#1: John Shannon - Deep listening and Pittsburgh's newest jazz club
John Shannon (@johnshannonmusic) is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and most recently founder and musical director of Pittsburgh's newest jazz club, Con Alma. In his eclectic fashion, John has released a handful of solo folk rock records in addition to leading the atmospheric power rock trio, Leaders of the Shift, and jazz fusion group, Waking Vision Trio. John has also collaborated with jazz pianist Hiromi, singer/songwriter Sonya Kitchell, toured the world with the circus, and had a hand in the music for the TV show Louie.This episode covers how John got started in music, how he convinced his Mom to let him drop out of high school, some of his key teachers & influences, deep listening, learning new material, the story and motivation behind Con Alma, and plenty of other gems. Along with this podcast episode I will be releasing the first of what I'm calling Series of Three. The concept is to release a grouping of three songs to compliment each podcast episode and vice versa. The first Series of Three features John on guitar alongside James Johnson III on drums, Antonio Croes on the Rhodes, and myself on upright bass. We perform the jazz classics Star Eyes, Nardis, and Con Alma (a tip of the hat to John's new club). Check the songs out here. Enjoy!
