Maria Schneider: Composing in the Age of Curated Rage

Today, The Tonearm’s needle lands on composer and avid birdwatcher Maria Schneider.

Few composers working today have Maria Schneider's range. She holds seven Grammy Awards, was named an NEA Jazz Master, and this year took home the Rolf Schock Prize in Musical Arts, one of the most prestigious honors in the field.

Maria Schneider joins the podcast to talk about American Crow, her recent EP that uses jazz to make a case for something we've mostly lost, the ability to actually listen to each other. The music moves from distressed Americana into something quiet and more human, a sound Schneider connects to her Midwestern childhood, when disagreement didn't have to mean war.

Maria's here to talk about the record, what jazz improvisation has to teach a fractured society, and more.

(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Maria Schneider’s American Crow)

—

Dig Deeper

Artist and EP

• Visit Maria Schneider at mariaschneider.com and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
• Purchase Maria Schneider’s American Crow EP from ArtistShare
• Watch American Crow: A Narrative in Notes and Frames — the full longform music video, free on YouTube

Selected Discography

• Data Lords (ArtistShare, 2020) — Pulitzer Prize Finalist; two Grammy Awards; the double album that precedes and informs American Crow
• Sky Blue (ArtistShare, 2007) — includes "Sky Blue," discussed at length in this episode
• Evanescence (Enja, 1994) — Schneider's debut; features "Wyrgly" and "Dance You Monster to My Soft Song," both favored by David Bowie

Ensemble Members and Collaborators

• Donny McCaslin — tenor saxophonist; featured throughout the conversation; also Bowie's Blackstar bandleader
• Donny McCaslin on The Tonearm
• Ben Monder — guitarist; featured soloist on Data Lords
• Mike Rodriguez — trumpeter; featured soloist on American Crow
• Jeff Miles — guitarist; featured on "A World Lost" on the American Crow EP
• Gary Versace — pianist; longtime Schneider Orchestra member; on faculty at Eastman School of Music
• Bob Brookmeyer (1929–2011) — valve trombonist and arranger; Schneider's mentor; his c