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

Working Drummer

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