"This Is Jazz" 🎹 Pianist & Educator Quentin Walston on Jazz for Everyone

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I want to present people with jazz theory not as a really scary intellectual college-level endeavor, but rather as this is like a, a core fundamental way for you to start enjoying the music better. Most approaches to theory out there assume an immense amount of knowledge. This Is Jazz starts from the ground up. Let me open your mind or blow your mind, and we're going to start understanding jazz from just the foundational elements. This song came out in 1960. I think that there's a place for This Is Jazz to be for students, kids, young adults that want to learn jazz, that want to understand jazz on a deeper level. This Is Jazz can be for teachers that recognize jazz is a special, unique style of music that inspires students.

Welcome to another episode of The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song with Yukimi Song. This season is all about creativity and connection, exploring how artists across the piano world are reshaping what it means to create and connect in today's ever-evolving musical landscape. Today's guest perfectly embodies that mission—Quentin Walston, an active pianist, educator, and entrepreneur who is redefining how jazz can be taught, learned, and loved by people of all backgrounds. As the founder of This Is Jazz and author of How to Teach Jazz and Improvisation, Quinton has built a platform that empowers teachers nationwide to bring jazz and improvisation into their classrooms with confidence and creativity. Recognized as a Virginia Commission for the Arts Teaching Artist and a Maryland State Art Council Tourist Artist, he performs as a solo pianist and with his jazz trio, blending memorable melodies, striking rhythms, and adventurous improvisations. His album Retro Future draws inspiration from legends like Thelonious Monk and Jason Moran while establishing his own voice as a modern jazz artist and educator. Quentin's YouTube channel, "This is Jazz Official," and his online community have become hubs for educators and students alike, offering practical jazz tips, musical history, and accessible resources that make jazz fun, inspiring, and achievable for all ages. Before we begin, a heartfelt thank you to you, our listeners and community. Every time you subscribe, rate, or share this show, you help us continue to build this space for creativity, dialogue, and inspiration. Here's Season 6, Episode 5 of The Piano Pod with pianist, educator, and entrepreneur Quinton Wolstin. This is jazz making improvisation accessible for everyone. Please enjoy the show. You are listening to The Piano Pod, where we talk to the brightest minds in industry about how they are bringing the piano into the future and thriving in a complex, ever-evolving world. Quinton, welcome to The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song with Yukimi Song with Quinton McLean. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for having me. Oh, my pleasure. And you are not only an accomplished performing artist, jazz pianist to be exact, but also an entrepreneurial force in jazz education and through This is Jazz That Is Your Educational Brand and also your book. I actually purchased the PDF version, How to Teach Jazz Improvisation. We're gonna talk really in depth about this book. You've created tools and resources that equip music teachers of all backgrounds to bring jazz and improvisation into their classrooms and lessons. And I'm excited to explore both your artistic journey and the business you've built to inspire and empower others. As we begin, I'd like to start with this question: if you had to describe your mission or passion in just a few words or sentences, how would you describe it?

Well, one, thank you for having me. Um, it's an honor to be on this podcast, so I really, really appreciate it. And my, my mission, especially as far as jazz improvisation or jazz education goes is I believe that all teachers can teach jazz. So everything I do, whether it's in training, in-person training sessions, books, courses, my social media presence, it's to help equip teachers and really get over that intimidation that is often associated with jazz or improvisation. So that's, yeah, I guess That's more than a couple words, but—

No, that's great. Perfect. Thank you. And you are the founder of This Is Jazz. And so at the heart of your work, what is your mission in jazz education, to be exact, and outreach? How are you reaching out to, I guess, people through jazz education?

Yeah, primarily now I do— I'm mostly trying to connect with other teachers, helping teachers specifically be better equipped to teach jazz and improvisation. And not just piano teachers, but also public school teachers, whether that's middle school band or high school band, other, other areas as well, the college level. And thereby that also reaches a lot of students. I've found that there is a lot of material out there that's gained towards students. Like, you can go on YouTube and look up really, really fascinating videos about how to be a jazz player, but not much is there to equip teachers. So I sometimes feel that teachers get locked into, well, I'm a classical teacher, I can't do jazz, or I'm this and I can't do that. So I really want to kind of extend out to teachers and help them in any way I can.

Yeah, that's great. Now, I've, you know, watched some of the video clips on YouTube. You have a big channel, YouTube channel, and also Instagram as well. It's, of course, it's educational, but I think what's great about it is it's pretty comprehensive. You're not just talking about technique or chords, but also there's historical elements to it, which is super helpful for anybody to understand jazz music. And then even like there are so many different styles styles of jazz music depending on the, you know, era, for example. Right. So you're really describing it so well. But I want to start actually with the book, How to Teach Jazz and Improvisation. I bought a PDF, but I think instead of giving my audience my impression, I think it's nice that you tell us what exactly this book is about.

Awesome. Well, thank you for getting the PDF, right? It's online. It's also available in print. And the book The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song seeks to fill this gap. There are jazz books out there that have fully composed or through-composed jazz pieces, especially if we're looking at beginner material. And I love those pieces. When I was in middle school and high school, I was learning those pieces as well. But there's not very much, or you could even say really nothing out there for beginner improvisation. A lot of the improvisation materials out there already assume you have a high level of theory understanding or a high level of proficiency. So this book fills that gap, and it's a two-part book. So half of the book is repertoire that you would do in your lessons or your classes, and it's a duet format. So the teacher, they're playing a pre-written jazz chord progression, a vamp. They don't have to worry about improvising themselves. It lays down that stylistic foundation, and then the students have just a small collection of notes to improvise with. And what makes this a little bit different than some of the other pedagogical resources is it doesn't start with the full scale, because often I found in my own teaching experience, when you give a student a full scale, all of their improv— improvisation is scalar. So the, the really underlying pedagogy is making sure that you're improvising and creating things that you can actually hear in your mind's ear, like you're really inventing a melody. I think piano, it's really easy just to play things based on the finger shapes or just what it looks like, and you can just get by with not truly instilling and really not knowing what sound it is you're trying to make. So the book presents students with notes that always work on that teacher chord progression, no matter what note they play, what rhythm, what order. If they playing from those notes, it's going to sound good. So it builds confidence, it gets rid of students' anxiety about maybe playing a quote-unquote wrong note, and then it builds from there. It gives them more options, it gives them other considerations. Hey, why don't we take rhythm into the equation? And the book has 7 different compositions that all follow that pedagogy. So there's like a minor vamp, there's a bluesy one, there's a Latin jazz, there's a bebop one, there's a waltz, and so on and so forth. So it introduces kids to real jazz styles, um, that anyone can play. I've done these songs with 8-year-olds, and I've done them with retirees, adult students. So that's the, the, the in-lesson portion. And then the first half of the book is all about filling knowledge gaps. So it's kind of the, the teacher's resource if they want to know more about jazz harmony, all those extensions, or if they have a student that's taking high school jazz band, tips for those. It has improv games. It really seeks to be a comprehensive resource that's easy to understand and easy to digest from a teacher that doesn't have a jazz background.

Yeah, I love teaching improvisation, uh, when I teach, you know, although my background is classical music. People think that I'm— I teach just a very strict classical music. But actually, I— especially adult students, I live in Brooklyn, I have so many adult students now for some reason. And then, you know, they feel like once they sit at the piano, they can just play whatever they want, but it doesn't work that way. So improvisation is one of the ways. But even then, jazz is a different language to me, and I took lessons. But so I'm very curious, like, Where should we start in terms of like, let's say you're talking to a teacher, where is a good place to start in terms of like teaching jazz style?

I think it is melodically and really getting to the base of playing what's in your mind's ear. I think piano, because it can be such a rich harmonic instrument, Sometimes teachers feel that they have to go straight into all of the elaborate jazz harmony and jazz chords and jazz accompaniment. And all of those are great, but so much of the jazz language is a melodic language, and you can say so much through the melody. So I like focusing on first the melody, even with a beginner piano student. Like, let's just improvise with your right hand. Your left hand will come. But let's, let's get that right hand going. And then the other thing is probably one of the more difficult things for teachers that aren't familiar with jazz is the articulation and the phrasing. Jazz has a lot that can't be captured by notation perfectly. So the book talks about some of those rules of articulation, swing feel, accents and things like that. But I think a beginner teacher into jazz should focus on being able to improvise what's in their mind's ear. It can just be— I mean, you can do it with 2 notes. Like, it doesn't, it doesn't have to be complicated, but can you, can you execute the concept that's in your head? And then, yeah, and then really getting the phrasing. So yeah, that's where I would start.

Wow. And what inspired you to, first of all, write this book? Yeah. Like, is it years of experience or maybe decades of experience as an educator and what you saw firsthand? Oh my gosh, this is what something is missing. Or is there some one particular or few particular events that, oh my gosh, I need to write this?

Mm, that's a great question. I remember so much of the writing process, but I think what, like the initial germ of the idea, I think was a little subtle, more subtle because the first song in the book called Hit It, I've been doing for years in lessons. Just when I want to do an improvisation activity, I'll just play this chord vamp and I'll give my students 4 notes and it's just a way to get any age kid playing or adult, any age student, any level creating something. So it's a great, just, you can do it in the last 2 minutes of a lesson. Hey, why don't we try this out? And that was the idea that I ran with. But there, I do remember there was a time where I was like, man, there is nothing out there. There's this hole in the pedagogy. And I had a student that loves jazz. So part of it was like, well, maybe I'll write some of this for him or he can kind of be my trial student. So I think there's a few things that led to it, but it was essentially last, a little over a year ago is when I really started the composing process for it.

You said, so missing something, so missing part was the melodic writing, you say?

I think that was, I think the, for me, what was missing is just beginner improvisation. So, um, like, I— so to, I guess, to name names, I, I love Martha Myer's Jazz Rags and Blues.

I know people think— I'm very familiar with those.

Yeah, I— so I played them when I was 13 years old and, and all that. I love them. I think they do a great job. I think they're, they're really succinctly written, um, but those don't have any improvisation, nor do a lot of songs at that level. When you get to Jamey Aebersold, who is kind of the— for decades has been the, the core jazz beginner improv material. He is one of the first people that did play-along recordings. Those are amazing too, but those start pretty high. Like, a beginner song in the Aebersold series would be like Take the A Train. And yes, to an experienced jazz player, Take the A Train is a beginner song, but to play Take the A Train, you have to be able to feel a 32-bar form. That's AABA. You need to know 6 or 7 different chords. You need to know the modes that go with those chords. And, and that's just too much to introduce to a 9-year-old or even a 30-year-old that wants to try jazz out for the first time. So that was that gap that was missing, and I really wanted to fill that gap and felt that With my background as both a performer and a composer and an educator, specifically in the jazz area, I could fill that gap. Hey, it's Bubba Wallace from 23XI Racing. You know what feels like forever? Cabin crew, cabin crew. Sitting on a plane waiting for takeoff. Good thing I've got Jumba Casino. With daily boosts and social casino games on tap, This is the kind of fun that makes time fly. Why not turbocharge your downtime? Play now at chumbacasino.com. Let's chumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 21+. Terms and conditions apply.

Now, I have the PDF right in front of me. I am happy to share the screen, but I know this is your book, so you tell me. You can share the screen. Can I share this? Yeah. All right, here we go. So I have your book. This is your front page. I'm just going to go all the way back to the front page. How to Teach Jazz Improvisation. I love this front page. Very nice design. So is there a specific, like, page number you want to go to, or?

Yeah, well, why don't we jump to 35. And that's gonna be a sample of the repertoire that people can see. There we go. So hit it. So there's the teacher part. So it's pretty sight-readable. It's not meant to burden the teacher at all. And the teacher would just play that vamp on repeat and just so your listeners can hear. It's kind of that classic, um, like Hit the Road Jack, a classic minor tetrachord sound. And then if you go to the next page, you'll see what the student has. So it just starts with 4 notes. They can play anything of those top 4 notes, any order, any rhythm, and it's always going to work well with the harmony. So any, any rhythm, any order, they're getting to that idea of constructing melodies. And then you see, once they feel comfortable with that, we add new notes. The third line down is, is conceiving of things in rhythms. One of the biggest things with teaching improvisation is guiding students to things that they wouldn't come up with on their own. A lot of times students don't realize it, but they fall into habits. Like they might always start with an ascending line, or they might always start with a half note, things like that. So the book really tries to suggest new ways of soloing, but always within the realm of you're not playing wrong notes. You don't have to be scared that you're playing something that sounds bad. So this first one, let's say we pick, or the third one, ba ba da da, you could do a whole solo with So the idea being that they're building new layers of creativity.

Yeah. But it's great because you're giving us this 4 notes to begin with. Yeah. And then, you know, if I were teaching, I'm going to teach this today. I have a student coming in. She is like only 8 years old. So I would have her pick, let's say today, let's start with A, then maybe next day, next week, let's start with E-flat. Yeah, something like that.

Start your line with E-flat. Yeah. Like those little things get them creating new melodies. Yeah, absolutely.

This is great because then it's not overwhelming.

It's not, and it's not, and you don't have to have a degree in jazz studies or something like that to be able to do it. It's really designed to get any teacher, any student playing.

Thank you, because like you said, I was more thinking of chord progressions, like, oh my gosh, I have to learn all these chords. And then to me, I took a few months of jazz lessons during COVID and it was— I failed because I didn't have time to practice. And also I was so overwhelmed with the amount of extensions that you had to sort of memorize. Oh, that's hard. Yeah. I don't think music that way. You know what I mean? Yeah. I'm a trained classical musician and I do— I am able to do harmonization easily. I'm able to do transposition easily. I do classical style, but, you know, improvisation. Yeah. You know, but then when it comes to extension and then, oh, flat 5, my mind doesn't work that way.

You know, it's interesting because that's the way that I was taught and I've talked to other jazz pianists and that's the way they were taught. So it's like this kind of recurring thing of like, okay, you're going to be a jazz pianist. Well, what you mostly do as a company. So now you have to memorize this exhausting list of chords and chord progressions. And, and that is necessary if you want to master jazz piano. Like if you want to master harmony, you need to know every chord type in multiple inversions and different orchestrations, two hand, one hand, like you do need that. But that way of starting I think that it detracts people. Like, and, and I learned that experience the hard way myself when I was right out of school. I had, um, someone through my church that wanted to take jazz lessons. She said, I want to do something jazzy. And, and I did the very first thing that you kind of mentioned. I was like, all right, let's work on some dominant 9th chords. And I think she lasted 2 lessons. And I'm like, where did I go wrong?

Those are big words for a beginner. Yeah. Yeah. Now let's bring your book back on screen. I want everyone to see more of what it offers.

So if they go, if you scroll back towards the beginning of the book, um, that's where a lot of those other resources are. So if you do want to learn jazz harmony, I do have a page in there all about different jazz chords.

Or if you do want to, um, oh yeah, right here, 2-5-1.

Yeah, so that's a little bit of the theory behind the 2-5-1 and why it's such a ubiquitous chord progression. Um, if you want to learn how to do walking bass lines in your left hand, or even if you're a bass player, there's things in there. So this is the bass line. Yes. Yep.

So all, you know, Quentin, I'm sorry to interrupt, but bass line is also difficult. It is, it is. It's something that you hear it as jazz musician and then it's not easy doesn't come naturally.

No, no, there are definitely things in there. There are rules. There's freedom, but there's still rules to it. And to do it convincingly, it's good to know what those typical rules are. So yeah, the book's laid out to be, I mean, I think each concept is one, maybe two pages. So it's just a succinct way of saying, this is what it is. This isn't super theory-dense, heavy, jargony stuff. Um, it's meant for all instruments too. That's why you saw that page about jazz guitar chords. So there are your piano chords. So if somebody wants the, the top row is simple, what we call shell voicings. You only have the root and the third or the root and the seventh. So that kind of walks through the chords that would apply for, and it's so, um, this is great. Yeah. If you have a student that's eager to really run the full race of mastering harmony. But as you saw from the other section, that doesn't have to be the only thing you use the book for. You can use it for your 8-year-old student, so to speak.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I can see that. Yes. Perfect. But, you know, as a teacher, I can read this thing, right? These, like, a little bit more let's say, filled with jargon and everything. But when it comes to teaching 8-year-olds, for example, today, I don't have to go through all that. Exactly. I can just go straight to page 35 that we first took a look at and start improvising without explaining. Just use these 4 notes. That's right. I will do the accompaniment part. Just, no, just do it. That's the sort of thing.

Yeah, yeah. When I've talked to teachers before, when I'm giving them information about the book, I'll say, you can start this in your first lesson and then grow with this book for years. Like, you can use it right away, and then it can be on your, on your bookshelf, in your lesson, on your piano as you continue to, to grow in jazz. It's also got recommended recordings in there because a lot of jazz is learned through listening. So I break down recordings not only by subgenre but also by instrument. So if you're like a high school band teacher and you want your trombone players to get inspired, you can show them some albums by trombone players and stuff like that. Oh, wow.

That's cool. That's great. Yeah. Nice to be able to connect what you're doing with the actual playing, actual pieces. Now, you mentioned about part 2, right?

Right. So the first half of the book is where you are right now. That's more of the information aspect filling in those information gaps. What is jazz harmony? What are these kind of things? The second part is the songs. Oh, the part that—

yes, right here is the part 2. Yep. And then let's say second piece is the Summer Storm Blues. So talking about blues style, maybe it's more of a boogie-woogie feel, that kind of old school boogie sound.

It introduces kids to the 12-bar blues. There's an uptempo bebop one there. Oh yes, Dizzy Bob, named after Dizzy Gillespie. I also recorded sample solos of every tune where I'm improvising with the parameters so students can hear it. And then also I recorded all the teacher parts as play-alongs that are on Spotify and YouTube and all the streaming platforms. So it can be helpful, one, if a teacher doesn't want to play it in their lesson, or if you have like a band teacher that isn't really savvy with piano, they can just put on the recording and then also students can practice at home with it.

That's cool. Very practical. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's very important because you first lesson you come and you really want to be able to play something instead of just listening to theory, you know. Yeah. Yeah, very nice. Yes, I'm going to definitely use this. Now I understand that— do you want to continue sharing?

Oh, no, no, I'm happy to. I'm happy to move on. I think that covers the book. It's on thisisjazz.com and it's on Amazon as well. So this is jazz—

oh, thisisjazz.com. I thought it was the quintonwalston.com.

That's also— that's also— that website was my is like my artist website where I post my concerts and stuff. Thisisjazz.com is specifically the publisher, the course website, all of the stuff about teacher education. And then I also posted on my artist website since I am a performer as well. So you can find it on both.

Wonderful. Now, I also noticed that there's a course that you teach, but It's actually, it's a prerecorded on-demand you can purchase.

Yes. I have courses on jazz pedagogy. It's, it's essentially expounding on the book. So going into more depth gives you that kind of benefit of somebody explaining it and playing examples and things like that. So that course is tied in with the book. And then I also have courses on jazz theory. Um, I think that jazz theory to some people seems incredibly daunting and overwhelming, um, and a lot of jazz theory starts really high level. So what might be considered an intro to jazz theory course is actually like a college-level jazz theory course. So the— I— the series I have is called Jazz Unlocked. So it basically kind of helps you enjoy jazz more. Like, I, I know that sounds crazy, but I think that that understanding the way the music is structured helps us appreciate it even more. It's kind of like if you— like, for me, I love painting and architecture, and like knowing the, the craftsmanship behind it helps me enjoy it more. So my big kind of eureka moment when I was in high school jazz band is we were listening to this crazy fast version of Love for Sale by the Buddy Rich Big Band, And there's this tenor saxophone solo, and it's just this torrent of notes, and it's like way over my head. I don't understand how he knows what notes to play, how he knows how long to play, and then how the band knows when to come back in. Like, how, how does this solo happen for so long and then everybody immediately knows? And my teacher explained that, well, he's improvising on a predetermined chord progression. The chord progression's already set it's locked into time, so he's playing notes that work well with those chords. And then since it's a predetermined length, the whole band can just follow along with the chord progression, so everybody knows where everyone is all at once. And just that insight made jazz so much cooler for me and so much more fascinating because I could follow along, and it's like I now understand kind of how the magician did the trick. Kind of thing. So, so the, the theory courses seek to, to do that to people, to kind of give them this cool understanding of jazz. This is, this is why the chords sound like this. This is why solos work like that. Um, so, so yeah, so those are the courses there. They're available too. And then also I have one on piano history because I'm a history dork.

I did one on jazz piano history. Wow. Yeah, but I can tell. I mean, I'm not calling you a dork. I didn't say that. But I can tell that you are a history buff. Like, when I see all the clips and you have like 100, like 225,000 followers on something, something like that on Instagram, and then 3,800 subscribers on YouTube. I mean, You can tell because it's so engaging, very educational. And then especially the part where you talk about, you know, very renowned historic jazz pianists, jazz musicians, and you're just giving the audience the context.

Yeah, right. I love doing that, just point blank. And even before I got into the book and teaching teachers, that was something I was already doing, just kind of making jazz more accessible to everyone. And that's something I do as a performer as well. Like in my concerts, I love giving the backstory behind the composers or how the song works. I think people connect with the music more, especially since I'm an instrumental performer. I don't sing. I don't work with vocalists typically. So I found that sometimes audiences that aren't musicians themselves or aren't very musically savvy, it can be helpful for them to have kind of those guideposts, those little nuggets of information, whether it's biographical or analytical. It just helps them connect and enjoy the music a little bit more.

You also give— you've been giving like, you know, workshops and training sessions in schools. That's amazing. So basically going to schools and then teach band, right?

Jazz? Yeah, yeah, that's been really fun. Um, I've been— I've done different residencies at everything from elementary schools where I'll take over their elementary classes for a whole week. So I get, I get like all of the kindergarteners and they have percussion and we're trading fours and doing like different jazz exercises. I was at a school in DC where I had everyone had the xylophones and I took out all of the bars except for notes so they could play the opening phrase to "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing." So these, yeah, it was cool. It's like a bunch of DC students were playing some Duke Ellington and it was a lot of fun. So I love getting to do that. I'm doing some stuff. At the collegiate level this fall. And then I do teacher trainings as well. So that'll be like going into a music academy or a public school and just helping teachers. So just trying to do everything I can to help spread jazz and get people to enjoy it and play it.

Wow. But obviously you are a jazz pianist. You have this amazing solo career too. That's the reason of you want to really spread the gospel of jazz, I guess. But why jazz? Why you want to really use this tool in your music to educate from young students to adults with jazz? Why jazz? I think jazz has—

there's such a freedom of expression. And it's not that I think they're— not just that, I should say. I think there are so many amazing things that that all coalesce in the musical style of jazz. So for people that want to be very expressive, you have the, the avenues of improvisation that jazz offers. For people that are very analytical, you have all the exciting music theory that jazz offers, whether it's the history, I think, or even if people just resonate with it and they like the beat and the drive. Jazz has such an exciting feeling to it, that rhythmic pulse. So I think just the— from a musical standpoint, it kind of satisfies all of those inklings that, that one might experience. Um, and then also, I mean, I, I love the idea of preservation. I think it's a very special type of cultural art form that is worthy of preserving. Uh, and, and when I speak to that, I'm also speaking to the, the swing style of jazz, which Jazz is not limited to swing anymore. It hasn't been for some time. But I do think that the swing style of jazz should be preserved. But yeah, I think it's accessible to all. I think kids can enjoy jazz, adults can enjoy jazz, and I think it satisfies all those musical aspects. Yeah.

Wow. And also empowering too, you know, being able to create their own music.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely. Now, um, it's, it's, uh, so admiring that you are able to teach group of young people to play a musical instrument because I'm more a one-on-one person, a classical musician. So, um, how do you engage them? Because, you know, I think shorter attention span, you hear this a lot. But how do you excite them about learning music?

That is a good question. I don't know if I've kind of self-analyzed in that regard. I try to— let's see, I'm trying to think through like what I've done in classes before. I think doing hands-on stuff is really exciting. I think allowing kids to create can be exciting, but have I had— I've definitely had, um, like behavioral issues. I, I think certain age groups, they get distracted and, and sidetracked. And, and, uh, yeah, I, I think any, any teacher has that difficulty. And, and that's one of the reasons I, I have so much respect for public school or even private school classroom teachers, because I can do it in, in in a week, but I couldn't do it long term. It is so draining and it's such a unique style. So I have so much respect for that. But, but yeah, I try to, I try to engage the students, kind of set the, set the bar high where they can rise to the occasion and, and yeah, do things that I think would be exciting for them. One of the activities that I'll do I'll say like everyone's a composer, is I'll give everyone like xylophones or something and take out the bars that wouldn't be tonally enjoyable. So I'll usually give them like a pentatonic scale or even fewer notes than that. And we'll go on the board and we'll write down certain moods. Like, so it might be like energetic, sad, happy, and then I'll have them write down or shout out musical characteristics. That are attributed to that mood. So if it's sad, I'll be like, is that slow or fast? And they'll write slow. Is that major or minor? And then we'll put minor. Is that like loud or quiet? And we'll do that, and then we'll all improvise together. It sounds totally chaotic, by the way. It doesn't sound refined at all, but they feel like that they got to create music that didn't exist 20 minutes before that. So and we'll kind of plug along where they get to create a story or create a musical piece. So when I do work with students, I really try to come up with stuff that is really engaging and challenging all at the same time.

Wow. Bravo to you. Obviously, you've been quite very successful now. So let's dive into more business side of your being. And let's talk about social media and YouTube. Why not? Yeah, it's really love and hate, right? But you are actually doing amazing. But it's a lot of work. It is a lot of work.

It is frustrating, though. I mean, Yeah, it's a lot of— it is a lot of work. I've done most of my stuff on Instagram. I'm in the process of pivoting to YouTube. I think one of the hardest things about it is being beholden to the algorithm. There's so much stuff that you would like to see happen. There are things that you, whether it's from a strategy point of view or from like a belief in your content or any, anything like that where there you, you put it up and the algorithm decides who it's going to show to. So that's really challenging. I think one of the things that's also challenging is that just because you have a certain amount of followers, that doesn't mean your followers get to see what you put out. And I think that is one of the most frustrating things about Instagram for me, not to just turn this into an Instagram bashing thing. But you mentioned I have a high follower count on Instagram, but Instagram won't show all of my followers my content. So it's disappointing because you're like, man, I'm really excited about this, or I'll put a lot of love and labor into something and you hope that it resonates with that audience. And then to find out that the audience didn't see it because of something that's out of your control can be really discouraging. So, uh, I think recently I've been a little bit more discouraged by, by social media than encouraged. But I think the, the ultimate thing is to persevere. Like, um, that was one of the things that really got me boosted on social media to begin with, was just consistent posting and a consistent presence.

Also, your platform, This Is Jazz, tell us more. I know there's the book that you can purchase there. Do you also do blogs? And I know you have a podcast too, right? I've interviewed—

Yeah, interview. I will— that I will highlight or feature on This Is Jazz. So thisisjazz.com is the brand. It's something that I want to see grow and help all teachers and even people that are self-taught musicians. And music fans and things like that. So part of that has included, you know, of course the products, the books and the courses and stuff, but we wanna offer free resources and things that have value, things that people enjoy. So I have blog stuff up there, articles. Some of them are music theory related, some of them are music industry related. It. Like, I did one that was, how can you make money as a jazz musician? Because, you know, you come out of music school and you've got a very fancy jazz degree, but how are you going to pay the rent? Um, so yeah, just trying to help people. And I think that one, it was just the whole blog was just like, here's 20 things that I've done personally as a jazz musician that, that'll, that'll make you money. Um, and then the interviews has been incredible too because I've had the chance to connect with some incredible musicians, um, like Aaron Parks, Ari Honig, Pat Bianchi, uh, just these amazing like top-tier jazz artists. And just getting to sit down with them for an hour and talk music has been so cool. Um, I recently did one with Dom Flemons, who is a a banjo player and a master of African American folk music, like roots music. So just talking about what are the parallels to like blues music and jug band music of the 1920s and jazz. So it, I mean, it serves my greater audience and then it also is like, it's personally really satisfying just to get to talk with these people. But yeah.

Oh, I totally understand. That's the reason of The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song, too, you know. It's like, yes, I want to serve my audience, but the, you know, my audience is actually me. I'm thinking about myself. If I interview this person, then I get to learn. And then if I interview you, I get to learn more about jazz and how to teach jazz. So this has been really a wonderful conversation. Yeah, thank you. So, hmm, uh, what advice would you give for those— you mentioned about, you know, graduating from this fancy degree, but the thing is, once you get that degree, it's like, now what do I do, right? So, and you built this empire of This Is Jazz. So, but where do you— do you start? You know, you, you can't just think about this big thing, but you have to start one step at a time, you know?

Yeah. I think people should, well, want to understand that they have to do multiple things. Like you have to do multiple streams of income. So that can be teach— like I still teach private piano lessons. I love teaching private piano lessons. Like I get to connect with students and I get to be really close with families. But yeah, so like it can be teaching, it can be gigging. Just within the realm of gigging, there are so many avenues for gigs. If you live in a major city, I would try to do corporate gigs, get on the roster of as many agencies as you can. Where, I mean, I do those where there's a law firm that's having a yearly celebration and you're the background artist. Or if you live in an area that has a bunch of wineries and breweries, like You've got to learn how to be a performer, and a lot of that is through background music gigs. Like, you have to master the— your art of doing it in front of people. You have to master your business acumen. You have to master your communication skills, all of that. So background gigs is, is where it usually starts. I know we all want to, to play at Blues Alley or Village Vanguard or any of that, but, but you got to do your background gigs. Um, and then I think a big thing too that would be a pitfall to avoid for beginner jazz artists, and it could be beginner artists in general, is that the music industry is not what you thought it was in regards to like traditional success stories. And especially, I mean, I was in college over 10 years ago, um, when Spotify was kind of just picking up steam and stuff like that. But like the whole concept of I'm gonna get signed to a record label and then I'm gonna be rich, or these kind of things, or I— well, if I just get an agent then I'll be set, or if I just get a manager, these kind of really traditional sounding paths to success in the music career, I have found have been more a time sink, in an effort sink, than actually pay out dividends that are actually worth it. So I think if students understand that, or not students, but young artists and young entrepreneurs understand that they shouldn't put their hopes in a traditional model and should instead work on other models, that would be helpful. And I guess the last thing I would say Well, I guess there's a few things. Don't hope that Spotify is going to pay your bills, and don't hope that YouTube's going to pay your bills. Like, I think people also will get these kind of false misconceptions that if they just nail that Spotify editorial playlist, then they're going to be raking in money. Don't, don't bet on that. So yeah, it's a lot of hard work. It's diversifying what you do as a professional musician. And it's not giving up. It's just persevering and doing it and doing it and doing it and doing it. And that's—

Yeah, that's true. That's true. So let's talk about your album, Retro Future. Yeah. That blends inspiration from Thelonious Monk to Jason Moran. Yeah. Jason Moran.

He's an incredible pianist. Yeah. So the album Retro Future, we did out last year. It was with my trio, piano, bass, and drum set. And it's, uh, it has swing. Uh, in the jazz world, we refer to that as straight ahead, straight ahead jazz. And for me, I've always been so inspired, and my attention is always so captured by pianists that kind of play with the boundaries, like are really kind of pushing. So like Flonius Monk to me is a great example of that. He swings, he uses traditional chord progressions, but he has a certain percussiveness to his playing. He's not afraid to experiment with dissonance. The same thing goes with like a lot of Duke Ellington's trio recordings. He didn't make many, but of them, you're like, wow, this is coming from that super popular big band artist. Like this is this is pretty out there. So I, I really like that, that balance of traditional and pushing the boundaries. Um, and a modern artist like that would be Jason Moran. He's— you can hear he's inspired by people like Fats Waller, but then can play some stuff that is just— you're— it's kind of atonal, but it's also really, really fascinating. So, um, that's where the, the name Retro Future comes from. I wanted to look back to the traditions of jazz, but also have my own modern take to it. And it has, I think, I can't remember how many tracks, 8 or 9 tracks or something. And many of them are originals and they all kind of will play around with that. So the first one, I'm getting my own track names right now, but anyway, they'll do that. They kind of play around with that dissonance while swinging. And it was just so much fun. It was an idea that had been in my head for a while, like a sonic idea, like a sound that had been in my head for a while. And it was really cool to hear that realized and made tangible.

They are all original, as in your original pieces?

Yes. Yeah. Original compositions. I believe the only covers we did was Take Five.

Right. Yes. I heard that. Yeah. That's your solo, don't you know?

Yeah, Take 5 was solo piano. Mm-hmm. Tracks on there that are solo piano. Yeah, I mean, Take 5, I think it's great. Sometimes I think a little, for a little while, it was kind of relegated to like being too popular, kind of like a band playing Freebird or something. They're like, oh, don't do that, that's been overdone. But it's like, you know, it's a cool tune and people love it. Like my first reel that went viral on Instagram was me breaking down the theory of Take 5, and it's like, that song resonates with people. Like, just because something's popular doesn't mean it's, it's like uncool. So anyway, that's, that's a different thing. But, uh, but yeah, so, and, uh, so we did Retro Future, we printed on vinyl, which was a goal of mine since I was in high school. So it was, it was fun. Wow.

And so now this Retro Future is available on streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, and—

Yep, it's on all the streaming services, and that one's on QuentinWalston.com because that one's my artist website. I try to keep them a little bit separate. This is Jazz, I don't want to just have it up there just to sell my own music. I'd love This Is Jazz to grow to have other teachers involved. Involved in other books and other, other things. So I want it to be something kind of bigger than myself. But, um, yeah, quentinwolson.com's got my, my, my records and stuff like that.

How was jazz being introduced to you? Like, did you start out as a regular, like, piano lessons? Like, you know, learn middle C and all this stuff, and, you know, major, minor chords and Yeah, yeah.

So when I was, I think, 12— yeah, I think when I was 12, my mom bought this 1898 giant upright piano, beautiful mahogany cabinet, off of eBay. And my dad, like, put it in the back of a pickup truck and drove it, and we backed up to the house and pushed the piano in. And, and I was like a moth to a flame. I was, I was just all over it, um, and it had to get fixed up. So while they were getting it fixed up, I got one of those tiny little like 50-key Yamaha, no weighted keys pianos, and I was tinkering on that in my room. And so I was teaching myself for about a year, um, and I was figuring it out, and I was really, really enjoying it. And my parents saw that, okay, this isn't just like a passing fad. He's genuinely interested in it. So they got me piano lessons. They got me traditional style piano lessons. I had a great teacher that was open to jazz, but she didn't have a strong jazz background. So that's where the whole Martha Myer stuff came in. Like, she did her best to find resources that would match my enjoyment of jazz. I also was really interested in ragtime and boogie-woogie. Um, probably at the time, for the majority of my middle school and high school years, I would have told you that I preferred ragtime and boogie-woogie. And I think that was more of just not being exposed to jazz proper, like I did not being, uh, super familiar with who Oscar Peterson was or Bill Evans was or Mary Lou Williams or anything like that. Um, and then the really interesting kind side story that's so necessary to telling my jazz story is that I was in a bluegrass band when I was in— Cool. Cool. Yeah. So I love bluegrass. Yeah. I grew up in Virginia and there was a big bluegrass presence there. And the thing with bluegrass is it also has a lot of improvisation and there's a lot of similar structures. You're improvising over the set chord progression. In a performance, it'll alternate between improvised solos and verses. So you'll sing the verse, then there's a guitar solo, sing the verse, then a fiddle solo, sing the verse, then a mandolin solo. Um, so I was doing that in parallel to my piano lessons, and it wasn't until, I think, junior year of high school that they finally overlapped, and I realized I could take my love of improvisation that's in this genre and blend it with my love of piano that's over here. And once they met, that's where I really started pursuing jazz. But by that time, I was a junior in high school. I told my teacher, like, within— I didn't have very much time. I was like, hey, I think I want to go to college for jazz. She was like, okay then, we've got to get you ready for an audition in a few months. Wow.

But once you get caught by the bug, you are on your way, right? Yeah. That's right. But that, I don't know, that inspiration is, we're trying to cultivate to students, no?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Because yeah, I mean, you don't, it's tough with trying to cultivate inspiration because a student doesn't know what they're gonna love. A student doesn't know what they're gonna, what they're gonna be passionate about. Like, I mean, this is— my son is 4, and I remember I was doing some work and I put a Beethoven record on to do some work, and I turned around and he's just transfixed. He was just amazed at Beethoven, and it's like he didn't know that he was going to be in love with Beethoven, and students might not know that they're going to love whatever music they love. So yeah, we as teachers try to expose our students to various things, hoping that something grabs hold of them.

Yeah. Now, I want to talk about improvisation, the importance of. So, you know, that you mentioned about, oh, bluegrass being so similar to the jazz structure where there's this part and then the improvisation part and then the band comes back. It used to be like this in Baroque music, you know, right? Yes. So we need that improv back into classical music too. Yes. And then that trend is a little— it's happening, uh, in like a teaching level. Like a lot more teachers are now being really taught and encouraged to teach students to improvise. So I think it's important to ask you this question. How do you think music teachers— how important is to teach young people improvisation? I think it's incredible.

And I love that you touched on— I think it's incredibly important. And I love that you touched on Baroque improvisation. I remember learning in college about basso continuo and like, wait a second, this is— or jazz is like history repeating itself. Because that came first, of course. But yeah, I mean, you get the baseline and the intervals above, and then you're constructing all these things. And, and yeah, so that's incredible. And it's very similar to the way a jazz lead sheet is arranged today. Um, and I do think that there is a growing sense of the importance, importance of, of improvisation. And I think that's also coupled with Or I think that the necessary predicate for that is people realizing what has been lost by not having improvisation in. Because when we talk about the great composers, commonly Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, we all know that they were incredible improvisers, all three of them. I mean, there's this— I mean, Bach was— we know that he could improvise on a fugue level, which blows my mind to improvise 4 separate voices. Um, and then we know Mozart, of course, improvising, and then Beethoven. There's that story of him turning someone's theme upside down. I don't know if that's true or not, but, but we know that they were incredible improvisers. So I think we're aware that something is missing from the, the core pedagogy. So it's a really exciting time for, I think, jazz to be one of the more accessible ways for that to make its way back. I don't think jazz is the only way to bring improvisation back. I think there, there's a lot of ways to improvise. I think one of the benefits with jazz improvisation is that it has that kind of language that goes with it. Like, if you're going to learn jazz, you kind of have an idea or, or ready-made examples of master improvisers, so you can say, okay, that's what I want to achieve. Um, I personally haven't looked deep enough into 20th century classical improvisation or 21st century classical improvisation, um, so I'm not sure exactly what the language is for that style of improvisation, but I can say it's, it's incredibly important. It, it, it has kids experiencing creativity in a different way. I think it uses different parts of the brain It helps budding composers getting that idea of creating something in real time. It's a way to process emotions. I know before I ever put pen to paper as a composer, just sitting down at the piano and just making stuff up as a 13 or 14-year-old. So I think there's something that's deeply important about it regardless of how it comes out. Yeah.

And then, you know, we always say music is like— is language. So, you know, when we speak our native language, how we started learning the language is by speaking, listening and speaking. So listening is there, but speaking is not there in music education, was not there for a while, you know. So I think in that sense, improvisation and composing, learning to compose is equally important. Yeah, as important as reading.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And yeah, and then, then trying to equip teachers to do that because then we can recognize the need of, of it and then how do we get from point A to point B. So, um, but yeah, I'm so happy that it's, that it's starting to really start to, to build up steam. I mean, I've even seen it in some method books books, like some really traditional method books, and their theory— you'll do your theory homework and it'll say like, finish these melodies or improvise with these notes. And it's just baby steps, but at least it's, it's making a conscious effort to bring improvisation and creativity back into just standard musical study.

So what's next for you? Is there any exciting project coming up in terms of like solo work or trio, maybe both. And also I want to know the next step for This Is Jazz.

Yes. So a few answers, I guess, for my trio stuff, for my artistic stuff. I am— I've got probably close to another album's worth of originals. And I'd love to record them. I think I want to play them more, like in the concert setting, just really, really feel them out. I love my band. I have Daniel Kelly on drums and Jacob Pebbleton on bass. They're both in my area around the DC, Virginia area, and it's incredible to be able to write something that kind of lives in your head and then they take it and take it to places that you couldn't imagine. And so it's an incredible band. So I'm not exactly sure when we'll record those. I often feel like I don't have enough time in the day to do things. But yeah, so that's something that's probably on the greater horizon. For This Is Jazz, I'm planning on a new book for students. So not necessarily geared specifically toward teachers, a repertoire book will likely be coming out late winter or early spring of next year. I'll probably be premiering it at the MTNA conference. That's where I premiered How to Teach Jazz and Improvisation this year. Okay, fantastic.

So what's so different about from the— this is, I mean, how to improvise book that you've Yeah, I don't want to give it all away, but, but it'll—

I can, I can say that it will be jazz repertoire for, for students. So I think that that's, that's as far as I'll go. I think teachers will find it novel in a good way, not, not gimmicky. I think they'll find it novel, something that similar to How to Teach Jazz Improvisation fills a gap that currently isn't there in the resources that are available. And I've been testing these compositions out with my students and they really enjoy them. One of the things that I'm really trying to do is make sure that even if they're intermediate or lower level compositions, that they use actual techniques and melodies that you would expect to hear on a jazz recording. I think sometimes jazz repertoire, jazz method book repertoire has almost become its own genre where they're— and again, this isn't to throw any composers under the bus. Sometimes it verges on parody of jazz, not like— I don't think they're trying to parody, but sometimes things can sound a little corny, a little campy. So I really want to make sure that any composition that I put out there sounds like you could hear it off of a Miles Davis record from the '50s, something like that. So anyway, I probably have given away too much. I think teachers will love it. I'll stop there.

Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait. So if, you know, we are toward the end of our conversation, so what would be one takeaway from our conversation today? I'm sorry, I'm not a jazz pianist, so you might want to talk a bit more about this jazz pianist and that, but we basically touched upon basic information about jazz today. But what would be one takeaway? Like, what's this one that my audience to understand?

I think don't be scared of jazz. Like, anyone can play jazz. Anyone can improvise. There's that fear of what if I play something wrong or I don't know how to do this, I'm not a master, therefore I've never been trained in it. You can, like, it is totally doable. Yeah, don't be afraid of jazz. It's so much fun to play. Yeah, I think that would be the biggest takeaway that any teacher can teach jazz and your students can play jazz. And the best way is to go to thisisjazz.com and purchase your book. Yeah, thisisjazz.com. You can get my book. We have, I think it's code IMPROV for, it's either $5 off or free shipping. And yeah, it's spiral bound, so it stays open on the music stand. It's also available there as an ebook. And it's on Amazon too, if people prefer Amazon. I always prefer thisisjazz.com, but if you want, it's on Amazon. It's digital on MusicNotes. And if you have Piano Marvel, That's that interactive. We're also on Piano Marvel, just the compositions though, not the information stuff. So if you want to do the play-alongs there, but yeah, that's probably more than enough. Short answer, just go to thisisjazz.com. Great.

So what's the best way for my audience to get in touch with you? That would be Instagram account or—

Yeah, Instagram is, it's my name, Quentin Wollstone, Q-U-E-N-T-O-N W-O-L-L-S-T-O-N. T-E-N-T-I-N. You can also reach out directly at This Is Jazz. I think it's contact@thisisjazz. You're not going to go to a spam folder. I'll read your stuff personally and I'll be happy to answer any questions. And yeah, I just want to help teachers. So if you have questions, you're like, hey, this chord doesn't make sense, or just let me know. I'm happy to help. I'm available. Great.

And then you, your YouTube channel is @thisisjazz, no?

Yeah, this is jazz. I think it's This Is Jazz Official, I think. Official. Yes, buddy.

This is Jazz Official. Yeah.

Uh, This Is Jazz Official. Yes. Somebody took This Is Jazz. Oh, you need to fight them for it.

No. Okay. Well, it's official. So if you're— yours is more official. Yeah, that's right. All right. Thank you so much for this conversation. Is there anything else? I mean, we are going to go to the rapid-fire questions, but anything else you need to cover? I don't think so.

I enjoyed this so much. Thank you for having me. This has been incredible.

So, oh yeah, thank you so much. So before I let you go, we have one more thing to do. The Piano Pod rapid-fire questions. Now we take this segment very seriously. You've shared your stories and expertise today, but These questions, carefully curated by our team, will give our listeners a glimpse into who you truly are. So let's do this. Let's do it. So answer each question as short as possible. No explanation is necessary. Okay. Level 1: What is your comfort food?

Uh, sweets. In anything particular? Uh, probably chocolate Probably chocolate. All right.

How do you like your coffee in the morning? Black, no cream, no sugar. All right. Cats or dogs?

Dogs, but I have one of each.

Oh, oh, poor cat. Sunrise or sunset?

Probably sunset, though I am an early riser.

Okay. Summer or winter? Oh, summer. Okay, now level 2. Okay. What skill have you always wanted to learn but haven't had a chance to?

Oh, a skill I've always wanted to learn, haven't had a chance to— I can't dance and my wife can, so I bet she would love it. And I know she's told me she would love it if I could dance, so that, that's probably— that would be okay.

Sounds good. What is your favorite word? Oh, what is your word or words to live by?

Words to live by, um, I'm Christian, so I'm gonna have to go with that. I'm gonna love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and strength.

All right, sounds good. What is the most important quality you look for in other people?

Oh, I know, man, uh, kindness.

Name a composer or jazz pianist you wish more people knew about? More people knew about?

Probably Lenny Tristano.

Oh, I don't know Lenny Tristano. Okay, I need to look this person up. Okay, now level 3, 2 more questions to go. All right, name one piece or one song in your current playlist. Doesn't matter what genre is.

Oh, just one piece or one song? I was listening to Brad Mehldau play "Think of One," which is a Thelonious Monk composition. I'm working on Monk, and I wanted to hear how he interpreted that piece.

Okay, I'll check it out. Now, fill in the blank. Usually it's music is blank, but for you it's jazz is blank.

Creative.

Oh yeah, great, great answer. Quentin, thank you so much for joining us today, for sharing your story and wisdom expertise. I really enjoyed, and thank you so much for being such— for your openness and generosity. So to our audience, if you'd like to explore more of Quentin's work, visit his website at quentinwalston.com. And follow his YouTube channel @thisisjazzofficial for practical jazz tips and educational materials and performance clips as well, and behind-the-scenes insights into his projects. You can also connect with him on Instagram, @quentinwalston, and you can find all the links in the show notes. And of course, a huge thank you to all of you, our faithful fans and listeners, for Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to The Piano Pod on YouTube. Share and review this episode on your favorite social media platform and tag The Piano Pod. It's one of the best ways to help our community grow, and we love hearing your feedback. For the latest updates, guest news, and stories that spark creativity and connection, follow The Piano Pod on Substack, TikTok, and LinkedIn. See you in the next episode of The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song with Quentin Blake. Thank you so much, Quentin.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Thank you so much. Yay! That was awesome!

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