Beyond the Blue Wall: Ochion Jewell

11/14/22 • 38 min

Ochion Jewell (Music MFA 07) is a jazz saxophonist and composer from Appalachian Kentucky. He studied classical music as an undergraduate at the University of Louisville and studied jazz, free improvisation, and composition at CalArts.
Ochion's debut album "First Suite for Quartet'' was released by Mythology Records in 2010 to positive acclaim. The album was heralded by the New York City Jazz Record as "an ambitious, beautifully rendered album...exhilarating in every facet." His followup, with the Ochion Jewell Quartet, “Volk,” was released in 2015.
Ochion lives in Brooklyn and teaches at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. He is also the co-host of the Brooklyn Living Room Sessions video podcast, which was partially funded by a CalArts Alumnx Seed Grant.
Our original theme music was composed and performed by 2020 Music alumnx, Socks Whitmore. You can learn more about Socks at sockswhitmore.com.

Beyond the Blue Wall is a production of the CalArts Office of Advancement. You can find all of the episodes at https://calarts.edu/about-calarts/newsroom/podcast.

Beyond the Blue Wall is a production of the CalArts Office of Advancement. You can find all of the episodes at https://calarts.edu/about-calarts/newsroom/podcast.

Previous Episode

Beyond the Blue Wall: Andrea Bowers

As The New York Times noted in a 2021 profile, “for a quarter-century, through the ever-changing social and cultural climate, [Andrea] Bowers has forged lasting bonds with queer and trans folk, fighters for abortion rights, radical environmentalists, immigration advocates, Native activists and scholars across generations.”

In its 2022 retrospective of Bower’s work, the Hammer Museum said that she “has built an international reputation as a chronicler of contemporary history, documenting activism as it unfolds and collecting research on the front lines of protest.”

Bowers (Art MFA 92) sat down with host Henderson Blumer at her Highland Park studio for a conversation about her experience at CalArts as well as her work as an artist and activist over the past three decades.

Go deeper:

Beyond the Blue Wall’s original theme music was composed and performed by Socks Whitmore (Music BFA 20). Learn more about their work at sockswhitmore.com.

Beyond the Blue Wall is a production of the CalArts Office of Advancement. You can find all of the episodes at https://calarts.edu/about-calarts/newsroom/podcast.

Next Episode

Beyond the Blue Wall: The Story of A-Block

On Saturday, June 5, 2021, a cooling tower on the fifth floor of CalArts’ A-block overflowed, flooding several locations below and causing much damage to the Character and Experimental Animation areas. This is the story of that flood, as well as the resurrection of this critically important space on the CalArts’ campus.
To follow the progress of construction in A-block, visit this page on the School of Film/Video website.

Learn more about CalArts’ Character Animation and Experimental Animation programs.
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Beyond the Blue Wall's Season 2 original theme music (the intro and outro) was composed and performed by 2020 Music alumnx, Socks Whitmore. You can learn more about Socks at sockswhitmore.com.

Additional music in this episode includes:

“Zion” by Salmon Like the Fish from the Free Music Archive and Creative Commons
“Midnight” by Lexin Music from Pixabay
“Light Chilled Music Backgrounds” by ComaStudio from Pixabay
“Mountain Pass” by Lobo Loco from the Free Music Archive and Creative Commons
“Flying Minimal” by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Beyond the Blue Wall is a production of the CalArts Office of Advancement. You can find all of the episodes at https://calarts.edu/about-calarts/newsroom/podcast.