Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Lind.
Hi Aaron , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I got started with music at a young age. my second grade teacher was a native Hawaiian and taught us luau. I played ukulele and had a blast playing the songs we learned. Later my parents set me up with classical piano lessons which I stuck with somewhat unwillingly for about 9 years. I played a little guitar in junior high but really got serious about the guitar and music later in high school. I got the jazz bug and eventually moved to New Orleans to complete my undergraduate and master’s degrees in Jazz Studies. I lived in New Orleans for 16 years absorbing the culture and the music and gaining experience as a working musician. I moved to San Diego in 2020 and immediately made friends and connections among the musicians here and am currently a teacher at Grossmont Community College and Coronado School of Arts. I run a private studio as well, focused mainly on up and coming guitar students that want to perform. I play frequently around San Diego, recent gigs include Lou Lou’s, The Jazz Lounge, and The Atheneum in La Jolla. I have some fun gigs coming up at Turf Club with Leonard Patton, who is currently on tour in Europe with Pat Metheny, and at Encinitas Public Library with my Organ Trio.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not a smooth road. Being a musician is a demanding job in a lot of ways that most people don’t realize. The stage part everyone sees makes it look like just a fun job. To build and maintain repertoire takes a few hours a week, sometimes gigs are late at night, and work/life balance can be very difficult. The process of learning how to improvise at a high level is a lifelong task that is both joyful and endless.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I balance my work between teaching and performance. I specialize in playing and teaching jazz, especially bebop and standards from the American songbook. I play solo jazz gigs regularly and also book with my organ trio. I’m proud of the repertoire I’ve built with the band. I have a lot of Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, and more modern Joey DeFrancesco tunes and arrangements in the book. I’ve transcribed a lot of tunes from recordings rather than using fake books because they are riddled with inaccuracies and lack authenticity. I also do a lot of transcription for the jazz band I direct at Coronado School of Arts. It’s labor intensive to write out every part of an arrangement and make artistic choices to re-arrange for the students I have in a given semester but it’s worth it in the end to hear them playing best quality music possible. I’m also proud of my private students in my performance track. I’ve been holding recitals for them and it’s amazing to see the growth and how much they care about music and developing their skills to become performers in their own right,
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I’ve had a lot of mentors and supporters. My teacher Jonathan Kreisberg is not only an amazing world class musician but also an excellent coach. He’s helped me with technique, repertoire, absorbing the jazz language, and too many other elements to name. I’m very grateful. I also had 2+ years working with local legend Fred Benedetti on classical guitar. He was a direct student of Andres Segovia and helped me develop classical technique and a repertoire that I love to play. My great lament of the past few years is that I’ve become too busy to keep studying with him. My wife Whitney Shay is a great support. She is also a local legend and introduced me to a lot of the music community in San Diego that I work with now. We play duo and band gigs together and come out to each other’s gigs. I’m grateful that we can share music and that she understands all the practice time I need to keep up with and advance my craft. I’m also grateful to my private students that give me an outlet to share my musical knowledge and keep my studio running, I couldn’t do it without their dedicated and consistent work!
Pricing:
- Please reach out to me directly for coaching rates
- Please reach out to me directly for performance rates
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aaronlindmusic.com
- Instagram: @aaronlindmusic
- Youtube: @aaronlindmusic
