{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Sum of All Wisdom: Conversations on Music, Makers, Meaning & More","title":"How Creative Excellence Actually Works: Learning from Rich Mangicaro","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4284,"description":"Episode Summary\nFor 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.\nIn 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.\nTogether 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.\nThis is a conversation about rhythm, humility, collaboration, and the quiet discipline of paying attention.\n \nEpisode Highlights\n·      Growing up with Ringo, jazz, and Afro-Cuban rhythms \n·      Learning groove from The Drifters \n·      Touring with Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh \n·      Why the best percussionists don't play the most notes \n·      Artist relations and designing instruments at Gon Bops \n·      COVID, creativity, and finding a personal compositional voice \n·      Streaming, physical media, and the economics of independent music \n·      Film music, Hans Zimmer, and why movie scores deserve respect \n·      Rick Rubin and listening as creative practice \n·      Why \"you can't converse unless you listen\"\n\nFeatured Music:\n·      Amazonia (Travels) \n·      Flattening the Curve (Dialogues) \n·      The Way It Was (A Dream I Had)\nAll music used with permission\n\nMemorable Moments\n·      \"My job wasn't to show everybody how good I was.\"\n·      \"You can't converse unless you listen.\"\n·      \"Music is conversation.\"\n·      \"Play what the music calls...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/WxYkrFS9xG0iifivgXJ8ULNXdp4ij1PBeHoIXb0qWXE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8wYjZh/Zjk1NjhmNzU4ZmJi/ZWJmMjI0YWViNmU3/YjEwOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}