We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Greg Hammontree a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Greg, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

The learning process is an amazing thing. I love the idea of learning “fast”, but really the fastest way to learn is to study the right information first! Once you have the right information, you can apply it using ‘practice’. It is a very simple process but there are many distractions that can impede your progress. Distractions that can take you away from practicing may be external or internal. I like to keep my “eyes on the prize” and remind myself what I want in life. My internal conversation goes something like, “What do I want? Incredible trumpet playing!”, “When do I want it? Now!”. I repeat this to myself over and over; “What do I want? Incredible trumpet playing”, “When do I want it? Now!”. After enough repetitions, I have no more distractions because my eyes will be dead set on practicing right away.

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 a musician. My primary instrument is the trumpet, but I love to play anything I can touch. I love turning my ears ON and existing in an abstract world, an alternate dimension in a way. The heart of what I do is to “play”, in the sense of exploration and jovial fun, and it applies far outside of music. I think, to be a musician/creative person, one must break the barriers that society loves to build. “Art is serious”, “Is it?” Even in the society of musicians, there are constant walls and boundaries that many navigate around, and what does it get them? “Jazz has to be improvised.” “Really?” I enjoy bending, breaking, and blurring the rules so much so that people forget about and don’t care for them anymore.
My main project that I am apart of, The Queen’s Cartoonists, is a band that synchronizes music with cartoons. It is a fun project that allows us to be playful and topical, but also connects with audiences in deeper ways. My other projects are all radically different; ambient trumpet music, trad jazz, brass bands, and improvised classical impressionism. They all “Play”, in the child-like explorative and engaging way. Having many musical outlets and instruments allow me to keep a fresh perspective and feel uplifted and spirited from playing music. Some musicians pursue certain ideas and then when they achieve them they “work” for the rest of their life. I prefer to play!

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

NFTs prove that art is alive! Art is illusive and hard to measure. It is hard to assign a value to art as well. Music and art will always have a valuable place in the world, even though many musicians feel like DJs, Ipods and Spotify have killed the music industry, NFTs remind us that the abstract world cannot be contained. Who would have thought a digital image could be worth so much money? Although the music industry has changed, the value of live music performance can grow far more valuable. As much as I love recorded music, live music is a different thing – and NFTs prove that, with creative thinking, live music can be sold in a more valuable way than the way it is now. It is an experience that exists in time, and once those minutes and seconds are over, the music is gone forever!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

No. If you want to be a great entrepreneur you need to be desperate and hungry for success. It is when your stomach is empty, that your nails and teeth get sharp. Then you can go out and get whatever you need. You don’t need much information to be a great entrepreneur, You need your fight or flight adrenaline engaged! You will use all your resources and learn what to do quickly, when you are the most desperate.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://greghammontree.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greghammontree/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpqbpJ6MsfS3ZDudTm6AYBQ
• Other: https://www.thequeenscartoonists.com/ https://www.nicolebrancato.com/impressions

Image Credits
Jamie Jung, Douglas Paulson, Lindsey Theong, Bob Krasner, Mark Sheldon