My guest in this episode is Marian Jago, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music and Jazz Studies at the University of Edinburgh. 

Marian comes to Music Talks through the miracle and wonder of social media and a shared love of the music of Bruce Springsteen. I saw a post in a fan group on Facebook that said, ‘my course on Bruce Springsteen’ and that was Marian. We got into a dialogue and to my amazement she was teaching her course ‘Three Minute Records’ at my local university in Edinburgh.  

Inevitably we talk about Bruce and the course, but we cover a lot more ground than that in this episode.

Prior to becoming an academic Marian was a Producer of Live Concerts and Events before dedicating herself to becoming a Jazz Saxophonist. 

It’s a remarkable story of commitment and determination where she gets to meet, and is consistently helped by, a host of jazz luminaries from Canada and the US, and this culminates in Lee Konitz the composer and saxophonist being her tutor for eight years. 

Like many people I have a very romantic view of the life of a professional musician and Marian does a great job of painting a picture of the harsh reality whilst also saying ‘this was the happiest time of my life’. 

Though now living in Edinburgh Marian is Canadian and that is a theme that runs through our conversation and not just in terms of some of her choices. 

Regarding choices Marian is transparent about her dislike of rules and authority and so she submitted two sets of song choices to me for the episode – ‘The Rule Abiding List’ and ‘The Alternative List’. You will need to listen to get the full story but here is the ‘Rule Abiding List’. 

70’s - Another Brick in The Wall  -               Pink Floyd

80’s - Down in The Bottom              -               Colin James

90’s - The Obvious Child                   -               Paul Simon 

00’s - It’s Alright with Me                  -               Murley-Bickert-Wallace  

10’s - At Transformation                    -               The Tragically Hip 

20’s – If I Was The Priest                    -               Bruce Springsteen 

Outro – Welcome to Hard Times  -               Charley Crockett 

Enjoy 😊