Brannen Temple

Black Artists discuss the state of the Austin Music Scene

You’ll hear from four Black musicians – Anastasia Hera, Cam the Tastemaker, Blakchyl, and Brannen Temple – about how they’ve navigated the Austin music scene, and what support they’d like to see.

Living in Austin as a Musician

Listen back to our Views and Brews discussion recorded live at The Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas as we ask What is Austin Music and Can it Feed Your Family?

KUT’s Rebecca McInroy along with Graham Reynolds, Redd Volkaert, Leslie Sisson, Thor Harris, and Brannen Temple to talk about collaborating across musical cultures; what it means to sustain a musical scene; and what musicians need from the city and the community in order to thrive.

Jazz and The Art of Mental Health (Part 2)

Listen back as we discuss the making of jazz, around a frank conversation about mental illness, addiction, and the advantages of thinking beyond our present circumstances. Through the artistry of Buddy Bolden, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and others, we explore the intersection of mental balance, suffering, wellness, and virtuosity.

How does our outlook on life either enhance or hamper our ways of being? How does creativity help us cope with our struggles? How can the power of music help us keep our torment at bay?

Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe in conversation with Rebecca McInroy. Featuring: Michael Malone, saxophone; Adrian Ruiz, trumpet; Andre Hayward, trombone; Red Young, piano; John Fremgen, bass; Brannen Temple, drums.

Jazz and The Art of Mental Health (Part 1)

How does our outlook on life either enhance or hamper our ways of being? How does creativity help us cope with our struggles? How can the power of music help us keep our torment at bay?

Jimmy Smith & Shirley Scott – Jazz and The Art of Soul

Jimmy Smith and Shirley Scott were both musical innovators, popularizing the use of the B-3 organ in jazz. The sound of the organ invites a prayerful sensibility into the performance, merging entertainment and worship in a masterful combination. Where do we exist in the relationship between the sacred and the profane? Does everything have to be so proscribed? What healing happens beyond Either/Or? How can we locate our soul as a force for good out in the world?

Listen back to a Views and Brews recorded live at the historic Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas as we present a spirited evening of music and conversation. Sponsored by KUT radio, Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe in conversation with Rebecca McInroy. Featuring Red Young, organ; Bruce Saunders, guitar; Michael Malone, saxophone; David Young, trumpet; Brannen Temple, drums.

V&B – Jazz & The Art of Responding

Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe joins a live jazz sextet and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy for a night of great conversation and live music. Through the music of Miles Davis, Abbey Lincoln, Charles Mingus, and others we’ll explore what the tradition of call and response in jazz can teach us about presence, resistance, and the human condition. Featuring Brannen Temple (drums), Nick Clark (Bass), Chris McQueen (guitar), Michael Malone (saxophone), Andre Hayward (trombone) and David Young (trumpet).

V&B: Ornette Coleman & The Art of Entrepreneurship

Saxophonist and innovator Ornette Coleman was a musical trailblazer. Always curious and creative, he inspired a movement of new expression, questioning established practices as he sharpened even the most cutting edge of emotive performance. What do we do with inherited forms? How do we distinguish ourselves and coalesce our vision in the scrutiny and judgment of public taste? What value is there in earning the respect of our colleagues? How far are we willing to go to live our truth? What is genius and what is jive?

Sponsored by KUT radio, Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe in conversation with Rebecca McInroy. Featuring: Michael Malone, saxophone; David Young, trumpet; Red Young, piano; Roscoe Beck, bass; Brannen Temple, drums. Guest featuring Alex Coke, saxophone.

V&B – Miles Davis & The Art of Future (Part Two)

In this edition of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe, and a live jazz quintet, for a night of great conversation and live music focusing on Miles Davis’ Second Quintet. In all Miles Davis represents, he was also a master teacher and inspired generations of instrumentalists. In the second half of the 60’s how did Davis’ Second Quintet respond to free jazz, and turbulent times? And what does this response teach us today?

Featuring the all-star ensemble: David Young, trumpet; Shelley Carrol, saxophone; Ben Irom, piano; Roscoe Beck, bass; Brannen Temple, drums; and Rabbi Neil Blumofe in conversation with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy.

V&B – Miles Davis & The Art of Future (Part One)

V&B: Wes Montgomery and The Art of Confidence

In this episode of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi Neil Blumofe in conversation about one of the 20th century’s most influential jazz guitarists, Wes Montgromery. We’ll discuss what we give up as we make a living and how Montgomery’s music and life lessons help us learn about our own choices, and our own sense of purpose and last contribution.

This Views & Brews also features renditions of selected Wes Montgomery works performed by Mitch Watkins (guitar), Ephraim Owens (trumpet), Roscoe Beck (bass), Rich Harney (piano) and Brannen Temple (drums).

V&B: Max Roach and The Art of Emancipation

“Progressive art,” said Salvador Dali. “Can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward emancipation.”

I’m not sure Max Roach would agree with that, but he definitely was part of a collective conversation which challenged the power of art, the concept of freedom, and the sanctity of tradition.

Listen back as we discuss Max Roach and The Art of Emancipation, on this edition of Views and Brews, with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy in conversation with Rabbi and Jazz historian Neil Blumofe.

Some of Texas’s jazz musicians are featured on this show including: Shelley Carroll on tenor sax; Ephraim Owens on trumpet; Brannen Temple on Drums; Roscoe Beck on Bass; and Red Young on Piano.

V&B: Time

“Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” –Jorge Luis Borge

What is time? How can rhythm and time phrases bring us into a dialogue with the past? and how much of our relationship to and our knowledge of time is driven by our intuition? Listen back as KUT’s Rebecca McInroy talks with: cosmologist and astrologer, Kerrie Welch; jazz drummer Brannen Temple; and astrophysicist and psychology professor, David Gilden about Time.

V&B: Coleman Hawkins and The Art of Failure

Coleman Hawkins, the great saxophone player, helped to establish jazz as a stand alone art form, distinguished from swing — the popular music of the day. With his originality, lyricism, and his keen sense of appreciating the latest trends, his work was the influence and foundation for bebop and the most expressive jazz ballads. And yet, what is the dearest price given for the artist who expresses his art?

Join Rabbi Neil Blumofe and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy for conversation and superlative live music recorded live at the Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas. It was an evening dedicated to discovering jazz and appreciating the beauty of this incredible and accessible American art form.

Featuring:

Shelly Carrol, saxophone

Ephraim Owens, trumpet

Red Young, piano

Roscoe Beck, bass

Brannen Temple, drums

V&B: Benny Goodman and The Art of Intersection

In this Views and Brews Remix feature on Benny Goodman host Rebecca McInroy and Rabbi Neil Blumofe engage in a spirited discussion about Goodman’s life, music and his relationships to his musicians — specifically, pianist Teddy Wilson, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, and guitarist Charlie Christian-and some of Austin’s best musicians help us relive Goodman’s style. Featuring: Ben Saffer, clarinet Erik Hokkanen, guitar Red Young, piano Roscoe Beck, bass Brannen Temple, drums.

In the 1930’s, the clarinetist and bandleader, Benny Goodman, brought jazz stylings to mainstream America. What was the lasting significance of Goodman’s contributions beyond the Swing Era? In an age of segregation, creeping fear, and xenophobia, Goodman boldly set forth a new agenda for American music, integrating his band and exasperating the assumptions of culture, sophistication, and assumed ways of life.

What does it mean to be a visionary? How do we balance our dreams and our dramatic idiosyncrasies with the everyday and grueling disciplined life that we must live to make an impact? How do we know if we have been successful? What does success really mean?

V&B: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and The Art of Invisibility

Billy Strayhorn, a long time muse and collaborator for the great bandleader Duke Ellington, brought depth and a languid power to the already sophisticated sound of Ellington’s orchestra. Aching for love and significance, Strayhorn was openly gay in a time of repression and bias, composing ballads filled with longing and disarming vulnerability, which demanded the full attention of both the listener and the performer.

How do we strive when circumstances are stacked against us? How do we make the best of our situation as we continue to dream? How do we continue to hold out hope for consequential love, as we smolder? Sometimes what we need most, is hidden, right in front of us, in plain sight.

During this evening, we engaged in both a spirited discussion about Strayhorn and his relationships to Ellington — discussing his music, and his legacy — and we enjoyed superlative live music with Ephraim Owens (trumpet), Brannen Temple (drums), Red Young (piano), Chris Maresh (bass), Andre Hayward (trombone) and Sam Lipman (Saxaphone).

V&B: Thelonious Monk and The Art of Hesitation

Thelonious Monk is an original and unique voice in the shaping and the sound of American music. Both his compositions and his inimitable piano playing continue to confound and resound decades after their inception, bringing us to ask questions — how far can one go when listening to your own muse? Does the artist have a responsibility to instruct while creating? Can art just be enjoyed or does it have to vex to be effective? When looking to swing, how important is rhythm? What is said in the silences? These are the questions we set out to explore during what proved to be an inspirational night of ideas and music at the Cactus Cafe.

Listen to some of the highlights from the event with KUT’s Views and Brews Remix featuring Rabbi Neil Blumofe in discussion with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy along with musicians Rich Harney (piano) Roscoe Beck (bass) Brannen Temple (drums) and Sam Lipman (Saxophone) and special guest Ephraim Owens (trumpet).

V&B: Native American Music and the Blues

He also explained that musicologists observe that everywhere that people live close to the earth, their music is based on the universal pentatonic scale. Anishinaabe artist Keith Secola is fond of saying that “water will eventually seep into even the thickest rubber boots.” By this he’s going back to the Native principle that we are of the land, that the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth and the closer we are to her, her music will eventually seep into us. So in other words, much of what you hear in the blues (and its branches, jazz and rock) is the song of the land here in the U.S. — the Earthsong. And so it comes full-circle.

V&B: Charles Mingus and The Art of Enigma

Charles Mingus is considered one of the most creative and original voices in American jazz. Uniquely sensitive to the plight of the dispossessed, he challenged his musical ensembles to be improvisatory acts of collective inspiration — responding to the matters of the moment.

The music that Mingus wrote was rooted in standard musical forms and grounded in the blues. At KUT’s Views and Brews Rabbi Neil Blumofe and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy looked at how interpretation of these forms in performance might bring about the transformation of a musician, a listener, and potentially, the world.

The Cactus was packed (standing room only) and the music performed by our all-star quintet was hot! We discussed Mingus, his music, his relationships with his musicians and audience, as well as the agony and the ecstasy he expended in communicating his vision.

Musical Guests
Roscoe Beck , bass
Brannen Temple, drums
Sam Lipman, saxophone
Freddie Mendoza, trombone
Rich Harney, piano

V&B: Art Blakey and The Art of Revolution

What is in a sound? What qualities are necessary to lead a band for many decades? What passions helped to make Blakey’s music distinctive and propel it forward, representing a particular activism and identity? Listen back to our discussion about Blakey, his music, and his legacy and enjoy the superlative performances from some incredible musicians.

Featuring:
Rabbi Neil Blumofe in discussion with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy along with musicians Brannen Temple, drums; Ephraim Owens, trumpet; Sam Lipman, saxophone; Freddie Mendoza, Trombone; Dr. James Polk, Piano; Roscoe Beck, Bass.

V&B: Billie Holiday and The Art of Persona

Billie Holiday once said, “No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music.” In a recent Views and Brews from KUT radio recorded live at the Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas we explored just that with Billie Holiday and the Art of Persona.

Listen in as KUT’s Rebecca McInroy hosts Rabbi Neil Blumofe along with a live band including, Brannen Temple on drums, Sam Lipman with Saxophone, Daniel Durham on bass, Ephraim Owens on trumpet, Wiliam Menefield on piano and the vocal talents of Austin’s own Pamela Hart, for an hour of conversation, exploration and great music!