Reflections: “Virtuous Creative Loop”

Hi everybody. Robert Miller here with another Follow Your Dream Reflection — observations drawn from my many conversations with remarkable creative artists.

From time to time I talk about what I call the virtuous creative loop that exists within Follow Your Dream. It’s the idea that conversations with world-class artists lead to new relationships, which in turn sometimes lead to collaborations, which then produce new creative works that get shared with listeners around the world.

Let me give you a recent example.

I just released a new recording called Mi Cachimber All Stars. The original song, Mi Cachimber, was something I wrote for my father, who played the trumpet and loved Latin music.

The original version featured two spectacular young trumpet players — Benny Benack III, who had been a guest on the podcast, and Dave Smith.

Hosting the podcast then introduced me to two other extraordinary young musicians who also became guests: Camila Cortina, a wonderful keyboard player from Cuba, and Xito Lovell, a terrific trombone player from Panama. Afterwards I asked each of them if they would contribute their talent to the song as part of a new expanded All-Star version, and they quickly agreed.

So I created and released Mi Cachimber All Stars, bringing together these four musicians from different countries and backgrounds, along with me and my band’s rhythm section. Suddenly the project had become something bigger than the original recording.

I introduced the new version to my listeners around the world through a podcast episode, and the video was released simultaneously on YouTube, where it quickly garnered several hundred thousand views.

When I step back and look at it, it’s a perfect example of the virtuous creative loop in action.

A personal inspiration leads to a song..
Podcast conversations lead to new relationships.
Those relationships lead to collaboration.
The collaboration produces new music.
And that music is then shared with a global audience.

Conversation becomes connection.

Connection becomes creativity.

And that, to me, is one of the most exciting aspects of Follow Your Dream.

Just an observation from my many conversations.

This is Robert Miller with Follow Your Dream.