
EP84: Authenticity Revisited
One of the life lessons you learn, learning to play music is how to be authentic. In music it means developing your own style and individual expression. Of course, you are inspired by others and you have to learn the cra

Loading…

Hosted by Kevin Bales · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 84 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Music Life and Times, an ongoing discussion between internationally renowned jazz pianist Kevin Bales, and Mike Shaw, singer-pianist and author of the novel The Musician, argues that becoming an accomplished musician takes three commitments: discipline, self-acceptance or self-confidence, and cooperation. They are also the life lessons that music teaches those who would learn to play. Our podcast seeks to prove the premise through revelations about music and musicians past and present as well as from our own experiences as career musicians.
Kevin Bales hosts Music Life and Times, a music show with 84 episodes published.

One of the life lessons you learn, learning to play music is how to be authentic. In music it means developing your own style and individual expression. Of course, you are inspired by others and you have to learn the cra

Sonny Rollins passed away on May 25 at the of 95. The legendary saxophonist of the bebop era and beyond was famously unhappy with his performances. But the occasional bad night was worth the trade-off to Rollins. His ref

Will Scruggs is a noted jazz saxophonist with a head for business and a major commitment to the sustainability of jazz in the city of Atlanta. That has led Will on a three-year journey to establish a new home for jazz in

2026 Super Bowl winning quarterback Sam Darnold was once considered a “draft bust.” Interviewed after his Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots, Darnold told reporters, “As long as you believe in yourself, anythin

Guitarist Buddy Red describes his music as “psychedelic.” The son of Atlanta rapper T.I., a pioneer of trap music, the 26-year-old Red has adopted a style more closely associated with rock 'n roll and the blues. A regula

It's not an uncommon story: Musicians take another course in life to ensure a steady enough career to support themselves and their families. But sometimes, they have the courage and a passion for playing music to eventua

Steve Williams is a multifaceted musician: composer, arranger, saxophonist. His depth of expertise and versatility has led him over his more than 50 years of playing and performing into a wide range of musical arenas, fr

In 2005, Mica Bethea, a 21-year-old jazz student at the University of North Florida, was driving back to campus when he was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer in stand-still traffic. The accident left him quadriplegic, with

An entrepreneur is defined as someone who starts or owns a business and is willing to take on the related risks. As a musician, your business is your career, and while you might not have employees or an office to keep af

Howard Paul is well known and respected as a highly accomplished jazz guitarist. But he is also a pillar of the Savannah, Georgia music community. He has served as Savannah Jazz Festival chair and president of the board

Reverend Timothy J. Mercaldo is a professional musician and, for more than 35 years, an evangelical minister who uses music as his primary way to connect with people. With music and worship as centerpieces of his life, T

Howard R. Paul is one of those rare individuals with the talent and energy to successfully navigate a dual career as business person and jazz musician. Paul has established himself as both as an internationally acclaimed

Through 20-something years of his post-graduate professional music career, Bassist Chris Riggenbach has compiled an impressive resume based on his versatility. Playing cello as a youngster, he graduated to electric bass

Saxophonist Matt Miller was influenced by the playing of legendary saxophonist Hank Mobley early in his musical life and has remained so throughout his own career. Mobley’s influence has extended beyond Miller’s playing

It was around 1960 when Steve Lacy, a saxophonist in Thelonious Monk’s band at the time, wrote down a series of items, pieces of advice that Monk had conveyed to him while touring in 1960 and 1961. Long before there was

It was around 1960 when Steve Lacy, a saxophonist in Thelonious Monk’s band at the time, wrote down a series of items, pieces of advice that Thelonious Monk had conveyed to him while touring in 1960 and 1961. Long before

David Michael Bashwiner is a composer, a guitarist, a professor at the University of New Mexico, and at the root of it all, a neuroscientist. He speaks nationally on the subject of music and the brain, and in particular

Ronnie Frugé learned t play guitar as a 10-year-old on a Sears Silvertone acoustic in a town called Iowa (pronounced I-o-way) outside the city of Lake Charles in Southwest Louisiana where, now in his 70s, he has returned

On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, surgeons at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida drilled 14 holes in jazz pianist Mark Burnell’s skull and inserted 200 electrodes in an attempt to halt his increasingly frequent sei

Typically people who want to play music want to play the kind of music they like most. And learning to play involves studying and absorbing how the musicians we admire most play. But maturing as a performer means finding
Sponsor detection runs nightly. Check back soon.
No public pitch examples yet for this show.
Generate your own personalised pitchBased on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:
Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.
Shows with the most semantically similar episode content. Pitch one, pitch all; producers cluster.








To pitch Music Life and Times, visit https://MusicLifeandTimes.podbean.com for contact information, then craft a tight one-paragraph hook that ties your expertise to a gap in their recent music coverage.
Music Life and Times is hosted by Kevin Bales. The show is categorised under music (interviews) and has published 84 episodes.
Music Life and Times has published 84 episodes.
Music Life and Times regularly covers music, interviews, arts. It sits in the music category, with a interviews focus.
Music Life and Times is accessible for guests with genuine music expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
Music Life and Times hasn't explicitly signalled guest openness in recent episodes. That doesn't rule out pitching. your hook just needs to be especially compelling and relevant to their recent content.
Episodes of Music Life and Times average 19 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
Our data rates Music Life and Times's guest bar at 80/100 (Premium tier). Established thought leaders with verified media credentials. Sign in to PitchCentric to see how your own Pod Score compares against this show.
Methodology. Booking Probability™ blends Listen Score, 30-day Virality, open-to-guests detection, and Apple ratings. Data refreshed every 60 minutes. Listen Score and Booking Probability are calculated by PitchCentric. Last enriched 6 days ago.