Transcript

Efe Mike-Ifeta: I think where I'd love to begin is that I went on your instagram, and I've scrolled all the way to the bottom. 

Caity Gyorgy: Oh, my goodness 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Like, to the first post, and it was, like, in 2014. 

Caity Gyorgy: Yes. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: So the first post I saw on Instagram was in 2014. And I think it spoke to what I consider in my mind, consistency and longevity. Because it's almost ten years next year. It will be ten years next year since at least you started posting on Instagram. Yes. And most of the stuff that you've posted about has been about jazz and has been about music. 

Caity Gyorgy: Absolutely. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: I want you to just speak to me a little bit about that ability to find your passion and stick with it for that long. What has kept you coming back to this art form that you have found? 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, I think it's something that I found such a deep love and passion for. I'm very lucky to have found that. I began music lessons when I was nine or ten, I can't really remember. And before my mom had put me in other things, like irish dancing that did not stick. And music was sort of the one thing that I really enjoyed and I really looked forward to doing. And I wasn't classically trained or anything like that. I was sort of just playing and singing the music that I enjoyed. And that sort of freedom to choose what I wanted to sing and to how to express myself, I think helped me develop a love for the genre and for the art formed. And so jazz came along much later. 

Caity Gyorgy: I mean, if we're talking 2014, I was 16 years old, and, I mean, my instagram is curated now. I definitely have deleted and archived many photos that were up there. And I think I originally started posting in 2012 when I was 14 years old. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And nobody needs to see me when I was 14, that's fine. But when I was 16, I was in choirs in high school, and that sort of consumed a lot of my life. I had rehearsals for about ten and a half hours a week in addition to music theory classes, and I loved being surrounded by that. I mean, I enjoyed other topics in high school as well, like math and chemistry and all that kind of stuff, but I was just constantly surrounded by music, so it didn't really make any sense to do anything else. And within that Instagram, you can see, like, trips, choir trips to England and all that, kind of even Edmonton. We came and did Qanas here one year. Okay. And I think just making music has been something that's been very natural and very. 

Caity Gyorgy: I don't want to say easy because it's not necessarily easy, but it came to me very easily. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so I've always enjoyed sort of developing that. And it doesn't really matter what topic or what genre I was singing in high school, it was a lot of chamber choir, concert choir. But when I discovered jazz and improvising, I think that's when really got the bug, as they say. Wow, vin, head first. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, for sure. That's remarkable. Again, from all I've been able to see on your Instagram page, there was a picture of you. I forget her name now, but with a lady who had won a juno at some point. You took a picture with a lady, probably. And then when you won your first juno, you had mentioned that you were voted most likely to win a juno when you were coming off of high school. And now fast forward all this many years, here you are with two junos, and you're still going very strong and making music. 

Caity Gyorgy: Yes. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: When such things, when we start to look at, you might call it fate or serendipity and stuff like that. But when you get into those moments where you are able to make a callback to certain things that happened to you in the past and they're materializing in the present, how do you process that? What do you feel when such stuff happens? 

Caity Gyorgy: That kind of coincidence, I'll call it, has happened quite a lot. There are certain things that I have done in the past that have set me up for a lot of things that have helped me to get to where I am today. Even signing to a record label. That came about because I started transcribing. When I was in the second year of my university degree, I challenged myself to transcribe a jazz solo every single day for the month of May. So I started an Instagram account to hold myself accountable for that. I ended up realizing transcription is a way that I can really get to learn this music a lot better. And it helped me understand the harmony and the language of music and helped me understand different players and how they speak using their horns. 

Caity Gyorgy: And it developed my ears and my theoretical knowledge very well. And so I started transcribing more and more. I started transcribing people that weren't dead. And some of those people were on the label that I'm currently signed to. And so they had reposted me. My record label had seen these reposts. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: La Reserve. 

Caity Gyorgy: La Reserve, exactly. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: And initially, La Reserve had followed me on Instagram. I followed them back because I thought, oh, a New York record label that could be kind of cool one day, right, I started self releasing my own music. So I self released my album no bounds, in 2020, 2021, is that sort of release schedule. And I was gaining a lot of popularity with the music. It was doing well on Spotify. I had gotten some placements on playlists, very prominent playlists, so I was doing well there. Lara reserve had noticed this, and they sent me a message saying, we really like what you're doing. Do you have anything ready? And I was studying at Humber, and I had recorded my Capstone recording project, which was my ep now pronouncing, which I arranged for my ten piece ensemble. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right, which you won a Grammy for. Sorry, Juno, for. Yeah. Okay. I'm speaking into your life right now. Okay. Yes, exactly. 

Caity Gyorgy: Next year. But I had this project ready. It was fully mixed and mastered. It was ready to go. I had the album designed. Everything was fine. Everything was perfect, ready to be released. I just didn't know when I wanted to. So they sent me a message because they had seen me posting about these things on Instagram, my transcriptions. I ended up actually having a project that was ready to go. And so we started working together. And so I signed to this label. I started getting all of these extra placements on different playlists in addition to Spotify. So places like Apple, Amazon, YouTube, music, all those kinds of things. And I started making money off of that. And so then I used that money to fund extra. So it's kind of interesting, looking back, that I had used my recording time at Humber. I had this project that I hadn't released yet. I had self released another thing through trial and error. I had done things successfully with that, but also I had been transcribing. That gave me recognition to this record label that already had people on it that I really respected and looked up to. And so I find it kind of spooky, a little bit eerie that I had these things that were sort of perfectly lined up. I think about this a lot, because this happens quite a lot in my life. Even working with Mark Lamocker. Two years ago, 2021, this woman named Lisa Buck, who runs bucking jam palace out of Calgary, she had asked me, do you want to do a concert for Buckingham in December? And I said, yes, absolutely. And she said, who would you like to do this with? And I said, well, I'm such a fan of Mark. I think he's a wonderful pianist, and I'd really like to work with him. And so we did this gig, and within three minutes of playing together during the rehearsal the day of the show, it clicked automatically. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Wow. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so we recorded an album. We just recorded a whole bunch of strings things together. So even that one decision, and I'm not really sure why I went that direction, but I did, and I'm glad I did, but it ended. Know, that led to some really fantastic. So sometimes I'm like, wow. I don't know what Katie, two years ago, was thinking, but I'm really glad she thought that. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right, right. 

Caity Gyorgy: Grateful that I thought that way. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Transcription. Talk to me about transcription, because the other Instagram account you had spoken about, I've gone on there. It's the most remarkable stuff ever. It's called lift a day, I think. Good stuff. But you have spoken in other places about the power of transcription and how. So tell me what that process is. I don't even know what it is. I know that you are making this incredible scattering sounds and doing all this incredible runs, but tell me what it is and what it has done for your music. 

Caity Gyorgy: Absolutely. Well, transcription, I guess the most basic way to say it is I am singing along to other people's solos, and I write down what they've done. I notate it musically. And I like working with instrumental solos a lot. I mean, I adore Ella Fitzgerald's improvising and Sarah Vaughn and Betty Carter and all those wonderful people. But I found that one of the best ways for me to really internalize the language is to get it straight from the source. So people like Charlie Parker, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt, Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson, all of these incredible musicians have such a beautiful language that they speak. And I think one of the best ways to learn the language is to listen to it, and it get it into your ears, essentially, is what I'm saying. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so my process of transcription, I find it's easiest for me to learn a solo when I write it down. I'm sort of a visual person, and the whole idea of taking a pencil to manuscript paper and writing each note down helps me to memorize it. The process is very repetitive. So obviously, I'll start at the beginning of the solo. I'll listen to the first phrase, and then I will sing it back. I'll notate it. Sometimes I use a piano to help me with the notes. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: Just to speed up the process. Sometimes I'll do it just ear based. I will think about it intervalically, or relate it to the key center of the song. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Got you. 

Caity Gyorgy: But I'll get that first phrase. I'll go back to the beginning. I'll sing what I have I listen to the next phrase, sing that, write it down, back to the beginning. Sing what I have. Listen, write down right back to the beginning. Listen, sing right down back to the beginning. And I do that until the entire solo is done. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Wow. 

Caity Gyorgy: And it takes me about an hour, 45 minutes to an hour to do about 32 bars of music, depending on the solo. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay, that's an intensive process. 

Caity Gyorgy: Yes. And I do it all in one sitting, and then I sleep on it. And when I wake up the next morning, I have it memorized, and I'm not exactly sure how that works, so I can't exactly explain that process of learning, but for me, that's how it's done. And so then I have it memorized, and I film my video and I put it up. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, I understand scatten from. I understand the concept, but what I'm trying to find out is the common combination of what you say I almost feel is like it's almost transcendent at some point. Have you found at a point when you're doing that stuff just comes to you? From where do they come from? They just come, and it's so beautiful, but you're able to mold it and make it do what you want to do. 

Caity Gyorgy: I think that regarding the scouting or the improvising, because I've spent so much time exercising my ears, building that sort of musical muscle, I'll say I have developed a really good sense of hearing where the harmony is going to go. And so, especially if I know the song well, I can anticipate where it's going to go. I can build my improvisation to reflect where the music is going to go rather than reacting to it. So I think transcription has helped open my ears and given me the ability to be able to do that, to be able to hear how the harmony is changing. And when I know a song very well, I don't have to wait and hear where the chord is going after it's happened, I know where it's going to be. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so I know that I can improvise a melody that's going to suit the chords that are happening underneath, if that makes sense. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Awesome. 

Caity Gyorgy: But, I mean, that has come from hours of transcription and becoming familiar with the harmony. Because when I'm transcribing, not only am I becoming familiar with the language of the solo, but I'm becoming familiar with the harmony that accompanies it. And in this kind of music, a lot of the harmony is very similar from song to song, or there's a lot of patterns that you'll see whether that's like a two, five one or something. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so the songs and the harmony within the songs are very similar from song to song. I mean, it's like when you listen to pop music, it's typically like four chords that you hear on the radio. You can kind of improvise and anticipate where things are going to go. And so I do the same thing but with more chords and more progressions within the style that I like to sing. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Gotcha. Gotcha. Let's talk about your current album. 

Caity Gyorgy: Okay. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: You've spoken about how you met Mark. You took me down this hole where I started to go look at all of this great composers from the great american song book. Of all of them, you guys chose to Kern, right. He has like 600 songs to his Credit.

Caity Gyorgy: And we chose nine. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. So I was very interested in that process. And how did you guys pare down when there was so much to choose from? 

Caity Gyorgy: Yes. Well, one thing that makes it a little bit easier to choose from, I mean, his catalog is extensive, very extensive. A lot of it is from musicals. And so it's hard to take some of those songs out of context. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: So that kind of works in our favor. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. So a lot of standards. 

Caity Gyorgy: For example, we're going to record another songbook album next week, actually, and we're doing the music of Frank Lesser. Okay. And there's a lot of tunes that standalone and they can be related to. But there's music from musicals like how to succeed in business without really trying, that you would not really want to include on an album necessarily. Like a secretary is not a toy. Not a toy. I'm not going to sing that one. Happy to keep his dinner. Not definitely. Probably not going to do that one unless it's some sort of ironic thing. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, for sure. 

Caity Gyorgy: So that narrows it down a bit. I took a lot of inspiration from the Ella Fitzgerald songbook. She has all of her songbooks. She has a Jerome Kern one. So I was listening to that to gain a little bit of inspiration, because one thing I love about this music is that each person's interpretation of the music is going to be unique. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so especially when you're talking about the songbook stuff that Ella does with strings and mean, we're a duo, so we're going to automatically be different than a lot of things. But with the kern music, I look to lyrics a lot, and he worked with some very wonderful lyricists, including Dorothy Fields, who is absolutely one of my favorite lyricists. I think she's very clever. She's very witty. Her vocabulary is fantastic, and she's got the best rhymes. And I love her wit so much. I aspire to that sort of thing in my own songwriting and my own lyricism. And so a lot of the songs that I selected for the album were Dorothy Field's lyrics, like a fine romance. That's a funny one. Or April fooled me, which was actually written by Kern. And then he passed away, and so it was never finished. 

Caity Gyorgy: And then Jerome Kern's widow married a man named George Byron, who had. Then he reached out to Dorothy Fields and asked her to write lyrics after Kern had passed away. And so that's how those lyrics were made. And I love that song, actually, quite a lot. But then there were songs on the album like Bill, and that's from showboat. So that's a Hammerson second lyric. And I didn't choose that one. Mark wanted to do that one, and I thought, okay, I don't know this one. But now I love performing that one. It's a ton of fun. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: And the lyrics to Bill is just incredible. Right. I was listening to it on the bus recently on my headphones, and it was just enthralling. Right. It's almost like unconditional type love type stuff. Yeah, unconditional. 

Caity Gyorgy: But she still has this sort of resentment towards him, how he looks and how he acts. But it doesn't really matter because for some reason, she seems to like him. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. Okay, so the last song on the album, bartender, I understand that it's, in a certain way, responds to a certain type of commentary about you. And I'm like, in terms of. Okay, so in hip hop, do you say you have, like, you're responding to a beef or something? And this is the mildest beef ever in the history of music. But talk to me about the need to want to respond to that and how you do it in your own way. 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, my own way is definitely very passive aggressive, but within that, I have sort of this stage that I've set up for myself with my ability to release music. And I guess some people listen to it. So I wanted to include this because I wanted to stand up for myself. And of course, I'm not going to go up to any of the people that talk about me this way and be like, why would you say that? So I do it in my own way. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so I wrote the bartender because after I had won my first Juno, I had received a lot of. I shouldn't say a lot of. There was a lot of support. I should say, but there were also comments about my age, my perceived lack of skill.

Efe Mike-Ifeta: which is not true, by the way, but go ahead. 

Caity Gyorgy: Thank you. Yeah, I don't think it's true. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, it's not. Certainly not. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I'm comfortable saying that now. But I didn't really even post about the Junos or my experience with them because I'd seen a whole bunch of things online and I'd heard about what people had said, and I was really hurt because the people that had talked to that had said things like this were very nice to me before I had won. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I've since run into some of those people and seen very tense, icy conversations, which is funny to me, in a way, but I wanted to stand up for myself in a way that I believed in, which is through music, in a way that other people would hear. And I thought adding this to an album, knowing my track record with releases and having them be heard, this is a good way for me to get my point across in a way that's sort of like telling these people, no, I think I did actually deserve this, for sure. I'm proud of what I accomplished. And so I made the bartender and I decided to base it off of an old fashioned. The lyrics are a recipe for an old fashioned, which is one of my absolute favorite cocktails. 

Caity Gyorgy: And then that's just sort of a commentary on just somebody being old fashioned and not accepting the new generation. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: But it was really challenging to see that from people I had really respected and I really looked up to. And to have that sort of crushing reality that, not everybody's rooting for you, as it seemed when you're in school, or as it seemed when people could get something out of you. It was a wake up call, but in a way, I'm grateful for it because now I've got thicker skin and I am less naive in that sense. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: I'm happy about that. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: At some point, you had a ten person band, right? 

Caity Gyorgy: Yeah. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: And now you're working with a four. Is it four? 

Caity Gyorgy: I love working with my quartet. Quartet, yeah. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. But in the space of making music and all of that, there's so many aspects to it. But you have grown into leadership in a certain sense. Right. How are you able to create the. Okay, it's easy to. Not easy, but you make the music. But again, the leadership aspect of that. How have you grown into that, being able to manage like a band? 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, I've always sort of been a band leader in my own way. As a singer, I was called for gigs as, like, a side person, but mostly since the singer is the front person. Typically, I am the band leader. I'm the one handling the checks. I'm on the one paying everybody. I'm on the one getting the charts ready, all of that kind of stuff. Every day I grow more and more comfortable with that. I like to challenge myself with sort of different settings of ensemble, and so quartet. I do a lot, especially on gigs. It's easy to get a quartet up. I have a lot of arrangements that I've made that are specifically for quartet. But the band leading stuff, it's a lot of fun for me. I am definitely a lot more confident in it now that I have a book. 

Caity Gyorgy: I have dozens and dozens of songs that I've written. People request those songs, which is nice, right? I've got all of my arrangements. I try to make a group sound, and I take a lot of pride in my group and having it sound a certain way, look a certain way, like, my band is always in suits or equivalent, like a nice dress or something like that. I don't want people showing up to the gig in jeans. I don't want people showing up to the gig in a t shirt. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: I have certain standards that I like my group to meet. I need them to be on time. I've become a lot more strict with that. And through the years, my call list, I should say, of people that I like to hire, has decreased quite a bit just based on how professional people are. And so there's very few people that I will work with, well, not will work with. There's very few people that I trust enough to play my music the way I'd like it to be played. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I'm lucky that those people seem to enjoy playing with me, so they say yes to my kicks. But I've grown confident in the fact that I am a band leader. I'm paying people good. I think it's good money. I'm providing opportunities to work, to travel, all that sort of thing. And I'm very proud that I'm able to do that. I'm really grateful that I'm at a space where I can do that and where my band is going to be treated well. I think I earn respect for the shows that I put on, and I like to take pride in what I do, and I like my band to take pride in what they do. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I think they would only be able to take pride in that sort of thing if the music is polished and the stages are nice and the sound is good. And so I think there's sort of a nice reciprocity for my group. And I, when there are issues, I'm the one who takes care of them, and that's fine. I had a gig where I was naive and did not discuss the fee beforehand. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And it was quite a lot less than what I thought. And it's challenging when you have relationships with certain places and you don't want to lose those relationships. And so I lost money on that gig, but I would rather myself, I would rather I lose money and my band still get paid well and treated well and in a nice hotel and on a nice train and all that kind of stuff than for me to be thinking, oh, well, I need to take something because I'm the band leader. No, I want my band to be taken care of first and then we'll work on what I'm getting. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: But that's leadership right there. 

Caity Gyorgy: Absolutely. And I really love working with the people that I work with and I don't want to lose those people. And so I treat them well and they play my music well. And I'm grateful for that. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: You're a prolific writer. 

Caity Gyorgy: Thank you. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: If were to circle back to at the point where La Reserve contacted you and you talk about this amazing place that you were in and you already had so much material, has that being prolific and being able to write as much material as you do, has that always been a thing? Like, do you just write and just store away for a rainy day? Like you just keep writing? 

Caity Gyorgy: Yeah, I write all the time. Sometimes it's hard to find the time to be able to sit down and work on something at a piano because I like to write at the piano. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: But I have my notes app, I have my voice memos. There's a lot of ideas in there. And usually if I have an idea, like a harmonic idea, I'll scat through it because I won't be able to know exactly which chords I want. But if I can scat through the harmony, then I can play it on piano and say, okay, that's what I did there. So this is the chord I'm outlining, and then I can figure out the harmony that way. Or I'll have my melody and then I'll outline the chord that I want with arpeggios based on. If there's a specific note that I'd like to have, sort of a nice chord under, I'll sing the chord and then I'll sing the note that I want. And the lyrics I spend a lot of time on my lyrics. 

Caity Gyorgy: I am a big fan of lyric writing, and so I have physical books that I use. I use my voice memos app for that. I use my notes app for that on my phone. So there's a lot of different techniques I use to write. I'm always writing. I'm always looking for inspiration for writing. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: Yeah. I don't know. I love to write. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: That's good. 

Caity Gyorgy: I think I'm very lucky in that sense that I can sort of. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: You don't only love, but you're able to, right. Because I think there's a difference there to be able to write lyrics to the music. I think that's good, and they're really good as well. 

Caity Gyorgy: Thank you. I'm very judgmental when it comes to lyricism, and so I try to hold myself in a high regard with that sort of thing, and I have high standards for myself. Even with rhyming, I'm like, oh, no, that's a weak rhyme. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: I don't want to do that, or. 

Caity Gyorgy: I can't rhyme that with that because that's not going to be strong enough. Or there's a better word for that. I don't want to use that word. I'm always on the hunt for interesting vocabulary words and that sort of thing. Interesting ways to say, for sure lyrics, because there's a million ways to say I love you, but it's trying to find the creative ways that people haven't really thought of yet. And that's where the challenge comes in, and that's the challenge that I love to try and tackle for sure. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay, I need to ask you this. So going into the Junos, the first one you won, it may have come as a surprise to you, but when you were writing featuring, which is the best vocal jazz album. Okay. But when you were writing featuring, did you have an expectation for that you were going to win? 

Caity Gyorgy: That's a very good question, and nobody's asked me that question before, so I haven't had to be honest about it. But after we had finished the recording session that day, and there was a lot of things with that recording session that I wish had gone differently, and there was some things I wasn't too happy with. But when we shut down pro tools and I had everything on the hard drive, I said to the group, said to the rhythm section, I'm like, this is the Juno winner. Because when I recorded featuring, I hadn't won my first juno yet. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I didn't think I was going to win the first one, to be honest. But then we finished recording featuring that one day. And I said to everyone, this is the Juno winner. So nobody's asked me that before. That sounds very pretentious. And, like, I have a huge ego, but I was. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: No, I don't think it is at all. I don't think it is at all. Because it's such a great. So now let's get into featuring. Because the first song on featuring, which is. I feel foolish if we're talking about lyricism and we go back the cadence on that song. It almost sounds like what a rapper would do. Like, there are places where you are. I'm like, this is so good, and it's so witty. And you're doing it in such a cadence. So talk to me about the choices made on that song and how it came out that way. 

Caity Gyorgy: That one came out in probably about 20 minutes. And so that one was very easy to write. For some reason. It just happened. And that happens with a lot of my songs. Some of them take a little bit more time. Typically, I write in one session, but I feel foolish. The one thing that I'm not stoked about with that is the bridge, which. I do love the bridge, and I like the lyrics, but I rhymed me with me, which is not a real rhyme. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right 

Caity Gyorgy: Over time, I've realized I need to stare into your eyes if you were going to see the real me. But over time, I've realized that requires some compromise between confidence and diffidence in me. But I figured, you know what? I'll take the hit for that one. Because that requires some compromise between confidence and diffidence in me. And I like that. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: But that one was fun. That one I wrote with the. I feel foolish. I wrote it with the hits in mind. So I already had the arrangement written as I was writing it. And so I'm trying to remember, what are the lyrics in that one? I sing that one a lot because I get requested that one. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: It's such a good song. That's why you get that much request from that. 

Caity Gyorgy: It's a ton of fun. And I love singing quickly. I always joke my mother's an auctioneer, so that's probably why I'm able to do this. Betty Badabas and that kind of stuff. Like all of these different. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, for sure. 

Caity Gyorgy: I would do as a kid, for sure, talk very quickly. And so I think also my brain's always at a mile a. It came to me very easily. It's very hard to describe that sort of thing sometimes the lyrics just like they're there. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. 

Caity Gyorgy: And sometimes it's kind of scary. I'll be writing something, and then I'm like, oh, no, that's really good. And the words just keep coming out. And I'm like, I'm not sure what's going on here. I'm not going to fight it, because I like what's happening. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, for sure. 

Caity Gyorgy: But it's very challenging to describe. It's sort of an otherworldly sort of feeling. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: If we go back to “Now Pronouncing “yes, there's a song in there. A certain someone. 

Caity Gyorgy: Oh, yeah. From no bounds. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Sorry. No, my bad. 

Caity Gyorgy: So many. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. Okay. No, bound. A certain someone. And I think I watched a video of you trying to give some context to it, where you spoke about the categories of people you were trying to write for. 

Caity Gyorgy: The barista, the friend, my cat, Pico. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta:Right. Yeah. Okay. And for me, when I was listening to you explain that, I said, when I got the opportunity to talk to you, could a certain someone be a place? Because there's a little window in my life that I always think about with so much nostalgia. So I was going to ask you, would a place fit into that description? Okay. Oh, my gosh. 

Caity Gyorgy: I never even thought about that before. Yes, 1000% yes. That's a beautiful way to think about it, actually. That's way better than what I wrote. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Come on, come on. No, but I do love the song. I love the sentiments behind it because it's just so. Again, I think one of your genius has been able to write at such a relatable level. So. Yeah, that spoke to me from that album. Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: I really like that perspective. That's wonderful. That would be a nice topic to write a new song on. Okay, so maybe I'll give you a writing credit. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Oh, my God. See my name on a pack of a vinyl? That'd be crazy. But yes. So there's so much sides to you. I don't think we can go into all of them today, but, Gemini, I want to speak about your ability to, like, your savviness with tech and marketing and strategy and all of that stuff. I know it's key and it's important to the work that you do right now. What space does that take up in all that you do? 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, I'm trying to be fairly active on my social media pages. I have to admit, in the recent year, I've been so burnt out from it, because over the pandemic, I went really hard with the social media. I mean, there was not really much else to do. But then when things started becoming a little bit less closed off and I started touring a lot more and getting writing grants and all that kind of stuff, I had to prioritize those sort of things because the social media is very important, and I love posting on it, and I love connecting with people through social media. I adore that. But sometimes it can be challenging, especially when I've got a couple of weeks off, maybe, and you see other people's gigs and you're like, well, I want to be doing that. And the comparison is just. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: I know it's crippling. Tell me about it. 

Caity Gyorgy: But the social media stuff, that was all sort of trial and error for me. Less error than I thought, which is nice. But I did a lot of social media stuff with my first few releases, a lot of presave campaigns, because I wanted to spread awareness about the music. And I realized pretty quickly that people are not going to do something out of the goodness of their heart. Typically, they're going to do something if you give them something to do it. And so I started incentivizing my releases, and I said, if you presave this, then I'll do this. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: So, with no bounds, with postage due. If they presaved and they sent me their address, I would send them a handwritten postcard in the mail. And that was actually really nice to do. And that happened right at the beginning of the pandemic. So I had all this time to actually be able to do that. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: I couldn't even dream of doing that now. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. 

Caity Gyorgy: And then there was another one with. What was the song? I can't remember. Bye bye, blackbird. For those who pre saved, I would post on my Instagram story a picture of a bird that made me think of them. And I'm a bird watcher, and I have my cannon and I go out and take photos. So I had all of these photos of birds that I've taken, and I don't post them anywhere. So I thought this could be a fun way to actually post the photos that I've taken while also letting people have this bird. And people love to know what you think about them, right? It's like those Buzzfeed quizzes. What kind of spaghetti sauce are you? And you answer these personality questions and you find out that you're like Alfredo or something. 

Caity Gyorgy: So I essentially did that because I knew just from interacting with people love to know what you think about them, and people love to get things for free. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Got you. 

Caity Gyorgy: Love when other people do things for them. And so I took that sort of idea and included that with my marketing, and it worked very well. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. 

Caity Gyorgy: And then I started gaining more of a following, and now I don't really do the presave campaigns much anymore. Right. I still believe in them. I think they're a good idea. They're fun to do. They're a great way to build excitement about the release. But at this point, I have releases coming out every few months, and it's exhausting to always be doing campaign. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, for sure. 

Caity Gyorgy: I truly believe in it. I think social media marketing is why. It's a huge reason as to why I am successful. What I think is successful anyway. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: It's okay. You are successful. 

Caity Gyorgy: Trying to be humble. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Confident. That's good. It's a good attribute, I think. 

Caity Gyorgy: Thank you. Yeah. But it does get exhausting. Right. But, I mean, there's pros and cons to everything. Yeah, I guess. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: What kind of deal do you have with LA reserve right now? Because at the time, I think I listened somewhere where you were talking about, like, you were doing just fine, but they came along and the opportunity to expand into new markets was there. But talk to me about that relationship and what it has done for your career. 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, I hate using the word like, oh, we're like a family, because usually that's like some sort of corporate nonsense. But those two, Matt and Jacob Locke, they're brothers, have changed my life in so many different know. They release my music globally. People are listening all over the world. They've introduced me to so many incredible people and connections. The people that are on their label are people that I really look up to, and they're people that now I consider friends. Like when I was playing at Birdland last month, my friend Charles Owens, who's a fantastic tenor player out of Richmond, Virginia, he happened to be in town, and I said, come in. Come and sit in with me. And so I got to play with Chaz and return the favor for when he let me sit in with him at Smalls the last I. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I have a release coming up with a wonderful singer named Martina de Silva, who's in New York that's coming out in January. And I'm so grateful I got to do that because she's wonderful. And so I've been introduced to all these incredible people and I've gotten all of this recognition on streaming platforms, and I know that's a very controversial topic, but I will say that it feels pretty good to be listened to in over 180 countries. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Absolutely. 

Caity Gyorgy: I will say that those two care so much about the music. Matt and Jacob care so much about the music and they care so much about their artists, and they always go to bat for their artists. If they're not happy with how a release went and they think that somebody else could have helped, they will send an email to that person, why didn't this happen? Or they have a wonderful person on the team named Matt helm who does these beautiful stories about the music. So whenever I have a release coming up, I talk to Matt Helm about it and Matt pens a story for a press release for me. I've got a wonderful publicist that I get to work with through loud reserve named Hannah Block, and she is fantastic and helped me so much, especially after the Junos. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I go down to New York and I get to hang out with them, and it doesn't seem transactional at all. It just seems like everybody's trying to just. We're trying to help each other out. We're growing together. I mean, the amount of success this label has achieved in the few years that I've been on it is just remarkable. I feel like they were always very successful, but the rate of growth is just insane. They're doing so well and I'm so grateful that I get to be a part of it. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, for sure. 

Caity Gyorgy: They're wonderful people. My deal with them is fantastic. I have a distribution deal. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so essentially what that means if people don't know that is I pay to have all my music made. I own my masters, they distribute it for me, they take a cut, but I still own everything. And I'm a big fan of owning my music. I think there's pros and cons to every sort of thing. I mean, the con here is that I have to pay for everything, but really, I don't mind it because I find it's an investment in myself. I love to make these projects. I'm happy to spend the money to make these projects. And luckily in Canada we have access to grants, and so the Canada Council for the Arts was key for me to be able to do featuring, and I'm going to be applying for a few more grants to hopefully do an orchestral album next year. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so my last couple albums, I've funded myself, which is something that I wouldn't have been able to do without Matt and Jacob, who have gotten me wonderful success across the streaming platforms, which has in know, turned into money, real money. And that's what funds what my brother calls my vagabond lifestyle. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Vagabond. No, that's great, because most of the time when you look at independent artists and when they try to get their careers off the ground, even when you're able to be independent and there's all of this technology to help you, I find in my experience, talking to people that the workload is just extreme to try and pull it all together. 

Caity Gyorgy: It is. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah. So if you have, like, in whatever capacity, but if you have a group of people who are rooting for you and helping alleviate some of that burden, then it's a win. 

Caity Gyorgy: It's incredibly. I don't have the words for it just because I feel so incredibly grateful to have people rooting for me. Like Matt and Jacob have believed in me when I really didn't believe in. Not that I didn't believe in myself, but they were confident we'd win the Junos both times. And I thought, well, no, I'm just excited. I'm just thrilled to be nominated. And they're like, of course you're nominated, Katie, but you're going to win it, too. And I'm like, well, no, I don't know. Everybody else is really wonderful. And, I mean, at that point, it's. I don't even know how people choose those things because everyone in the categories that I've been nominated in are just so fantastic and wonderful. But they've always been very confident about that stuff and they're like, no, Katie, this is what you're doing. 

Caity Gyorgy: Blah, blah, blah. They're thinking, no, we will submit for the Grammys and all this kind of stuff. And we didn't get nominated this year, but were on the ballot and that's not something that I thought was going to be possible for a while. But they were confident. They're like, no, you're going to be on the ballot. And so that kind of thinking and that kind of drive to have that on my side is pretty good for sure. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: So two junos in all of this catalog that you have and all of this music that you're working towards releasing, I can't help but think that not some, but the music that you've put out that are originals are one day going to become standards. Like, people are going to actually start to record that stuff and look back because they are that good. Do you ever think about yourself in that light to say, okay, I found my space in this genre and at some point my music is going to have the longevity that all of those people who I admire do have? 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, I actually do think about that. I get emails at least a couple of times a week from people wanting to get a chart from me and my music. I'm thrilled to be able to say that it's been sung all over the world for. A lot of students from different universities all across the world have asked me for my chart so they can do it on their recitals or on their gigs. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: That's remarkable. 

Caity Gyorgy: It's really cool. And so one of my projects that was supposed to be for 2023, but I guess it's a 2024 project, is to compile a book of my compositions so far. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: And then be able to sell that online because I get so many requests for these charts. I love that people want to play them. On another hand, I will say that if there's people who want one of my charts that are listening to this, it's incredibly beneficial to transcribe a chart. There's a lot of blossom Deary recordings that I love, and there's standards that she does that are challenging to find charts for. And so what I will do is not ask Blossom Deary for the chart because she is no longer with us. And also, she's not going to answer me, probably. But what I will do is I will sit down at the piano with the music in my headphones and I will figure out the bass line, and then I'll figure out the chords, and then I'll transcribe the melody. 

Caity Gyorgy: And at that point, I've learned the song really well. And so there's been people who have actually transcribed my charts before. And then they send me an email and they say, I transcribed your chart. Can you just verify this for me and let me know if there's anything that I did incorrectly? And I adore that. I'm happy to receive any sort of email because it means that people took the time, they cared enough about the music to actually learn it. And that means so much to me. But sometimes I get emails that are like, I don't have time to learn your music. Can you send me the chart? And I'm like, no, I honestly don't even respond to those things. I get a lot of emails. I get very overwhelmed when I get a lot of emails. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so those are the ones where I'm like, it's easy. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: It just makes it easy not to respond. 

Caity Gyorgy: Exactly. I think that if you want to sing a song, you should care about the song enough to learn the song. And when I'm learning music, I'm listening to different versions of the songs, and I'm transcribing different versions, and I learn the lyrics, and I hate reading on gigs. I do not like to read music on my gigs. I don't like to have my sheet music up because I want to be at a point with the song where I know it by heart, so I can really convey the message of the song and I can engage with the audience, and then they know that I know it and that my perspective and my take on it is unique and it is very well thought out. And so I think I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the music that I've written. 

Caity Gyorgy: I hope that people will continue to play it and sing it. I'm glad that it resonates with people, really. And so I think the next step for me is to make my book. But the first time it happened was sort of a surreal thing to get asked for a chart, and I was like, oh, my God, of course. And here's it in a different key if you want it. It's very special to have other people wanting to interpret my music. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Absolutely. Wow. Again, there's really so much to talk about, and I think I want to thank you because the genre itself, my playlist has expanded, not because I didn't listen to jazz before, but just coming into your music and just reading about your story, like, my playlist has expanded, and I have you to thank for that. 

Caity Gyorgy: So glad. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: And your music has led me to all of this great, amazing people going back to the song book, and it's expanded what you might call musical palette. 

Caity Gyorgy: Oh, well, that means a lot to me. I'm really happy to hear that. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: So thank you. Thank you so much. I think you execute music at a very high level. 

Caity Gyorgy: Thank you. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: The proficiency with which you do it is just remarkable. Remarkable. I know that you've had mentors across your career so far. Speak to that. Speak to the power of mentors in your life. People who have come before and who are in the room with you kind of know just having that presence there. What does it do? 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, there's a lot of people that I'm very grateful to have in my life or to have had in my life if maybe I haven't seen them in a while. When I was at Humber college, I studied with a woman named Lisa Martinelli, and Lisa was really fantastic in helping me gain better technique. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so that was a really nice mentoring sort of thing. I mean, she was my private lesson teacher, but we talked about a lot more than just music. Mike Downs was also one of those people when I was at Humber. And I was in a couple of his ensembles, and it was always nice to have him include vocal parts in his chamber music, and I love to sing that kind of thing. A lot of my mentorship sort of began when I was in my master's degree, actually, and so Christine Jensen is one of those people. 

Caity Gyorgy: Christine is just such a fantastic force, and I studied with her at McGill, but when she's in Montreal and I'm in Montreal at the same time, we typically will go out and get coffee or something, and it's nice to be able to have somebody to speak to about certain things that are happening in the music industry. But also, Christine, she was very wonderful about expanding my, I guess, musical palette with harmony and that sort of thing, but she was never. And the music that she writes, I'm a huge fan of. I absolutely adore her music. It's not the kind of music that I write. It's different. I mean, there's so many subgenres in jazz, but Christine always gave me the. 

Caity Gyorgy: She never told me not to write a certain way, whereas I had other teachers that said, oh, well, this is kind of like basic know. It's sort of like song booky. It's been done before. That's what I love to do. I don't want to always be thinking of the next thing. I mean, there's other people that are doing that already. They can do that. I'm happy with where I am. And so Christine was really fantastic about letting me be where I was, but just opening my eyes to new perspectives on how to not. I don't want to say improve, but how to go about creating in the space that I was in. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And, of course, I studied with Renee Lee, and Renee was wonderful when I was signing with the record label because she's on a record label, and so I had so many questions about that with her, and she was fantastic about that. Lila bi Alli is another mentor of mine, and I would say she's a friend as well. And we check in with each other with voice memos all the time, and I am such a fan of her. I think she's one of the hardest working musicians, definitely in the country, if not the world. She is fantastic at everything she does. She's a fantastic composer, and I love that her music has her sound like, I know when it's a Lila bi alley arrangement, I know when it's a Lila Biali song. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I've seen her perform multiple times, and I'm just always just starstruck and very amazed at how incredibly cohesive and tight the band is. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And she leads it so beautifully and the ideas are always so fresh. And I'm such a fan of her and I love exchanging ideas on music marketing and that kind of stuff with her. And she's just been such a huge support for me and I couldn't be more grateful to have her in my life. I adore Lila Viali. And there's another sort of mentor. I took a really wonderful ethnology musicology elective when I was doing my master's degree, and I did this feminist topics and musicology course with Lisa Barg, and she's a wonderful professor at McGill. And her and I go bird watching together in Montreal and we talk, like, feminism in the music and birds and. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: All that kind of stuff. 

Caity Gyorgy: And she's been really wonderful to have in my life. And I'm very grateful for her. And she just actually released a really fantastic book on Billy Storyhorn, and she had asked me to transcribe some things for her for that. So I'm actually in a book, which is kind of neat. My transcriptions are. And she also was so fantastic in getting me the opportunity to write for a published magazine, which was really something that I never thought I'd do because I'm really not much of an academic. And taking her course was terrifying for me. So much reading. I mean, usually I'm writing, I'm not reading. I always joke that I'm illiterate. I know I'm. But yeah, I noticed that a lot of these people are women, and it's wonderful to have people like that in my life because I can see myself reflected with them. 

Caity Gyorgy: And the mentorship is huge. It can be very easy to feel alone in this industry, I think in any industry. But the music industry is so cutthroat and there's so much competition. I don't really feel any sort of competition. I'm just grateful for the support that I receive. And to receive it from musicians that are such powerhouses is really quite right. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. And now that you're able to, I understand you've done some work in the Yukon, but now that you're able to teach, what are you looking out for in a student? What makes a student special when you find them? 

Caity Gyorgy: I love to teach. When I'm in the Yukon, it's a ton of fun. I get to work with so many wonderful people, and the students that I'm working with in the Yukon are all around, like at least 15 years older than me. And so I love working with adults, I'm hoping that the student is coming to me with questions because I don't know what to do. If they're like, I don't know what to do. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: Because when I was a student, I came in with questions, and I think that's how you learn. I mean, I have my students sing for me. I have them ask their questions, and then I listen to what they're doing. I listen to what they can improve on, and then I suggest things based on that. But to come in with questions or to come in with goals, saying, I have an audition, I need to work on this piece, and I'd love your feedback on it. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: That's ideal. That sort of thing. Or I not really sure what this theoretical concept is. Maybe we could go over this. Perfect. There has to be a clear goal, because if a student's coming in to a lesson with me and they're saying, I don't know what to work on, what do you think I should work on? 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: I have no idea what their goals are. I think it's very. With anything you do, it's good to have goals and it's good to have an idea of the objective you'd like to achieve. Ideally, it's also great for the student to be able to sing. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: I think that's key. So I think maybe a good place to end our conversation would be the Christmas single that you just put. Yeah. Yeah. 

Caity Gyorgy: I love it. I'm in love with that recording. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Like, it's on constant rotation in mine too. 

Caity Gyorgy: I can say that. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: So I guess this is your first Christmas single? 

Caity Gyorgy: No. Last year I released an ep of just three songs from Mark and I's first time playing together. Okay. And I released those on Spotify. So there's just three tunes we did. What are you doing New Year's Eve? Christmas time is here. And the Christmas song. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so we released that last year, but this is the first original one and the other one was taken from a live gig, so it wasn't so much a recording. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: This one was like a big production. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay, so you said you worked with strings, correct? 

Caity Gyorgy: Yes. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: What was the process going into and how different is it to be in that Christmas kind of sentiment? Like, how do you translate that into a song, into a jazz song? 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, I think it's very easy to do that because a lot of people around the holidays, they hear the music on the radio, and then it's swing, and you can actually hear an upright bass and a piano solo on the radio, on pop radio. Which is unheard of. It's my favorite time of year because I get to hear the instrumentation I like. Right. I wrote the song in November of 2022, I think. Yes. Okay. And so I was sort of already in the holiday spirit. It had probably snowed in Montreal at that point, and so I get very sentimental when the snow is falling gently through by the window of my apartment. And so I wrote the song. And it's another one of those situations where it just kind of happened. And the song, it was fine. 

Caity Gyorgy: And Mark and I played it on our duo gig at bucking jam. We do this gig, it's a traditional gig, or not. I shouldn't say traditional. It's a holiday tradition that we do this gig and we played it as a duo, and I liked it. And then I won my second Juno. And Mark called me up a week later and he said, let me arrange something for you. Because I guess he thought maybe I wouldn't hire him anymore now that I want another juno, but who knows? It's crazy. And I said, okay, yeah, but I'm going to commission you to do this. I can probably budget this much money knowing this. Like, would ten strings be enough? And he said, yes, ten strings would be enough. Knowing he knew that it wouldn't be enough. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so I commissioned him for three songs. One of them was perfect time of year, my holiday song. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I booked the studio time for so. But I didn't know what anything sounded like. He made these arrangements, but they were a surprise. And I didn't get to hear them until I heard the strings in August. So we recorded the bass, the drums, the piano and the voice first, because Mark was also conducting and playing. And you can't really do those at the same. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Right. 

Caity Gyorgy: And so we recorded those two weeks in. You know, I had these tracks that were kind of like shells. They didn't have all the good stuff yet. And then two weeks later, I went into the studio expecting to see ten strings. And then there were 15 strings in a clarinet, and that was like a surprise. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Whoa. Yeah, for sure.

Caity Gyorgy: Which was insane. And so the first tune we did was perfect time of year. And I could not believe it. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: It's so lush. It's so full. I know. 

Caity Gyorgy: No, I think it's perfect. I think the arrangement is absolutely perfect. And so, yeah, I cried. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: And then I took a video and. 

Caity Gyorgy: I sent it to Matt and Jake from La Reserve, and they were. I don't know if I can swear. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: On this, but go ahead. 

Caity Gyorgy: They just replied, holy shit. And I was like, I know. I can't believe it. And so I was just at the studio that day. I wasn't doing anything. I was just there. I brought some croissant for people, and I brought the coffee, but I was just, like, sitting there in awe the whole time. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, I can't believe this is happening right now. And we did three songs, but perfect time of year. Every time I hear that, I'm just blown away. I'm like, I can't believe that this is my music. I can't believe that. I've talked about this a little bit before, but it's an incredibly special feeling to get to hear your music in a way that you never thought possible. And that was this. Because I've never arranged for strings before, nor would I ever want to. 

Caity Gyorgy: Now that I know that Mark can do what he can do. I just never imagined it sounding so it. Spectacular. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Yeah, it really is. And I think maybe my kind of last question, although I might jump back to something else, but I always love asking artists this, when do you know a record is done? 

Caity Gyorgy: Well, for me, there's always things to improve on, but after the recording session is done, after that studio day is done, I'm like, well, we recorded it, and so those are the takes we're using. Because when I record, I'm not doing edits. I record with my band so that we can't really do punches. Everything is live, just as Ella Fitzgerald would have done. So I choose the takes I like, and I guess the record's done when it's mastered and the album art's ready and it's uploaded. For me, I like to think about it sort of as, here's where I am now. So happy that we did this. Let's go on to the next one. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Got you. 

Caity Gyorgy: And I've been doing a record a year. I mean, I recorded a new record in June. That's coming out July this year. Okay. Mark and I are recording a new record next week, and I'm not even sure when that's going to come out. And then hopefully, we'll be doing the orchestral album, and that'll come out in 2025. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Busy, busy. 

Caity Gyorgy: All the music is written, and so it's ready to go. So I do one record, and I'm like, this was really fun. Okay, what are we doing next? So I'm always on to the next thing, and I'm grateful that I have that sort of drive, because I think if I didn't, I would implode right. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Okay, so let's look to the future again. You've spoken extensively about all the music that you have coming out, but I know a Grammy is on the way. But beyond that, what is it that you're looking forward to? 

Caity Gyorgy: Touring more. I've been so fortunate to be able to see a lot of the world through music. I was in Japan in April for two weeks. That was incredible. I toured all across the United States this time last year and I've been back know with my own group. I've been all across Canada. I'm hoping Europe is the next stop for me. I've been to Mexico a few times for music so this might not be the most exciting answer, but really I'm living my dream life right now. I'm recording, I'm touring, I'm writing, I'm singing. I would just like this to keep happening. The awards are wonderful and of course I'll keep submitting for everything and it would be nice to receive them. But what I'm doing right now, I mean, nobody can take away my two junos. I got them. They sit on my dresser in my apartment in Montreal. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Nice. 

Caity Gyorgy: Named Juno and Bruno. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Lovely names. 

Caity Gyorgy: Thank you. The first one's not super original, but Bruno is pretty good. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: It had to rhyme, eh? 

Caity Gyorgy: Exactly. Yeah. No, I count myself very lucky. I say this quite often. I'm living my dream life. I don't have a day job. Music is entirely what I do. It sustains me. I'm able to keep up my habit of vintage dresses, which is a very unhealthy habit for my bank account, but very good for the heart and the soul. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: And you do look really good. 

Thank you. No, I'm very content with how things are going and if they just keep going in the direction that they're going in, I think that my life will be perfect. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Well, I think that's as good as any notes to end this. Katie, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for making really incredible music. I'm going to circle back to welcome you again to Edmonton. I'm going to be at your show tonight. I can't wait to see you perform live. 

Caity Gyorgy: I hope you enjoy it. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: I'm certain I will. But yeah, it's been just remarkable getting to learn about you and listening to your music and all of the successes that have come your way, I strongly believe has come through an incredible work ethic. Thank you. And mass string of the craft. So keep doing that. We're going to keep rooting for you and I hope we get to do this again. 

Caity Gyorgy: Me too. Thank you so much for the thoughtful questions and for having me. And this has been a ton of fun. 

Efe Mike-Ifeta: Awesome. 

Caity Gyorgy: Thank you.