of cultures and traditions of people from all over the world.

In the 19th century, as America was growing, the single thing that brought people into contact with each other like never before was the transcontinental railroad.

I've been working with the amazing musicians of Silk Road Ensemble to shine a light on the laborers, especially Irish, African American, and Chinese, who did the backbreaking work of building America's railroad.

Their traditional music accompanied them as they made their way across the continent.

We also wanted to recognize the indigenous people whose ways of life were forever changed by the laying of tracks through their lands.

The result is our American Railroad project, the focus in this season of My Music.

Mazz Swift is someone who was never going to be contained by stereotypical niches, either in life or in art.

Mazz's unique spirit is evident in a beautiful, lyric violin style, combined with a powerful vocal ability that clearly comes straight from the heart.

♪ [Mazz humming] - O brothers don't get weary, O brothers don't get weary O brothers don't get weary We're waiting for the Lord.

We'll land on Canaan's shore, We'll land on Canaan's shore.

When we land on Canaan's shore, We'll meet forever more.

O sisters, don't you worry, O sisters, don't you worry.

O sisters, don't you worry We're waiting for the Lord.

We'll land on Canaan's shore We'll land on Canaan's shore When we land on Canaan's shore We'll meet meet forever more.

♪ - So glad you could join me in this beautiful historic train station museum.

That's pretty amazing.

Yeah.

And it's just, it's been so wonderful getting to know you over the years.

Now, especially in Silk Road, we've had good time, but we've kind of like, you know, passed in the night - And like dancing off each other.

-Yeah.

Show up at the same benefit occasionally, you know, But it's just been this project, the American Railroad, with Silkroad is just, and just even me coming on, I remember you were my first email, when I got the offer.

I was like “Mazz, so tell me about Silk Road.

” And it's just 'cause I, you know, I knew that you'd give me the, the straight dope, you know, and that's something that I admire so much about you that you've lived your life in this really, to me anyway, just my, my perceptions, as this authentic, very, like — "I'm going to going to tell the truth as I see it," and I just think that's really powerful and something that we need more of.

And so I would just, you know, love our viewers to get a sense of, you know, young Mazz.

- Mmm.

So, my family is very musical.

We all learned instruments and played them and it was really important to my parents, I think, for us to have that.

We grew up fairly, you know, low income.

We were in the projects in Queens in New York City in the Seventies.

So it was also kind of a way for us to have something to do that kept us safe.

But really, we have a talent for it as well.

We like to sing together and stuff like that.

People used to call us the Family Von Trapp So silly.

But, you know, did a lot of listening to concerts and things like that.

So it was like the house was full of classical music.

A lot of the real sort of like what people would consider “Pops ” now, you know, like, you know, a lot of Mozart and Beethoven, Bach and that kind of stuff.

And I always loved the sound of the violin.

Had no idea I was neurodivergent for most of my life, but now in hindsight I can see there's like this sort of way that it affected me that was really very profound.

And so - Like the sound - The sound of it, the actual sound of the violin going into my ears and vibrating.

You know, I can kind of feel that.

And so, I think I, the story goes something like, you know, I asked what that was, and “that's a violin ”.

And I was like, oh, I'm a violinist.

- Wow.

You were like — -Yeah.

Oh, that's what I am.

Yeah.

And how old were you?

I was about six or seven I think.

Yeah.

And then I went around telling everybody I was a violinist for a couple years and then they got me a violin and I started learning.

-Amazing.

So you're like a violinist before you have a violin in your hands.

I love that.

- Oh yeah.

That's kind of how I roll.

I'm like, “I do this — not yet, but I do ”.

I mean, truly the rest is history.

What kind of brings me sort of, like, really changed the direction of what I ended up doing with it was at some point realizing that like, the classical music which I loved so much — I always call it my first love — It was just the first thing I really heard in my house and around me — it didn't fit my body, is what I realize now.

Like, it felt like I was trying to do a thing that my body didn't want to do actually.

And I also had very different ideas about how to interpret music.

And so there are sort of, there are traditional ways that you interpret —you play Mozart very differently than you play a Bach piece or, you know, any of those things.

And I was really, you know, having...you know, I did grow up with a lot of classical music, but I also had a lot of jazz in the house too.

A lot of bebop was what my dad, that was my father's thing.

And so I had all these different kinds of influences in ways that I wanted to like “flourish ” classical music.

You know, and I would get into, you know, arguments with my teacher at conservatory and he'd be like, well, you could do it, but you're gonna fail your jury.

And I'd be like, well, why can't I do it?

And he'd like, well, yeah, you can do it, but...

So I kind of got through that.

I did go to Juilliard.

The Juilliard School.

I did go there and I went there quite early.

I was 16 years old when I started college.

- Wow So I was a little bit like, emotionally quite immature and sort of in turmoil for a lot of reasons.

But, it really bugged me that I couldn't play music the way I wanted to play.

It didn't make any sense.

So as much as I loved all the classes and the orchestra I was in, I was also, I was dealing with that.

And then I was also sort of socially just, like, not making it, you know?

So I took a little time off... is what I said.

And my parents were like, you're not going back.

I'm like, yes, I am.

I didn't go back, but I kind of went on this other very circuitous long journey of figuring out what I actually wanted to do with the violin.

And the first step was quitting.

But I actually ended up not playing at all for two years, about, I was doing martial arts and, you know, working in nightclubs in New York City.

And then I moved to a farm and I lived on a farm for two years.

It was like a commune kind of thing.

- Wow.

So there was this philosophy of life artistry and I really liked that idea.

- And this is when you weren't playing?

And this is when I wasn't playing.

- Okay.

This was in that time period between, yeah, leaving Juilliard and trying to figure out what I was gonna do.

- Right.

My main thing where I settled eventually was working with goats.

It was amazing.

I loved it.

I love goats.

I, you know, helped birth them and, you know, healed the sick, you know, just working with the sick ones and husbanded them and milked them.

That was the milk that we had for the community.

So that was really, it actually was really fulfilling to find out that, you know, it's personhood first and then music.

But coincidentally-maybe not- but coincidentally they had a band that was doing, like, free improv.

So this band was more of a psychedelic rock kind of situation.

And they gave me some guitar pedals and I just started, you know, just messing around with it and just thinking about making sound worlds versus trying to, like, go nuts with the technical side of things.

- Yeah.

- And that was my first, like, foray into free improvisation.

And I've kind of never looked back.

I love to use all of the things that I've learned.

So I love having this amazing toolbox, but I feel like that's where I live: in improvisation and free improvisation.

And so then after you, you eventually left the farm ('cause you're not still there) - I did.

That's right.

I did, I came home in 2000 and, and just got a regular day job again.

And then on a dare, like, a friend of of mine and I, we dared each other to sing something in the subway.

Like we're trying to get free, like truly, you know?

So we were like, let's just sing something right now.

And it was so scary and it wasn't very good.

And so I was like, I want to, like...I need to do this.

I need to just, like, get outside and play in front of people in the subway and just, and get comfortable with it.

It just felt like a thing to do.

A project.

So I started doing that.

And this is the thing that I realized.

I think even Yo-Yo has said this, a lot of people say it, a lot of great musicians will say like... You have to practice.

You gotta do the physical stuff to like, get there.

But where the work is, it's the mental stuff.

It's like really just being able to focus and, you know, be honest and creative.

And I always like to use the phrase light on your feet.

'cause I feel like that's so important in improvisation as well.

So that was a really great tool.

And then you know, beyond that, I met so many- everybody rides the subway, as we know, in Manhattan, in New York- Manhattan, everywhere.

So yeah, I, that was basically how I jumpstarted my career.

I just started meeting people and they asked me to join their bands and I would just say yes to everything.

And at that point I met Greg Tate, which was the second, like, huge shift in my life.

Greg Tate was a wonderful musician and, like, culture maker and observer of the culture.

And I had seen his articles in the Village Voice.

But, so he started this band called Burnt Sugar.

And it was like this idea of improvisationally just sort of putting things together, but using Butch Morris's system of conduction.

So... conduction meaning conducted improvisation.

And this is, you know, system of hand signals and gestures that allows you to compose a piece with an orchestra on the spot.

Right?

So Burnt Sugar was like the wily, unruly child, you know, we were loud, it was a lot of rock players and jazz players and R&B singers.

It was like all of these different kinds of brown people.

- Wow.

- Making all like this amazing music.

And it was just so much fun.

And I found family.

And that was the other, the other aspect of it where they were just, like, you do what you wanna do and we'll be here.

We got you.

- Mmm.

- You know, just like, we're gonna be there.

You just soar.

- Right.

- You know?

And so that was when I felt like another, level unlocked, you know, like, I started to hear my own...get my own voice.

Like I really found my... Yeah.

The way that I wanted to play that felt right from the inside out.

♪ The sun gave light in the heaven all around The sun gave light in the heaven all around The sun gave light in the heaven all around Why don't you give up the world?

The moon gives light It's a starry crown The moon gives light It's a starry crown The moon gives light It's a starry crown Why don't you give up the world My mother won't you give up the world?

My father won't you give up the world?

My brother won't you give up the world?

We must leave this world behind We must leave this world behind ♪ - And then you also took in the idea of conducting, right?

- Yes.

- Because that's something that you like to do.

- Yeah.

And, - You know, yeah.

I liked doing it.

It seemed like it was gonna be something that I felt I could do- it was a another one of those... "I'm a conductor.

I ain't got no orchestra, but I'm a conductor."

Every once in a while I would like, you know, teach a class, you know, go to a high school or, or elementary school and work with students.

And that was always like a really good way to, like, work with kids.

But it really kicked in when Butch passed away and there was a lot of...there, you know, since he started doing that, there have been a lot of people that have come along and kind of done similar things.

- Mmm.

- And no one knew about Butch.

- Mmm.

- And and I think this is where you and I really have so much in common- it's like the, like the contribution to American culture and culture in the world is so huge, like you can really, you just have to give it up for black people for doing... You're welcome, world!

So, and I just really, I was like, this is important.

Like, people need to know who made this, you know?

- Yeah.

And so I really, really started doing that.

And part of conducting people is like giving them a little bit of background.

That's been really fulfilling and really fun, and it turns out, like, it helps people do a thing that they never thought they could do.

- Mm.

- You know, a lot of people, especially, you know, classically trained musicians have a hard time improvising.

You give 'em a little bit of parameter and then take the responsibility off of them, then they can sort of start having fun with it.

And you see a shift from the beginning of the session to the end of the session when they're just like, "I'm doing it!"

And it's so exciting and so fulfilling.

- The talking about the, the railroad project, you know, the transcontinental railroad project and the opportunity to tell the stories that have... are such a huge part of American fabric.

- So, I just think it's just the right time.

I think that it's not a mistake that people are more interested in finding out these stories now.

I'm so glad that now we get to explore ways to show, like, just ways to show people things that they may not have been open to seeing before.

- Yeah.

- So that's what the railroad project means to me.

Like, you know, just this opportunity to share bits of ourselves and get people really truly interested in the people.

And of course this is like a... like a just a crazy good band.

- Oh my gosh.

- You know, just like a group of world class musicians.

How did you approach "O Shout", your rendition of that?

- How did I approach it?

Well, I really liked...

I have this book of songs that, you know, some person went around and wrote them, wrote down the melodies that they heard.

And I really liked the way that this person wrote the melodies down, you know, that so much of our music was just like improvised and then done over and over and over again and changed over time.

And then there's like these sort of odd meter things that happen in the middle of a tune.

Like, they're not necessarily intuitive if you're thinking about it from like a western European classical place.

So it's very interesting to me as a person who is trained in Western European classical music.

So I think I, I tried to lean on that- on the rhythmic ac- the rhythmic accent of it.

And I changed the meter.

So it's not, it's not in 4/4 anymore.

It's in three.

But I like to play across it as well.

So I think of- these are, they're kind of nerdy things that I like to think about, like, playing across, having somebody stay on one note the whole time.

You know, people are like "That clashes".

Like, I know, right?

- That's the point - Exactly.

So then it was just really like, how can I feature each person?

And, and I, again, like I really focused on the groove of it.

That was where I started and then I just started filling in voices.

- Shout -Shout -Shout...-Shout - Shout -Shout -Shout...-Shout -Shout -shout -shout - Shout -shout -shout Oh, shout.

♪ Oh shout.

Oh shout away.

And don't you mind.

Oh shout.

Oh shout.

Oh shout away.

And don't you cry.

'Cause glory, glory...

Glory's in my soul.

Oh, Satan told me not to pray.

He won my soul on Judgment Day In heaven when I went to play There's somethin' was there in my way But glory, glory...

Glory's in my soul Yeah O shout - Shout away and don't you cry 'Cause glory, glory Glory's in my soul... ...in my soul...