Meet Jean Preston Rex Marshall | Music Therapist and Audio Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jean Preston Rex Marshall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jean Preston, what role has risk played in your life or career?

Hi! Rex and Jean here from Whisper Party! I think we both try to be calculated risk takers. Rex is a sound engineer and in 2017 he took a risk to go out on his own and established his company Full Circle Sound. Through years of networking, hard work, and long gigs, he has built a very solid reputation for himself and his company. I’m a Music Therapist who began my company Music Heals LLC and have contracted with numerous organizations in the community. We both felt fearful about taking these steps. Will we earn enough on our own? Will we make the right decisions as far as what gigs to take, how much to charge etc? Is this going to set us up for success in the long run, or cause undue financial stress that will eventually lead to our demise?? Okay, that last one was a bit dramatic, but point being, those doubts and fears were very present. However, ultimately we realized that if we didn’t at least try, we may be on our deathbeds saying, “what-if?” and that’s something we just didn’t want for future Jean and Rex.

In general, it’s a good feeling when you pull off a successful gig, or lead a therapeutic group, but when it’s a gig or group that you helped plan, create, and implement, the reward is so much greater! And so, in music we’re learning to take risks too! Whisper Party! was a risk. It was a new genre for us, and had no idea what was to come of it! But now, we can’t imagine our lives without WP! and all the wonderful connections we’ve made.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Whisper Party! is a Dream Rock band. Our music is unique because it blends the dreamy sounds of dream pop into those catchy riffs of rock music, with some very sudden musical movements.  We pay homage to bands like the Cocteau Twins and Blonde Redhead but still put our own contemporary spin on it. We are super excited to release our first album shortly of all original music. However, we’re bucking up against the current music listening expectation and standards and we will  NOT be releasing full songs onto streaming services. If you want to hear the album in entirety, you can purchase a flash drive with the music, lyrics, and custom artwork from local New Orleans artists.  Or you can buy the vinyl. We will only have 30 second previews on the streaming sites. If you want more you have to pay for it. Although we’ve dedicated much energy to WP!, our sound has happened quite organically and with a lot more positive reception than previous projects of ours. We’ve learned to trust our gut and be okay with the fact that not everything will like us, but we hope that some people will LOVE us. We hope for people to know that it’s okay to be true to who you are and use your art to spread your message.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Monday-eat some red beans and rice and find a local jam to jump in on.

Tuesday-get some poboys and visit some of cultural museums (Jazz museum, Back Street, treme walking tour)

Wednesday-Swamp it up and get some dinner at Mittendorf’s, open mic comedy at Carrollton Station and maybe Maple Leaf Bar or Le Bon Temps for their late night bands.

Thursday-Find some dope thai food and check out the quarter before the weekend rush. Beignets  and cafe au laits from Cafe Du Monde are a perfect NOLA experience,
and hit up the St. Claude creative shows (drag, comedy, poetry, etc.)

Friday-City Park or Audubon during the day-picnic under the singing tree or tree of life-night time-check that live wire!

Saturday-sleep in-enjoy some more nature at Jean Lafitte and maybe some BBQ at Blue Oak

Sunday-brunch! Drag brunch or ruby slipper or bear cat, or Camellia Grill uptown. Definitely check out The spotted cat on Frenchman this night for some of the BEST jazz

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

Nope

Just kidding! Yeah of course. Both of our families have also been supportive of our life choices and especially fostered our creativity. Also, shout out to NOLA venues that make an effort to showcase local. original projects as well!

Website: https://whisperpartymusic.com/

Instagram: @whisperpartymusic

Image Credits
Anne Lipscomb JoJo Hennessy