Jesse Ryan

This week my guest is Trinidadian-born saxophonist Jesse Ryan. Jesse is a saxophonist and composer with a keen interest in the connections between jazz and Afro-Caribbean musical traditions and communicating transcendent ideas through his music. Ryan’s debut album Bridges (2020) was nominated for a JUNO award and he was the recipient that year of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Emerging Jazz Artist Award.Ryan grew up in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago surrounded by a rich heritage of music and is the grandson of one of the islands’ calypso veteran, the late Clifton Ryan, aka the “Mighty Bomber”.When he moved to Toronto in 2013, he had this unspoken fear of losing a loved one while he was away. That became a reality in 2017 when his mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away on July 27, 2017. He was in Toronto when she passed away and couldn’t travel home in time to be with her. When that happened, he knew that one of the ways that he could deal with the trauma and process his grief was to write some music. That’s how the song 'The Night Before She Passed' came about.You can find more information about Jesse via his website: https://www.jesseryanmuzik.com/or follow Jesse on Instagram @jesseryansaxMusic featured in this episode:'The Night Before She Passed' by Jesse Ryan (Listen here: https://bit.ly/3CC54EJ)Feels Like Healing is a show where I talk to creative people about how grief has shaped their art.These conversations are here to show how those who have suffered loss have found comfort and solace through the act of being creative and how creativity can help us all better understand our grief and reach a place of healing.::You can follow Feels Like Healing on Instagram / Twitter / Facebook @flhpodcastProduced / Edited by Al LewisTheme music by Al Lewis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

Feels like Healing is a series of conversations between myself Al Lewis and individuals who have turned to creativity as a way of helping them heal.Our need for healing is universal. However the reasons behind it can be oh so varied; a difficult childhood, a traumatic experience or perhaps a bereavement and our need to process grief.My search for healing stems from the death of my Dad, who died when I was 21 from Multiple Sclerosis.For over fifteen years I'd kept a quiet lid on my grief. However when it came to clearing out the last remaining boxes from my Dad's attic, that grief that I'd suppressed came rushing to the surface. It was then that I began to write songs about my Dad. Writing those songs was incredibly cathartic and I realised how useful creativity can be when confronted with the hardest parts of life.I believe that hearing other people's stories can help us to process ours and that the act of being creative can help turn something seemingly hopeless and incomprehensible in to something beautiful and hopeful.These conversations are here to provide solace and inspiration and to show you that healing can happen when we take our deepest pain and turn it into a work of art. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.