We really appreciate you taking the time.
- [26:53]
B
Thank you, Alison.
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A
And I'm so glad your foot's good.
- [26:56]
B
Me too.
- [26:58]
A
And that is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I'll meet you back here next time. Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because Multicare has been here guided by a single making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more@mycare.org.
- [27:44]
B
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