Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alex Cazet. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Alex thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I have worked on is also one of the most recent – the recording of my band Mama Magnolia’s first length album, “Dear Irvington.”

The idea for making this album was born from the Covid-19 shutdown. Live music was over for the foreseeable future. Touring and gigging was out of the question. The six of us in my band were still meeting over Zoom every week, and we began to use the time that we were stranded in our homes to write music. We started writing song demos, recording them from our individual houses, and parsing them together over the internet.

With the help of Travis McNamara from Arthouse Consulting we embarked on a crowdfunding campaign in 2020 to raise the funds to record, mix, master, and promote our soon-to-be debut album. With the support of hundreds of friends, family, and strangers we exceeded our goal and raised nearly sixty thousand dollars.

Armed with about ten songs that we had written during the lockdown, we headed to the studio. We recorded the album in Fort Worth, Texas at Niles City Sound. This is the studio of Robert Ellis and Josh Block, an amazing producer and engineer duo who had worked on grammy winning records.

There was two weeks of pre-production with Robert where we fine-tuned the arrangements of the songs, and then we had eleven days in the studio just to record our music. It is one of the greatest experiences I’ve had as a musician thus far. It’s especially meaningful to me because I brought two original compositions of mine to the band for this record, which is the first time I have done this with a band.

The record is out now, and it feels so good to have something of the highest quality to show to people who are interested in what we do.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am primarily known as a tenor saxophone player and songwriter/arranger. I currently play with a number of bands playing original music. Mama Magnolia, an indie-soul band, Gold Leader, a groovy high-energy instrumental group, and Selasee, a reggae act with members from Ghana and the U.S., to give a few examples.

In addition to this, I do freelance gigging and recording work for bands and artists. I am especially skilled at composing and arranging parts for horn sections to record in the studio. Last year I traveled to Texas to record flute on Thomas Csorba’s upcoming record.

As a working musician I also play for many corporate bands for clients weddings and private parties. I also teach private lessons. I can teach saxophone, flute, composition, improvisation and electronic music production.

I think that the diversity in my musical training comes through in my playing, and I think that now I am developing a voice on my instrument that I can be proud of. I started studying jazz music in high school, studied classical saxophone with Professor Tom Myer in college, and was mentored by Ghanian drummer Paa Kow as well at the same time that I was a college student at CU boulder. My musical education didn’t stop there- since then I have played with dozens of bands spanning many styles of music.

Recently I have been exploring the possibilities of fusing my saxophone playing with my electronic music productions, and I have also begun teaching clinics at a number of high schools around the country with my band Mama Magnolia.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I went to music school at CU Boulder. At age 19 I had also begun gigging professionally with Ghanian artist Paa Kow in an Afro-fusion band. I was practicing many hours a day, often going into the practice rooms before my 8 am classes, and coming in on the weekends to practice as well. I was without a doubt pushing myself too hard. I had a lot of anxiety back then about how good I was “supposed to be” at the saxophone.

I ended up sustaining an overplaying injury. I started experiencing throat pain and trouble swallowing. These symptoms lasted a whole year before they slowly began to subside. It was so hard because my entire degree program was centered around playing the saxophone, and I was suddenly unable to do so without pain. My family was helping me talk to ENTs and doctors, and nobody was able to find a solution. The stress that this experience caused me had me closer to quitting music than I ever had been.

The answer to this problem was time and learning healthy work-life balance when it came to practicing my instrument. Over the years and with a lot of focus and patience, my throat issue subsided and finally went away. I was able to recover and finish my music performance degree in four years, which is an achievement I am very proud of.

I am so grateful that this experience taught me what my limits are as a musician, and to be patient and kind with myself and where I am in my artistic journey. Because I am this way now, I know that I’ll be able to play the saxophone for many more years.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I will speak from the perspective of a musician in my answer to this.

If there is an artist you love, use your money to buy their merchandise. Streaming their music is also great, but buying one CD from bandcamp.com will generate more revenue for the artist than streaming their album 10,000 times.

If you are on social media, interact with the artist’s post and content. Follow their professional accounts, and share their music and releases on social media. In this day-and-age, social media followers and interaction can make the difference between a band getting booked at a venue or not.

Also I think connecting artists with people who want to use their finances to support the arts is a huge help. If there’s grant money available or funding for musical projects of any kind, it’s very important to help it find it’s way to deserving and hard-working artists.

Contact Info:

• Website: alexcazet.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/alexcazetmusic
• Facebook: facebook.com/alexcazetmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw_EAKjkez7fPteTDqHJWBA

Image Credits
Charla Harvey, Lauren Withrow, Grace Clark