Pieter Pastoor's blog

Neil Nayyar plays 117 musical instruments from around the world.

Chances are if you love a particular type of music, Neil plays it, and he plays it well. Classical, Bollywood, jazz, rock, and sounds from all over the world flow from this musician, but this is not the only amazing thing about him.

Neil’s parents credit much of his ability and love of music to Mozart classics he listened to while still in the womb. However, his talent didn’t surface until he was five years old when he took a drum class and wowed everyone, and this was just the beginning.

A lot of Neil’s talent and abilities as a multi-instrumentalist are natural, but he leaves nothing to chance. In fact, he practices his music six hours each day. The child prodigy is receiving training from 25 musical professionals both locally and internationally.

Neil holds the Assist Foundation’s world record as the youngest person to play all those instruments from all parts of the planet. The Assist Foundation provides a lot of resources for secondary education opportunities for young people around the world.

Telemakus, 22, is an Indian-American composer/pianist/producer/UC Davis student who has worked on numerous projects and recently put out his critically acclaimed album, The New Heritage. Listing Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Butcher Brown as influences, Telemakus aims to delve into the jazz fusion/funk and hip-hop sound. His music is modern, yet pays homage to the past. He grew up listening to jazz and hip-hop, and taught himself to play the piano and make beats.

After honing his craft, he collaborated virtually during the pandemic to finish his album. It was never recorded in a studio, but instead was made through Zoom sessions, with individual parts sent back and forth online. His music, praised on Spotify, Apple Music, BBC 6 Music, Worldwide FM, The New York Times, and more, has amassed more than 2 million streams.

Listen to this program over the air, via streaming on www.kdrt.org, via the show archives, or on most podcast apps under Listening Lyrics.

Listening Lyrics is proud to present Didar Singh Khalsa. He has played guitars for 52 years, but started writing, singing and recording songs only six years ago, inspired by six consecutive trips to the guitar/songwriting camp taught by the amazing Richard Thompson. He claims the muse is relentless and not even very intermittent. Let’s test that theory.

This show will be broadcast over the air and streamed live at KDRT.org.

Joey Wisgirda (Big Joe Daddy ) has been playing trumpet since the age of 9. He has studied jazz theory and composition with jazz legend John Tchicai, and performed throughout California with a diverse range of players that includes Joe Craven and Rick Montgomery (David Grisman Quintet), Fully Fullwood (Peter Tosh), reggae superstar Alton Ellis, Hamsa Lila, and John Tchicai. He has opened for such acts as John Scofield,  Galactic, Charlie Hunter, Bassnectar, Kraddy, and Tipper.

For the past decade, Joey has extended his musical efforts into the computer realm, using  soft- and hardware synths, and tying it all together with a Morrison Digital Trumpet (MDT) to morph from jazz and funk to breakbeats and dub. His live performances on Ableton and the MDT are cutting edge.

Listen to this program over the air, via streaming on www.kdrt.org, via the show archives, or on most podcast apps under Listening Lyrics.

Due to his in-depth study of the music of different cultures, Alex Jenkins' playing transcends musical traditions and boundaries. His expression of rhythm is heavily influenced by his study of tabla (a north Indian classical percussion instrument), and he has become known for his creative approach to music, and for his unique ability to fuse rhythmic ideas from various disciplines into one cohesive sound.

Alex has studied music, drums and percussion at California State University Sacramento, the Ali Akbar Khan School of Music in San Rafael, and Drummers Collective in New York. He spent three months in India studying north Indian music. He performs and records regularly, around California and beyond, playing a variety of music (on both drums and tabla) including jazz, Afro-Cuban, rock, blues, fusion, Indian classical, and just about everything in between.

Alex leads The Alex Jenkins Trio, which keeps a very busy performing schedule. He also teaches workshops and clinics for various schools, including Sacramento State, American River College, Cosumnes River College, California College of the Arts in Oakland, UC Merced, and many more. His extensive private teaching roster has more than 50 students per week. 

Listen over the air, by livestream at www.kdrt.org, or find the show starting this Friday evening on your favorite podcast app under Listening Lyrics.

Brenden Tull / basil tell / Dunno is … an artist … simply because of his specific attention to beauty / each moment on the path to becoming a passive, Taoist non-action. He tastes life wide-eyed and … without a shell of hardness … and in his art, the person takes precedence over the product, the product is nearly extraneous --  something of his nature is carried over.

This week's Paul McCartney featured song will be "Ever Present Past" from his Memory Almost Full album. Brenden will play and re-invent the song.

Listen to Listening Lyrics over the air, via streaming at www.kdrt.org, or as a podcast on most podcast apps.

Racquetbangers is a Davis-based indie rock duo comprised of Timur Katsnelson (piano/vocals) and Robert Polon (guitar). Seeking refuge from the cutthroat music scene in their hometown of Los Angeles, the boys moved north in fall 2017 and never looked back. They soon found themselves fully immersed in the rich Davis culture and began writing songs about their surroundings. Barely scraping by on a diet of Ali Baba, Vampire Weekend, and pucks, Racquetbangers finally caught their big break with the release of their first demo, "Annie Lin." Hopes of an international stadium headline tour were crushed with the untimely outbreak of COVID-19, but the boys are back and buzzing in early 2022.

During the interview, we will play their most popular releases to date, along with a special tribute song to the events in the Ukraine.

For the Paul McCartney section of the show, the Racquetbangers will perform the Beatles' "Love Me Do." Paul has stated he loves to hear how other musicians interpret his songs. The Listening Lyrics family, Paul, and hockey players from around the globe are looking forward to this.

Maxwell Riley, a Davis-based multi-instrumentalist and producer, writes music that ranges from psychedelic jazz fusion to cosmic space funk. Max is inspired by acts like Jeff Beck, Steely Dan, Nile Rogers, Dire Straits, and Pink Floyd, to name a few, and has been producing music since the 6th grade.

This program will be streamed live on www.kdrt.org. Listening Lyrics is also available as a podcast on your favorite podcast app.