Preview of Tri-C Jazz Fest

Welcome to the Sound of Ideas from IDESTREAM Public Media. I'm Stephanie Haney. Thank you for being with us. As the saying goes, two things are certain in this life death and taxes, and both of them will cost you. From nineteen eighty six to twenty twenty five, funeral cost increased by three hundred four percent in the US, meaning something that cost one dollar forty years ago now costs about four dollars . Inflation, changing customer preferences and rising labor and material costs have all contributed to the price hike . Today, cremation is the most common end of life choice in the United States, with more than sixty percent of Americans choosing it in recent years. While cremation is often less expensive than a traditional burial, accompanying funeral arrangements can still carry a significant cost. As a result, some are turning to alternatives like green burials, human composting, and body donation programs . While some are going these routes to reduce costs, for others these choices are about aligning final arrangements with personal values, environmental concerns , or a desire to contribute to medical research . Today, we'll explore these alternatives and whether they leave surviving loved ones with a meaningful way to remember the dead after they're gone. Joining me for this conversation today we have Chad McGrevie, funeral direct or at McGreevey Funeral Homes. Hi, Chad. Hello there. Also with us, we have Tom Harry's, CEO and co founder of Earth Funeral. Thanks for being with us, Tom. Goodbye . Also with us, Danielle Davis, Director of Anatomical Services at Ohio State University's body donation program. Welcome to the show . Good morning, thank you And with us as well, we have Jeffrey Gomp, president elect of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association. Hello, Jeffrey. Morning We would love to hear from you. Maybe you've thought about your end of life plans and maybe you haven't. Maybe you have questions or comments or a story you'd like to share about something you experienced with end of life plans for a loved one. To join our conversation, you can give us a call at eight five seven eight zero nine zero . You can also email us at SOI at ideastream. org or you can message us on Instagram at the Sound of Ideas. We're going to start with an email that we received from Pat in Concorde. Pat says , please ask your guests what churches charge for funeral these days in addition to what funeral directors charge for their various services. So that brings us to our first question for Jeffrey. Jeffrey, what is the average cost looking like for a traditional burial today ? Traditional cost for burial kind of varies on region , obviously funeral home providing the serv ices, every funeral home has different price structure . I would say a good range for families . When you're talking traditional burial , you're probably anywhere from the six thousand to nine thousand dollars range would be a good number to keep in mind. And like I said, once again, kind of varies on region, merchandise selected by the family serv, ices selected by the family , cemetery fees , a lot of different working parts kind of go into those costs . How does that differ for cremation then cremation you know, services with cremation , you know, the general consumer sometimes thinks that cremation just just cremation, no service. But when you talk cremation , there's a wide range of things that can still take place. We could still have viewing and service for loved ones prior to the cremation taking place . But when you talk cremation versus burial , typically kind of the driving force and cost difference is not as much merchandise. So like the casket and the vault and those sorts of things, those are not unnecessitated in cremation services. So cost comes down when you don't have those factors in there. Okay . Can you give us a ballpark of how much I know? you said for your traditional b urial we're looking at here in Ohio maybe six thousand to nine thousand dollars. Any idea of what that ballpark would be for cremation here in Ohio ? So with cremation, the number varies more vastly just because you know, you can have cremation, no services all the way up to like I said or a full service cremation with rental casket embalming, those sorts of things. So you could look anywhere from eighteen hundred dollars, seventeen hundred dollars for a simple cremation, no services at some firms. And then, you know, depending on where on the spectrum the family lands with, you know, services and kind of everything else entailed to it. You could be, you know, four, five thousand dollars. . So that is something that's interesting, I think, to point out here just to stay with you for a minute, Jeffrey. If someone does choose cremation for their end of life final arrangements, there still could be a traditional calling hours maybe with the body there visible for people to visit , is that something that you see happen often? Yeah , you know, families , every single family handles the grieving process differently . Some families, you know, that simple cremation, hey, have the cremation take place, return mom to us. We're going to go scatter her , you know, at Lake Erie or her favorite spot on the property all the way up to hey, we still need that closure aspect of having mom present and having that funeral service and having mom's minister and friends come in. So cremation's kind of predicated on what the family feels that they need for their grieving process . Okay, thank you for that. Tom of Earth Funeral. Can you tell us what is natural organic reduction, also known as human composting? And how does that work? Yeah , of course. Yeah. So human composting is the colloquial name for a process that is officially called natural organic production . And what this process is provide an environmentally friendly alternative to burial and cremation . I think the closest parallel is probably cremation . So instead of cremating your body and turning it into ash using fire , we are using microbes to gently transform a body into nutrient rich soil . The process takes about thirty days. At the end of the process, you are left with life giving soil , and the family chooses how much soil they would like return . So they might choose to keep it, they might choose to scatter it , they might choose to plant it . And any soil they don't wish to keep is donated to conservation projects. So think reforestation , think ecosystem restoration . And the beauty of the process is it's a gentle natural process, it's better for the environment and it offers a return to nature. Can you tell us anything about where those conservation projects exist? Are those happening here in the United States? Is this soil being shipped internationally? Where is it ending up if it's not requested back by the family . Yeah, so my accent is a little deceptive, but this is one hundred percent taking place in the United States . We currently support as EF conservation projects on the West Co ast . I think a good example was our first project in the Pacific Northwest . Like a lot of land in the Pacific Northwest , we're working with a project or a piece of land that was historically logged and we are using the nutrient rich soil to plant native trees to restore this land to its former glory and protect it for future generations. Okay . Danielle, I'd like to ask you now, what happens to a person's body after it's donated to medical science and who ultimately uses it? Certainly , pardon me . So our donors typically take part in educational program . So that can be anywhere from our undergraduate anatomy students learning the different aspects of the human body all the way up through our dental students, our medical students who then ultimately go on to gosh, study many different things , take part in research , as well as patient care . And our donors are typically in the program for up to two years and at the conclusion of their time in the progr am, then we do provide the cremation and families have the option to have the cremated remains returned to them or we also do have a mausoleum space and there is no expense to the family for any of that. . Can you tell us, Danielle, some medical research advancements that we've gained from people donating their body to science? Yeah, certainly. So given that we're primarily focused on the education . It's tough to necessarily make those one to one ties. But we do know that a lot of our medical students go into cancer research or we also look a lot into Alzheimer's, dementia , ALS , all of those terrible, terrible diseases that afflict individuals. And we're really providing that groundwork for these medical students, particularly , even pathology of really trying to understand from kind of a stasis standpoint, obviously these are the first teachers for these individuals following their passing, of course, and allowing them to then see, you know, how a quote unquote normal individual looks versus maybe an individual who has some sort of abnormality and being able to decipher and distinguish the differences between those ? And going back to what you said in the response to the first question there about what happens with the body. So once the body has been used scientifically and there are some remains left, those remains are then cremated. Is there ever a situation where there are no remains left to cremate or is that something that is promised when someone donates their body to science? Yeah, that's a wonderful question. Everything stays with the individual. So the individual is cremated whole, so to speak at the time of their conclusion in the program . So we are returning the whole individual to the families. Okay, so different than maybe an organ donation situation for example. Correct. Yeah. Thank you for clarifying that, Danielle. Chad, can you explain to us what makes something a green burial and how that's different from a traditional burial? So a green burial is a natural return to the earth there. We don't use any embalming. We often use a woven shroud made of cotton . We will often meet at the cemetery within a day or two of the passing. The family will help with the burial there. We'll lower them into the ground, usually around four to five feet. And then the family is welcome to participate in actually placing the soil back on top of the person if they want. They don't have to, but often folks find that to be a closure aspect there . And then the soil is mounded on top there and the person is set for a natural decomposition. Okay, thank you for explaining that for us, which leads us into a question that we have from an audience member. We aren't talking about traditional burial alternativ es and end of life options here on the sound of ideas today if you're just joining us. The number to call in is eight six five seven eight zero nine zero three. You can also email us at SOI at ideas .tre oramg or send us a message on Instagram at the Sound of Ideas. We have Katie from Akron calling in . Katie, welcome to the Sound of Ideas. Please go ahead, Katie, if we have you. We'll make sure that we can get Katie connected and we will bring Katie in here in just a moment. I think we're working on that connection now to bring in Katie from Macron, who I understand is a fourth generation funeral director and has a comment on how she'd like to pursue her end of life options. We'll see if we've got Katie now. Hi, Katie I think we're working on getting Katie connected, so we'll make sure we have her and then we'll return to that in just a moment. And while we get Katie connected, Tom, I'd like to ask you about the legal status of human composting right now. Can families here in Ohio choose this option? Is it available? I know you mentioned you have a partnership in the Pacific Northwest for a conservation project ? Yeah, great question. So natural organic reduction first became legal in the United States in twenty nineteen . That was in Washington State , fast forward six, seven years now , and it's legal in fourteen states . Ohio is not presently one of them , but all this means is that the process cannot take place in Ohio . So as Earth, we work with families both at time of need, sos a loved one has passed and you require our services or planning and prepaying for the future . We're a licensed fund establishment in a house. We work with those families already. The big difference is the process takes place out of states which, allows people to choose this option, but is not really what they're after. So Senate Bill three hundred and twenty three this year sponsored by Senator Blessing would allow for the process to take place in Ohio. So this often ensures families don't have to incur the cost and complexity of transporting their loved one to another state. So not legal just yet, but hopefully soon . Thank you for sharing that with us, Tom. We appreciate it. And I believe we do have Katie and Akron connected now. Hi, Katie. Welcome to the Sound of Ideas. Please go ahead. Hi Katie. Are you there? Hi , welcome to the Sound of Ideas. Please share your thoughts with us . Sure . So just I have been a funeral director for about twelve years, and I have decided that for myself, I would like a green burial because I'm just seeing how the sausage is made . But I really want to give my nutrients back to the earth and become part of the mycelium . So that's and I love educating people about this stuff. So thank you for this discussion today. Thank you for that K.atie, if you don't mind if I can ask you a follow up question, then with the green burial, is that something that your family and loved ones have weighed in on terms of as we think about what happens to the people who are left behind when someone has pass ed ? Sorry , I didn't quite understand what you're asking. Okay, that well my family? Yes, y youres, family specifically , if there have been conversations . Honestly, we probably don't talk about death as much as we should me and my immediate family because it's just our everyday , it's our life . So my husband does want to bury me on our property. That's his thought. But beyond that, we haven't discussed it much. It's not really much more affordable than a standard burial, though if you have to go to a green cemeter y and things That's you know, one thought. Okay, thank you for sharing that with us, Katie. We appreciate it. Thank you . Thank you. Todd, speaking of cemeteries, excuse me, Chad, speaking of cemeteries, are there specific legal requirements or cemetery regulations that families need to follow to have a natural green burial? I know that our caller just mentioned specific green burial cemeteries. Yes, there are a couple of specific green burial cemeteries in Ohio that offer natural return to the earth. There's also some hybrid cemeteries that offer both traditional burial and they have a natural burial section there. In Ohio, there's no certain law saying one way or the other whether you can have a hybrid cemetery or a natural cemetery, but most cemeteries have their own regulations . They'll often require that you use a vault there because when we started doing burials years and years ago, it was hand dug by four or five cemetery sectons , now they often have back hose coming over to do the digging, and that can actually crush the caskets that are buried underneath there. That's why most cemeteries will require a vault. However, since it's a natural cemetery or a conservation cemetery, they're often hand dug there and there's no need for any back hose there for it so that you can have someone buried without a vault . Can you explain to me what you mean by a vault, Chad, in terms of a green burial? Yeah, so a vault is a typical concrete or metal structure that the casket is placed in. When we arrive at the cemetery, the vault is often below ground to start and then the casket is placed in there and then the lid is lowered on top there . Okay, and excuse me if I'm misunderstanding this, but wouldn't incorporating a vault do away with part of the purpose for a green burial? Would that prevent the remains from returning to the earth . Yes, so we often do not use a vault for a green burial. That's mostly for a traditional burial. I see that a vault is used. In a green burial, we'll often use a shroud. On occasion , we'll use a woven bamboo casket. It's a hand woven casket. It looks more like a basket there. Most green cemeteries will not allow a vault There are some hybrid cemeteries where they still want to allow for a form of green burial where they'll have a bottomless fault where it will still protect the cemetery land above, but will still allow for a natural return to the earth. Thank you for clarifying that. I was unclear about what we were talking about. So you're saying a vault would be required in a traditional burial situation, not in a green burial situation. Not in a green burial situation. That is correct. Okay, thank you for that. We've got an email now in from Jen. This is related to the cost of some of the more conventional ways to handle end of life arrangement arrangements. Jen wrote in my brother died in twenty twenty , cremation, short family calling hours, a little vault for his ashes internment cost over twenty thousand dollars , we went as simply as possible. Geoffrey, this brings me to you. As funeral costs keep climbing , what is driving these price increases? And how can families avoid getting hit with unexpected expenses? Obviously, you touched on it kind of earlier . You know , inflation, tariffs, cost of materials, cost of labor have all gone up especially exponentially in the last several years . You know, one things families can do when you know looking at end of life options. Number one , you know, not always the case, but if you can speak to funeral directors, funeral homes , you know, Ohio State for anatomical donation or any of the different options prior to the need of funeral services, you know, you can get a lot of questions answered as to what cost of goods are and kind of through that process beforehand . And I know sometimes you know, passings occur unexpectedly and families are rushed into the process, thrown into the process. But once again, you know , sometimes families call certain funeral home and that's where they want to be and that's all well and good. The family has been served by that funeral home for a number of years. But you know, this day and age, call around, ask some questions to different places, potentially . When you're going through the process, make sure you're asking a lot of questions of the funeral director in funeral home that is providing the services to you all just to kind of make sure that everybody has a good scope everything that's going on . And in terms of management of this, is calling the funeral director a funeral director a good place to start, or do you really have to manage things between having an arrangement with a cemetery, having an arrangement with a funeral director, maybe having an arrangement with a church if you want some sort of religious aspect to an end of life arrangement . So what I would say is your funeral director, your local funeral director, your local funeral home is always a great resource. They have those connections to the cemeter ies, they have those connections to the local clergy . So that funeral director can help facilitate those conversations with all those they might already have , you know, pricing information for that cemetery . You know, most funeral homes try to keep local cemetery pricing at the re so that you know they can answer questions for families . But you know, most of your basically all of your funeral homes and funeral directors are a good asset for families when they have questions pertaining to funeral goods and services that they provide as well as different options, alternative options , green burial , human composting, anatomical donation , as well as good information for local clergy as well as those cemeteries. . We have a question in now from IDSTREM public media's Amy Eddings, and I'll direct this to Tom of Earth Funeral Services . And the question is, who is opposed to alternative burials? Might funeral directors be opposed to this, for example. I know Tom you had mentioned that there's some legislation working its through way that will make human composting available in Ohio in a way that it hasn't been before. But have you come up against any opposition to these alternative options? Yeah , great question . I think the consistent opposition we see is from the Catholic Church as an institution . And I say institution because we find individual Catholics actually res onate with what we do and choose it for themselves and their loved ones. What we say to this is we understand as well as anyone that end of life choices and funer optalions were a deeply personal choice . And we also realized that the Catholic Church was pretty slow to accept promotion too. So the fact that they are slow to accept what we're doing is not wholly surprising . But our main take on this is this is consumer choice. We are not mandating that anyone choose it , whether it's composting or whether it's natural burial . If you don't believe in something you simply don't choose it and that's not a great reason to prevent others from choosing it . If you still want to be buried, you can be buried, if you still want to be promoted, you can be promoted . But we think educating people to their options and making available alternatives that are perhaps better for the environment or lower cost etc is really important. Thank you for that. If you're just joining us here on the Sound of Ideas, we are talking about end of life options, particularly we're talking about alternatives to traditional burial or cremation services. If you have a question or a comment, the number to call is eight six six five seven eight zero nine zero three . You can also email us at SOI at ideas stream. org or you can send us a message on Instagram at the Sound of Ideas. We have a note now in from Frank Taskone , who is the Executive Secretary of the Cleveland Memorial Society. And we don't necessarily usually share first and last names for our audience comments that we receive, but it's particularly relevant here because this person is involved with an organization that he wants you to know about. So Frank writes in and says, I wanted to mention that for a one time twenty five dollars application fee, the Cleveland Memorial Society provides access to reduced fee funeral services , direct cremation for one thousand two hundred dollars, and direct burial for four thousand four hundred dollars . The motto for the Cleveland Memorial Society is simple , dignified, inexpensive . Also points out this service can be used for green burials. So thank you for that. Frank. Again, that's the Cleveland Memorial Society, sharing that resource for people who are interested twenty five dollars application fee for reduced fee funeral services, which include the option for green burials. Thank you very much for that. Again, if you want to call in with a commentary question, the number is eight six six five seven eight zero nine zero three . You can also email us at SOI at ideas stream. org or send us a message on Instagram at the sound of ideas. Danielle, we have been talking about this as potentially at least partially a cost saving measure these alternatives. And as you mentioned before , there's no cost to the family if someone does choose to donate their body to anatomical medical research . Doesn't mean , though, Danielle, if you do that ? Does that mean the family has to skip having a traditional funeral or memorial service before then the body comes your way . Yeah., certainly So as a funeral director and embalmer myself, I certainly recognize the importance of having that family time, that togetherness of being able to pay your respects and give a little bit of closure . Unfortunately, given the preparations that we need to do for our donors , we're not able to have traditional showing with the traditional embalming , calling hours, and the like. We do certainly encourage families , if the funeral home is willing to have a small private gathering with immediate family, just because we never want to prevent an opportunity for families to have those final few moments . But once they are into our care, like I said, we do those preparations . We do also encourage folks to have memorial services that can be with im age of the individual present or any memorabilia or things that they enjoyed in life just to have again that opportunity to come together . And then of course we do also offer once a year a memorial service honoring all of the donors that have passed in the previous year . And that's a fantastic opportunity for families to come together not only with their own immediate families, but to share in that unique experience with other families who know exactly kind of what they've been going through . You know, we certainly recognize that two years is a long time to from the time of passing to the time of the return of the cremated remains . And we recognize that that's kind of opening a wound when they do receive those remains back . So we certainly are sensitive to that and want to make sure like I, said in, service of the Memorial Service and having everyone come together that they can kind of have that shared experience and kind of just have an opportunity to speak with others who know what they're going through . And is that a typical timeline two years, Daniel, from the time of donation to the time of receiving the remains? Two years is the maximum amount of time. Sometimes it will be a shorter period of time, could be a year , depending on what educational program our donor takes part in , but we really make an effort to make sure the families understand like I said that it can be up to that two year time period , but also then communicate once everything has been completed so they're aware that they can then receive the cremated remains at our office . We can also send them through the U. S. Postal Service, . Actually that's the only way we're allowed to do that . And then or again, like I said, we have the mausoleum space . Okay . We got a call in from Mark in Strongsville. Mark couldn't stay on the line, but I'll direct this question to Jeff rey. Mark wants to ask about aquamation. Jeffrey, can you tell us anything about aquamation ? So aquamation is a term used for alkaline hydrolysis , much like human composting, not legal in the state of Ohio yet . There are some alternatives for families to choose that and then the funeral home, much like with earth funerals kind of have their loved one taken to a state where that is available. So aquamation is an alternative to a cremation service. So very similar process there as opposed to flame fire cremation. It is an aqua form of disposition. Okay . Another caller Anne couldn't stay on the line but wanted to note for the audience she prepaid for her cremation and it was cheaper she said. She said she wanted to help her children avoid the cost and is emphasizing that investing in your future and family's future is important . And thank you for that. Some of the things we've been talking about here have been some of the things that aren't necessarily easy in Ohio. You know, Danielle just mentioned the only way that to return the remains after the anatomical donation is through the United States Postal Service. Tom, for something that can't happen, body composting, human composting here in Ohio, what is the transportation process look like for those bodies of people who choose that process? Are there challenges that come along with that ? Yep, the absolutely. And actually just to riff off Anne's comment as well , we highly recommend pre planning . We think it's one of the greatest gifts you can give to your family and children . You're doing two things . You're easing the burden on your family and friends because you've planned and prepaid everything so they don't have to . They can focus on grieving . And then you're also, as Anne says, knocking in today's price for services in the future. So you're sort of inflation protecting yourself , if you will. So pre planning is a highly recommended part of general end of life planning and we recommend it too . In terms of transportation , as a company, we've got used to it . Ohio is not the only state of course which has not yet legalized the process . So for a fixed cost, we charge one price , we charge one price only. That price includes everything that the family is going to need , includ ing transportation to an out of state facility . So no hidden fees or surprise costs at any stage of the process . And we handle all of that . So it adds additional complexity to the process , but we handle that on behalf of the family. So their perspective, it is straightforward. And happens with the soil? I know we mentioned conservancy projects with the soil that comes from human composting, but are things being grown in this plants, fruits, vegetables, do we know? Yeah , so let me address the fruits and vegetables first . This soil cannot be used for food production . It cannot be commercially sold. So there are some really nice safeguards to keep everything safe for everyone. I was very curious about that. So thank you for clarifying so let's clarify that first . But some of the some of the some of the most rewarding stories we hear are how families use the soil . So we've had great examples of families recreating road trips that they did with their loved one and they're scattering a little bit of soil at each stop that they stopped off at . Or we've had families plant small pot of plants, perhaps a boneside tree. We've had families plant memorial gardens. We've had families plant larger trees . And actually I think one of the things that families really like is the ability to become a tree or at least as directly as you can given existing end of life options become a tree. So yeah, people love planting, people love scattering . Soil is, in our opinion, a much more accessible output of an end of life process than something like cremated remains perhaps. Okay, thank you for that. Chad, can you tell us about the difference in what a green cemetery might look like without headstones, for example, or other markers that you might find in a traditional cemetery . Yeah, so a green cemetery looks essentially like a prairie most of the time, occasionally a forest. You would not know you were in a cemetery unless you had been instructed you were in a cemetery. You look out and it's just a meadow oftentimes and then a few trees here, some high grasses there. It's a beautiful setting there. It looks almost like a nature preserve. Okay, thank you for that. I do have a question here in from an audience member asking about reports of mismanagement of bodies. You know, of course we hope that doesn't happen, but it is something that are having questions about. So Jeffrey, can you speak to that ? Mismanagement of bodies pertaining to ? You know, that was as specific as the email got was hearing reports of mismanagement of the body for example , I can imagine a situation where it may have happened before that maybe someone was cremated when they weren't supposed to be cremated, that kind of thing. Can you just speak to whether that's rare, how often that might come up? It is a rarity . That is one of those that no one ever would want to have happen. Obviously, the family wouldn't want mismanagement of their loved one nor is a funeral home intentionally ever having mismanagement happen A lot of funeral homes have very strict process, chain of command , processes in place that would , you know, help prevent those types of mis managements, but you know , no matter what processes are in place , you know, the human error sometimes does come into play and you know, very minuscule opportunity to have that happen. But you know, like I said, human air , you know, it does happen from time to time. It doesn't happen at all that often, but you do hear those cases from time to time. Danielle, do you ever have instances of that that have been reported, maybe not necessarily in your program, but mismanagement of the body in this case of scientific donation . Gosh, yeah, unfortunately you do hear things in the news and it's incredibly disheartening , especially not only for the incredible gift that people have given us through donation, but just the family impact and the thoughts and ideas that can run wild as a result . You know, we really , you know, like you was saying, have the processes in place to really ensure that the chain of custody that we know exactly where every donor is . We have extremely stringent rules for any of the students working with the individuals , really trying to emphasize that this was someone's loved one. This is, you know, yes , you know, we have to kind of think of it again as the first patient but have that kind of distance, but that person still had memories and loved ones that cared about them. So really trying to hit all of those home and really just making sure that we're emphasizing through our informed consent process that we have these safeguards in place that we can, you know, again, human error is human error and certainly not an explanation or an excuse, but like I said, you know, we really try and be as forthright and as transparent as we possibly can to try and allay those fears . And so we always are happy to answer questions from our families that call in. And again, just the idea of education of making sure that people understand what we do and what we don't do. Sure. One final question as we wrap things up here, this is to Chad . We got an email in from Susan in Willowwick, and her great great grandmother is buried in a grave with a traditional burial. She's wondering if she can have her cremated ashes placed in the same grave. Is that possible, Chad . So that's a question for the exact cemetery she's buried at, but often most cemeteries will allow for traditional burial there and then a set of cremated remains be placed on top. I would encourage her to call that cemetery directly and find out, but I would think that it would be a strong possibility that that would be the case. Okay. Well, this has certainly been a fascinating conversation. I want to thank our panel for being here with us for it. Chad McGrevy, funeral director at McGreevey Funeral Homes, Tom Harry's, CEO and founder at Earth Funeral, Danielle Davies, Director of Anatomical Services at Ohio State University's body donation program, and Jeffrey Gomp, president elect of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association. We appreciate all of your time today. Thank you very much. Thank you, General. Thank you. We'll take a quick break now, and when we come back, we'll be joined by IDESTREM's Dan Poletta for a preview of this wee kend's Tricy Jazz Fest at Playhouse Square. This is the Sound of Ideas. I'm Stephanie Haney will be right back. Here with the Sound of Ideas from ideas public media . I'm Stephanie Haney. Thank you for staying with us. Live music is back in downtown Cleveland this week with the return of the annual Tricy Jazz Fest this Thursday through Saturday. Located in Playhouse Square, the three day event will include dancing, Northeast Ohio food vendors, face painting, and more in addition to the music. The festival will feature hometown artists like Dominik Farnacci, as well as national artists like Sheila E. Durand Bernard , and others like this My one and only love let me you out under the moon light on the show how the twilight loves the night Why he lives for enough That was an excerpt from Moonlight Serenade by Kurt Elling, one of the performers who will be here on Friday . Joining me now in studio, we have a local star that will be at jazz fest this weekend , Dan Paletta, senior producer and host of Jazz Neo here at IDESTREM public media. Dan, welcome back to the Sound of Ideas. I don't know if I qualify as a star, but I'm excited to be here. I almost like talking about jazz fest. We appreciate it very much. If you want to be a part of this conversation, you can share your thoughts on jazz fest experiences that you've had, maybe upcoming performances you're looking forward to. Maybe you'd like to see something you'd like to see come to jazz fest. Give us a call at eight six seven five eight zero nine zero three or email us at SOI at ideastream. org. You can also message us on Instagram at the sound of ideas. So Dan, Jazzfest recently underwent some logistical changes, the appointment of a new executive director being one of those things. So what does that mean for the version of Jazz Fest we'll see this weekend? Terry Pond Tremley stepped down after a number of years as the artistic director of Jazz Fest taking over is Orlando Watson, who actually served as the assistant artistic director for a few years. And when we spoke on Monday on the jazz Neo, he talked about the administration he had really thought about making jazz fests not only a jazz festival, but what they're calling jazz adjacent. So you're not just going to see jazz artists and they've always done this, but I think it's a much more intentional effort to include more R and B, more neo soul, more Afro pop and afrobeat. So those things are going to become part of the festival as well. Jazz is an interesting place , Stephanie, because when jazz jazz started in the nineteen eighties, you could bring Miles Davis or Sarah Vaughn or Ella Fitzgerald. These are names that were recognized outside those of us who are hardcore jazz fans. And jazz doesn't have those names as much these days. People know Winton and they know Diana Krawle and Harbie Hancock, but there are not a lot of household names, so more and more festivals are doing what Jazzfest is doing, which is to expand the lineup to get more people to come. Speaking of what they're doing to garner attention, not only from the public but just in the community , how is Tri Sea Jazz Fest regarded in the larger landscape? Is this an organization? Is it an event that's gotten regional or national attention in the past? It definitely gets regional attention. You know, it's not as big as Chicago or Detroit. They have bigger budgets, but I think it punches above its weight class in terms of the size of the market. And again, the support is there, but it takes a lot of money to put on a festival. So but even festivals in Chicago are scaling back. The money just isn't there. Artists who would have been playing the side stages are now the mainstage act. So it's just the nature of the business. Sure, sure. What would your elevator pitch be to someone who's not necessarily into jazz? I think you covered this a bit, but why would try see jazz fest be a good introduction to the genre? I always say the same thing, there's no quiz. People always think of I go to jaz az concert. I have to know that Kenny Durh replaced Miles Davison. Nobody cares about that. You go to the art museum, you might not know what all the brush strokes are, but you can appreciate the painting. Come down. It's fun. There's a lot of different music and you will have a good time. And we do know that there will be some national names in addition to the hometown acts. Can you talk to us about some of the people who will be traveling in to perform at this year's festival? There's a wide variety of musicians. Fred Hersch is a brilliant pianist who's been around since the nineteen seventies actually a native of Cincinnati. Ron Carter, who's a legendary bass player, who's now in his late eighties and his touring schedule is amazing. He's still playing beautifully. Kurt Allen we just heard, he'll be here. So a lot of great musicians will be on their way to North east Ohio. And we know that the festival kicks off on Thursday. Thursday's still in the middle of the work week can be a little bit tricky for people to get out. So I want to ask you first about the Friday lineup. Who will people see on Friday? I think the main interest to Jazz neo listeners is Trumpeter Dominic Faronacci, a wonderful musician from Northeast Ohio. He'll be teaming with John Thomas at the Hannah Theater. That's Friday evening at six, and then at nine o'clock it's Kurt Elling and Fred Hersch. They do a series called Wildflowers, and Kurt Elling will sing anything from the Bee G's to Glow Worm to How High the Moon. His repertoire is amazing. He knows a ton of songs, and he delivers them as you heard brilliantly. Sure. And in that clip that we played earlier, Moonlight Serenade, in cidase you missed it by Kurt Elling. He utilized a technique called vocal ease. So can you tell us what vocal ease is and how that fits into jazz music? Sure, we all know scat singing, which is the nonsensical syllables do for a cliche and Ellen Fitzgerald used to do but vocally is when a vocalist sings the lyrics to a song to an instrumental solo that he has learned. So in the case of Kurt Allen singing moonlight serenade, he's not singing the melody of the song as much. He's singing to a solo that bass player Charlie Hayden had recorded a few years previous. So it's an interesting technique that's been around jazz for many years and Kurt's one of the current masters of it. Okay . Now you're a lifelong jazz fan, Dan, obviously so. Are there any performances that you are particularly excited about in this in this trice jazz fest? I think an opportunity to see Ron Carter and I don't want to be more bitter or anything. Ron Carter's eighty eight. We are running out of time to see people who might have shared the stage with John Coltrane or Coleman Hawkins, these figures who have passed on into history . But when you hear this guy play, he has not lost anything. He still swings. He's very creative. I think it'd be a great opportunity to catch one of the last real great jazz lege nds of that particular era. Let's hear a little bit more music right now. This is a snippet from the tune footprints from Miles Davis, supported by Ron Carter on Bass , who is performing on Saturday Now, Dan, you suggested this piece for us to play. Can you tell us why it was a suggestion and about Carter's impact on jazz? Well, I suggested it because it shows how strong his playing is. He sets that bassline and it swings the whole band. If Ron Carter did nothing else, that quintet that he's part of with Miles Davis is one of the most important of the second half of the twentieth century, and it's still influencing musicians today. So Ron he's written some pieces and he is a fine composer, but he's really a performer and that's what it's all about for him. And this year's Trici Jazz Fest introduces free outdoor entertainment. This will be national performers. This will be at the Playhouse Square chandelier, a beautiful backdrop, of course . Do you think this will be an incentive for younger people to come out and engage with jazz music. Every year I go outside and enjoy it and I see more and more young people bringing their children down to the festival because it's free. You can hang out. There are activities for kids as one of the things that jazz fest has. So I think it does help bring more people to the festival. And you get an opportunity to hear music. And one of the things Orlando has done by adding national talent, he said, I know everybody can't afford a ticket for the inside shows, but I don't want them to miss the national talent in addition to the local players we have. So it's going to be a great opportunity to enjoy live jazz and if the weather's beautiful it's just a great hang. Sure. So tell us about that. So where are the shows taking place? So we know there'll be some free performances under the chandelier. So most of the shows, the ticketed shows are in the the variousaters here in Playhouse Square, the Hannah and the other theatres. But in front of right here in front of the idea center, that stage they just set up a big tent. You can bring your own chairs, they do set up some chairs. It's all going to happen right there with a great mix of music again , jazz and a lot of other types of music as well. some of the activities that will be available on Euclid Avenue, can you share what any of those activities will be? They have a great tent set up for children. So there's face painting and things for kids to do , there's a wellness section where you can get a massage, believe it or not, and just deal with wellness issues. And then there's also an opportunity to interact with artists. There's going to be DJs playing jazz from various eras. So those are all things that are going to happen that offer you an opportunity to be a little more interactive with what's going on in addition to sitting and enjoying the music. I've gotten a massage to some less than ideal soundtracks. And I think getting a massage to some jazz music or some jazz adjacent music could actually be quite lovely. I think it'd be wonderful . I want to ask you before we wrap things up here. You talked about the Friday lineup. Tell us a little bit more about the Saturday lineup. So Ron Carter and the Four Sight quartet are the main thing that I think jazz neo listeners will be interested in. That's going to be at four o'cl ock at the Hannah. And then a singer's coming in who actually grew up here in Northeast Ohio. Her name is Lauren Talis. She went to the Cleveland School of the Arts, if I remember correctly. She's done a lot of her career in Pittsburgh. She won the Seravon Vocal competition. So she hasn't been back very often, so it's going to be an opportunity to hear this talented young singer. That's one of the great things about jazz fest. Everybody knows Ron Kerber if you love jazz. Here's your chance to hear a talented singer you might not have heard before. So what is your opinion if you don't mind sharing it on the future of jazz music? Maybe the future of the Tricy Jazz Fest? Stephanie, I knew that . We'd be in Vegas right now. That's a good question. Jazz goes on. It will always go on. It's an American art form created by and large by African Americans, and it's something that's ingrained in our culture. So while it might not be as popular as it was in the nineteen fifties, the music isn't going anywhere. There's so many creative young musicians. So I'm very , I think it's going to be very strong. Okay , let us know where can people find the lineup for JazzFest. Actually, you can go to the JazzFest website. We also have it up on the Jazz Neo Facebook page. There's a post up there so you can just click that post and find out can all you need to know about who's playing where and when. Okay , and that Trice Jazz Festival website is trice edu forward slash jazz fest. Again, Dan, as you mentioned, they're on the jazz Neo Facebook page, you can also find it there. Dan Poletta, senior producer and host of Jazz Neo here at IDESTREAM Public Media, thank you very much for the time. My pleasure. We appreciate it. If you missed any part of today's show, you'll hear a rebroadcast tonight at nine on eighty nine seven wKSU and you can find every episode of The Sound of Ideas wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. To get the last word on today's topics, email us at SOI at ideas stream dot org or message us on Instagram at the Sound of Ideas. Yesterday we talked about what we can do in our younger years to try to maintain our mental, emotional, and physical health as we age. Ginger wrote in. The Silver Sneakers program helps seniors stay active and build healthy habits with many free offerings and online classes too. Thank you for sharing that ginger. I didn't know about those online classes. That's a good tip. Tomorrow on the Sound of Ideas, we'll talk about the co op business model with Northeast Ohio experts and business owners, then we'll look specifically at food related co ops in the latest installment of the menu, which is our segment all about Northeast Ohio food that's produced in collaboration with Cleveland Magazine. I'm Stephanie Haney you for keep,ing thank the conversation going. We'll see you back here tomorrow on the Sound of Ideas.