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ϳԹ music disruptors: From a jazz violinist to a DJ challenging stereotypes

Kersten Stevens performs live with Christian McBride at City Winery in New York City, November, 2023.
Provided
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Prana
Kersten Stevens performs live with Christian McBride at City Winery in New York City, November, 2023.

This hour, we explore ϳԹ music. Violinist recently released a jazz album that she worked on with eight-time Grammy winner Christian McBride. She talks to us about facing imposter syndrome and how her unique sound came out of her experience playing a wide range of genres while growing up in ϳԹ. Qiana Coachman-Strickland, also known as ". And filmmakers Andy Billman and Joe Franco tell us about their on music venue Toad's Place in New Haven.

GUESTS:

  • Kersten Stevens: violinist with the nickname “Queen of the Violin.” She’s won Amateur Night and Showtime at the Apollo a total of six times. She plays in a range of styles, but her latest album, Queen Rising, is jazz.
  • Qiana Coachman-Strickland a.k.a : professional DJ, Female DJ Coach and Owner and Founder of . Qiana is based in ϳԹ.
  • Andy Billman: director of the on New Haven music venue Toad’s Place. He has worked on a number of projects for ESPN, including the award-winning series 30 for 30.
  • Joe Franco: one of the producers of the on New Haven music venue Toad’s Place. He worked at ESPN from the very first year it launched and spent over 30 years there doing everything from covering sporting events to working in HR.

Special thanks to Meg Fitzgerald.

This episode originally aired on January 17, 2024.

Disrupted is available as a podcast on , , , , , , or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Kevin Chang Barnum is a producer for ϳԹ Radio’s weekly show Disrupted. Kevin grew up in ϳԹ and started his radio work at his graduate university’s radio station, KUCI. He has also worked for HRN, a network of food and beverage podcasts.
Wayne Edwards is a freelance producer at ϳԹ contributing to multi-platform productions, including ‘Disrupted’, ‘Where Art Thou?’, and ‘Cutline in the Community’.

Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Wesleyan University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on ϳԹ.
Meg Dalton is the director of audio storytelling and talk shows for ϳԹ where she oversees the station’s talk shows and podcasts, including the limited series 'In Absentia'.
Catie Talarski is Senior Director of Storytelling and Radio Programming at ϳԹ.

Funding provided by:
The ϳԹ Office of Film, Television and Digital Media

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