Jazz Artist Interviews (709)
Get up close and personal with your favorite jazz artists!
The voice pulls you in and awakens a pulsation deep within the vault of yesteryear’s memories. Growling with unclassifiable overtones, this furiously adept diva, Pamela Luss, has a purr to unleash. Savant Records, with their 2008 menu of sounds, again lets a quality entree serve up a classic taste, with this young and insightful songstress. Pamela Luss and her 2008 effort Magnet has climbed further up the professional ladder of signature status. The one thought extracted …
Read more...
Michael Manson, from first-touch, has an uplifting spirituality to his approach, which sensitizes the temperament of the listener. Each melodic tone signifies a gentle calmness, similar to a wave’s final act of existence. This peaceable guitarist is grounded, not only in his craft’s prowess, but his life’s values. Mr. Manson, on all accounts, is that stable force one yearns to embrace. With his 2008 release of Up Front shelved, make no mistake and discard any scattered speculat …
Read more...
If you ever wondered where the name Yellow Jackets originated from, you would have to go back to the year 1977, when Robben Ford assembled a group of veteran session musicians to record his album. The trio of musicians included keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ricky Lawson. Being a mainly instrumental group, Robben Ford’s record label wanted him to record another album that was more pop and vocal-oriented. The group, known as the Robben Ford Group, preferred to p …
Read more...
Who are The Klezmatics? Filmmaker Erik Greenberg Anjou takes audiences into the microcosm of this group in his new documentary film, The Klezmatics: On Sacred Ground, set for a 2009 release. The Klezmatics, whose name is derived from the term "klezmer," which is a traditional style of dance music practiced by a sect of Eastern European Jews that date back to the 15th century, was originally formed in 1986 in New York City’s East Village. The group has undergone many changes in their li …
Read more...
Songwriting is a very personal experience for an artist. Oftentimes, it exposes the artist’s vulnerabilities to everyone in the room during the recording process. How else can a belter like the late Roy Orbison be able to give people chills up and down their spines when they listen to his recording of "Crying," or feel the wounds in country legend Johnny Cash’s voice when he sang, "Ring of Fire?" Stevie Holland’s voice emotes a similar passionate elegance only with female timbres. Luckily for …
Read more...
Take a casual listen to Incognito’s latest CD, Tales from the Beach, and be prepared for a musical excursion that showcases a blend of infectious influences from various exotic cities in the world. On this new CD, Incognito, led by founder and front man Jean Paul "Bluey" Maunick, is keeping the music cohesive as always, with beats steep in jazz that are vibrant by nature and mellow when they want to be. Incognito’s sound is unique, a sound that has set the bar since the late …
Read more...
Vocalist Robin McKelle, who made a splash with her debut CD, is poised to create even bigger waves this year with the release of her much-anticipated sophomore release, Modern Antique. The CD, which comes out in the United States in August, had an early release in France, where it debuted at no less than No. 1 and continues to ride high on the jazz charts with a cool sound that offers a nod to the 1940s while avoiding being sentimental. The singer recently spoke with JazzReview …
Read more...
"A wonderful new talent with deep feeling," said legendary Sheila Jordan, when she heard Roman’s music for the first time, and the famous Tom Waits’ saxophonist Ralph Carney exclaimed, "At last, an original voice!" Roman Matin is a Russian guitarist and composer whose name is just beginning to become famous for the American and European audience. The creator of a truly unique style of playing the guitar, the holder of the original beauty of sound, marked by famous musicians and thousands of l …
Read more...
Like the way the captain of a ship transports passengers from one place to the next, flutist Jamie Baum does the same creating a sonic journey that transports listeners through the multiple frames of her travels. Her melodic doodles and improvisations are made with a purpose in mind, documenting the different ways in which instruments can change in midstream, make contact with each other, blending and entwining. Her latest release Solace from Sunnyside Records delivers her most recent …
Read more...
This is the best of times for jazz musician Ken Peplowski, renowned clarinet and tenor sax player. So good in fact, it was difficult for him to find time to talk by phone in June. Having just returned from playing dates in Italy, he was in the midst of performing in New York’s JVC Jazz Festival, and cutting a CD with the Bill Charlap Trio. "It never rains, but it pours...but it is great to be busy," he says. Indeed, and there is no respite in sight. He will soon be on his way to more festival …
Read more...
Derrick Gardner, jazz trumpeter, composer, educator and arranger has shared his love of music since arriving in New York in 1991, where he worked with some of the top musicians of the world. After five years in the Count Basie Orchestra, plus work with Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Band, Harry Connick Jr.’s Big Band, and The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Gardner formed his own sextet, The Jazz Prophets. Following his highly praised album Slim Goodie, his outstanding …
Read more...
In his Creole tribute to Louis Armstrong, I Love Louis, Gwyn Jay Allen weaves together the lives of the great man himself, taking us on a musical journey from West London to West Africa by way of New Orleans--as this writer discovers the wonderful world of Gwyn Jay Allen, and an album you can’t help but fall in love with. It was not the way any journalist would want to introduce themselves to an artist they’re hoping to interview. A text from my friend, passing …
Read more...
Music often echoes the soul and significance of a man's expedition. Through the notes, they mirror tears that fall from pains of the past, melodies give birth to one’s chronicles, and the arrangement is the evolution of one’s existence. This sole performance, by means of the vision of Jamie Craig, is just that--a retrospect of his life. Titanic eruptions of brilliance galvanized in sensitivity become the defining spin of A Dream Lost. To articulate the impact of Craig’s multi-di …
Read more...
The piano is a extension of Markus Gottschlich’s personality as truly as the trumpet was a conduit for Dizzy Gillespie’s voice, and the guitar is another appendage that Eric Clapton was born with so natural in his hands. Nobody could imagine either Gillespie or Clapton without their instruments, which is something that both men have in common with Gottschlich. The piano became Gottschlich’s voice when he was a little boy and his connection with the piano continues to grow stron …
Read more...
Liane Carroll was the UK's best kept, jazz secret. Not any longer. In a week that saw her win ‘Jazz Musician of the Year’ at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, I met the multi-award winning artist and discovered that lunching with Liane is very much like hearing her play live. One moment you’re laughing along with her, sharing her joy, the next moment you're fighting back tears as she breaks your heart with the sadness of her stories. Liane and I meet in London’s foodie hotspot, Bo …
Read more...
Gail Jhonson is a lady who knows what she likes and how she wants it done. As a solo R&B/funk keyboardist, such abilities have served her well to establish herself as a neo-soul artist and enable her to release her latest CD Pearls, which features collaborations with Marion Meadows, Paul Brown, and Norman Brown. Jhonson has also established herself as the Music Director for Norman Brown’s SummerStorm concert series and for a number of gospel musicals and stage prod …
Read more...
The tectonic plates of the music industry crust shifted when a certain star descended upon jazz’s earthly threshold. The cross-over from pop to jazz brought a new feel to the magnificence of this vocal seductress and songster, escorted by a youthful rule. This voiced architect envisions jazz as her destiny, with its many attitudes and arrangements yet cultivates the genre with her unsullied proficiency. Ladies and gentlemen its time you met... Rosey! From her debut pop jewel-box Dirty …
Read more...
The slide travels in synch with the pulsation of his moods, the valves equally distribute the demeanor of the temperament, and the intellect is the oxygen that gives it life. The romance of this progression is Don Immel’s legacy and with that, he bequeaths an education in brass-coated passion. Trombonist Don Immel is many things; a puzzle with many pieces all contributing to a complete instrumentalist. Some define him as an educator, others key into his musicianship, along with the characteri …
Read more...
For those who may not be aware, Marcus Belgrave is an award winning trumpeter who has played with a who's who of iconic jazz musicians. This summer he and his associates will be performing at the Huntsville Jazz Festival. Joined here for this interview by his long time friend and associate Charlie Gabriel who was born in New Orleans into a family with a musical tradition going back four generations, preceding the founding of jazz! Having toured with the bands of Lionel Hampton, Aretha Franklin's …
Read more...
Jazz guitarist/composer Jeff Barone hits his stride on his second release Open Up, the follow up to his critically acclaimed debut album Crazy Talk. Barone found his voice early on, not as a turquoise gem in a strand of white pearls, but as a link that unifies the strand and aids and abets in making the piece into a harmonious collective. Barone views his role as a guitarist from the standpoint of being every musician’s colleague. Even when it came to recording his solo albums, he …
Read more...
In my exploration for a new artist-entrepreneur, my friend Kari (who is a pundit of independent performer’s) set my course to a unique and vibrant siren that swings with a pioneering eloquence. Adorning a smile that would light up the Broadway skyline and a revolutionary instinct that is tenacious by nature, flutist Ragan Whiteside entered unplugged, into my compilation of uncut diamonds. With ease and assured conviction, I can state Ragan has fashioned a masterful unveiling spin, branded Cla …
Read more...
"To me jazz is like a sponge of culture, you squeeze it out and you get new jazz," singer/songwriter Raya Yarbrough tells me during our recent conversation, "I disagree with people when they say that jazz needs to be preserved and frozen in (time). I think that dead things need to be preserved, and jazz is not dead, it is very alive. Jazz is changing because it is meant to change. People didn’t think that bebop would ever work and it did. Every step of the way, every time that jazz has morphed, …
Read more...
Jack Sheldon, a beacon for some 60 years on the West Coast jazz scene, is having a very good year. At 76, the celebrated trumpet player, vocalist, bandleader and TV personality, is the subject of a new documentary film, while his jazz career continues to accelerate. He was there when the so-called West Coast Jazz, a cooled-down version of hard bop was born. He calls himself a "survivor" from the period. "Only a few of us are left. Bud Shank is another," he says. Jack and alto sax player Shank …
Read more...
On the surface, the electric guitar and God aim to inspire two polarized behaviors from people. The electric guitar is typically idolized for being loud and wild, unlike the soft billowing resonance of the violins which people associate with angels, God’s choir made in the image of himself. But smooth jazz guitarist/arranger/composer Dee Brown shows us that the guitar makes a vital contribution to choirs made in the image of God, and that the electric guitar inspires love equal to that of a …
Read more...
Victor Wooten is a powerhouse jazz bassist out of Nashville Tennessee, who graciously discusses his music, latest recordings, new book and his philosophy and life as a musician. JazzReview: I’ve listen to several of your music recordings and this recording is different Victor Wooten: Yes. JazzReview: Very spiritual, almost mysterious, although I’ve heard the diversity in your music, the funk, jazz, blues, pop, soul, world and gospel music. How did this …
Read more...