Q&T with Pam Morita – Music and Love and Working on Ourselves

VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt has known jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, educator Pam Morita (The Nash Futures Workshop, Paradise Valley Community College) for more than a decade. Pam is the former Director of CityJazz (an outreach of Phoenix Center for the Arts) and currently leads the Nash Futures Workshop in downtown Phoenix. Additionally, she is on the faculty at Paradise Valley Community College.

Just over a month ago, Pam sat down with Russ to discuss her initial transition from classical piano student to a working jazz musician, why she has been particularly motivated to work with music students at the beginning of their jazz journeys, and even how a more optimistic worldview has allowed her to find beauty in some interesting places.

Learn more about Pamela Morita here: https://pamelamorita.wixsite.com/jazz

Learn more about her innovative educational program, The Nash Futures Workshop, here: https://thenash.org/education/the-nash-futures-workshop/

Learn more about some of the people, places, pieces, and concepts mentioned in the podcast here:

J. S. Bach – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach

Count Basie – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Basie

Tony Bennett (performing artist) – https://tonybennett.com/music.php

Tony Bennett (visual artist) – https://www.tonybennett.com/arts.php

Miles Davis (performing artist) – https://www.milesdavis.com/albums

Miles Davis (visual artist) – https://www.milesdavis.com/gallery/miles-artwork/

Claude Debussy – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy

Michael Kocour – http://www.michaelkocour.com/

Paul-Eirik Melhus (on SoundCloud) – https://soundcloud.com/paul-eirikmelhus

Mulgrew Miller – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulgrew_Miller

Mulgrew Miller (improvisation-as-language video) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyRGB_x7VSg

Lucas Pino – https://www.lucaspino.com/

Maurice Ravel – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel

Diana Ross – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Ross

Dennis Rowland – https://www.dennisrowland.com/

George Shearing – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shearing

Miyoshi Umeki – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyoshi_Umeki

Joe Williams – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Williams_(jazz_singer)

Oprah Winfrey – http://www.oprah.com/index.html

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (song) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate_the_Positive

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (series) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Courtship_of_Eddie%27s_Fat