Every once in a while, you get the honor of doing a podcast with someone who you know is an important part of history. That's what I got to do today with Abe Jacob. Now, Abe is a sound designer. If you don't know what that is, well, I didn't really know either, but he's actually known as "The Godfather of Sound."

He's had this remarkable life and career starting with his first gig that he did when he's right out of college at 22 years old in that 1966-1967 timeframe. This job ends up being The Beatles' last live concert. Shortly after he gets a job working with a band called The Mamas and the Papas. He tours with them and Peter, Paul and Mary, even winding up at the Capitol during a huge Vietnam protest concert. His list of accomplishments just goes on and on and on, having worked intimately with Jimi Hendrix until his death.

What's so interesting is that Abe works with all of these legends, but he doesn't earn his nickname until he moves to theater. He is critically important to all the major plays of this time, including Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin', and he does A Chorus Line and Chicago at the same time. I mean, he works with legendary choreographer Bob Fosse. He becomes great friends with legendary actress Lauren Bacall. He has had an amazing and very interesting life.

You can see why I'm excited having Abe do my podcast. It's exactly what I'm looking to accomplish. To document these important voices in art and Abe is most definitely an artist. Quite frankly, I would pay to interview Abe. He was that good.

So I hope you enjoy. This is the Godfather of Sound, Abe Jacob, on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 350.

This podcast is a little different because it's actually an artist panel that I recorded at Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week, a show that I was a part of back in March 2025. It was such an important presentation that I thought it needed to be captured and preserved. It's all about contemporary Indigenous art and where it stands today.

The moderator of this panel is David Roche, Executive Director of the Heard Museum, and it features three incredible Native American artists. You have multimedia artist Tony Abeyta (Diné), weaver Melissa Cody (Diné), and finally, Phoenix based muralist Thomas "Breeze" Marcus (O'odham/ Ponca).

I have talked to Abeyta and Breeze on previous podcasts so you can listen to those episodes if you would like to go deeper into their backgrounds and I hope to have Melissa and David on someday as well.

So I hope you like it. I think it's a really important group and something that I'm beyond happy we were able to record and now publish for everybody that loves Indigenous art.

I had Thomas "Breeze" Marcus on the podcast today. He goes by Breeze and in fact, his name is really kind of synonymous to the type of imagery that he does in his fine art paintings.

This guy is just so unique. I had such a fun time with this podcast because it was one of those where it's a full conversation, not just an artist's biography. It made me think about where we're going and about things that I may never have even thought about in regard to art and when that happens I find it extremely enjoyable.

It just scratches that itch, you know? The itch that I get when trying to understand someone as complex as Breeze. From being a graffiti artist and what that entails and where that world catapulted him, to doing murals for big cities and big museums. He did one for Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West that is tremendous. I recommend people go and visit this mural as its an ode to his people (O'odham) but also a tribute to Ed Mell, who he respected and was mentored by.

This podcast that might change the way you look at graffiti art and murals and even Native art as a whole. Breeze is a very unique person, an important artist, and you'll be hearing a lot more about his work in the future.