John Beaudin - Hi Michael. Welcome to Calgary.

Michael Kaeshammer - Thanks. It's nice to be here.

John - I know you discovered a lot of your earlier influences from your dad's record collection. What was in there?

Michael - The stuff that really got me interested was stride and boogie woogie stuff. He always listened to Jazz records when I was a kid so I grew up listening to it because I was really young and I played classical piano. You know when your dad tells you "Come on son listen to this" you go no I want to go outside. So I didn't listen to his music until I heard this boogie woogie solo record. That was it. I thought you can do that on the piano? I'd never heard of anything like that before. He was also a big Dixieland fan and Earl Hines and Louis Armstrong kind of thing which touched me.

John - I know that the whole New Orleans experience really touched you. It was more than just music.

(left to right) John Beaudin & Michael Kaeshammer

Michael - Yeah. You know there are a few things about that music. No matter what types of music I was into it always went back to New Orleans. What it taught me listening to New Orleans music is you can't really pigeon hole music. You can call it Fred if you want, call it Jazz or Blues but in New Orleans it all seems to come together. It all sounds so beautiful, I just love it.

John - I like to categorize music as sometimes good or bad music specifically music that either speaks to me or doesn't.

Michael - Oh, there's definitely good and bad music out there. (laughing) You know I was thinking about the music of Mozart and Bach today and there are a lot of elements of Jazz in there. It sure sounds a little different but everything has a little part of something. It's all music.

John - You have a few albums under your belt and we'll talk about the new one in just a minute but what else is in you.

Michael - You know in the last couple of years and this album kind of reflects this I discovered that there's more to music than just practicing and playing a certain way, I kind of started playing from what's inside. I'm discovering that there are more important things in life than business and the stupid unimportant things and sometimes music can kind of reflect that. You still have to practice and learn because you want to develop. To answer your question I want to go towards that inspiration in the next couple of years. I want to find out more about myself through the music. I love writing and I just kind of got into writing with this album. I've never really got into it before. I think the next one will have all original songs and maybe more vocals.

John - You know I've been talking to a few artists lately about the journey of playing from the soul that usually isn't about how many chords you can fit into sixty seconds. Marc Antoine fell through a glass door and was forced to let his chops go for a while and inadvertently started playing from his soul, Peter White told me the same thing last week. Interestingly, it sometimes takes a major watershed to even look at playing that way.

Michael - I think it does take something. I've gone through some changes in my personal life in the last couple of years so I don't know if that had anything to do with it but my view on life is totally different than it was a few years ago. When I walk down the street I look at people and think wouldn't it be great if everyone came from that place when making decisions. Wondering what life's really about and just deciding to care for people and remember what we're here for.

John - Yeah, to look at a bigger picture. Music has done that for me. I can say Joni Mitchell or Jonatha Brooke have helped me look at life from a different or bigger angle. It's great when that happens.

Michael - It is but sometimes you just have to go through some kind of experience to hear that. You certainly can't go to school to learn that.

John - Do you find that this whole believe of coming from your heart as a musician and human being is infectious that the more you consciously do that the more you attract people like that?

Michael - Yes, it's all connected to finding just who you are.

John - You're going to be on TV with Ross Porter's 'Jazzland' on COOL-TV.

Michael - Yeah 'Jazzland.'

John - Ross is a good guy. He's been a supporter of the site and he's going to be our 'Behind the Mic' feature next month (May). He truly loves and knows Jazz like not too many people I've ever met.

Michael - Yeah he's very open and I've known him for a number of years. The thing that I like about Ross is he's not a purist at all. He's very open minded and not just about Jazz but everything. He just means well with what he does. His knowledge is amazing and he knows more about my music than I do. He's just a great part of the Canadian Jazz scene.

John - I'm diggin' you playing on the new album 'Strut.' I also appreciate the drumming. Where do you get this energy?

Michael - It just comes from sitting down on the piano and the tape doesn't have to be rolling or there doesn't have to be an audience. Sitting down on the piano is my favorite thing in the day. At home when I get up I can just go over and sit at the piano for hours. That's how I get joy out of life.

John - Tell me about your method of touch on the piano.

Michael - Well as you know twenty different piano players can sit down on the same piano and it can sound different every time someone sits down. It's all in the touch and in the way you approach the piano. It's very important just like tone is very important to horn players so it's not just about the notes. When we recorded this album we just brought all the musicians together and we rented a cottage up North.

John - What a cool place to record an album.

Michael - It was beautiful. I just didn't want to go into a studio downtown and have people come in and then just leave after the session because I always find that kind of cold. At the cabin it was really warm and everybody was there for a week and we couldn't go anywhere we had to hang out. We had to play music and it was just pure joy. Everyone came from a different place, the bass player is from New York, the drummer is from New Orleans and the guitarist and I are from Toronto. A few of them hadn't met before and there were no rehearsals. I like going into the studio by just giving them the song and just talking over it and just doing two or three takes. Usually you end up taking the first take because it has the most spontaneity. I think the album really brought that out.