EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW…

24/7 VALENCIA: I know you moved to Valencia last year so I wanted to ask how you find performing for the Valencian audience.

JASON FAUST: I love performing in this city! There’s just something about Valencia that is super special because it’s a really close community. Especially the community of musicians here is a very close circle of really good friends. It’s nice to be in a city where there’s a lot of awesome live music happening, but at the same time, everyone’s really got each other’s back. It’s nice to be playing music with good people. And the level of music is amazing! There are so many incredible musicians and all these different local communities that we have. The Berklee community, the community of native Valencia musicians, and people that end up staying here from different countries that are amazing as well. It’s really great and I love it.

Do you find it inspiring that people here are open to your kind of music? I’ve noticed here in Valencia and in Europe in general, that people are more open to high-quality music and more open to music that is authentic and that moves you so I really like that. That is one of the main reasons why I moved here. I was living in Los Angeles before this and I felt like I wasn’t really gaining a whole lot of traction or would have taken me much more time and effort which kind of sacrificed quality of life.

Could you share any memorable moments or experiences from your time here in Valencia so far? Back in July, we did a really awesome concert with a music school called Sedajazz. They’re a really incredible jazz school in Valencia. They train musicians from the time they’re really young and by the time they’re 15/16 they’re incredible world-class players. We collaborated with their students for a big orchestra concert, performing with my group afterwards and it was an amazing experience. The people of a small town called Alfafar came out to watch the show outside and it was just a culmination of all these different cultures, all these different musical backgrounds coming together to create this really awesome concert. It gave me and my band an opportunity to be exposed to a Spanish audience at a much deeper level because Sedajazz has been around for a while. We collaborated with them and it was just super powerful.

You were saying a lot about the sense of community. What other message do you hope to convey through your music to the audience? In terms of the message, my music is all about the true nature of self-empowerment. My music’s message is mainly about the challenges I’ve faced in my life and how I’ve worked through them step by step and continue to work through them. We’re like mirrors for each other, to be able to transform ourselves into better versions every single day. Us musicians, we use music as a channelling medium or a tool to work through life challenges. Just like somebody else in another field would use their passion to be able to work through whatever they’re going through. I would say that’s the main thing. If I were to put it into just a couple of words then it would be expressing joy.

Is there anything you’d like to tell your new fans or people who are unfamiliar with jazz before they see you perform? I love all the music that makes people want to dance and just feel happy and celebrate the fact that they’re here in this amazing city. Maybe they have a glass of wine or beer in their hand and they’re just letting loose and breaking free and just feeling the music that we’re sharing for them. It brings me a lot of joy to see people enjoy us performing.

Can you tell me about your music career plans for the future? There are lots of things going on in Valencia. We’re doing some stuff at some other places around Valencia but in the long term, I definitely want to look more into playing in other countries around Europe, maybe playing in other cities in Spain and just starting to build my name as an artist and my band’s name to become more known and for us to spread our music to more places over time.

Can you tell us about your ‘El Volander’ solo concert this week? I will play an intimate solo concert on 19 April @elvolander 22h! Just my keyboard, my trumpet and me! See you there!  To quote the owners of the legendary venue: “El Volander has become a very well-known Café Pub in Valencia for live music every week… where leading singer-songwriters of the local and national scene perform in an intimate setting.”

Interview by Konrad Leśniak & 24/7 Valencia team

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’

JASON FAUST

19 April

22h

‘EL VOLANDER’
POETA NAVARRO CABANES, 25
46018
Valencia
Spain
WHATSAPP: 646910115
https://www.facebook.com/elvolander