We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jun Iida. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jun below.

Jun, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My recent debut album “Evergreen” (Origin Records) was a meaningful first step forward in my professional musical career. It is a culmination of all of my musical endeavors up until this point, and a representation of my growth as a musician and artist. While I have been working as a professional musician for some time now, this is the first work which represents my original music and artistry to the public. A lot of this music was developed during my time working in Los Angeles (where I first started working professionally), and finished during my time in Seattle (post pandemic). I believe this project is a true representation of who I am, not only as a creative, but also as a human being. I shared a lot of personal messages and concepts throughout the album, and I am excited to be sharing them with my friends, family, and greater musical audience.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a trumpeter, composer, and artist, primarily participating in the art forms of jazz and Black American Music. I started performing professionally in Los Angeles around 2015, and, after having moved to Seattle and now NYC, I have never looked back. I aspire to create original music that enriches others’ lives by providing a sense of hope and joy that may otherwise be nonexistent. Working to expand on this music which was born out of systems of oppression and exploitation, I continue to work to convey messages of freedom, hope, and romance through my music. I am most proud of my music representing what I believe to be the necessary messages in today’s world. While this idiom has a very clear origin in Black American Music, I believe we can all do our part to move this art forward in the directions that are relevant to us.

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

For myself, artists and creatives are only a small part of the equation necessary to create and sustain a feasible ecosystem. Without an engaged and educated audience, we would only be performing and creating for ourselves; without venues that value artists and accommodate accordingly, we would not be able to sustain ourselves professionally; without an education system that impresses the value and relevance of the arts (along with the historical context), we as a society start to lose bearing of what we value; without a society that values and appreciates the arts for all of it’s value, we start to shift emphasis and attention away from the arts and towards financially or impulsively titillating alternatives.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I actually started my journey in STEM and a non-music related industry. While I have always had a love and affinity for music, my collegiate degrees are in Mechanical and Aerospace engineering, and I worked in those industries for some time after college. It was always impressed upon me (whether by family, friends, society, etc.) that it was important to secure a good job and be financially stable coming out of college. From there, the goal was to grow your resume and wealth, and eventually continue along the corporate journey and set yourself up for a comfortable retirement. While I believe there is merit and certainly validity in this lifestyle, I found that this was not necessarily the path for myself. When I think of how fleeting our lives can be, I wanted to maximize my time doing what I love – spending time with friends and family, and playing music. Once this became clear, it was a matter of shifting my thought process to better align with this life style. While I no longer enjoy the benefits of a “normal” job or corporate paycheck, I am certainly enjoying every day that I live, and never taking a moment of it for granted.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.juniidamusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juniidamusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juniidamusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/juniidamusic
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@juniidamusic
• Other: https://juniidamusic.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Steve Korn Lisa Hagen Glynn Elaine Tantra David McGraw