Kinderjazz Interview with Christobel Llewellyn the sole producer and specialist in music education. November 26, 2015. In this interview we talk about the latest album Teddy Bear’s Picnic and more.
– What’s new and exciting with KINDERJAZZ?
We’ve just launched our 7th album , TEDDY BEAR’S PICNIC. We’ve also signed with Michael Stover of MTS Group Management.
How was it recording your album Teddy Bear’s Picnic?
We recorded it in a day at James Morrison’s Studio in Sydney. The musicians were chilled as it was summer holidays but were keen to work hard getting the best sound possible.
– Being the only Big Band Jazz ensemble for kids must be interesting as being the pioneers and encouraging this type of music. Is it a lot of work?
It’s a huge amount of work and we are completely passionate and committed. A lot of people didn’t relate to ‘Jazz’ but instantly loved KINDERJAZZ so it became a sort of bridge to other live music. We were told by a TV station that the quality was too high and that it would be wasted on a 3 yr old but this just made us more determined. We also encountered agents who wanted to dumb us down to a trio to make it cost effective. Understandable for some but we wanted the harmony of the horns and the Big Band sound.
– From the whole discography of albums you have done is it mostly the same approach to making music and recording it?
Actually, we try and do something different every album. For ‘Swing Right Through This Town’ we enhanced the band to a 22 piece and recorded it at a live show with 600 kiids. The energy was sky high! For ‘Tu-baba-Luma’ we introduced children to a six trombone choir. Gazooba is full of fairytales, ‘The One For Me’ features Tuba & Conga Duets and the latest CD Teddy Bear’s Picnic offers two stories, a new direction for the band. There’s a huge variety of genres in each album because we never want children to be bored.
– How many shows do you do on average in a year?
Around 45.
– Could you describe some of your earliest influences in life and music?
I was brought up with plenty of live music. Many family members played and sang and I remember there being a soundtrack to pretty much everything we did. Disney’s Jungle Book and Sesame Street were great influences as well as Looney Tunes, Sound of Music and My Fair Lady. It was the 60’s so live music was everywhere. Big Bands were often on radio and TV shows. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. as well as Dean Martin and Elvis, Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones were all playing live. Let’s not forget the Beatles! It was a crazy time.
– You must enjoy Jazz music a lot? Do you keep up to date with current Jazz from around the globe?
Yes but I don’t just love jazz. I love Classical music as well. I regularly listen to Bach and Beethoven.
– Where do you see Jazz music going in 100 years from now?
Jazz is alive and always absorbing different sounds. I think it will live on as it has for the last 100 years constantly evolving into something new and exciting. People argue as to what constitutes jazz music and will do so forever but to me it’s the richest broadest spectrum there is. The truth is Jazz has influenced Country, Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, Latin, World Music and a million other genres out there. If anything, the spectrum will get broader.
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