Lisa Campbell Albert sings and teaches others to do the same. For more than 30 years she has been singing and playing keyboard, leading her and her husband’s blues band, Uncle Albert, performing in and around St. Louis as well as nationally and internationally, including regular annual appearances in Germany. She has also channeled her knowledge from her academic studies as well as her professional experience into a career as an educator, currently as a professor at the Webster University Conservatory Theatre. Her book on singing, co-authored with fellow professor Bill Lynch, is titled The Moment Before the Music Begins. In our podcast, she talks about her work coaching all types of singers and, most importantly, that each must find their own voice. It was the turning point of her career, she notes: “I’m going to sound like Lisa” and her audiences would have to “take me as I am.” Now nearing 60 and still “singin’ the blues,” she reflects on the key life lessons being a musician has taught her, that “Every time I take a new step I find a different part of me that lets me exhale,” and that music has allowed her to find herself as “a person who’s authentic and happy.”

Mark Rapp’s resume as a performing artist is impressive enough. He has performed in jazz clubs and festivals around the world from Croatia, Brasil, Austria, Switzerland, and the US, including back-to-back appearances at the 2017 and 2018 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. His celebrated 2009 debut release “Token Tales” earned him DownBeat magazine’s recognition as a “Top Emerging Trumpeter,” a sold-out Blue Note appearance, and a spot in the famed Newport Jazz Festival. Moreover, he is the founder of the ColaJazz Foundation, an initiative in his adopted home of Columbia, South Carolina, which hosts a premier annual jazz festival as well as ongoing performances by leading jazz figures, and an outreach program that includes three Summer Camps and jazz-based education sessions at schools throughout the state.

This extended episode of Music Life & Times pays tribute to Sam Yi, “the guiding light of jazz in Atlanta,” who ran the Churchill Grounds jazz club in Midtown for two decades. Sam passed away on February 3. “His steadfast promotion of jazz music helped artists maintain a sense of belonging and provided listeners with a spot to hear the latest talent, among shifting venues and interest,” noted the ArtsATL website upon his passing. The podcast features comments from friends and musicians, just a handful of the many whose lives he blessed. Podcast participants include trumpeter and educator Gordon Vernick, saxophonist David Sanchéz, and Sam’s longtime close friend John Hammond. Their memories of a loyal friend and supporter and stellar human being are here to enjoy.