431 - Tina Raymond: Her New Record, Running a College Jazz Program, Setting Boundaries

Tina Raymond is an accomplished drummer, composer, bandleader, and educator based in Los Angeles, CA. A unique voice in the contemporary improvised music scene, Raymond blends traditional jazz vocabulary with African polyrhythm and classical percussion technique. She is the Director of Jazz Studies at Cal State Northridge, and her new trio album Divinations will be released October 6th.
In this episode, Tina talks about:

Creating a jazz program where students don’t feel like they’re in competition with each other 

Putting boundaries around her professional life, whether it’s as an educator or a performer

How she tries to help her students become well rounded people, not just good jazz musicians 

Her new record “Divinations” and its tarot theme 

Building drum solos around accompaniment

Making her record “drums forward” both in performance and mix