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Occasionally you get to meet someone who is both a master of their craft and admirably humble at the same time. Janelle Reichman, a world-class jazz musician, is such a person. Not only is Janelle an accomplished musician, she also runs a successful, growing business as a website designer, for among others, musicians.\\xa0

Janelle gives an education in Jazz and the life of a professional musician. She talks about her approach to jazz, her music training and the life of a professional jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. Janelle comes across as a keen practitioner, having performed at venues as famous at The Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, as well as countless jazz clubs and honky tonks throughout the country, including Ann Arbor's own Blue Llama Jazz Club. Janelle has played with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and other accomplished and famous clarinetists and jazz musicians but seems to enjoy the most the regular groups she plays with. Janelle's\\xa0 regular groups include The Diva Jazz Orchestra, The Klezmephonic Trio and her own band, Janelle Reichman +4, the now defunct Red Hook Ramblers and Gotham Easy, the rebirth of the defunct Red Hook Ramblers.\\xa0

Her background includes some darker times for her when she was at graduate school at the Manhattan Conservatory of Music, where depression set in. She was saved by a couple fellow musicians and found they grounded her and provided a path through the rest of her time in school. She discusses the early days of her career living in a tiny studio apartment in Brooklyn where violent crime was rampant and how she balanced gigs at clubs with weddings and other appearances and writing music and figuring what was next.\\xa0

In fact, Janelle seems to thrive with several close connections with the musicians in the groups in which she plays. Janelle makes a point to compliment her fellow group members including Henrik Karapetyan whom she calls the "most virtuosic violinist I've ever played with" who "should be world famous." I have to say the way Janelle looks up to the musicians around her is a good measure of her character. She confesses to often being amazed at their abilities and it makes her work harder.\\xa0

We also talk about her improvisational skills and the dexterity and clarity it takes to be an improvisationalist.\\xa0

Not only is Janelle an accomplished musician, she also is building a successful web design endeavor she calls Ellanyze, which was an outgrowth of a yearning for greater fulfillment with her place in the world. Her business has grown to a full-time gig which she balances with her career in music. It turns out that this very talented woman is able to feed multiple creative funnels--one through making music and another through the visual of building websites.\\xa0

We wrap up with a funny analogy about how Janelle solves challenges talking about kitchen cabinets and her kitchen renovation.\\xa0

Hope you enjoy! Here's my conversation with Janelle.\\xa0