I've been following Peter Martin since 2009 when I saw him play at the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I saw him play there again in 2014. In this interview, he shared that is one of his favorite places to play in St. Louis, ranked at the top with Jazz at the Bistro where he'll be performing May 18–19.
Peter is known for his collaboration since the late 1990s touring and recording with jazz singer, Dianne Reeves. He'll be touring for the next three months in the US, Japan, and Europe. Most of the gigs are with Dianne and others with his trio — Greg Hutchinson on drums and Reuben Rogers on bass. We cover that activity in this interview.
Peter also describes his very interesting upbringing which includes being raised by parents who were professional musicians, having Wynton Marsalis as a mentor and close friend, and his association with many of St. Louis' jazz greats like Carolbeth True, the late Willie Akins, Freddie Washington, and others.
This interview isn't all about music; we also discuss his life as an educator and entrepreneur. Several months ago, I started running into Peter at Venture Café, a weekly gathering of innovators and entrepreneurs. Naturally, I wondered why an accomplished musician would hang with a bunch of business types. I was surprised to learn that he is a leader in online music education. In the podcast he talks about how he founded and launched Open Studio Network, a business described as, "Built in Saint Louis. Made for the World."
