The Music Mind Podcast

History is not only about events that happened 100 years ago, but also about preserving recent happenings for future generations.

The Music Mind Podcast is the brainchild of Gympie musician Brian Hayes. Brian’s YouTube channel has over 12,000 subscribers and over 2million views.

Born and raised in the regional city of Gympie, QLD, Australia, with more than 40 years’ experience in the music industry as a player, composer, recording artist, educator, performer and business owner, Brian is well placed to answer queries from students, players and music enthusiasts worldwide. A former full voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, Brian holds a Masters Degree in Music Technology and a Masters Degree in Business (awarded with Distinction).

In 2001, the artist was presented with a Licentiate in Performance (Honours) from the Australian Society of Musicology and Composition in recognition of achievements in the fields of recording, composition and musical performance.

Having played the Bari (USA) brand of synthetic reeds on all saxophones exclusively for over four decades Brian represented Bariwoodwinds, Inc. at the National Association of Music Merchants show (NAMM 2019) held at Anaheim, California.

A multi-instrumentalist, Brian currently plays, records and teaches on piccolo, concert and alto flutes, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet, 6 and 12 string acoustic and electric guitars, 6 string bass, guitar synthesizer, concert and tenor ukuleles, EWI, slide dobro, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. As a composer and performer, his music has qualified for inclusion in the official ballot of the Grammy Awards, USA. A long term recording artist, Brian’s pedal steel guitar playing was first featured on an album recorded at Tamworth, Australia in 1978 titled ‘Steel Guitars of Australia Live’. This album showcased the legendary Jerry Byrd on steel guitar, along with a host of Australian artists.

In 1999, Brian became the first Australian musician to be given the honour of a full album release on the prestigious New York label, Music Minus One. The tenor sax feature album, ‘Sinatra, Sax & Swing’ further won Best Instrumental Album at the 2000 Sunnie Recording Awards – Australia’s then longest running, non-sales based recording awards. This album remains available internationally and was recently reissued in a revised format by the Hal Leonard Corporation, the largest sheet music publisher globally.

Brian’s playing and compositions have been featured as soundtrack material on the Channel 7, 9 and SBS television networks, and the MMM, Austereo and ABC radio networks in Australia. His music continues to be broadcast in various countries internationally.

With the passing of the pioneering Australian jazz legend Don Burrows in 2020, who was a major personal musical hero and inspiration for Brian over many decades, Brian was concerned at the lack of in-depth interviews with Don that were available for historical reference. While Don was interviewed on many occasions the questions asked were largely high level, generic questions, asked by non-musician interviewers. How Don actually approached playing music, how he used his creative mind in a musical context to compose, play and improvise in a such a unique Australian way was lost to all but the few personal students who had the honour to learn from him directly.

To avoid losing such a treasure chest of information from amazing musicians in the future, Brian started his own Podcast series called The Music Mind with the first interview released in July 2021.

The inaugural guest on The Music Mind Podcast was Brian’s older brother Mike Hayes, a world-class guitarist who has spent a highly successful 50 year professional career as a musician based in Gympie, QLD, Australia, the regional city of his birth. Mike’s interview in many ways traces a significant part of the typical music scene over the past 50 years in regional Australia, although in Mike’s case he has taken and shared his music talents and knowledge internationally through determination, persistence and entrepreneurship. Mike’s story is told in a 3 part Episode One of the Music Mind Podcast.

In September 2021, Episode Two was published featuring an extended interview with one of the USA’s most acclaimed contemporary trumpet players, Jim Manley. Jim hails from St Louis in the USA and is widely regarded as a master trumpet player with a rare, effortless command of the upper register on trumpet. In addition, Jim is a very successful music educator which a unique approach to teaching efficiency when playing the trumpet.