How Jazz Created a Company
- Mar 2, 2017
Did you know April is Jazz Appreciation Month? It was created at the National Museum of American History and is intended to stimulate and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz – to study the music, attend concerts, and listen to jazz on radio and recordings and more.1 In honor of jazz, we’re going to round out April with an interview from the company’s founder and president, Mitch Zlotnik, an avid jazz drummer, who gave us a candid look into his history with Jazz and how Audimute, and ultimately One Wish (Audimute's parent company), was born.
Q: How did you become interested in Jazz?
A: I’m a very passionate drummer. I have been playing the drums since the seventh grade. I was always interested in Rock music, but I started listening to a lot of Contemporary jazz. I moved back from college and needed to decide whether to rent a house or an apartment. I couldn’t have my drums in an apartment, so I went with the house. I started jamming with friends. People that we knew ended up asking us to play at events and One Wish was born.
Q: Why One Wish? Why that name?
A: Our Sax player named the band One Wish. It’s actually the name of a jazz song by Hiroshima.
Q: What do you love the most about Jazz?
A: The free form nature of the music. Jazz is funky, it only takes one note to impress someone. You can change the flavors of jazz in order to change the emotional impact of the song. Jazz music has standards, but, solos make the difference. One of my favorite things about the people of Jazz was their willingness to play together and teach fellow musicians. Jazz players are virtuosos with a strong discipline, but are always willing to teach and allow others to improve their skills. A group of jazz musicians that have never played together, but can play the same song, can come together and put their own spin on those standards to turn them into solos.
Q: What was your most memorable time in the band?
A: Playing with the band and other musicians was always a good time, but some of the most memorable times were opening up for George Benson and The Rippingtons. We also shared the stage with Michael McDonald and Fourplay with Bob James which was very cool.
Q: When did you become interested in acoustic solutions?
A: I needed to find a way to be quiet, to stop people from calling the cops so I started creating variations of the products that we have today at Audimute. These products gave me the clarity of sound and allowed me to perfect my form, ultimately making me a better musician. The products gave me anticipated results that were intentional & consistent.
Q: How is One Wish the band like One Wish the company?
A: An extraordinary focus on the customer and their experience is the underlying commonality between One Wish the band and the company today. A close second would be a work hard/ play hard value and remembering to add an element of FUN in everything you do. "This is life. It's not a dress rehearsal."
Mitch still plays the drums in his free time, but creating sound solutions for his customers is just as satisfying as playing for him. He considers it an art form, a creative process.
Resources: 1 The National Museum of American History. “Jazz Appreciation Month” Retrieved on April 17, 2016. http://americanhistory.si.edu/smithsonian-jazz/jazz-appreciation-month