Don Was and Justin Seltzer at Eastside
The President of Blue Note records, Don Was, has been in Sydney as part of his world tour celebrating the 80th birthday of this iconic jazz label. With Blue Note’s Vice President Justin Seltzer, he joined Mick Paddon in the Eastside studios during Time and Space. Don Was made his name as a musician and as a record producer, working over decades with just about every major name in the rock and pop worlds including the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Bonnie Rait, Brian Wilson and many more, as well as jazz legends such as Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Joe Lovano and Kurt Elling. He joined Blue Note as its President in 2011. On Time and Space Don Was talked about his approach to music and production, the musician driven philosophy Blue Note developed from its earliest recordings in the late 1930s which still informs the way they work today, and how he sees the future of the label. The podcast opens with a track from one of the albums Don nominates as his all time favourite recordings on Blue Note-the title track from the album Ode to Joe by Joe Henderson. It closes with another track from Don’s selection, Wild Flower, from Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, an album which Don tells us in the interview has been important in helping him through some low points in his career. The interview was broadcast in Time and Space on Eastside Radio on June 5th of this year.