June 15, 2023, As a boy Michael Donald Edwards attended Catholic schools where he was steeped in theology and philosophy and considered becoming a priest or a teacher. He didn’t see a play until college, where he discovered what he was really meant to do with his life. But having given up religion for theater he none-the-less maintained his passion for philosophy and the life of the spirit. Listen to this articulate, passionate, sometimes outrageous man talk about how those influences informed his choice of, and work on, the production of Galileo, and get a taste of why we will miss him.

 June 9, 2023, Musician/Composer/Artist Michael Royal performed in London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Athens, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Bangkok, New York, Los Angeles and throughout the U.S. He worked with Red Rodney, Mel Lewis, Clifford Jordan, George Garzone, Larry Coryell, Emily Remler, Ira Sullivan, and Mark Murphy in addition to his own groups. Michael began improvising at the piano at the age of five. Early on, he turned away from the conventional study of music and, by uniting classical and jazz influences, developed his own unique piano style. His repertoire includes a unique blend of romantic jazz standards from the Great American Songbook, Bebop, Ballads, Blues, and Classical Masterpieces. While still performing, composing, teaching, coaching, and lecturing Michael continued to pursue his independent studies. In the first half of my interview Michael describes his early life and the way he discovered his unique path and I play two cuts from his CD – TRANSITION with Richard Drexler on bass and Steve Davis on drums. The second half of our interview picks up when Michael returned to Sarasota and describes the way his continuing pursuit of all things artistic it also includes two more cuts from his CD.