Meet Ike Spivak | Saxophonist, Teacher, Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ike Spivak and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ike, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
Stay hydrated. Be nice to old people. Learn Careless Whisper on every instrument, but never actually play it. Don’t be so hard on yourself, and don’t eat so much Taco Bell. Those things will keep you from dying or getting yelled at.

Practicing a few different instruments has helped me think of music from different perspectives, and have more tools when it comes to producing and writing. Every once in a while I’ll get an extra gig out of it which is great too.

There’s a lot of things you can identify just by listening to a song. Every time I hear two notes I ask myself what specific interval it is, or try to hear what quality if it’s a full chord. Trying to figure out the time signature of different songs is a really fun exercise. Whenever I’m at a jam session and they play something I’ve never heard, I ask what the song is and who wrote it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve combined my DJ setup with live drums and other musicians to play my beats. The music has gone in tons of directions, taking influence from Free Jazz to EDM. After accumulating plenty of original music over the years, things feel like they’ve leveled up with the new setup. Still a lot of work to do, but I’m gonna try to do more gigging this way.

My friends hire me to play in some other great bands. Usually on saxophone, but sometimes drums and piano. There’s the Pet Friendly Jazz Collective, Citizen Dan, Jesus Love Explosion, and the Gonzalo Teppa Quintet to name a few.

I have a handful of other fun jobs like teaching music lessons and recording voices for Halloween toys. I’ve put a lot of work into animation and video editing as well.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Meadowlark has jazz night on Monday. Funkier stuff on Wednesday.

Herb’s has jazz with Vlad on the B3 organ every Monday and Tuesday.

Mile high Spirits has a funk jam on Tuesdays.

Gerard’s Pool Hall has funky stuff on Sundays and I think Thursdays

Broadway Roxy has jazz on Wednesdays

Mercury Cafe has jazz on Fridays

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’ve booked shows with some other great artists in town such as:

Space Force, Kaitlyn Williams, VCO, Specific Ocean, Verena, The Salesmen, The Fuzz Heads, and The Cuddies.

Website: ikespivak.bandcamp.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ikespivak/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikespivak/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ikespiv/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnjGnLxkrwVbgFZpCvFf-7A

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ikespivak?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Image Credits
Jack Sasson
Moine Photography