Gary Motley. (garymotleymusic.com)

A life in jazz: Gary Motley on influences, collaborations, and Emory’s 2025 Jazz Fest

Mike Shaw | 2 FEB 2025

In anticipation of the 2025 Valentine’s weekend edition of the annual Emory University Jazz Fest, EarRelevant jazz writer Mike Shaw talked with Gary Motley, the founding director of Emory’s Jazz Studies program.

The following Q&A comes from the podcast Music Life and Times, Episode 51, during which Motley talks of his beginnings in music and jazz, associations with other revered jazz musicians, and the upcoming Emory festival, where tenor saxophonist David Sánchez will join him and his trio for the festival’s feature concert on February 14.

• • •

Mike Shaw: What made you decide you wanted to be a career musician? How did all that come about?

Gary Motley. (garymotleymusic.com)

Gary Motley. (garymotleymusic.com)

Gary Motley: It was quite simple. Growing up as a kid, our local public radio station played jazz nightly. So I got exposed to that. There were programs on public television, everything from the Charlie Brown specials that came on to other shows, and that’s where I started really hearing these sounds—and being fascinated with them. I didn’t understand what these musicians were doing, but there was some language they were speaking that they all understood.

Growing up, we had a piano in our home. I was always around piano music. My mom played. So that’s where I developed the affinity for piano. The older I got, the more I played; I became really curious, more and more curious about it, and decided that I wanted to study it in school. From there, fast forwarding, I started playing with local bands and getting some experience under my belt on the bandstand.

Shaw: Anyone in particular who inspired you along the way?

Motley: Once I started learning the names of the jazz icons and checking out their music, of course it was Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Kelly, and the list goes on from there.


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Shaw: I noticed in your bio that among all the other great artists you’ve performed with is the pianist Dave Brubeck. How did that work?

Motley: At Emory University, this was, I believe, 2000 or 2001, the University brought Brubeck in for a week-long residency. When I found out he was coming—I had just started working here at the time—I said, you know, find out if he’d be willing to play some duets with me. And he graciously agreed. So he came to my jazz improv class and we had two pianos and had some fun there. Then as a part of the concert festivities, he and I did two pianos with the orchestra. He was just a super kind man, about all things music.

Shaw: You were also featured on Marian McPartland’s series, Piano Jazz.

Motley: I was on her show in 1994. She found out about me through the guitarist Russell Malone. I was playing with his quartet. And she reached out and invited me to come make an appearance on her show. Again, it’s so funny with the truly great ones; there’s humility and just a warmth. She was very encouraging to me at the time as I was really in learning mode, very encouraging around learning different tunes and different people’s music. So I was very grateful for that opportunity.


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Shaw: Tell us a little about your role as educator and your relationship with the University.

Motley: I came to Emory in 1996. They were looking for someone to teach a jazz improvisation course and I started with that, then talked with them about expanding with other course offerings. And in 2004, I became full-time here. Part of my goal was to build a jazz studies program. So that’s when we started focusing on what needed to be done to build the program. We started the Emory Jazz Fest in 2003. So we’re celebrating the 22nd year of the jazz festival.

Shaw: That’s a perfect segue because that’s what I wanted to talk about next. Tell us about this year’s festival.

Motley: Saxophonist David Sánchez from Puerto Rico will be joining me. Many people have probably heard him playing with SFJazz; he’s been playing with them for a number of years. He will be our guest soloist with the trio.

The rhythm section will have Leon Anderson on drums. Leon is director of jazz studies at Florida State University. I first met him when he was touring and performing with Ellis Marsalis. We’ve been friends for a number of years and always look forward to having an opportunity to play together when we can. I’ll be working with a bassist who is new to me, Caleb Thompkins, a graduate of Florida State. He’s a really promising, young up-and-coming bassist.


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Shaw: Can you give us some insight into the festival program, what we might see and hear?

Motley: The festival is a three-day event. We play Thursday afternoon from 2:30 to 3:45 in the Emerson Concert Hall in the Schwartz Center. The quartet will give a master class, so we will play a little bit and then we’re going to have dialogue with the attendees about different aspects of the music or answer people’s questions about the music itself or the music business. Just really kind of giving them an opportunity to ask questions about what we do and how we go about doing that. On Friday evening, the quartet will be in concert at 8:00 PM in the Emerson Concert Hall. That is a ticketed event. That’ll be the evening concert.

Overall, you can expect to hear some traditional music as well as some original works by members of the ensemble. That is the structure for the Friday night concert. On Saturday morning, the rhythm section with Anderson, Thompkins, and myself will conduct a master class open to all people from the community. Bring your instruments if you want to sit in and play and have some fun with this. And we’ll talk about some of the nuts and bolts of improvisation and give people an opportunity to interact with the band.

On Saturday night, we’ll conclude the festival with the performance by the Emory Big Band. These young players have been putting their music together for the night, which has been our tradition for a number of years. Anderson and Thomkins will join us for the Saturday night concert. It is a free event but you have to have a ticket, just so we can keep track of the number of people who are attending.

2025 Emory Jazz Fest Schedule

Events take place in Emerson Concert Hall unless otherwise listed.

  • Thursday, Feb.13 at 2:30 p.m.,
    Lecture/Demonstration with David Sánchez
    Free | No tickets required
  • Friday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m.
    David Sánchez and the Gary Motley Trio
    Tickets $30 | Emory Students $10
  • Saturday, Feb. 15 at 11:30 a.m.
    Jazz Clinic, Tharp Rehearsal Hall
    Free | No tickets required
  • Saturday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m.
    Emory Big Band
    Free |Tickets required

For more information, visit schwartz.emory.edu

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About the author:
Mike Shaw is a singer-pianist who has performed for decades in News Orleans and Atlanta. He is the author of the novel The Musician and partners with pianist Kevin Bales on the podcast MusicLifeandTimes. He is the founder of Shade Communications, a marketing company. He can be found at mikeshawnow.com.

Read more by Mike Shaw.
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