The Sum of All Wisdom is built on a simple idea: music IS the sum of all wisdom.
More than a podcast, The Sum of All Wisdom is a community and resource platform dedicated to exploring music as a way of knowing. Music is humanity's oldest way of knowing and one of our best technologies for making meaning, and through long-form conversations with musicians, producers, writers, and cultural thinkers—along with performances, essays, and educational resources—we investigate the creative life and what it teaches us about memory, identity, creativity, community, and the human condition.
Whether you're a musician, artist, scholar, or simply someone who loves music and believes it matters, The Sum of All Wisdom is an invitation to listen more deeply: to great music, to the people who make it, and to the wisdom gained through a life devoted to music and musical worlds.
Because music is more than entertainment. It is one of humanity's most ancient ways of understanding the universe and our place in it.
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Earl Slick on David Bowie, John Lennon & the most memorable moment of his incredible career
Épisode 17
mercredi 19 août 2026 • Durée 01:04:06
Earl Slick has spent more than five decades alongside some of the most consequential artists in rock and roll—David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Buddy Guy and many more. And he's not done yet.
BOWIE: LIVE ON THE LOCH — NOVEMBER 7–8, 2026 Earl is helping lead Bowie: Live on the Loch, an extraordinary two-day celebration of David Bowie at Cameron House on Loch Lomond, Scotland, in aid of Save the Children. The weekend reunites members of Bowie’s legendary Glastonbury 2000 band—including Earl Slick, Mike Garson, Gail Ann Dorsey, Mark Plati, Sterling Campbell—for a live performance on November 8.
The weekend also features rare Bowie footage, the Duffy Archive exhibition, conversations about Bowie’s legacy, and Earl Slick’s Rock ’n’ Roll Guitar Auction, with proceeds supporting Save the Children.
For the podcast conversation, though, Slick doesn’t particularly want to talk about being a guitar hero.
“I love being a sideman,” he says. “I like to be the guy that supports the guy.”
In this episode of The Sum of All Wisdom, Earl joins Dr. Scott Catey—with guitar close at hand—to talk about rhythm, instinct, collaboration, creativity, and what it means to discover what only you can bring to the music. In our conversation, Earl takes us inside his remarkable musical life—from seeing the Beatles and discovering Keith Richards to joining David Bowie for the Diamond Dogs Tour and confronting an intimidating question: Was he supposed to replace Mick Ronson by sounding like Mick Ronson?
Bowie’s answer changed everything: “I love what you do. Do what you do.”
Earl tells the stories behind his work on Station to Station, including “Stay” and “Golden Years,” and explains why rhythm—not guitar heroics—lies at the center of his playing:
“The rhythm to me…it’s the heartbeat.”
He also remembers working with John Lennon and Yoko Ono during the Double Fantasy era, and shares the deeply emotional story of performing “Imagine” with Bowie in Hong Kong on the third anniversary of Lennon’s death. Earl remembers fighting back tears—and knowing that if he looked at Bowie, he might not make it through the song.
And then there’s Buddy Guy. After playing with Bowie and Lennon and spending decades on some of the world’s biggest stages, Earl says one of the great validations of his musical life came when Buddy Guy invited him to play. The experience left him so exhilarated that he walked around Chicago for two hours the next morning trying to come down from it.
Near the end of our conversation, Earl describes that disappearance beautifully. When he’s making art or playing onstage, the noise of everyday life falls away. Thinking stops. “I just become me. Whatever the essence of me is.” And perhaps that’s the larger lesson here: greatness isn’t always about standing at the center. Sometimes it’s about listening closely enough to discover what only you can bring—and putting it in service of something larger.
Highlights
David Bowie and the creative freedom to “do what you do”
John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Double Fantasy
Keith Richards and the power of rhythm guitar
The making of “Stay” and “Golden Years”
Why Earl Slick loves being a sideman
Mick Ronson and finding your own musical identity
Steve Cropper and the lineage of the great sideman
Playing with Buddy Guy
Guitars, amps, pickups and playing with your fingers
Visual art and losing yourself in the creative process
Why the ordinary world disappears when Earl steps onto a stage
Music Featured in this Episode:
Slick’s in the moment riffing
All music used with permission
About the Artist
Earl Slick is one of rock and roll’s most distinctive and enduring guitarists. Best known for his decades-long collaboration with David Bowie, Slick helped shape landmark recordings including Young Americans and Station to Station and returned to Bowie’s band across multiple eras. He also played with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey, and has worked with artists including Ian Hunter, John Waite, The Cure, and Buddy Guy. Renowned for his muscular, instinctive playing and deep sense of rhythm, Slick proudly embraces the role of sideman: serving the song, supporting the artist, and always bringing something unmistakably his own.
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, and Meaning is inspired by two ideas:
· Music IS the sum of all wisdom, and
· Music is humanity’s oldest way of knowing ourselves, each other, and the world.
The show offers long-form, reflective conversations with musicians and related professionals who have spent a lifetime honing their craft, and whose work creates meaning, community, and cultural impact. The show prioritizes listening, craft, and the lived experience of making music as a way of making a living.
The Sum of All Wisdom is written, produced, and hosted by Dr. Scott Catey. If this conversation resonated, consider sharing it—or carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life.
How Creative Excellence Actually Works: Learning from Rich Mangicaro
Épisode 16
mercredi 12 août 2026 • Durée 01:11:24
Episode Summary
For more than four decades, percussionist, composer, producer, and artist-relations executive Rich Mangicaro has stood alongside some of music's most celebrated performers—including Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, David Crosby, Venice, and many others. But as Rich explains, lasting musical careers aren't built on virtuosity alone. They're built on listening.
In this conversation, Rich reflects on learning groove with The Drifters, finding his place in Glenn Frey's band, building instruments with Gon Bops, composing music for film and television, and eventually discovering his own artistic voice after decades as one of Los Angeles' most respected sidemen.
Together we explore why percussion is about storytelling rather than timekeeping, what separates great musicians from merely talented ones, how the streaming era has transformed music, and why serving the song often matters more than standing in the spotlight.
This is a conversation about rhythm, humility, collaboration, and the quiet discipline of paying attention.
Episode Highlights
· Growing up with Ringo, jazz, and Afro-Cuban rhythms
· Learning groove from The Drifters
· Touring with Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh
· Why the best percussionists don't play the most notes
· Artist relations and designing instruments at Gon Bops
· COVID, creativity, and finding a personal compositional voice
· Streaming, physical media, and the economics of independent music
· Film music, Hans Zimmer, and why movie scores deserve respect
· Rick Rubin and listening as creative practice
· Why "you can't converse unless you listen"
The Cheese Line: Tom Catmull on Songwriting & Staying Human
Épisode 15
mercredi 5 août 2026 • Durée 01:08:14
Over a career spanning—at this point—more than three decades, Tom Catmull has become one of the remarkable songwriters Montana is known for, not by chasing trends or fame, but by trusting his craft, his songs, and his audience.
In this conversation, Tom reflects on recording his latest album Last Resort, building a musical life, and the lessons that come from decades on stages large and small. Along the way he shares why great performances require musicians to "show their guts," how he avoids crossing what he calls the "cheese line," why words behave like colors, and how his songwriting has changed as he's grown older.
It's a thoughtful conversation about music, storytelling, authenticity, and what success looks like when connection matters more than celebrity.
Highlights
· Recording a band honestly
· The evolution of a songwriter
· Missoula's changing music scene
· House concerts and human connection
· The "cheese line"
· Words as musical material
· Performance as intimacy
· Why simplicity is difficult
· Success beyond fame
Music Featured in this Episode:
L.O.L.A. Hello
Narrow
Puff of Smoke
All music is from the album Tom Catmull's Last Resort, released in December of 2025. All music is used with permission
Memorable Moments
· "I hadn't put the sound of this band in a bottle."
· "Open your trench coat and show your guts."
Always Almost Famous: Earl Okin on Creativity, Music, Success, and How Craft Matters
Épisode 14
mercredi 29 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:10:52
What does a lifetime in music actually look like?
For singer, songwriter, guitarist, comedian, and raconteur Earl Okin, it begins with a wind-up gramophone at the age of three and unfolds across more than seven decades of listening, performing, writing, and constantly refining the craft.
In this conversation, Earl reflects on a remarkable musical journey that has carried him from postwar London to Abbey Road Studios, from touring with Paul McCartney and Wings and Van Morrison to sharing stages with folk, rock, pop, and jazz legends, all while building a career that defies easy categorization.
Along the way, he reveals how songs are really written, why Peggy Lee changed the way he hears and performs music, what João Gilberto taught him about bossa nova, and why the greatest artists are often their own harshest critics.
Join us for a rewarding conversation about creative persistence, living one step ahead of the cultural curve, how to give your craft the right attention, and what it means to spend a career making, living, and loving music.
In this episode
A postwar London childhood spent with a gramophone and collecting 78s
Discovering opera, jazz, and the Great American Songbook
Recording at Abbey Road in the shadow of Sgt. Pepper
Touring the UK with Paul McCartney and Wings
Life on the road with Van Morrison
How songs emerge from instinct, craft, and “finding the gold”
Learning bossa nova from the Brazilian masters
Phrasing or virtuosity? What matters most?
Perfectionism, practice, and the lifelong pursuit of better performances
The great musicians aren’t always the famous ones
Writing an autobiography through stories rather than chronology
Continuing to compose, tour, perform, and create memorable music into his eighth decade
Featured Music
In order:
“London Now”
“Everything I do is to be of service”: Butch Norton on Listening as a creative act
Épisode 13
mercredi 22 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:09:46
What does it mean to be a musician in service of others?
Butch Norton has spent a lifetime making other people sound their best.
Over the course of a career spanning more than five decades, he's performed and recorded with artists including Lucinda Williams, Eels, Tracy Chapman, Lowen & Navarro, and many others, while also building an extraordinary body of work as a percussionist, educator, improviser, and collaborator.
But behind the impressive résumé lies a deeper philosophy.
In this conversation, Butch reflects on what it means to be of service—to songs, to fellow musicians, to dancers, and ultimately to the creative process itself. Along the way, we explore his early years growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, his transformative education at the California Institute of the Arts under legendary percussionist John Bergamo, and the experiences that shaped his unique approach to rhythm, movement, improvisation, and listening.
Our conversation ranges from touring with Lucinda Williams and helping launch The Eels, to accompanying modern dance and yoga classes, building percussion instruments from unlikely materials, and even creating an impressive—and unexpected—customized rain stick. Throughout it all, Butch returns to some straightforward ideas: Listen. Pay attention. Stay curious. Try something new.
Whether he's laying down a groove, supporting a singer-songwriter, responding to a room full of dancers, or encouraging younger musicians to embrace mistakes as opportunities, Butch reminds us that great musicianship is rooted not in virtuosity alone, but in curiosity, generosity, and deep listening.
This is a conversation about rhythm, perception, collaboration, and the lifelong practice of staying open to surprise.
In this episode
Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area during a remarkable musical era
“It’s Not Factual, But It’s True”: A Conversation with Robyn Hitchcock
Épisode 12
mercredi 15 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:20:39
Few songwriters have constructed imaginative worlds as distinctive, or as enduring, as Robyn Hitchcock. Across more than five decades, his songs have blurred the boundaries between memory and myth, humor and melancholy, everyday observation and surreal revelation. With the publication of his remarkable new memoir Stranded in the Future and the release of his new album The Confuser, it seemed the perfect moment to explore not simply Hitchcock's work, but the imaginative life from which it springs.
Across more than fifty years—from The Soft Boys through his remarkable solo career—Hitchcock has cultivated a body of work where surreal imagery, humor, memory, obsession, and startling emotional honesty coexist in songs that continue to reward close listening.
In this conversation, Scott Catey and guest co-host Andrew Hunt sit down with Hitchcock to discuss his acclaimed new memoir Stranded in the Future, his first memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, both published by Akashic Books, and his forthcoming album The Confuser, on the Tony Ghost label. The conversation ranges from songwriting, memory, and technology, to creativity and the peculiar relationship between memoir and imagination.
Rather than treating songs as coded autobiography, Hitchcock describes how music grows from memory, mythmaking, and what he calls “hybrids”—real people transformed into constituents of his imaginative landscapes, from which his songs emerge. Along the way, the conversation explores boarding school, Bob Dylan, Syd Barrett, The Beatles, Nashville, mortality, artistic obsession, and the strange ways each of us becomes a custodian of disappearing worlds.
Whether you’re a longtime Hitchcock devotee or discovering his work for the first time, this episode offers a rare look inside one of popular music’s most singular creative minds.
In this episode
Why Hitchcock says he “never left” 1967
Winchester College and discovering Dylan, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and more
The difference between factual truth and emotional truth
What is Art For in an Age of Distraction? Matthias Sturm on the Art of Paying Attention
Épisode 11
mercredi 8 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:20:40
Matthias Sturm: Music, Memory, & the Future of Listening
What happens to art when attention becomes scarce?
In this episode of The Sum of All Wisdom, Dr. Scott Catey sits down with East Germany-born, Paris-based composer, songwriter, and visual artist Matthias Sturm for a wide-ranging conversation about music, memory, politics, and the future of creative work.
Having grown up in Dresden, in East Germany, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Matthias reflects on life under surveillance, discovering Western music behind the Iron Curtain, and how those experiences continue to shape his songwriting decades later. Along the way, he shares stories of underground cassette culture, punk, jazz, Prince, Depeche Mode, and the surprising ways music crossed political borders.
The conversation then turns toward larger questions. What happens when streaming platforms transform artists into “content creators”? Can meaningful music—or any art—survive an attention economy built on distraction? And how should artists respond to artificial intelligence, algorithms, and a culture increasingly driven by speed rather than reflection?
Throughout, Matthias argues for something increasingly rare: art that asks us not simply to hear, but to listen.
This is a conversation about history, creativity, and why slowing down may be one of the most radical things music can still ask of us.
Highlights
Growing up in East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell
Living under surveillance and discovering artistic community
Punk, cassette culture, and youth music behind the Iron Curtain
Why Prince, Soft Cell, and Depeche Mode mattered in Dresden
Building concept albums as immersive worlds
The influence of Bach, literature, and “dark songwriting”
Touring internationally while balancing family life
AI, algorithms, and the shrinking attention span
Re-Enchanting the World through Music: An intimate conversation with Karo Glazer & Michal Rosicki (Part 2)
Épisode 10
mercredi 1 juillet 2026 • Durée 58:03
Last time, we asked, “What happens when music stops being content and becomes an experience?” and we ended the episode with an invitation to “Close your eyes and listen.”
Today we explore what happens when you accept that invitation, when we learn to really listen?
What happens when we stop treating music as background noise and begin experiencing it as something capable of changing the way we see—and hear—the world?
In the second half of this conversation, Dr. Scott Catey welcomes back vocalist, composer, and producer Karo Glazer and immersive audio producer Michal Rosa-Rosicki of RED Producers to explore music as a source of wonder, creativity, and human connection.
The conversation begins with Karo’s remarkable journey to Abbey Road Studios, where performing in the legendary Studio Two became not simply a career milestone but a deeply personal encounter with musical history. From there, the discussion ranges across artistic discipline, international collaboration, immersive composition, women in music production, artificial intelligence, and the importance of remaining curious in an age increasingly shaped by algorithms.
Throughout the episode, Karo and Michal return to a simple but profound invitation: close your eyes and listen.
They argue that music is more than entertainment or content. It is a language that transcends borders, a practice of collaboration, and an opportunity to recover the sense of wonder that modern life so often obscures.
The conversation culminates in an unexpected moment as Karo offers an impromptu demonstration of her creative process, building music from breath, voice, and imagination alone—a beautiful reminder that some aspects of music are best understood not through explanation, but through experience.
Highlights
• Karo’s life-changing performance at Abbey Road Studios
• Why great art still demands patience, discipline, and practice
• Supporting the next generation of musicians through “Road to Abbey”
Close Your Eyes and Listen: Karo Glazer & Michal Rosicki of RED Producers
Épisode 9
mercredi 24 juin 2026 • Durée 58:51
What happens when music stops being content and becomes an experience?
In this first installment of a two-part conversation, Dr. Scott Catey welcomes vocalist, composer, and producer Karo Glazer alongside immersive audio producer Michał Rosa-Rosicki of RED Producers.
Their story begins decades ago in a recording studio, where a young singer-songwriter and an aspiring sound engineer first crossed paths. Years later, after separate journeys through jazz, composition, production, architecture, and international performance, they reunited to create RED Producers—a creative partnership built on the belief that music is fundamentally human and inherently collaborative.
The conversation traces the origins of that partnership, including the creation of “Hand in Hand,” an international peace project launched in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. From there, Karo and Michał explore immersive audio, not merely as a technology, but as a new language for musical expression—one that treats space, movement, and presence as compositional tools.
Along the way, they challenge assumptions about streaming culture, attention, artistic identity, and the future of listening itself.
At the heart of the discussion is a deceptively simple invitation:
Close your eyes and listen.
In This Episode “You can put twenty microphones around me. It’s still one voice. My voice.” - Karo Glazer
Listeners can expect a deep dive into Karo’s current artistic universe — including the upcoming Abbey Road Concert live video session recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios Studio 2. We’ll also talk about “Into The Voice” — an immersive voice experience and live 360 concept exploring the human voice as instrument, space and emotional architecture through immersive audio and performance. And of course, listeners will get an exclusive look into music from the upcoming album #LadyDynamite and “Black Sun” single.
• The origins of RED Producers • The Artists for Peace project and the creation of “Hand in Hand”• Why music is fundamentally collaborative• Architecture, composition, and immersive sound• How Dolby Atmos changes the creative process• Listening as participation rather than consumption• The limits of algorithmic music culture• Why surprise still matters in art• Abbey Road Studios and the next chapter of their work• Building an international immersive-audio community• Music, mindfulness, and presence• Human creativity in the age of AI
Finding Music in the Unexpected: A Conversation with Jeff Tripoli
Épisode 8
mercredi 10 juin 2026 • Durée 01:14:29
In this episode of The Sum of All Wisdom, Scott Catey sits down with percussionist, composer, educator, and sonic explorer Jeff Tripoli for a conversation that moves far beyond the drum kit. What happens when a drummer stops thinking like a drummer?
Drawing inspiration from artists like Harry Partch, Butch Norton, John Bergamo, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and countless musical traditions from around the world, Jeff has built a creative practice centered on curiosity, experimentation, and deep listening. His latest album, Natural Habitat, transforms birdsong, footsteps, washing machines, field recordings, hand percussion, and invented instruments into immersive sonic landscapes that blur the line between music and environment.
Together, Scott and Jeff explore:
How mentorship has shaped Jeff’s artistic journey
The influence of Harry Partch and invented instruments
Why imperfection often creates the most memorable art
The role of field recordings and environmental sound in composition
Creativity, chance, and “happy accidents”
David Bowie’s cut-up techniques and rhythmic poetry
Touring internationally with Celtic folk-rock band The Town Pants
The future of drumming in an age of social media and AI
Why musicians must remain lifelong students
Along the way, Jeff demonstrates several of his handmade percussion inventions, discusses the philosophy behind his “contraption kit,” and shares why he believes the most important lesson for any artist is simple:
“Listen and serve the music.”
This is a conversation about sound, experimentation, humility, and discovering wisdom in places most of us overlook.
About Jeff Tripoli
Jeff Tripoli is a drummer, percussionist, educator, composer, and recording artist based in Syracuse, New York. A veteran of international touring with The Town Pants, Jeff’s work spans rock, Celtic music, world percussion, experimental composition, and handcrafted instrument design. His recent solo releases, and , explore the intersection of percussion, found sound, improvisation, and sonic storytelling.
Featured Music:
· Amazonia (Travels)
· Flattening the Curve (Dialogues)
· The Way It Was (A Dream I Had)
All music used with permission
Memorable Moments
· "My job wasn't to show everybody how good I was."
· "You can't converse unless you listen."
· "Music is conversation."
· "Play what the music calls for."
· "Our job is to make people dance."
About the Artist
Rich Mangicaro is a percussionist, composer, producer, music journalist, and artist-relations specialist whose career spans more than four decades at the highest levels of the music industry. Best known for his fifteen years performing with Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, Rich has also toured or recorded with artists including Joe Walsh, David Crosby, Michael McDonald, Aaron Neville, Jeff Bridges, The Tubes, James Morrison, Jackson Browne, and the acclaimed vocal group Venice.
Away from the stage, Rich has become one of the percussion world's leading voices in artist relations, helping shape instrument design while working closely with generations of influential drummers and percussionists. He currently serves as Artist Relations Manager and Product Specialist for Gon Bops, where he also produces and hosts The Percussion Loft podcast.
As a composer, Rich creates immersive instrumental music that blends acoustic percussion, cinematic textures, and melodic storytelling. His three solo albums—Travels (2018), Dialogues (2022), and A Dream I Had (2024)—reflect a lifetime of listening, travel, collaboration, and creative curiosity. In recent years, he has also composed music for television, film, and commercial productions with longtime collaborator Jonathan Clark.
Whether performing, composing, producing, designing instruments, or mentoring fellow musicians, Rich approaches every role with the same philosophy expressed in this conversation: the greatest musicians are not those who play the most notes—they are the ones who listen the best.
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, and Meaning is inspired by two ideas:
· Music IS the sum of all wisdom, and
· Music is humanity’s oldest way of knowing ourselves, each other, and the world.
The show offers long-form, reflective conversations with musicians and related professionals who have spent a lifetime honing their craft, and whose work creates meaning, community, and cultural impact. The show prioritizes listening, craft, and the lived experience of making music as a way of making a living.
The Sum of All Wisdom is written, produced, and hosted by Dr. Scott Catey. If this conversation resonated, consider sharing it—or carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life. Until next time: stay curious, keep listening!
· "I listen as much to the way words sound as what they mean."
· "The more money you make, the less fun you're going to have."
· "I just want to play good shows."
About the Artist
Tom Catmull is an acclaimed Americana songwriter, originally from Texas, and now based in Missoula, Montana. His music blends infectious melodies, vivid storytelling, and a deep love of language. Across seven albums and long experience touring and performing, Tom has had a multifaceted life in music: he's shared stages with artists including Robert Earl Keen, Junior Brown, and Asleep at the Wheel; he’s played countless theater, festival, and club shows; he's a para-educator, teaching others how to use music to communicate; and and he's built a career around one simple mission: getting exceptional music to you.
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, and Meaning is inspired by two ideas:
· Music IS the sum of all wisdom, and
· Music is humanity’s oldest way of knowing ourselves, each other, and the world.
The show offers long-form, reflective conversations with musicians and related professionals who have spent a lifetime honing their craft, and whose work creates meaning, community, and cultural impact. The show prioritizes listening, craft, and the lived experience of making music as a way of making a living.
The Sum of All Wisdom is written, produced, and hosted by Dr. Scott Catey. If this conversation resonated, consider sharing it—or carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life.
“You’re playing, and just a lot of clichés come out of your mouth... then suddenly there’s a little bit of gold. You take it, polish it, and eventually it becomes a song.”
About Earl Okin
Earl Okin is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, arranger, comedian, and broadcaster whose career spans more than sixty years. Blending jazz, bossa nova, classic songwriting, and sharply observed humor, he has toured internationally, appeared on major television programs, shared stages with legendary musicians, and continues to write, record, and perform today.
His work reminds us that music is not only a profession or a performance; it is a lifelong practice of listening.
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, and Meaning is animated by two ideas:
· Music IS the sum of all wisdom, and
· Music is humanity’s oldest way of knowing ourselves, each other, and the world.
The show offers long-form, reflective conversations with musicians and related professionals who have spent a lifetime honing their craft, and whose work creates meaning, community, and cultural impact. The show prioritizes listening, craft, and the lived experience of making music as a way of making a living.
The Sum of All Wisdom is written, produced, and hosted by Dr. Scott Catey. If this conversation resonated, consider sharing it—or carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life.
Visit TheSumOfAllWisdom.com for the complete transcript, companion essays, Field Notes, and the Listening Room for this episode, where you'll find additional resources, links, and further exploration of the ideas discussed here.
If you enjoyed this conversation, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing the episode with someone who loves music, creativity, and the stories behind the craft.
About the Show
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, and Meaning grew from two simple ideas:
1. Music is the sum of all wisdom
2. Music is humanity’s oldest ways of understanding the world.
From there, we dedicated our work to long-form, reflective conversations with master craftspeople who write, make, play, and perform music. The work they do brings meaning, builds community, and creates profound cultural impact. We want to know more about how they do it. That’s the reason for the show.
The Sum of All Wisdom is written, produced, and hosted by Dr. Scott Catey. If the conversation resonates with you, we hope you’ll consider subscribing, liking, and sharing it—and carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life.
Mr. A, Mr. B., and Ms. C.: obsession, mythology, and creative life
Memoir as reconstruction rather than chronology
Writing books on an iPhone in the middle of the night
Why creativity is essential to mental health
Building The Confuser with Nashville musicians
The enduring influence of The Beatles
The relationship between songs, memory, and identity
Why Hitchcock keeps writing
Books discussed
1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left
Published in 2024 by Akashic Books.
An evocative memoir of Hitchcock’s fourteenth year, when boarding school, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and the cultural upheavals of the late 1960s permanently shaped his imagination. More than an autobiography, it is an exploration of the year that became Hitchcock’s enduring creative homeland.
Stranded in the Future
Published July 2026 by Akashic Books.
Picking up where 1967 leaves off, Stranded in the Future follows Hitchcock from 1968-1978, the years leading to The Soft Boys while exploring memory, artistic obsession, and the self-mythology that Hitchcock created around the figures who shaped his life. Rather than a conventional memoir, it reads as an imaginative reconstruction of consciousness itself.
Forthcoming Album
The Confuser
Hitchcock’s newest studio album finds him embracing one of the strongest ensemble recordings of his career. Recorded in Nashville with Eric Slick, Todd Bolden, Jeremy Fetzer, Pat Berkery, and a remarkable circle of collaborators, The Confuser combines the melodic adventurousness and lyrical imagination that have long defined Hitchcock’s work with a fresh, deeply collaborative musical chemistry.
During our conversation, Hitchcock repeatedly credits his wife, Emma Swift, as the catalyst behind this creative chapter. It was Swift who encouraged him to record in Nashville, introduced him to key collaborators, urged him to begin writing his memoirs, and continues to serve as producer, tour manager, label partner at Tiny Ghost Records, and what Hitchcock affectionately describes as the “psychic glue” holding the entire enterprise together. The result is an album that feels simultaneously rooted in Hitchcock’s long musical journey and energized by an entirely new creative community.
Akashic Books is an independent Brooklyn-based publisher known for literary fiction, memoir, noir fiction, music writing, and culturally adventurous nonfiction. Since its founding in 1996, Akashic has built a reputation for publishing distinctive voices that often fall outside mainstream commercial categories—making it an especially fitting home for Hitchcock’s memoirs.
About the Show
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, and Meaning is a long-form, reflective podcast centered on working musicians and music-adjacent professionals whose work creates meaning, community, and cultural impact. The show prioritizes listening, craft, and lived experience over promotion.
The show is written, produced, and hosted by Dr. Scott Catey. If this conversation resonated, consider sharing it—or carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life.
Streaming, independent artists, and the economics of music
Why music should be more than content
Music Featured in this Episode:
Peace on Earth
All Beauty Must Die
Puppet Robe Anthem
All music used with permission
Memorable Moments
“How do you create art and music for people who are no longer able to pay attention?”
“Imagine you’re born in a country which doesn’t exist anymore.”
“I’m not a content creator. I’m an artist.”
Connect with the Artist
Music is more than entertainment. It is one of humanity’s oldest ways of understanding the world. This episode invites us to slow down long enough to remember why. Follow these links to learn more about Matthias and his work.
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, and Meaning is a long-form, reflective podcast centered on working musicians and music-adjacent professionals whose work creates meaning, community, and cultural impact. The show prioritizes listening, craft, and lived experience over promotion.
The Sum of All Wisdom is written, produced, and hosted by Dr. Scott Catey. If this conversation resonated, consider sharing it—or carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life.
• International collaboration as a creative philosophy
• The promise—and limitations—of AI in music
• Why immersive audio is ultimately about human presence
• Improvisation, jazz, and the art of listening
• Silence, breath, and space as musical composition
• Women in music production and the Music Is Her Name initiative
• The role of curiosity in sustaining creativity
• A spontaneous live vocal demonstration from Karo
Memorable Moments
• “Music is human.”
• “Practice, practice, practice.”
• “Don’t follow the pattern. Just try to find your way of thinking.”
• “If people tell you it’s wrong... then you should probably go there.”
• “Close your eyes and listen.”
• “Practice, practice, practice.”
• “Never limit yourself. You are more than you think.”
• “Stay creative. Don’t follow any patterns.”
About the Guests
Karo Glazer is a vocalist, composer, producer, and immersive-audio innovator whose work spans jazz, contemporary composition, visual storytelling, and emerging audio technologies. Her performances and productions explore music as a fully immersive artistic experience, combining architecture, movement, and sound.
Michal Rosa-Rosicki is a producer, sound engineer, and immersive-audio specialist whose work focuses on the intersection of composition, technology, and live performance.
Together they co-founded RED Producers, an international creative production company dedicated to expanding the possibilities of musical experience.
Expanded Artist Bio
Karo Glazer is a powerhouse voice and immersive vocal artist, composing sonic structure through sound, space and presence.
Renowned for her four-octave voice and fearless artistic vision, Karo Glazer creates music that feels both explosive and deeply refined: rebellious, sensual and emotionally charged. Moving fluidly between alternative, jazz, soul and psychedelia, she shapes her own distinctive concept: Immersive Voice. Her transatlantic sound draws from both European and American musical traditions, fusing intricate orchestration, hypnotic rhythm, layered vocal expression and cinematic scope. What emerges is an intense sonic journey through passion, defiance, vulnerability and strength.
On May 24, 2025, she made history as the first Polish artist to perform and record a solo concert at Abbey Road Studio 2. She returned to Abbey Road to record an Immersive Voice Live Session; this time solo, surrounded by microphones, pushing further her concept of voice as space, instrument and environment.
Her releases have entered the U.S. market, including a debut on the SubModern Charts and a limited vinyl edition for Record Store Day US.
With a catalogue of over 300 original compositions, Glazer’s work reaches far beyond a single release cycle. Her earlier career was rooted in the European market, with releases across both independent and major labels, leading to extensive international touring. Working across jazz, contemporary and cross-genre projects, she built a foundation of scale, precision and long-form musical thinking—developing a catalogue ready for sync, film and live expansion. Today, she returns as an independent artist. Not at the beginning, but with an established body of work and full creative control. Her broader creative output includes large-scale works such as “Illumination” - an immersive ballet directed by Bolshoi dancer Alexey Torgunakov—and the score for the theatre play “Wisława”, inspired by Nobel Prize–winning poet Wisława Szymborska.
Her work has been recognized by Tom Waits and members of Coldplay at the International Songwriting Competition. She has collaborated with artists including Mike Stern, Klaus Doldinger, Lars Danielsson and John Taylor and worked with Grammy-winning producers such as Flemming Rasmussen and Martin Walters.
“She is not a girl. She is dynamite!” - Mike Stern
A warm and illuminating conversation with Tom Catmull, an acclaimed Americana songwriter from Missoula, Montana, whose music blends infectious melodies, vivid storytelling, and a deep love of language. Across seven albums and decades of touring, he’s shared stages with artists including Robert Earl Keen, Junior Brown, and Asleep at the Wheel—always using the songs to lead listeners back to the words.
The Sum of All Wisdom explores music as one of...
Memorable Moments • “I didn't choose music. I was chosen by music.” • “Music is human.” • “Close your eyes and listen.” • “I don’t care who’s singing. I care about music.”
About the Guests Karo Glazer is a vocalist, composer, producer, and immersive-audio innovator whose work spans jazz, contemporary composition, visual storytelling, and emerging audio technologies. Her projects have brought together artists from across Europe and the United States while exploring new possibilities for musical experience.
Michal Rosa-Rosicki is a producer, sound engineer, and immersive-audio specialist whose work focuses on the intersection of technology, composition, and live performance. Together they co-founded RED Producers, a creative production company dedicated to building new forms of musical engagement.
Karo Glazer & Michal Rosicki are co-founders of RED Producers, an international production hub. Independent - with infrastructure already in place.
Expanded Artist Bio Karo Glazer is a powerhouse voice and immersive vocal artist, composing sonic structure through sound, space and presence.
Renowned for her four-octave voice and fearless artistic vision, Karo Glazer creates music that feels both explosive and deeply refined: rebellious, sensual and emotionally charged. Moving fluidly between alternative, jazz, soul and psychedelia, she shapes her own distinctive concept: Immersive Voice. Her transatlantic sound draws from both European and American musical traditions, fusing intricate orchestration, hypnotic rhythm, layered vocal expression and cinematic scope. What emerges is an intense sonic journey through passion, defiance, vulnerability and strength.
On May 24, 2025, she made history as the first Polish artist to perform and record a solo concert at Abbey Road Studio 2. She returned to Abbey Road to record an Immersive Voice Live Session; this time solo, surrounded by microphones, pushing further her concept of voice as space, instrument and environment.
Her releases have entered the U.S. market, including a debut on the SubModern Charts and a limited vinyl edition for Record Store Day US.
With a catalogue of over 300 original compositions, Glazer’s work reaches far beyond a single release cycle. Her earlier career was rooted in the European market, with releases across both independent and major labels, leading to extensive international touring. Working across jazz, contemporary and cross-genre projects, she built a foundation of scale, precision and long-form musical thinking—developing a catalogue ready for sync, film and live expansion. Today, she returns as an independent artist. Not at the beginning, but with an established body of work and full creative control. Her broader creative output includes large-scale works such as “Illumination” - an immersive ballet directed by Bolshoi dancer Alexey Torgunakov—and the score for the theatre play “Wisława”, inspired by Nobel Prize–winning poet Wisława Szymborska.
Her work has been recognized by Tom Waits and members of Coldplay at the International Songwriting Competition. She has collaborated with artists including Mike Stern, Klaus Doldinger, Lars Danielsson and John Taylor and worked with Grammy-winning producers such as Flemming Rasmussen and Martin Walters.
“She is not a girl. She is dynamite!” - Mike Stern
Coming Next Week Part 2 of this conversation explores Abbey Road Studios, women in music production, international collaboration, navigating the modern music industry, and the future of artistic creation in an AI-driven world.
“Something I Can’t Explain” from the album Natural Habitat by Jeff Tripoli Used with permission.
“Afro Cant” from the album Natural Habitat by Jeff Tripoli Used with permission.
“A Stone From Your Heart” from the album Natural Habitat by Jeff Tripoli Used with permission.
All music is used with permission. All rights remain with the respective rights holders.
About the Show
The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Musicians, Makers, and Meaning is a long-form, reflective podcast centered on musicians and music-adjacent professionals whose work creates meaning, community, and cultural impact. The show prioritizes explorations of listening, craft, and lived experience, and discovery of new music.
Written, produced, and hosted by Scott Catey.
If this conversation resonated, please consider liking, commenting, following, subscribing, and sharing it—or carrying something from it into your own listening and creative life.
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