'I'm changed': CBC producer Jeff Reilly speaks on a life in music ahead of retirement

After more than 30 years with CBCproducing more than 6,000 hours of radio programming, JeffReilly says the most important thing helearned during his time with the organization ishow to sit back and let the music speak for itself.

"The CBC isn't just one person it's an idea that we all participate in," Reilly said.

"I had to let go of my own preconceived ideas. I had to get my ego out of the way and commit to the thing, to the idea."

Reilly had his sendoff Saturday during an episode of the East Coast Music Hour a show he's produced since its inception in 2014. Host Bill Roach spoke with the veteran producer about his time at CBC and his plans for the future.

"We've recorded music in all four Atlantic provinces, we've seen live music at festivals and community churches," Roach said. "We've been everywhere."

Standout work and performances

Reilly said a performancethat stood out to himover the eight years was one by Jeremy Dutcher, a Canadian composer and member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick. Dutcher's debut album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, won him the Polaris Music Prize in 2018.

Reilly said Dutcher's performance at CBC's Studio 60 in Halifax was one he had long anticipated.

"It took us almost two years to get him into the studio and by that time he was getting to be pretty famous," he said. "[He] sat down at the piano, started playing the piano, opened his mouth and I said, 'Yes, this is the guy.'"

Reilly said he wasparticularly proud of the workhe produced over the last few years and during the COVID-19 pandemic with The Story and The Song an East Coast Music Hour seriesthat asks some of theregion's brightest musicians to perform a songbased on a single word, like "trust," "lost" or "courage."

The concert series was originally held live and in person, but with gathering limits imposed during the pandemic, Reilly said the performances had to take on a new form.

"We decided that we would do this differently," he said. "We would actually ask people to record their songs in their home or in a studio that they could get into safely. We still did the one word theme, but we commissioned original songs."

Some of those artists and original songs include works inspired by the word "Lost" by Erin Costelo and Alicia Toner, and "Trust" by King Sway and Raymond Sewell.

"During the pandemic, we've gotten at least 40 original songs," said Roach. "How weird has that been, that for the last two years of your tenure here in the CBC Music Department that you've only met these artists over Zoom?"

Reilly replied that working within the constraints presented by the pandemic created a unique space in which the artists and producers he worked with could explore and gave the CBC Music department more flexibility.

"Normally, we bring people here and put them in Studio 60, so we only can do one at a time, right? Well, we had every band member recording in their own homes at once," Reilly said.

"I was getting stuff from all over the place all the time, giving feedback on sessions and so on. I think it paid off in terms of the quality of the output."

Beyond the CBC

Reilly's relationship to music runs deeper than his work with the CBC. He's produced more than 300 concert recordings of classical jazz, contemporary and world music and more than 70 studio sessions.

As a musical artist and bass clarinetist, he's recorded music with national and international labels, performed with choirs, orchestras and chamber groups. He's also received two Juno nominations, four East Coast Music Awardnominations and oneECMAwin.

In his retirement, Reilly said he plans to get back to his own music and help others pursue their musical endeavours.

He'll takelessons learned during his more than three decades at the CBC into the next phase of his life.

"I guess I get to indulgein my own ego and do my own music, butI'm changed, permanently," he said. "I still want to work with other musicians and make other musicians sound good, as opposed to just thinking about myself."