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Game Set Match with Jesus Florido
38 Plays7 days ago
Yasi and Steven talk with the energetic Jesùs Florido, a one-time competitive tennis player turned professional violinist, composer, producer and entrepreneur. An innovator at heart, Jesus takes you through his athletic career, its unintended impact in his musical development, his unique musical fusion style, developing into a music virtuoso, and his work in developing music careers through the Màs y Màs Music Foundation.
For more on Jesùs' career, go to https://www.jesusflorido.com
Instagram: @latinfiddler
Bio: With his debut, Heading North, violinist, composer, and bandleader Jesus Florido introduces compelling artistry balanced on a fine axis of musical virtuosity and pure heart. "This album came about from what is not out there from an instrumental point of view," he explains. "Jazz, rock, classical, Latin -- my album is a melting pot."
The savory list of sonic influences can be traced back to Venezuela, Jesus' home, and its pastiche of Cuban, Dominican, Trinidadian, and African cultures. Jesus' family is Italian, and in the grand European tradition, opera and classical music also informed his early years.
He arrived in the U.S. to further his studies in musical academia but was soon performing in cavernous arenas to enormous audiences with Yo-Yo Ma, the Moody Blues, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, and Whitney Houston. This high-profile exposure fueled the fire to ignite his own solo career.
Heading North is notable for the contributions of the musicians, producers, engineers, and programmers who join Jesus. "It was important to me that project was different from the get-go," he relates. "I wanted to communicate on a higher level." Heading North features a superlative ensemble.
Jesus composes in an unconventional miracle of pure inspiration, building songs from a rhythmic and harmonic base -- chords and a drumbeat -- then improvising on top of them. "I may clean it up, but I assure you, on every track what you hear is exactly what came through my head at that moment. To write fresh music I have to recall exactly how I felt about the tune the first time I heard it," he reveals.
Across this vivid spectrum of music, the unmistakable timbre of Jesus’ violin remains an indelible voice connecting the songs that comprise Heading North. From the sophisticated veneer of the title track to the incendiary Latin grooves of "Mi Negra," the prog-rock influenced "Con Todo," the electro-Santeria vibe of "Gitano" to the funk-informed "Olividado," Jesus bends rhythmic and melodic structures to his will. "Every song is a story without words," he relates. "If I can tell it to the audience when they listen to my record, then I've succeeded." With his violin as a compass, Jesus Florido heads toward a limitless musical horizon with a stunning debut, Heading North."
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Transcript
Introduction & Host Overview
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast, hosted by Steven Karaginas and Yasi Ansari.
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast. Along with Yossi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas, and good to have you back with us today. If you like what you hear, please feel free to leave a review, since we love to hear back from everybody who listens to our show.
Athletic Background in Arts
00:00:34
Speaker
And if you're interested in getting more information about performing arts medicine, please go to athletesandthearts.com.
00:00:43
Speaker
So for our show today, we want to explore a little bit more about the athletes in the arts concept and in how athletics sometimes informs performing arts and music. Sometimes people take the lessons from athletics and apply them to performing arts and music.
00:00:58
Speaker
And sometimes they have amazing careers in music because of their athletic background. So one such example is Jesus Florido, and he is going to be joining us on our show today.
Jesus Florido's Journey: From Tennis to Music
00:01:09
Speaker
Jesus started as a tennis prodigy and then once injuries stopped his career, he turned to music full time and became an innovator and entrepreneur. He started a foundation to teach others about music and how to help them become musicians.
00:01:24
Speaker
He produces albums. He does movie scores. He does almost as many possible things as you can think of and is even trying to change how we see music in concert. he' really changing He's really changing what is possible for musicians to accomplish.
00:01:41
Speaker
Jesus, thank you very much for being on our show today. We're very pleased to have you. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. This is this great. Cool, awesome. Well, so first off, we wanted to talk a lot about your musical career, but we wanted to discuss you growing up and discuss your athletic career.
00:01:59
Speaker
So I know that you played tennis growing up and you were actually thinking about having tennis be your main career. So tell us a little bit about how it was for you growing up playing tennis. Okay, yeah, of course. um Well, um I grew up in Venezuela, you know, and my parents are Italian.
00:02:15
Speaker
So I know some people get confused with that. So yes, I am an Italian Latino. Italian parents, mother and father. ah But I grew up in Venezuela and my mom had a rule for the kids.
00:02:28
Speaker
You have to do a sport and an art. So I had to pick two, whatever I wanted, but I had to do two. um And we had like a little park by our house that I just built two brand new tennis courts.
00:02:43
Speaker
And um
Injury & Shift to Music Career
00:02:44
Speaker
I said, okay, I want to play tennis, and and I want to play piano. And so they put me in piano. I mean, I'm six years old at the time. So I had a terrible piano teacher.
00:02:56
Speaker
ah And i went went home one time I went home crying and told my mom, the piano teacher is really mean to me. ah And I want to quit. I said, you can't quit. Remember, one sport, one art. Wow.
00:03:09
Speaker
And my mother is a painter, by the way. and you know, artist. Ah, so that makes sense. Yeah. and But I'm terrible. So a Mom, I cannot paint anything, you know? So I'll pick another instrument.
00:03:21
Speaker
And at the time, they were opening an orchestra. in the city and and um and so they told me they have little flutes. ah For little kids, they have flute and violin. and Sorry, but I'm not going to play flute.
00:03:33
Speaker
So I picked the violin. and and um But um if you know anything about string instruments, playing the violin is really hard. ah hu So after a year of lessons, I could barely play anything. mean, after a year of tennis lessons, I was playing games.
00:03:51
Speaker
So tennis was more fun. um home And I had a great coach, Argentinian guy. he may I can't remember his last name. Anyway, so but I guess I had some talent.
00:04:05
Speaker
ah He really took a liking on and two or three of us that were you know really advancing really quickly. um And I found, even at the time, that tennis and violin had the same principle because you're kind of playing against yourself.
00:04:21
Speaker
You know, it's a very individual. ah You know, you have to watch your racket. He used to talk about the box, you know, stay in the box, you know, hit the and the violin had the box. Same, you know, your relationship between two your two arms and how you move this way.
00:04:37
Speaker
I know there's no cameras on the audio, but you can rotate your body. And and the the relationship between the two arms has to remain the same. So i even as a child, I was connecting the two. So they they went together.
00:04:53
Speaker
So you're playing you know tennis and violin. So pretty much all your free time growing up must have been those two activities. absolutely. Absolutely. I had no time for anything else. So then you did you start competing at high levels? Were you starting to become like ah i try to get onto the amateur tour? Or what were you doing? Well, I mean, um eventually, um by the time I was 12, I was competing competing at a national level.
00:05:17
Speaker
you know I was not in the capital of Venezuela, but our city was the third largest one. So I was going yeah i was in traveling team, in the club team. you know so And I remember I played Nicolás Pereira.
00:05:31
Speaker
The guy that beat John Bork in Wimbledon, you know? And he beat me hard. He was so good. He was like a year or two younger than me. Oh, wow. And he just had his way with me.
00:05:44
Speaker
He was so good. But he actually, that that match, I was 13 14. thirteen or fourteen I mean, I have never been humiliated like that. Even my serve, because I told you I had to read i had a good serve. I was ah hit the ball hard, but he was faster than me.
00:06:00
Speaker
So he had better feet. I had the power, he had the feet. And I always say, feet defeats power any time of day. um But that inspired me. And we played a second time, and I didn't lose that badly.
00:06:14
Speaker
I mean, five sets. That's progress. That's progress, that's for sure. Progress, yeah. um But yeah, and then by the time I was 15, I joined the Davis Cup team, the junior Davis Cup team in Venezuela. So I went to play in Argentina, I went to play in Chile, and I played in Brazil.
00:06:30
Speaker
So by the time I was 15, I was, you know, um hitting the ball hard. My serve was my secret weapon. um And there was not many kids at that age that were hitting the ball at 100 miles an hour, you know?
00:06:45
Speaker
So, wow I really, and Jimeno, my coach, said, like, yeah, you can you need to train, you need to move to the United States or Argentina or somewhere, a country with more developed tennis systems than than Venezuela at the time, even though we were pretty good.
00:07:00
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So, but that was that was my goal. You know, I was obviously playing violin. By the time, I had already fallen in love with the violin, and we were playing
Parallels Between Sports and Music
00:07:09
Speaker
concerts too, and I was traveling with them.
00:07:11
Speaker
So I had a very unusual childhood because either I was touring playing tennis or touring playing violin, but I was always on the road. So, to this day... And also, you're very solo because you're doing very solo activities. Very solo activities. So they were very similar to me, and I still use...
00:07:31
Speaker
Almost every single of my students hear all my tennis analogies and ologies and and ah sports analogies because, you know movement is movement. You know, mechanics and are mechanics of the body. You know, how the body works is how the body works. I mean, it's not I tell people logic is one.
00:07:47
Speaker
You know, it's the same concept. Movement is one. you know and um to this day, I use the visualizations, the the like what ah what I was saying also earlier today, like you play against yourself. um you know You need to learn how to live there and how to control your mind. It's a man mind game You know, you're hitting the ball against somebody and then you have a bunch of audiences, you know, play for 60,000 people. You know, it's scary.
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's amazing. Plus, they're both string instruments. I mean, the racket and the violin. yeah right but Yeah, all the parallels right there. Yeah, everything, everything. Did these two activities have to compete with each other at all?
00:08:31
Speaker
At some point, yes. At some point, yes. And um luckily, it was not terrible. One time, ah I had a big tournament, and I skipped orchestra.
00:08:44
Speaker
weekend And we had a concert, and I skipped it without... I guess my mom forgot to... I mean, I was kid, you know, so I guess my mom forgot to tell them. And I actually got kicked out of the orchestra.
00:08:56
Speaker
Oh, my God. Like, got kicked out. Like, even my teacher had to, like, talk to the director for me and everything. Well, it wasn't the rules that if he didn't play the concert, he was out or whoever. Then, you know, it was an important concert.
00:09:10
Speaker
And ah my teacher my teacher, you know, kind of begged for
Music Education & Challenges
00:09:14
Speaker
me and and they took me back. Yeah. But, you know, in those days, you know, we had we were busy, but we didn't have, other than that, you didn't have much other distractions, you know.
00:09:27
Speaker
There was not a lot of TV. There was only three channels. There was not a lot of movies. There was no phones. It was not, you know, so now that I have a 14-year-old that has competing with with the phone, is competing with the social part, I've been a loner most of my life. And, i you know, you hear me talking, and i I can express myself well, but I'm shy.
00:09:48
Speaker
As a person, you know I'm not um not a very out there. you know um it's come try i know it's weird, but but yeah. um And it's because I lived in my own little world always.
00:10:01
Speaker
And tennis is a very lonely sport. You travel, you get to your room, you focus, your brother you train, you stretch, you do this thing, you go to the court, you talk to couple people, hit the ball, play the game, get back.
00:10:13
Speaker
But when I was very young, at least I had had a chaperone. Either my mom or my aunt would take me to the games. But I started traveling alone when I was 16. The first time I played a violin concert, I played London. I was 12.
00:10:27
Speaker
I flew by myself wow to London. you know So um hu yeah, planes are another lonely place. Sometimes you find a nice person to talk to. but Do you think that your career choices initially as a teenager helped shape that of you, like becoming more lonely because you're always alone? Or was that just your personality that seemed to kind of fit those activities?
00:10:51
Speaker
um I think a little bit of both. You know, you you learn, i like, I like to be alone. I still do. um I'm a deep thinker as well. So I'm always, yeah like, we'll talk later. I mean, I'm doing so many other things. Right. So the alone time helps me concentrate on what I have to do and organize and, you know, keep focusing on all the many things that I'm doing. It's because, well, I just spent whatever my flight to Liberia was 29 hours.
00:11:22
Speaker
you know, that it took me to get there, you know? So um you have a lot of time to think. Right. So alone, but not lonely. Yeah, not not lonely. No, no. right I don't think. A little bit in college I was lonely because when I moved to the United States to go to to school, I moved from Caracas to Bloomington, Indiana, and I didn't speak English.
00:11:42
Speaker
I was so lonely. I didn't have anybody to talk to, even if I wanted to. couldn't communicate. Right. which helped me learn English really fast, you know, but, but, right it um but, but then your career is going on. You're, ah you're like 16 years old. You're doing these two activities, which are consuming all of your lifetime and all of your time.
00:12:03
Speaker
And then tennis seems to come to a halt. um You had to deal with an injury. so An injury. See, I blew my ACL. really badly i mean and and we didn't have again the technology then to repair it properly like we have today so that was a career in ending injury ah i wouldn't been able to recover and to keep playing at that level because that's when you know when you jump to the pros at you know 18 or so that's when it gets really hard and um
00:12:34
Speaker
it's just It just, it just, it wouldn't work, you know? So my mom said, ah one time I was crying in my room and my mom said, well, might as well play violin since you seem to be even making money with that. So, and I went like, oh, I had never thought about it.
00:12:51
Speaker
until that moment. Really? this violin was just a side? No, i wanted it to be it I wanted to be Dion Borg or Guillermo Villas. Those were my heroes.
00:13:02
Speaker
I mean, I had a lot of... i i Don't take me wrong. I love music. I just didn't know I could do it for a career. You know, tennis is a career. It's so nice that your mom was supportive of music as a career. Yeah.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah, I have to say my parents, um as much as they didn't see much of me, um my my father was, I call him my best but my best music teacher.
00:13:28
Speaker
but My mom was the, yes, I'm sorry, my mom's still alive. My my dad my father passed, but my mom's still alive. But my mom was the authoritarian. My mom was no practice, no dinner.
00:13:42
Speaker
You know, that kind of thing. Yeah, and she didn't know anything about music. Yeah, hard it's not she wanted to She wanted me to have some sort of a routine, some sort of things that I was doing.
00:13:54
Speaker
She wanted to keep me busy, you know? And, yeah, it's crazy. The more I think about it, and the more I tell the stories to my son now. Mm-hmm.
00:14:06
Speaker
who is a high efficient he's he's a working actor and and ah you know just finished doing two musicals back to back. So the kid is busy. So I told him, oh, there's nothing for what I was doing at your age, boy.
00:14:19
Speaker
I was traveling. I was you know playing concertizing. you know i was playing tennis tournaments.
Improvisation and Creativity in Music
00:14:26
Speaker
Busy and talented, though. That's amazing. I think talent is overrated. um' It's one thing I talk a lot up about, too. i I don't like when people say, oh, you're so talented, because it it diminishes the amount of work that I put in.
00:14:41
Speaker
You know, talent, my definition of talent, talent is the ease to do something, to do a task. And at the beginning, you might have some talent, but like in tennis.
00:14:52
Speaker
I have to say, have some talent because I had that eyeball coordination. I knew where the ball was going to be. Not where it was coming, but where it was going to be so I could get to it.
00:15:03
Speaker
Right. And violin was ah the same thing. I had ah had hearing. I could hear things, you know. But it was the work that got me there because at some point, like i the way I express this, you run out of talent, which means that work has to kick in.
00:15:19
Speaker
Right. So, which happens to me in tennis, in violin, almost at the same time, it happens. But when I was 13, 14, things started to get harder, you know?
00:15:29
Speaker
So I had to do a lot of hard training, a lot of running in tennis to get to the ball on time. That was my weakest. My weakness was, you know, running across the board, across ah across the court to get to the ball on the other, you know, that, I was not that fast.
00:15:45
Speaker
You know, so I was trying to compensate as a younger kid with power. I will hit it so hard that they wouldn't return it. So I wouldn't have to run. Right. You know.
00:15:58
Speaker
So you get that. So you're you're you recover from your knee injury. It used to be functional again. Yeah. um And so then from that point on, you're out of school. Right. And then you start heading on in college. Yeah. Right. You're in college now. Right. So then.
00:16:10
Speaker
So how does your music career take off from there? Okay. My mom, as much as she was supportive, like Yassi mentioned, um she wanted a real degree.
00:16:23
Speaker
you know And at the time, we didn't have a music degree in Venezuela. I had been studying at the conservatory, which is a, you know, use the conservatory is a 10-year program, you know. and Say 10-year? Yeah. Wow.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah. Wow. So you started when you were seven, you graduate when you were 17. So at 17, I graduated from the conservatory. Okay. You know, but then I went to college and got a math degree.
00:16:48
Speaker
I have but have a degree in math with a minor in physics. So then I graduated, you know, I finished that program in three years. Wow, good for you.
00:17:00
Speaker
And... in Not talent, hard work. Hard work. yeah and a lot of hard work. um i happened to but i really wanted At that time, then i i wanted a music degree so bad.
00:17:15
Speaker
so bad um On personal note, my parents had divorced. um I was going into a terrible family situation. I was like almost i don't want to say homeless. Homeless in the sense that I didn't have a home.
00:17:27
Speaker
Not homeless, I didn't have a place to live. I was a little lost. and This orchestra from Venezuela was coming on tour to the United States, and they told me, we need reinforcements. We need good players to come and sit in the back with these younger kids.
00:17:43
Speaker
So I said, sure. And we came to Indianapolis for the opening of the Pan American Games in 1987.
00:17:50
Speaker
ah They did a ah cultural festival around around that. And they saw in an orchestra from Venezuela, an orchestra from Canada, and an orchestra from Indianapolis but that was hosting the Games. And um by a fluke,
00:18:04
Speaker
I ended up playing for one of the best violin teachers in history, Joseph Gingold, because a kid got sick and they needed a replacement and I didn't know what I was doing and I raised my hand and and I didn't know how to play.
00:18:19
Speaker
And I said, well, these people don't know who I am. Let me go make a fool out of myself. And I just play my heart out and they offered me a scholarship.
00:18:28
Speaker
Gingos thought I was really good and he offered me a position in his studio and that's how ended up here. But I had never even... It was not even in my top 100 to come to the United States to live. No, no, it was not even... It never occurred to me, you know.
00:18:46
Speaker
Incredible. But ah but yeah, um and that's what brought me here. and And then, yeah, once I came here, it was like, okay, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.
00:18:57
Speaker
I'm going to squeeze every ounce of it. And I i have, and I did.
00:19:05
Speaker
So as someone who's grown up in both sports and music, I mean, I know music is something that's emphasized now, which we're going be talking so much about, but since you are on this episode of Athletes and the Arts, I'm curious to see what your thoughts are when you compare traditional athletics to arts athletics.
00:19:33
Speaker
You know, what were some of those similarities growing up? And in terms of like the hours of practice, dedication, things you're walking away from when you look at both of these sports, where do they align with each other and where are some of those differences? They're very similar.
00:19:56
Speaker
they They are. They are. I mean, I think that the the the early basic difference is creativity. You know, because there is not so much creativity you can use in baseball, you know.
00:20:12
Speaker
I mean, maybe in tennis a little more creative because you you have more control. You know, in individual sports, you can have you need more creativity. um But the level of training, habit-forming, discipline...
00:20:27
Speaker
It's the same, you know, that's, you know, that's what my my son played tennis for a while, but he's now he's he found the passion in running, for instance. He's a cross country runner.
00:20:38
Speaker
He just is third best in the city. His school has won like 10 years in a row. The the his district, you know, so he's in a very competitive running team and he loves it um and then he sings and plays piano. And so again, has both and and he'll tell you.
00:20:58
Speaker
that he finds that they're very similar. you know And that's what you know i I tell people, youre okay my my my my kid is playing all the sports. I say, well, make sure he plays music too. Make sure he takes piano lessons because see if it moves a part a part of your brain that some sports are not moving, which is the creative part. sure you know And that's important because that creativity that you learn as a child doesn't go away.
00:21:25
Speaker
You know, creativity, like remember I was telling you, logic is one, creativity is one. So that creativity is what what builds an entrepreneurial mind, for instance.
00:21:37
Speaker
You know, I've been very entrepreneurial, not by design, but just because I'm so creative that sometimes I'm looking for a solution. And if I don't find it, then I create it Oh, that's entrepreneurship, you know, but it's based on creativity.
00:21:52
Speaker
you know, and and and and scientific way to find a solution to a problem, you know. But um they go hand in hand. I mean, of course. Yeah.
00:22:04
Speaker
Well, we see all the time the studies in schools where they take away performing arts and people's great, the students' great points go down, their math and science scores go down. And we see all the time that creativity taps into the brain's function in general.
00:22:19
Speaker
And yet it still seems to be the first thing that's cut whenever there's budget, budget crises. Yeah.
Perfection in Music vs. Sports
00:22:25
Speaker
Well, I mean, I was doing an interview the other other day with the kicker from the Ravens. What's his name? The opera singer.
00:22:32
Speaker
He's an opera singer. to Tucker? Yeah. Oh, is that right? i didn't know that. Yeah. he's he's He's looking forward to retiring from the NFL so he can go sing full time. Wow. Because he'll be still in his prime.
00:22:46
Speaker
Right. Yeah, yeah but late 30s at best, yeah. And what's his name from the Yankees, the guitar player? I mean, actually played with him, um the Puerto Rican guy. Gosh, I'm blanking his name right now. I'm sorry.
00:22:59
Speaker
I'm sorry. He played in the past or currently? Yeah, in the past. in the past years, years, years. Oh, um well, no, no. Bernie Williams played. Bernie Williams. Yes. Bernie. Sorry, brother. mean, we're friends.
00:23:11
Speaker
I'll edit that part out. Yeah, yeah. No, no, it's okay. He'll give me he'll be give me crap. Exactly. um But Bernie started a jazz career after the Yankees.
00:23:23
Speaker
You know, the thing with sports... is that the lifespan is shorter. So, that's it's okay. It's okay. I'm not, you know, play sports. I mean, i probably most likely would have played tennis as a professional and would have kept playing violin.
00:23:39
Speaker
And after my tennis career ended in my 30s, then I would go play violin. That's probably what was going to happen. The same thing happened to Bernie. You know, he was playing in the conservatory. He didn't plan to be a baseball game.
00:23:50
Speaker
Right. I mean, a baseball player, I'm sorry. He didn't plan to be a baseball player. He was in the conservatory, and then he realized he was pretty good. He could get some scholarship money and blah, blah, blah. you know So, I mean, it it doesn't have to be exclusive. To and and to me, what's important with a young mind with a young person is develop that young mind. is Creativity is is is is key for that. And that's what children that study music are smarter. It's been proven...
00:24:23
Speaker
years and years and many, many research papers. you know There was one very interesting that actually studied when I was in college in Germany in 1970. They grabbed 200 kids. 100 went to music, 100 didn't music, didn't do music at all.
00:24:41
Speaker
And the 100 that did music all completed their university and most of them went to post-secondary school. And the ones that didn't do music, only 73% them went to college.
00:24:53
Speaker
Wow. And this is in Germany. Yeah. Of all places, you know. And it was a 10-year study. um And I remember i took it ah I learned about it in music education class, and we talked about it. and so um Most of the time when when we hear, especially here in the United States, that they're cutting music programs is, is and and again, I'm not trying to be political here, but this is a political strategy, is that they use art as a threat.
00:25:26
Speaker
We're going to cut your program because we need to cut that money, you know? Right. But in reality, is that not 100% of those times they cut the music programs. It's mostly a threat. To get taxes, to do... you know So they use arts the arts as a pun, which is not cool.
00:25:45
Speaker
Just stop it. but ah um you know
Health Battles & Sonoro Latino Creation
00:25:50
Speaker
And sometimes my criticism of education or education leadership is that they're making education decisions not thinking of the kids.
00:26:00
Speaker
It's politics. you know um but um But there's no doubt in my mind that music is it's very important, as well as sports, because you need to run, you need to do some physical activity. you know you Both are good for you. you know When I heard about this, ah with Ray was telling me, he was like, this is brilliant. Why didn't I think of that?
00:26:25
Speaker
So then with your music students, do you then integrate sports or activity or exercise into your teaching? Yeah. I mean, and and we talked about it. I encourage them to be in sports. And another thing I have to tell you that in Venezuela, each orchestra of the whole El Sistema program, or where I started, you know, the whole national system of orchestras, each orchestra had a soccer team.
00:26:50
Speaker
Oh, wow. So we'll have tournaments. We call it futbolito, like foosball. Is that they're calling now? Something like you with the small ball. Right, yeah, the table. Yeah, yeah like kind of... Foosball, right. Foosball or something. That's new to me.
00:27:07
Speaker
um But each orc... And we had tournaments. So we were all involved sports. You know, it's it's okay. You don't have to do one or the other.
00:27:19
Speaker
you know Sure, I mean, camaraderie, teamwork, working together, you know work ethic, all those things. It's fun. fun to It's just fun. the play it's just fun yeah And I also blame um sports for my efficiency because I wanted to go play tennis.
00:27:40
Speaker
And my mom said, you have to practice. You have to finish your practicing and you have to. So I talked to my teacher and then he said, well, Jesus, you need to practice this many hours. And I asked, I asked him, how about if I achieve it faster?
00:27:57
Speaker
Sooner. OK, once you achieve this, you're done. When he said that, dan it just the whole world opened up to me because that mean that meant that all I had to do was become efficient.
00:28:12
Speaker
had to get this done. So the sooner I get it done, the faster I go can get to my court and my balls and my tennis rackets and my things. So one of my favorite things that I do when I teach, and I teach my children, my students efficiency,
00:28:29
Speaker
You know, you don't have to practice hours and hours and hours and hours. No, practice efficiently. Concentrate on achieving this. you You know, and I use the same analogy with tennis when I was teaching my son to play tennis.
00:28:41
Speaker
You don't have to hit her a surf a hundred times because you're going to hurt yourself. you How about if you do it 20 times, but you think about it, and you watch the ball, and you see what your arm is doing, and you think about it instead of doing mindlessly, you know, without thinking, and that's when you hurt yourself, which has happened a lot in sports with kids who are just doing repetition, repetition, and repetition without thinking of the damage they're doing to their bodies.
00:29:07
Speaker
Correct. You know? So yeah that's the subject, right? It's discussion right there. Yeah. Well, I mean, do you see most your contemporaries um still hanging on to the idea of like you know ma you know the mass amount of time you practice is better? No, no. That has changed through the years. But it was ah was a lot in my times. you know i i'm you know i've actually ah just I've been playing the violin for years.
00:29:34
Speaker
So, at this point. um So, that that's a long time. So, I have, as I'm getting older, and because i so I'm still not that old. You're maturing. um um I'm slightly used. That's what my father used to say. I'm slightly used.
00:29:50
Speaker
ah My left shoulder, you know, because of this, you know, and it's some some love, you know, and then I have this bone here. It's like... really a little messed up. And I had every injury known to man in my left arm. I mean, I'm pieced together by tape sometimes. And if I have a long concert run, kinetic tape, best thing ever invented.
00:30:13
Speaker
You know, you see, i tape my arm. I have all all around. You know, my wrists are taped. You know, because when you have to do what I do, it's very physical. And always, by the way, all my doctors in the last...
00:30:28
Speaker
30 years I've been sports medicine doctors. so
00:30:32
Speaker
All of them. I always see sports medicines. When I read a new doctor, I link their the background and I see a sports medicine doctor. So I treat myself like an athlete because I am.
00:30:44
Speaker
i am an athlete. I just happen to play the violin. It's very physical instrument. Everything, your entire body is my back, you know, the way you stand, balance, all the stuff is important.
00:30:57
Speaker
Now, when you travel the world, um are you traveling for work? Yes. but Like you're performing around the world? Are you teaching around the world? I know you shared a little bit about some of your teaching. Yeah.
00:31:12
Speaker
I do both. I do both. I mean, I'm not a violin teacher. Like, I don't have a studio and students. I do a lot of clinics. I do a lot of masterclasses.
00:31:24
Speaker
Because i I have to pay forward. You know, the main reason I teach or I try to do education programming is because i'm I'm very fortunate to do what I do. And I'm so happy.
00:31:38
Speaker
have the best job in the world. have the best job in the world. I mean, I play concert people actually pay me money. How good is that? You know, I never had another job. you know I don't know what a day job is or an office job. or i don't I mean, I took five years in college.
00:31:55
Speaker
That was the only time I had a serious job. you know um but um But my travels, I will say, most of my life I've been kind of 50-50.
00:32:06
Speaker
I do a lot of clinics. That's when I'm actually in the couple weeks, I'm going to Alexandria, Virginia, you know, to do a clinic with the school. For instance, I go work with the kids for four days and the fifth day we have a concert.
00:32:18
Speaker
So we play a concert together. So they get to get a plug play a concert with me, um which is the same thing when I was a kid and somebody will somebody famous will come and play with us and inspire me, you know.
00:32:31
Speaker
So I'm trying to do the same thing because to me that was very important. And I was talking, when I went to Indianapolis to that event that i met, that I learned about, yeah, yeah. um I went on my day off,
00:32:46
Speaker
I went to visit two schools. yeah And because i was there already and the schools didn't have any money to pay a clinician. He said, don't worry, I'll go for free. I'm here already.
00:32:57
Speaker
My hotel is paid for and my food is paid for. So let's let's do it. But then I found that one of the schools had a bunch of refugee kids. I mean, they had refugees from from Ukraine, Venezuela and Haiti. ah wow so and um So when I learned this, i when I stand at the podium in
Vision for Fair Music Industry Practices
00:33:15
Speaker
front of them, I spoke in Spanish and then in French, and all of them went crazy.
00:33:20
Speaker
Because is what this guy knows French and Spanish and English. is yeah And Italian, of course. And Portuguese. ah but i So language is my thing because it opens doors. So all of a sudden, these kids felt inspired. They said, oh, he's one of us.
00:33:38
Speaker
You know, there's a lot of people there's not a lot of people out there that look like me that are successful. um So I want to use that as well to inspire them because somebody has to take my place eventually.
00:33:49
Speaker
You know, it'll be great. i mean, i do have an am a mentee, you know, a person that I'm training and mentoring eventually to take over ah what I do. But um it's very important to me that I do education and concerts.
00:34:07
Speaker
My approach to concerts is also very um pedagogical in a way because will stand, i will tell you, i'm going to play this Mozart sonata and I will tell you the story about it before I play it because it's instrumental music, there's no words.
00:34:30
Speaker
So, but if I tell you the story about it, when you, and I'm gonna tell you, this is, you know, Mozart three or four, you know, he finally gets to Paris. He's so happy to be in Paris.
00:34:42
Speaker
When he gets to Paris, he receives a letter, his mother is dying, you know, and then he writes his first violin sonata in a minor key, sad key, you know. Everything Mozart had written for the violin before that was in a major key.
00:34:57
Speaker
He jumps on the on the on the on the on a carriage back to Vienna, and he never makes it. and He never makes it. So you hear the urgency in the music, you know, and at the point where he finally says, well, she's going to be with God, you know, that that sadness, but not sad, you know, because he knows she's going to be in a better place.
00:35:23
Speaker
So when I tell you that, and then I play you the piece... I'm going to make you cry. Yeah, there's a connection for sure. There's a connection there for sure.
00:35:34
Speaker
Right. You know, so that's what my teachers taught me. Actually, Yo-Yo Ma taught me that. He was my chamber music coach when he told me, no, no, you need to talk to the audience. You need to talk to the audience.
00:35:44
Speaker
Don't give them the music notes. Give them the story. Connect with the audience. Mm-hmm. Once you connect with the audience, I mean, you're you're king. you you know And then, you know what happens when you come back to town?
00:35:58
Speaker
The people are going to come back to see you again. you know Because they had a good time. So um that part of connecting with the audience is my favorite part. That's what I live for. you know It's um um telling stories. It's funny, I just played a concert in Atlanta. It was an improvised...
00:36:20
Speaker
I've never played this instrument. And then I to go on stage and play a lot of electric violin okay and this company balta strings so makes this really cool twenty second century violence gifted me made a violin for me so they but give me this violin that is truly amazing um i've never played this instrument and then i have to go on stage and play it You know, it's like, okay, I play tennis and I'll give you a brand new racket before a major match. I mean, it's like, okay, it might be a really cool racket, but I don't know the tension. You see what I mean?
00:37:00
Speaker
yeah So they give me this violins. I plug it in. I play it. And none of the sounds were familiar to me. And I'm playing a piece that I have never played in my life.
00:37:13
Speaker
You know? And one of my friends said, Jesus... I was a little worried about you in the first few bars. I was like, yeah, I know. I dropped a few notes. We could write another song with all the notes that I missed. i said And he said, and then I saw you.
00:37:31
Speaker
And i said he was thanking me. He says, thank you for showing me that. Because he said, you were like nervous, which I was, for a minute.
00:37:42
Speaker
And then he said, then you went like, oh and focus. And I saw it in your face and you just went off. Wow. And I did.
00:37:53
Speaker
And I told him, yeah, that's what I do. That's when you've been doing this for so long. Mm-hmm. I know how to control things and how to wheel them into my control. you know um But after half a century of playing a violin, it's got to be also kind of thrilling to have a moment of like, holy crap, I don't know what I'm doing. i know though Exactly. And funny you say that because that's exactly how I feel sometimes when things like that happen. Right. Because it's a reminder to me. you know i tell people I tell my students, I'm a reminder of the obvious. Right.
00:38:25
Speaker
ah hu you know And that's what it is to you to you when something like that happens. It's like it was a reminder of, okay, Let me regroup here. I have all these tools. I have all these things. Let me focus, focus." But he said, your eyes, your face change. you said ah was He was sitting in front of me. So he said, I just love how you focus and you were like, walk you know. You're locked in.
00:38:48
Speaker
Locked in. And it happens in sports too. I mean, I just heard Djokovic is my my son's favorite player. you know and He was just specifically specifically talking about that.
00:39:00
Speaker
You know, ah how you focus, you know, sometimes, but there's sometimes when you let muscle muscle some memory play. And if when things start to go wrong, then you need to focus, in you know, to bring that in. um It's exactly the same thing that happens when you're playing a musical instrument.
00:39:19
Speaker
I mean, I thought he was talking about the piano or something, you know, he could have been talking about that. So was it more like, did you get nervous and took some breaths? like well No, I don't get nervous. I don't think get nervous anymore. What happened after that minute? you just No, then the fun starts.
00:39:37
Speaker
yes That's when I'm having fun. So all of a sudden it clicks? Like the light turns on? The light goes on and you click. And I tell people, it's like if I'm a painter and I just start throwing all these colors on the canvas, you know.
00:39:50
Speaker
And I did some stuff that I have to actually... I get so focused that I lose track of, I mean, i like I said, i i I actually say this almost like an out-of-body experience.
00:40:02
Speaker
I am ah let go. I let go. I just let everything, my body and my mind take over. And I have to watch the video to see what I did because you were so good. You were so good. And I don't remember because I was improvising. a lot All this was improvised.
00:40:20
Speaker
you know So I don't know what I did. I have highlights in my memory yeah of things that I did. But um part of what I do as as ah as a performer is that I'm improviser. That's my that's my superpower. you know That's a superpower that a lot of classical players don't have. And that's a superpower that my father helped me develop.
00:40:42
Speaker
you know, as a young kid, you know, he said, since I was very young, you need to learn to improvise, you know? And, and said, I said, when I was, you know, in my late twenties trying to have a classical career here, it was not going very
Foundation's Mission & Future Projects
00:40:56
Speaker
well.
00:40:56
Speaker
You know, it's, it's hard, um, for people that are, look like me to make it into a major orchestra, you know? So I was making all these finals, but nobody will hire me.
00:41:09
Speaker
So after a year and a half, nobody was hiring me. Um, I met Mark O'Connor, an American bluegrass player, country music, and he's the most recorded American violinist in history. you know And he took me under his wing and he showed me the rope and says, Jesus, you're an amazing improviser. This is what you have to do.
00:41:28
Speaker
And I went like, okay, okay, let's try this. And then my career just took off. And I was doing for a long time, um little over 20 years with my pianist, I was doing a a half and half concert, you know half classical, half Latin jazz.
00:41:47
Speaker
you I would play half, you know so you can have you know both entree and dessert.
00:41:55
Speaker
you know And the the the poster will go like, from Mozart to salsa, blah, blah, blah. It is super fun. you know So again, you you figured it out and you use the tools that you have. And and that's the creative part. And the entrepreneur entrepreneurial part goes like, OK, no concert series is hiring me.
00:42:17
Speaker
And I went like like, seriously, I was applying to all these things. I couldn't even get a manager. Nobody to manage me. Nothing, nothing. And I said, well, let me rent the theater and sell my own tickets and see if somebody shows up.
00:42:30
Speaker
So I created a fake publicist account where I became my own publicist. And I will write to the papers and they will interview me and they will post things about the... And I started, you know, filling up the places.
00:42:43
Speaker
You know? That's a hustle. That's for sure. That's hustle. Absolutely. don't call me lucky. No, you're right. You're talented. That's what it is. So we go back to the thing you mentioned about improv, because I don't hear many classical musicians or classically trained musicians talk about that.
00:43:03
Speaker
And like I did improv comedy for a while at Second City here in Detroit. And, you know, they teach you, you know, elements and skills. And obviously there's some people that have a knack for doing that. How do you train? ah Your dad said you have to learn how to improvise. How do you learn to improvise as a classical violinist?
00:43:19
Speaker
Okay. Well, The beautiful thing about being a classical musician is that you have the training, so you know you have the control of your instrument. You have the tools.
00:43:30
Speaker
Right. But then what do you do with it? You know i mean you'll read the music and you perform it, and Mozart wrote this. and and Trust me, I am a Mozart expert. That's my main guy.
00:43:41
Speaker
you know Mozart and me were like this, like close. I love Mozart. Me too. but um You know, Bach used to say as well, is is you have to play in between the notes, you know, kind of thing. And Mozart is like the king of that.
00:43:57
Speaker
um So, once you start... controlling your instrument or having little bit of kind of overall knowledge of your instrument, you need to start listening to yourself. And that's when classical music sometimes doesn't do a very good job.
00:44:15
Speaker
And that's when my father said, you need to learn to improvise. And he will take me to jams, you know, tangos and boleros and salsa and all these types of music that he will I was nine years old the first time he took me to a jam.
00:44:32
Speaker
And I sat there with my little violin waiting to for I don't know what to do. And he would say, play something. And I was like, what what do I play? I play any note. And if you feel that you're wrong, go to the next note.
00:44:44
Speaker
And I started playing my note and moved to the next note until I found something that sounded right. And it I started listening. Sometimes musicians, especially classical musicians,
00:44:56
Speaker
And I say this well with authority and experience, don't listen. Don't listen. you know You look at the music and you play. And you think you're trying to you think you're making music, but you're just trying to play what's on the page.
00:45:13
Speaker
It's me like if i read if if I'm a comedian and I read the jokes every day. That would be funny. If you see a comedian well you know like looking down to the notes, that's not funny.
00:45:26
Speaker
It's not funny. It cannot be funny. So music is the same. But classical music and in but memorization is is a big challenge as well. you know So um my father started bringing me to those things, and I started listening, and you know I started putting my fingers in the right place. and more And sometimes you play the wrong note, then it's okay.
00:45:50
Speaker
And that was a huge lesson for me to know that if I play something wrong, it was okay. It was very, very important. So um i keep I kept doing it, and to me, it was not only me, but a lot of other musicians around me were doing the same thing. Because, see, in in Venezuela at the time, we we don't have this thing with that America has about classical music is for the elite.
00:46:19
Speaker
That's a very American thing, you know? ah Classical music is just another style of music. You know, it's not better than anybody, you know? Um, so I was playing folk music. I was playing tangos. I was playing classical music. I was playing operas. I was but just like I would play anything else. it We're all at the same level, you know?
00:46:41
Speaker
And I was surprised actually when I, when I moved to Bloomington and got into Joseph Gingles studios, I mean, I was classmate with Joshua Bell for God's sake, hu you know?
00:46:52
Speaker
Um, And I asked a couple of my friends, I said, hey, you know, I want to take some bluegrass lessons. Where do I go? And they all looked like if I curse at their mothers or something.
00:47:04
Speaker
Like, what are you talking? How dare you? It was like, it's your to music. Why are you being so weird about it? It's American music. And goes, no, we come here only to play classical.
00:47:18
Speaker
And I said, and I go, what kind of musician are you going to be if you only play classical music?
00:47:25
Speaker
Very limited, yeah. And I feel this this way to this day. you know You cannot be a real musician if you only play classical music. I'm sorry, guys. and And I've gotten some hate for it, too. but um But time is proving me right, because now all the universities are trying to teach improvisation, and that's one of the things that makes me very popular.
00:47:48
Speaker
that I know how to do it well. Right, been here for a long time. Yeah, and people like Yo-Yo Ma and Itak Perlman opened the doors because those are two big names who started playing Yo-Yo Ma released a tango album.
00:48:01
Speaker
And every time he looks at me and he goes like, I'm sorry, ah just don't, I want to, I was trying to, it's a great album. It's a great album. You're an amazing player, come on. you were so Yo-Yo did something like you should do. He surrounded himself with amazing musicians.
00:48:16
Speaker
So, yes, of course, he's not a tango player. There's a few technical things that he missed that I totally will overlook them because his playing is so immaculate. you know and And it's a permanent release, a Klezmer album, an album with Oscar Peterson. you know So once I saw that, and this is the early 80s, once I saw that, I said, oh, that was a free license to do whatever I wanted.
00:48:43
Speaker
Well, it seems like you've done that because a lot of the people that you perform with are so eclectic, right? i mean yeah And i in your album, your most recent album, has a whole bunch of different styles in there as well.
00:48:54
Speaker
So is it basically, are you motivated by what just moves you at the moment? Or are you advising in the studio and then coming from that, you develop what you're going to record? Yeah, I mean, I go with whatever inspires me at the moment.
00:49:10
Speaker
A few times i have gone... with a plan, you know? But most of the time, i challenge myself. It's something that I guess the training that my father did with me stuck, you know?
00:49:26
Speaker
um It's like um I wanted to challenge myself, you know? um And sometimes I do things at concerts, especially when my pianist with Belfort Hernandez, and we ask the audience for random notes.
00:49:43
Speaker
Give me a note, C sharp, and F. and so Okay, we have C sharp. Can we make a melody out of that? Yeah, maybe, yeah. And he will, be and I said, okay, if you play that kind of play, and i we build, create something on the spot for the audience.
00:49:57
Speaker
And with my guitar, I have a new duet, actually, just records coming out in the and the and the fall. um Giovanni Piacentini, an amazing Mexican guitar player, but he's like me, Mexican, but his parents are Italian.
00:50:12
Speaker
The only reason why my name is in Spanish is when my grandpa translated my original last name is Fiorito. And he translated into Spanish because he, you know, the the war was really bad and he didn't want to go back to the old country. So he says he translated his old name into Spanish, you know.
00:50:30
Speaker
i Got it. But Giovanni is like me, you know, in the same kind of roots. He's younger a little younger than me, but he also is an amazing improviser. So the first concert that we played back in April, this is a brand new project, was,
00:50:46
Speaker
called Del Sur, you know, from the South. We're both from the South, you know. And we're kind of a eclectic from the South. We play from different countries, different things, you know.
00:50:57
Speaker
But we opened we played at the NAMM Museum, at the music um Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad. It was our first public performance. And we opened with the 12-minute piece. 12 minutes.
00:51:11
Speaker
You know, standing ovation on the first piece. And then I grabbed the mic and I said, thank you very much. You'll be the last person and the only people that will ever hear this music because we just made it out for you.
00:51:23
Speaker
And they just went crazy. Nobody will ever hear that. I mean, i don't even remember when I played. You know, it was beautiful. It was great. People loved it, you know.
00:51:35
Speaker
But Giovanni and I, we we live at that level. We can have a conversation about anything. And we just were having a conversation. We didn't discuss. We basically only agreed on where what note to start. We have to start in the same place.
00:51:50
Speaker
So he went like, D, D. Sure, D. You go on D. Let's do D. Okay. Let's go through D. D is a good key for the valley. Let's start there. But we end up in some foreign planet outside the solar system.
00:52:04
Speaker
you know right But that's what improvisation does to you. And it's such a joy. And that's what feeds my soul. so and And when I meet people, and I was just at at the ASTA conference and and in Atlanta, ASTA at the American Screen Teacher Association, national this was the national conference.
00:52:25
Speaker
And I'm talking to all these young players, and I keep saying, you know, an old guy like me, and said, no, you're not old. And I go like, I'm 59 years old. And they looked at me and they were like, No, you're not.
00:52:36
Speaker
You cannot be. its You don't look like and i said, well, the music keeps you young. You know, have a beautiful job that keeps me happy. You know, to me, playing concerts makes me happy. Teaching makes me happy.
00:52:51
Speaker
You know, seeing these young minds learn. You know, when you get the bright eyed, what's his name in in in in Boston? The conductor, Sander. Sander. um He says that he loves teaching children because at some moment, a child will have bright eyes when they open it when they get it.
00:53:09
Speaker
Their eyes go like, ah. And it happens in sports, too. When you're like when you're you know bad in practice and you you don't know the mechanics and you finally hit the ball and your eyes go, okay, that's what it is.
00:53:22
Speaker
Right. That's what it is. you know And the moment you capture that. it doesn't It doesn't mean that you're going to be a professional baseball player, but you hit the ball.
00:53:34
Speaker
You know how hard is to hit a round ball with a round stick? It's really hard. you know in And that's joy. you know and and you know It doesn't matter how much you win or lose.
00:53:50
Speaker
and and um but then Roger Federer, they were interviewing him. at the end of his career when he goes, oh, you're the greatest. and And he goes like, no. I mean, do you realize that I only won 52% of the games in my life?
00:54:08
Speaker
And he's the greatest ever. He only won 52% of the games that he ever played. He failed. Wow, yeah. 48%, he lost of his matches.
00:54:22
Speaker
That puts it in perspective. In baseball, if you hit 300, you're going to the Hall of Fame. Right. That's three out of seven. you know But in music, in violin, you can't afford that.
00:54:40
Speaker
You have to play 100% of the notes. And there's this guy I saw on the internet the other day. I should save the... He said, it's tough to be a musician because with the perfection that expected from us is unbelievable.
00:54:55
Speaker
And he said, imagine if you grab... And he was using baseball. you know as i Imagine if you play three out of seven notes. me It's not pretty. Right, it wouldn't work. It's not pretty. And he grabbed Michael Jackson's Thriller with the computer...
00:55:13
Speaker
carefully placed, took notes and changed it, put the wrong notes, and he only used 2% of the notes wrong out of all the notes in Thriller. If you hear it, it's a freaking disaster. two percent 2% of the notes.
00:55:31
Speaker
If you graduate from Harvard and with 96% in law, for instance, you're going to be a famous, very rich lawyer. But if I show to the competition and play 96% of my notes, I won't make it to the second round.
00:55:46
Speaker
They may stop you in the middle the performance and say, okay, we're the head now. You're right. You're right. Absolutely. They'll stop you and say, thank you very much. Don't call us. We'll call you. like
00:55:59
Speaker
So it's that part. Yeah. So what would you say you're looking forward to now and like the next year? and any new projects coming up? Yes, yes. I'm actually, you know, I'm like a little kid, you know, for everything that I, um like I've been saying, i have a dream job, you know, but also i keep challenging myself, you know, what's next? What haven't I done that I can do?
00:56:25
Speaker
And, um, and um Well, I have, there's so much. How many hours do we have?
00:56:38
Speaker
But um um due to, I got sick 12 years ago. And I had, I was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
00:56:51
Speaker
Oh, wow. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Just like that, you know. And my son was two weeks old. at the time I got diagnosed. um And thanks to the fine doctors at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Research Hospital, they have they have to move me to the research hospital to see if they could do anything to extend my life. At that point, we were just trying to extend my life.
00:57:16
Speaker
um After some research and some more tests, and they offered me this surgery that offered me fifty fifty chance of surviving. And we took it.
00:57:26
Speaker
I mean, I was going to die for sure. This was it. was this was it um And I made it. I woke up. After a 16-hour surgery, four days later, i was in an induced coma for three days.
00:57:43
Speaker
They finally decided to wake me up to see how it was. It took 65 grams of my brain. um replace it with fat, of all things. Wow. So I'm officially a fathead, by the way.
00:57:58
Speaker
Which is no news to anybody. It took me six years to play again.
00:58:07
Speaker
and I was with a walker for a year and with a cane for four years. So you didn't play for how long? Six years. Wow. Okay. so And during that time,
00:58:20
Speaker
I mean, I could play, but I couldn't play at the level that I play. Sure. This is the highest level. Right. so It's a big, it's like, yeah, i play ive played tennis in the park. you No, no, no, I played you know with Roger Federer.
00:58:32
Speaker
Right. It's not the same. um The issue is that when the brain um is has that type of... Injury, that's how the brain perceives It's injury. you know It takes a while for the brain to get back to it normal. you know The swelling, all the stuff. um and i had i was One day, i was um kind of freaking out, to be honest with you, that I didn't have enough money.
00:59:05
Speaker
if i didn't play i didn't I was not planning to... And I have a young son. I mean, I was looking forward to working and stuff and you know providing for my family. and um I had this idea for a show that I wanted to do, that I've been wanting to do for years.
00:59:22
Speaker
And one day, in in the middle of my freaking out, and I'm having a bit of of what I now know, it was a panic attack. And... My wife said, why don't you do that show that you said that you could do better than anybody, huh?
00:59:39
Speaker
And I said, well, I could do it, but the way I want to do it, it will cost too much money and it will take a long time. but I'm giving her all the excuses. And she looked at me and said, honey, you have nothing but time.
00:59:51
Speaker
You cannot even walk. How about that? And Sonoro Latino was born. Sonoro Latino is a symphonic show that I created. that is We do Latin versions of classical music. It's a pop show.
01:00:09
Speaker
But it's a stadium show. It's an arena show, like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Maynheim Steamroller. Both people I know very well, by the way. They inspire me to... I wanted to do my own. you know And, well, I'm Latino. and Sonoro in Italian means full of sound.
01:00:27
Speaker
Sonoro Latino is me, Italian Latino. you know um So it took me a while to come up with this. It's a big show, it's a lot of moving parts, a lot of things and technology we're using and the business model that we're using is revolutionary for today, which I think is very important.
01:00:47
Speaker
But the show is coming out. I mean, we're 96% there. We need a few more checks here on there and there. Amazing. But the show is coming out. um and Where? and ah Worldwide. This is a touring show. Oh, a touring show. Gotcha. This is a touring show.
01:01:05
Speaker
Yeah. I think we'll see it in the U.S. probably in 2029 because we go to Latin America first and Europe, and then we come to the U.S., s And depending on, I can go on and on on this subject, but I'm very much anti-Life Nation and Ticketmaster.
01:01:23
Speaker
So unless they oblige to my rules, I'm not going to do any venue or any place that hires them. You know, I don't work with the mafia. And I'm not going to be intimidated by them.
01:01:35
Speaker
So if they don't change the rules here in the United States, I won't play in the United States. Sorry, but... Yeah, well, that's simple as that. I commend you for that.
01:01:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. And that's that's the only way I can beat them, you know, and hopefully the government will do something about it. But everything they're doing or most of the stuff they're doing is illegal and they're getting away with it.
01:01:58
Speaker
And I'm sorry, they're killing the music business like Spotify killed music. You know, yeah I mean, Spotify put the final nail in the coffin. You know, that's a touchy subject for me. And if you have it like, again, three hours, can, but- um We'll have you back. Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, the thing is that, you know, what what digital music has done is that we realize the generation, we create a generation that believes that music is free.
01:02:23
Speaker
But yet making music is very expensive. So there's no way for me to make money. There's no way for a new artist to make money. There is no way. ah few people that know, I'm sorry, but when when I see artists bragging about all the Spotify views, I feel sorry for them.
01:02:40
Speaker
I do. Because that doesn't mean anything. um it's It's really hard. It's really hard for a new artist. Popularity doesn't pay the bills. you know And I'm old school there. i like to make money out of my craft. I work really hard.
01:02:59
Speaker
But anyway, so what I'm doing what i'm doing with with my show that is revolutionary is is that business part. you know I'm paying people well, for instance. Sure. you know Every person that works for me has benefits covered and insurance health insurance and benefits and stuff.
01:03:16
Speaker
And people go like, oh, my God, that is so expensive. You're not going to make any money. Oh, I'm making plenty of money. Trust me. I'm just not keeping it all. Because how much money do I really need?
01:03:28
Speaker
Whatever money I make with the show is more money than I ever thought I was going to have in my life. So I'm already on the clear. Right. You know, I only i don't need fancy things. i don't need a mansion. I don't need any of that.
01:03:41
Speaker
I'd rather pay health insurance for my employees. That's more important to me. why if you If you cut out them, the middleman, you're able to take that money and give it to those people. And give it to those people. And still manage to make, you know, I'll be fine.
01:03:56
Speaker
Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, you know. But what I'm trying to do, and and maybe in 10 years I'll come back and you'll tell me you were right.
01:04:07
Speaker
I want to be the new standard for entertainment shows. you know I want to be the new standard. Other shows are going to have to do what I do because they're going to go oh my God, why don't you pay me what he pays?
01:04:19
Speaker
home you know Because i'm sometimes i'm people I'm paying some people double of what they make. One person that I hired from a big music company, when he sent me his salary request, I was in shock because the money I had already put in my budget for him See, I had, let's say, I have this amount of money.
01:04:43
Speaker
So I need you to come work for me, okay? I have this for your position. This is what I can afford. So I ask you to send me a salary request in your resume. You send me your salary request and it's half of it.
01:04:57
Speaker
Hmm.
01:04:59
Speaker
Well, I could be, do what everybody does and pay you what you requested. But I had already allocated. So I gave him... the money that I had allocated.
01:05:12
Speaker
How hard do you think he's gonna work? How happy do you think he is?
01:05:18
Speaker
yeah I feel like he's his time is valued, that's for sure. Exactly, he feels like he hit the jackpot. yeah Now I have a loyal, real, this is how you earn loyalty.
01:05:29
Speaker
you know And he says, says zo I will do anything. I said, you're doing fine. You're doing your job, that's all I want. He's really good. Brilliant.
01:05:40
Speaker
So it's revolutionary in the sense of you know being nice to others. you know I think we have we need more of that. It's a crazy revolution, that's for sure. It's a crazy revolution. But again, i got the banks, I got the people to prove that it is doable. you know And we we're creating really the show itself. Let me tell you, man.
01:06:05
Speaker
When it comes to Detroit, when we go to Detroit, you hit me up, put your front row. ah and I can't wait. though It's going to blow your mind because we're really taking entertainment. It's truly an experience.
01:06:20
Speaker
From the moment you scan your ticket, you're inside the show. Wow. it's It's truly, truly remarkable. But ah again, I've been working on it for a long time, 10 years. I've been designing and where every detail from, again, from the moment you scan your ticket, from the moment they welcome you to the show, you're inside the show.
01:06:42
Speaker
Incredible stuff. Yeah. So before i let you go here, i want to ask you one one more question about your foundation that you work work with. Yes. ah The Massey Mas Foundation, Music Foundation. you tell us a little bit about what you're doing with that? Okay.
01:06:54
Speaker
the the but i've Like I told you earlier, you know I've been always a and music education advocate, you know education advocate on many fronts, ah both on the professional side and on the on the student side.
01:07:08
Speaker
um When I created Sonora Latino, most of this type of shows like this are touring shows. so Excuse me. You have a touring band, and then you hire the local musicians to supplement the orchestra because you cannot afford to bring everybody on the road. It's very expensive.
01:07:28
Speaker
The problem that I have... is that my show is very difficult. The music is very high level. So I cannot rely on local musicians because I don't know where I'm going to get.
01:07:41
Speaker
Most of the time, you get one rehearsal, a sound check, and then the show. That's not going to cut it. Sure. its you know And i'm I'm in this conundrum. So what what what should I do?
01:07:53
Speaker
And then it occurred to me, how about if I train the musicians to do it? And how about if I... do something like the New World, where I have 25 of the top players right out of college, and I create a fellowship like the New World, and I bring them with me, I give them a full-time salary and benefits, and it saves me a lot of money on the show.
01:08:21
Speaker
The Foundation will pay for their training, You know, with donations, with things. We have already partnerships in place that I cannot say, but the money's there. Let's put it this way. Sure. I found the money to pay these people.
01:08:34
Speaker
So, now, the that added cost to the show, it's gone because part of their job is to tour. Part of their job, I'm not paying them per concert.
01:08:45
Speaker
I'm paying them a full salary, whether they play or not, which is not bad. And then I'm training them. I'm teaching them things but so when they leave the two years, they will have a future.
01:08:59
Speaker
you know And they will be used to being treated well and being respected for what they know. being appreciate you know See, yourre it's like I tell people, if if you eat a hot dog every day and all of a sudden you have a nice steak, you don't want hot dogs anymore.
01:09:18
Speaker
So if I grab these young players and I... teach them to eat well. When they graduate, that's what they want. And so they're go to bring everybody wins. that They want to be better. they They will want to have better music. All those things.
01:09:34
Speaker
Raise the standard. Raise the standard. And then we partnered up with the NAMM Foundation. And the NAMM Foundation has a program called Careers in Music, which is trade jobs for high school students, which is like, hello, why didn't anybody think of this?
01:09:50
Speaker
You know? So we're going to adopt a high school and in every city that we go around the world, and we're going to start a careers in music program. You know? So, you see what I'm doing? It's a full circle.
01:10:03
Speaker
Right. These kids who are in the careers, you know, and we're going to facilitate through relations in in in in um relationship with different universities for them to go to college.
01:10:14
Speaker
And when they graduate from college, they're going to come, and you know. So, the fellow the fellow the fellows mentor the high school students. Right. We mentor the fellows. So, it's a full circle full circle. In six years, I'm going to be basically raising, hiring the kids that came from my own program.
01:10:34
Speaker
So that's the function ah of the Massey Mass Music Foundation is to change the world, you know, and offer these young players and and high school students future.
01:10:45
Speaker
in an industry that most of the roadies, for instance, in the world have learned on the road. Why don't we have roadies school? Why don't we teach them? You know, there's no violin techs, you know, like guitar techs, piano techs, drum techs. There's no violin techs.
01:11:01
Speaker
um It doesn't exist. I had to create the position with electric violin shop and in in North Carolina. All the electric violins, yeah. No, it does not exist.
01:11:12
Speaker
Can you believe that? I never even thought about that before. My daughter's orchestra has people that play electric violin. never thought about who would actually help to do tech work on that. No, it's some guitar guy that doesn't know anything about violins. That doesn't know how to rehair a bow or put a bridge or how string length or none of that. It's a whole separate instrument.
01:11:31
Speaker
Yeah. So i had to create it. So I did.
01:11:35
Speaker
I created a program for that. Amazing. and And this is just part of it. I mean, I'm sure I'm going to come up with more stuff after that. but And then we have, in the middle... of the of of the training program, all this, you know, there is a, we call it, i don't know if she said it public, but the the working title is the Harmony Hub, which is a website, you know, where all the training is hosted, all the video training, all the stuff, but also communication. There's two ways.
01:12:04
Speaker
Anybody, it's internal, obviously, it's not a public website, but everybody in the program, both high school and the fellowship have access to everybody. everybody's email.
01:12:17
Speaker
So if some kid from some high school you know in El Salvador wants to send me an email, he can. you know ah Or reach out to anybody in the program, you know they can.
01:12:31
Speaker
And can you imagine what this the fellowship you know ah players are going to come? If they come out with their own ideas, for instance, while they're in show, we already have a full production company we'll have a first right of refusal.
01:12:43
Speaker
You want to pitch your project to us? We'll help you produce it. You know? Just feeding yourself. You know, and and I keep thinking, i keep being my own devil's advocate, and I talk to my lawyer, and I said, what am I doing wrong here? I mean, is is there a downside to this?
01:13:01
Speaker
And we haven't found it yet. Can we get away with this? I think we're getting away with this. We're getting away with this. So if I can... If I can show this, I mean, once I just need this to be successful because money talks.
01:13:18
Speaker
If we get the show off the ground and the show makes money, then all the rules, I will literally change the world because everybody's going to go, I want to work for them.
01:13:31
Speaker
You know, all the roadies up but because at some point we'll have two, three different shows going at the same time. i mean, we'll be the Cirque du Soleil of music.
01:13:40
Speaker
you know I mean, that'd be impressive. It'll be impressive. It it looks good in paper. Right. No, it sounds like ah you're you're on the right path here. And what you're doing is absolutely incredible. So and just the out-of-the-box thinking I have to commend you for, because a lot of these things just, when you say it out loud, you're like, oh, my God, that makes sense. But of course, there's got be someone that does that. And you're like, wait a minute.
01:13:59
Speaker
No. know and i yet And I have managed to surround myself with the most amazing team. i'm not alone
Innovative Show Production
01:14:05
Speaker
now. It's 11 of us. I mean, 12. ah Right now, they're working on this. so and even I mean have lawyers and banks and things. and They all think this is it's happening. i mean At this point, I tell you, this is happening. i mean It's not not if, but when. i mean We just need a few more things, but we should be in full production by the end of the year.
01:14:27
Speaker
It will take me about a year and a half of rehearsals to get a show together. and very on We didn't talk about the technical part. Dude, High tech, high tech, all the way.
01:14:38
Speaker
I'm a techie, you know, remember I'm a mathematician? Right. You know, so um I'm i'm a pretty involved in the and the technical parts or some stuff. When we come out,
01:14:50
Speaker
um the screens that we're using in the show are more advanced than the sphere. Just to, I'll leave you that. Just that. And that's all I can tell you right now because the patents are pending.
01:15:02
Speaker
Okay. Well, listen, Jesus, this has been so amazing. I am so inspired by you and the work you've done. um And I am just so glad that you came our show to share all this. And I can't wait to see the show come out when it tours through Detroit.
01:15:17
Speaker
And thank you very much for being on our show today. No, thank you, man. Thank you for having me. This was this was was so super fun. ah I never talked in in in public about my love for sports and music. You know, this is this is perfect. Hmm. This
Guest's Passion for Sports and Music
01:15:31
Speaker
was awesome. I i think it's going inspire a lot of other people too as well and hopefully inspire change for the future.
01:15:37
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a great night. You too.
Conclusion & Call to Action
01:15:41
Speaker
And that leads us to the end of another episode. We'd like to thank Jesus for his time he spent with us today. Remember, if you like what you hear, please feel free to leave a review. And more information, please go to athletesandthearts.com.
01:15:53
Speaker
For Yasi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas, and this has been the Athletes and the Arts Podcast.