B-Side Morning Brew w/ Bij & Niles

Bijon
0:00:00
Good morning and welcome.

Bijon
0:00:08
You're listening to B-Side Morning Through with Deej and Niles. Hot coffee, cool chatting, chilling on the corner of Lifestyle Lab and Music Street on

Niles
0:00:19
91.5 KUNV Jazz and More.

Chipmunk Voice
0:00:23
Sharing with people our processes, because one of the classes I'm teaching is a professional development class, so let's talk about exactly this. Oh, I love it. Oh, this is going to be great then for the show. Okay, cool. Let's just jump right into it. So, good morning, brother. Top of the morning to you. Have you had your coffee yet? I'm drinking it now. Are you sure? I didn't hear the normal... Oh, that comes. The flirt. Okay, here we go. Let's start with our sip of coffee. Oh yeah, oh yeah. That's it. It's mother's milk right there.

Bijon
0:00:54
It is mother's milk.

Niles
0:00:57
Last night I was, so downstairs I'm doing this design on one of the walls, right?

Bijon
0:01:02
Isn't it nice for you to be able to say downstairs now?

Niles
0:01:06
It's strange, I'm still getting used to it. I am, I'm still getting used to it.

Niles
0:01:11
I do get a lot more.

Niles
0:01:12
I gotta go down to the garage.

Bijon
0:01:13
I gotta go downstairs to the garage.

Niles
0:01:16
Yeah, yeah.

Niles
0:01:17
Yeah. It's, I'm designing this wall, so I've been staining, and it was a late night last night, because it's taken, last night was three coats, this morning I got up early, did a fourth coat, because you know with stain, you try to get the color,

Niles
0:01:29
you know, you're trying to dial in that color that you want.

Bijon
0:01:32
Are you a Home Depot VIP yet? Have they started to know you by name?

Niles
0:01:36
Not quite yet.

Bijon
0:01:38
They greet you at the door?

Niles
0:01:40
I've been in this house two weeks, I've been to Home Depot eight times already.

Bijon
0:01:44
That's more times than you've been since you moved to Vegas.

Niles
0:01:48
Eight years ago, or seven years ago. Oh, it's great though, I love it man. I will say.

Bijon
0:01:54
I thought you would.

Niles
0:01:55
I love it.

Niles
0:01:56
Yeah, I love it. Yeah, fourth coat of stain and just you know it's coffee it's late nights it's it's you

Bijon
0:02:10
know inhaling polyurethane and such. I

Niles
0:02:15
was gonna say that you should probably wear a mask. I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life but you know I don't want to hear about you passing out from fumes. Well I will say that so I've had all the windows and doors open and and but

Niles
0:02:31
my patio furniture and just soak that up. I haven't done that yet. Last night was the first time I did it. Yeah, I was just looking up at the stars and going, what have I done? What am I doing? What am I doing? What are you doing? What is all this? But anyway, so yeah man, so what's... Okay, so big news that I would love to share with the people is that this has been a big thing for you for a long

Niles
0:03:07
time. I don't know if it still is now that you got it. I mean... Be careful what you wish for. Yeah, yeah, because you know that how that always changes when we do that in life. But you are now was a big dream for you.

Niles
0:03:21
And I know that dream's changed to one degree or another, but let's talk about that. Like how do you feel? Where are you at with all this? What's your role there?

Bijon
0:03:30
Well, you know, yeah, I, Berkeley College of Music, you know, is one of the preeminent music institutions in the world and happens to be in Boston where I grew up where I live and so it's always been there since I was growing up along with New England Conservatory which is another fantastic music school conservatory and the Boston Conservatory which is there but Berkeley has folded Boston Conservatory in to their school so it's Berkeley so it's Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee College

Bijon
0:04:04
Music. So Berklee and Boston Conservatory are now one. So we've taken these two awesome music schools and they're one. And yeah, all these, always have considered and desired to be a professor there. But I always wanted to wait for the right role. I didn't just want to go in there just to be there. I always wanted to be in a department that I could have an impact. So I'm fortunate enough to be a going as an associate professor in the harmony and jazz composition department

Bijon
0:04:33
as well as in the liberal arts department. So I'm teaching a couple of sections of Harmony II, which is basically music theory in the liberal arts department teaching a professional development seminar which is cool, which is for fourth-year students and above. Wow. Yeah, so let's begin with the circle of fits, shall we? There you go, look at you. It's actually a little more advanced than what we're doing, a secondary job than it is right now, but, oh, you'd love it.

Bijon
0:05:04
Yeah. But, no, it's great, because it's cool, there's a Harmony II class I teach, it's called Entering Harmony II, and these are all first-year students. So they're all, this is their first year

Niles
0:05:22
of college, first time at Berkeley. How do you feel about that in terms of what do you see different when you're talking

Bijon
0:05:35
about when or when you're teaching a first-year student as opposed to a fourth-year student? What's the dynamic like or have you experienced that quite yet and if so what is that? Well the first-year students are

Bijon
0:05:38
They're all excited, you know, they're figuring it out. They're still trying to dial it in. So they're open to any and all, you know, advice that can be given, how to handle stuff. They're a little nervous too, so.

Niles
0:05:51
Sure.

Bijon
0:05:52
But the fourth year is, you know, the cool thing about my class that I teach this seminar is that they all want the information. I mean, it's basically talking about how are they going to handle life after Berklee College of Music. And let's face

Niles
0:06:12
it, there's no class per se like that in lots of other institutions. I'm sorry,

Bijon
0:06:29
and I would imagine too, because you and I have talked about this, even you can have those discussions about what the real life is like, it's still still not going to reflect what it really is. There's only so much you can, you know.

Bijon
0:06:56
And so the reality of the way I teach that seminar is really talking about putting in place processes to be able to adapt to the changes that are inevitably going to happen. And, you know, partially through my story, partially through guests that I'll be bringing that they planned on doing in the first place. So you better be ready to, you know, be able to self-evaluate and assess and learn from your mistakes that you will inevitably make and look at those in a positive way.

Bijon
0:07:05
You know, and surprisingly, a lot of students have not taken the time to look back and reflect on what it is they actually want to do. You know, they've been going to school with a degree that they've chosen, a degree of study that they want to do. They get a blueprint from their advisor and they're like, take this class, this class, this class, you'll be ready to go. Well, that doesn't tell you what happens if that changes along the way. What happens if you find something in one class that you

Bijon
0:07:34
gravitate towards, if that's what you really want to do, not necessarily what your degree said it's going to do.

Niles
0:07:40
That brings up a good point in that I'm wondering if that's what's different about going down the educational path within the music industry in that to your point you're saying, you know, they may not know what they want to do with it or haven't thought about that quite yet. Whereas as an artist and my artist friends, normally that's the jumping off point. When you're a kid, you just want to be an artist. You don't know how to get there,

Niles
0:08:13
and then you find your instrument, and then you learn along the way. And some of those artists may go to school and educate themselves, and some don't. So it

Bijon
0:08:27
sounds kind of the reversal in terms of what you're saying. Well, these students, do you think are being more prepared for being either session players or educators Well what's interesting is they're not all instrumentalists.

Bijon
0:08:30
There's vocalists in there, there's electronic production design people, there's all type of... they probably have all played an instrument at some point or some vocalist or some level, but they're not all instrumentalists. So some are in music therapy, some are in... they have all these different things. So it's really taking... being able to evaluate their skill set and make it work for them, whatever it may be.

Niles
0:08:55
I haven't heard of music therapy. What is that?

Bijon
0:08:58
People with learning disabilities, people with autism that are on the spectrum, being able to use that as therapy and communicate with them, help them learn how to communicate emotionally and obviously through speech and stuff like that. So, music is...

Niles
0:09:16
Wow, that's heavy.

Bijon
0:09:16
Yeah, it's pretty heavy. So it's definitely, and through playing instruments and things like that. So it's different therapeutically, instead of the traditional therapy that we think about, psychological, psychiatric.

Niles
0:09:28
Right.

Bijon
0:09:29
Yeah, and then there's electronic production and design there. There's music production, there's film scoring. They have everything there. So it's kind of cutting edge, that's what's interesting about Berkeley.

Bijon
0:09:37
So I have this whole class of 25 students that all have these different things going on and they're trying to figure out how am I going to take what I've learned here and monetize it quite frankly or make a career out of it, build one.

Bijon
0:10:10
Am I going to start my own music therapy offices? Am I going to Yeah, so, yeah, all's good. So I'm just, it's great. And then I head off to Europe next week to do a tour with Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. So we'll be on it for two weeks. Where are you guys going?

Niles
0:10:16
Start off in Amsterdam, then we head to Dusseldorf, Germany, and we head to Budapest, Stockholm, Lucerne, Switzerland, Vienna, Berenote, Czech Republic. About how many shows do you know? 10 shows, 10 shows over 14 days. It's great. It'll be great. Yeah, it'll be fun. Yeah. You bring back some chocolate from Switzerland I hope. I'll hook you up, bro. Save some of those bars of chocolate, bro. Yeah, man. Let's get into some music, man. What do you want to play?

Bijon
0:10:53
So we're going to do a little retrospective. I mean we're talking about you know really recalibrating and realigning our priorities to be more focused and head into the final quarter of 2023. So let's bring back Alignment. This is a tune that I wrote for the Jazz Republic. You're listening to it here on B-Side

Niles
0:11:17
Morning Brew with Beej and Niles on 91.5 KUNV Jazz and More.

Bijon
0:11:24
I'm going to play it. the the the So, I'm going to play a little bit of it. so

Bijon
0:12:22
so so Welcome back, you're listening to B-Side Morning Brew with Beej and Niles on 91.5 KUMP Jazz and More. You just heard my tune Alignment by the Jazz Republic.

Bijon
0:13:31
Such a great tune man, I mean just the whole, that bass groove. It's so funny because like when we recorded it and then when we play it on gigs it's like that's such a total earworm type situation where you can't use you always start singing the groove. Yeah. I think you made up some

Niles
0:15:50
lyrics. I think it well cuz the bad we were what we were doing soundcheck at Smith Center or something. Alignment, alignment.

Bijon
0:16:02
Exactly.

Bijon
0:16:03
And so we really thought it was appropriate, like you said, as we head into this final quarter of the year, new things are shaping up. We're in, you know, my man is in a new crib, I got a new gig, we got these new projects coming down the line, and understanding that you have to filter a lot of these things. You know, there's a lot of peripheral things that can get you off track, and so it's important to be aligned with your priorities, what's important to you.

Bijon
0:16:28
And I know that Niles is, we're looking forward to doing the hang, a proper break-in hang at the crib. But getting to that point requires a lot of focus. So Niles, give us some, I know you're an avid reader. You like to always take in lots of pertinent books that are out there today. You were telling me about a quote that you came across in one of your books that actually you suggested I read and I have to get to it, get into it.

Niles
0:16:58
Yeah, yeah. Well, before I jump right into that, it's, you know, back to what you were just saying, is that it's funny, as you know, this year, you know, I was going to do a show in November at Smith Center because I just want to stay, keep my toe in, so to speak. And I realized that this year I've been more focused on other things. I've taken a break from music, so to speak, or what I want to do with it, even though I didn't know that I wanted to take a break. But the focus was, you know, the big deal for me was getting a house, finally, and buying a home, and something I thought I was only going to do when I was younger, when I had, you know, the idea of having a wife and kids and things like that.

Niles
0:17:43
And I just kind of brushed it aside. But my focus has been that this year. So now being in the house,

Bijon
0:17:48
Shout out to Monique, by the way.

Niles
0:17:50
Yeah, Monique Buchanan on KNV 91.5. She's got the, she's got her great show. She's been, she was amazing. It's been amazing as a real estate agent for me. I canceled the show because what I needed to do was really assess what do I want from this? Am I doing the show for ego reasons or what's the purpose of doing the show? And when I realized there wasn't any real purpose of doing the show other than being ego based and wanting to feed the monster, if you will, it wasn't the right thing to do and it wasn't the right vibe. And I realized that it's okay to take a break from all this and to really reassess and align myself, back to your tune,

Niles
0:18:30
align myself with me and what does that mean and what do I want to go, what I want to do with music. And now I'm finally getting there. I really have a good idea that I'll share later, but I just don't want to dismiss the value of any of, whether you're an artist or a musician, an educator, whatever it is you're doing in life, the value of reassessing your life and refocusing. It's because, I don't know, I think taking that break is such a positive thing.

Niles
0:18:58
I think you can get there more clearly, you know, that kind of idea. And in reading this book by one of the most famous and prominent music producers of our time is Rick Rubin. He has a book that I've been reading called The Creative Act, A Way of Being.

Niles
0:19:14
I was watching this interview with him on a on a podcast. The quote he was saying, this just really, it was really profound for me because it hit me in such a way. The quote is, understanding how you feel in the face of other voices without second

Niles
0:19:49
guessing yourself is probably the single most important thing to practice practice as an artist. And the key to that is not the, I know, so I know what's right for you. It just doesn't work that way. It's, I know for me. And the reason I chose to be an artist is to demonstrate how I see it." What hit me about that is that for years even, you can relate to this. way for me, in the middle of a song, and I don't mean, well, I do mean musically as well,

Niles
0:20:10
I guess, but a lot of it for me is lyrically. I start to second guess myself and think, well, should I say this word or should I use this rhyme and coupe or whatever I'm going to do, because what do I think the audience is going to like or they're going to adhere to. And it ruins me every time. It just does. What that's done is that thinking that way can take you out of your element and then you begin to... I wouldn't say that you're dishonest within the music, but it's not as honest as it would be if you weren't thinking about what you think the audience wants to hear or is going to adhere to. And I don't care

Niles
0:20:46
what genre of music it is. It's got to be honest. And so this last EP I did was the most honest thing I've done in a very long time, but I haven't known as you know this we've talked about this man I don't I haven't known how to navigate it. I don't haven't known What do I want to do? How do I want to get it out there to what degree I want to get out there and going back to you teaching at Berkeley that I don't want to be a social media guru

Niles
0:21:12
I don't want to be this this and this and not to say that I won't do what I have to do, but at the same time navigating the music industry today is so much more different than when I was in my even mid to late 30s having being signed. It was different, man. You

Niles
0:21:50
made a point. It's good to know all

Bijon
0:21:53
those things because when you're building your

Niles
0:21:43
Going, well, at the end of the day, you're still trying to create music. So, you have to put most of your focus on what it is you're doing.

Bijon
0:21:51
It's easy to put your focus on what you consider to be the social media formula of how to post something or this, I gotta have this, this, this, this, and this will get me into the feed, what do they call that?

Niles
0:22:05
The algorithm.

Bijon
0:22:06
The algorithm and stuff like that. So you spend too much focus on that instead of just really presenting the music in an honest way that people will gravitate towards. And if that happens to be through social media in a particular way, great. And also we're talking about live performance as well.

Bijon
0:22:23
Well, and... Right? I mean, that's that's my too. So it's easy to get caught up in what you think people want to see that instills a level of doubt in your what was ultimately your the reason why you're doing this in the first place, your desire to create art, your desire to put this

Bijon
0:22:42
song out desire to write these lyrics. And so

Niles
0:22:45
and also it's understanding your demographic. And I don't know if this is part of what you teach to in your classes But it's it's also understanding your demographic and where they're hanging out and I'm in that it for me I'm learning that I'm in that weird space of how many people at a certain age are really on on Instagram, you know or who's on Facebook. I'm definitely not I'll never go to the tick-tock world I mean those that's that's like that's for kids, you know, I mean, that's not what you do. And within that, being on Instagram or Facebook, which

Niles
0:23:17
is the most, the two still the most dominant or prominent, what do you want?

Bijon
0:23:22
Which brings us back to you have to reflect and have a clear vision of what it is that you are putting out there. So that you can give it to your team and insulate yourself from all that stuff to think about it. That's when you fall into a trap is when you have to think about all those things that the demographic and this that and the other then it's very easy to get off track

Niles
0:23:42
And start to doubt your material, but you know the idea I'm glad I've been taking this time to reassess and try to learn because now for this next year I'm gonna be back in action on a whole other playing field, and it's just right now I'm just kind of putting it all together. Well. I didn't real I didn't realize for myself how how much it took out of me to want to get a home, to buy a home. I know that sounds maybe

Niles
0:24:12
a bit ridiculous to some people, but for me personally, it just has taken all my everything. But now that that's done, I now feel like I have this free space mentally to now go, okay, now it's time to refocus. Which

Niles
0:24:49
Which brings me to, we worked on my first EP together. At the time I was watching that great documentary

Bijon
0:24:57
about Nina Simone came out.

Niles
0:24:59
What hit me was that I identify with Nina Simone more than I dare to admit to. It really hit me, so I wrote that song, Miss Nina Simone, and I'm reintroducing it and putting it out as a single. So I'd like to introduce this tune that we recorded, She was black and beautiful

Niles
0:24:58
She stood for something more than the music Her voice cut through your heart With words she knew how to use it, how to use it.

Bijon
0:25:19
She was sorrow and a smile Entangled in the chord of a sound Jazz blue melody A touch like rain to a flower To a flower Don't play

Bijon
0:26:20
A sonnet of pride and a tear, a soul on fire A little girl blue, you've lost so beloved Don't play, Nina Simone Don't play, don't play Miss Nina Simone Don't say, Mr. Monk Don't wait, miss me as tomorrow Don't wait Welcome back, you're listening to B-Side Morning Brew with Beej and Niles on 91.5 KUNV, Jazz and more. That was Miss Nina Simone written by my main man Mr. Niles Thomas. Wow that was so

Bijon
0:28:05
much fun recording that song. That was fun. That was a fun day in the studio. Well I'd like to thank

Bijon
0:28:11
you my brother. Here we are again once again doing this show together doing what we do. I'd like to thank our audience. Thank you all out there for listening to us and supporting us on our journey. We'd also like to thank KUNV, 91.5 Jazz and More for being such gracious hosts of our show and giving us a platform to present this to you. I mean they've been amazing partners, continue to be amazing partners. Thank you 91.5 KUNV, Jazz and More. Well good morning everybody, have a wonderful Sunday. You've been listening to B-Side Morning Brew with Bij and Niles, chillin' on the corner of Lifestyle Ave and Music Street on 91.5 have a wonderful Sunday. You've been listening to B-Side Morning Brew with Bij and Niles, chillin' on the corner of Lifestyle Ave and Music Street on 91.5

Bijon
0:29:19
KUNV Jazz and More.