A Year of Bach
A Year of Bach
Podcast Description
Bach is the greatest, and we still don’t talk about him enough. A Year of Bach extends my year-long listening project into conversation. I sit down with writers, philosophers, economists, and entrepreneurs to ask how this 300-year-old music continually rewrites us.
Subscribe here: https://yearofbach.substack.com/ yearofbach.substack.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores the themes of music's emotional impact, personal connections to Bach, and the intersection of literature and music, with episodes discussing topics such as the 'expectation of astonishment' in music and the significance of late bloomers in the arts, as highlighted in the debut episode featuring Henry Oliver.
Bach is the greatest, and we still don’t talk about him enough. A Year of Bach extends my year-long listening project into conversation. I sit down with writers, philosophers, economists, and entrepreneurs to ask how this 300-year-old music continually rewrites us.
Subscribe here: https://yearofbach.substack.com/
Guitarist and composer Miles Okazaki has been an important guitarist in the New York jazz scene for over twenty years. His latest album is Boomtown, featuring a large chamber jazz ensemble playing his jagged Americana. Miles is best known for his solo-guitar recording of the complete works of Thelonious Monk, and we discuss the art of rhythmic placement in Bach and Monk.
Featured are excerpts of Miles’ performances of Bach’s BWV 1005 and one of the Fugues in A Minor.
Links
Miles Okazaki
* Website: milesokazaki.com
* Instagram: @okazakistudio
* YouTube: milesokazaki playlists
Boomtown (Pi Recordings, June 26, 2026)
* Bandcamp
WORK (2018), the complete Monk compositions on solo guitar
* Bandcamp
* Full liner notes, track-by-track commentary, and press
Artists mentioned:
Andrés Segovia · Julian Bream · John Williams · The Beatles · Jascha Heifetz · Glenn Gould · Thelonious Monk · Charlie Parker · Charlie Christian · Art Tatum · Brad Mehldau · Matt Mitchell · Igor Stravinsky · Nat King Cole · Ella Fitzgerald · Jimmy Scott · Julie London · Frank Sinatra · Coleman Hawkins · Iannis Xenakis · Dan Weiss · Kim Cass · Patricia Brennan · Steve Cardenas · Don Sickler
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yearofbach.substack.com
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