Jazz Artist Interviews (709)
Get up close and personal with your favorite jazz artists!
"To me, the most amazing thing as a writer is to get a concept in your mind, have it come out through your fingers, find it on the piano, write it down, play it, have someone else hear the melody, and get that same thought and same feeling that I had originally. That is the ultimate reward as a writer," says the personable, upright bassist and composer, Morrie Louden. Louden, who is the proud owner of an almost three hundred-year old Pietro Rogeri upright acoustic bass, describes how songs of …
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Although his composition skills and his ability to master the tenor and soprano saxophones move him to the head of the class, Wayne Escoffery still relishes those opportunities to perform as a sideman with the ensembles of other leading musicians. It would be easy for a man with his stature in jazz music to become caught up with his own significant accomplishments, yet one never gets the impression from talking with Escofferey that he dwells on what has been, but instead, spends more time thinki …
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Classical jazz pianist Enrico Pieranunzi has played on 61 albums. His recording history includes solo albums, as well as collaborations with other recording artists like André Ceccarelli, Paul Motian, and Chet Baker. His reaction to this historic achievement is sheer astonishment. "It’s simply wonderful," he elates, "sort of a dream for me. When I was a child or in my teens, I was very much focused on listening to the music and on practicing it. I couldn't imagine what is happening now, …
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The church and music have always gone hand-in-hand. It is the place where artists like modern rock’s Bono of U2 and R&B/jazz savant Lizz Wright began by singing in the choir, pop music’s Whitney Houston and hip hop’s Kanye West first touched audiences, and country music’s Dolly Parton and bluegrass’ Alison Krauss were first embraced. The church and music have a great deal in common. They both encourage communal gatherings and participation, and they also both transcend any delineations th …
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Recently, I had an opportunity to speak on the phone with jazz vocalist Kurt Elling while he was in the midst of a tour. When one reads an interview with Elling, it would be easy to misconstrue his candor as bordering on pompous, because the reader does not have the advantage of listening to the inflection of his voice, as he weighs his words carefully while answering a question. Elling is a man who cares deeply about his craft and despite a Grammy Award nomination and being acknowledged as one …
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The first impression you may have of Marcus Horatio Mitchell is that he is a handsome, young man with dreamy, brown eyes, a happy-go-lucky disposition, and a sunny smile that could melt the Arctic glaciers, but this handsome 24-year old has more than just good looks to his credit. He has the music chops and astute business sense of an artist who can give smooth jazz, and the burgeoning urban jazz market, the lift to bring it notoriety in the way that Smokey Robinson gave to Quiet Storm. …
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In February, Spyro Gyra was nominated for their ninth Grammy award in the best pop instrumental album category for Wrapped in a Dream. However, even though four of the five nominees were smooth jazz artists, the award was given out to rocker Peter Frampton's instrumental album Fingertips. Jay Beckenstein, leader and sax man of the group, says, The Grammys have always had a hard time figuring out the categories of jazz, quite frankly. There's plenty of Grammy attention paid to m …
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"It comes back to that same thing; if I want to move you as a listener then it (the song) has to move me as a singer. Sometimes it is about the lyric and sometimes it is the melody or the arrangement," says jazz vocalist Rosie Carlino. Carlino confesses to be a romantic and being passionate about love songs, "It can be painful or happy love songs. I am an old-fashioned girl and I love the old-fashioned sentiment. I like the old songs like "I Won’t Dance" (when it says) "Music leads …
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As the U.S. Congress talks about immigration reform, we remember that the United States is a country of immigrants. The group Hiroshima helps to show how diversity is the backbone of the country. When Japanese Americans, Dan and June Kuramoto, formed the group in East Los Angeles, they wanted to bring in other cultures to the mix, including Asian, Latin and African American, and others. By doing that, the group has helped to establish a style all their own. Their newest CD Little Tokyo …
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Percussionist Jim Brock needs no introduction to those in the music industry. He has during his career played live with and recorded on the projects of such esteemed artists as Brandford Marsalis, Victor Wooten, Delbert McClinton, Arturo Sanoval, Hootie and the Blowfish, Kathy Mattea and John Melencamp. He has, however, remained one of those artists who is untarnished from the lure of developing an insensitive ego and he has not become jaded by a music industry, …
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Composer, arranger and trumpeter Lin Rountree is about to release Sumthin’ Good, his latest album produced by him and his long-time friend Billy Meadows. Rountree gushes with pride when he talks about the album telling that it was made to offer something good to audiences. "I want them to really enjoy the music. I want them to feel the groove in the songs and just experience the good sound of ORIGINAL music. Nothing wrong with cover tunes but too many artists today are u …
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"San Francisco has always been a melting pot for great music. A lot of the reason is it is also a melting pot for culture. We have people of all origins, colors and flavors. You have to be pretty open-minded to live here, and it definitely reflects in the music," says Greg Sankovich the keyboardist for the San Franciscan jazz/funk quartet Times 4. "Compared to other places, there is definitely a lot more groove happening here. Whether it is Mariachi music, soul or jam down music, the va …
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He still hasn’t reached his fortieth birthday, but blues guitarist, singer/songwriter David Gogo has twice been named Maple Blues Guitarist of the Year in his native Canada. This spring his current album Acoustic: Official Bootleg Series- Volume 2 was nominated for a Juno Award, the nation’s equivalent of a Grammy. In 2004, the blues man was named as the recipient of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s, Great Canadian Blues Award for his lifetime contribution to blues music i …
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Musicians who immigrate to the United States come with not only their instruments, but also a firm hold on their distinct heritage. Some of these émigré immix swatches of their native music with jazz and weave a multi-textured body of work. Pianist Gilad Barkan, who’s lived in this country since he was fifteen and presently resides in Boston, MA, was born in England and raised in Israel. His Live Sessions (New Step Music), a two-disc release, gives him the opportunity to point his co …
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Jay Soto is rapidly becoming one of the hottest smooth jazz guitarists in America. His sophomore album, Stay Awhile, fulfills all the promise of his debut CD Long Time Coming. The talented guitar maestro, who in 2004 was one of six finalists in a national guitar competition, is riding the recent success of his single "Slammin’," which during the first week of May, took the top spot on the smoothjazz.com most added list, and held the number two spot for most added on the prestigi …
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John Abercrombie has created one of the more elegant jazz guitar albums that you will hear. He refers to his new CD, The Third Quartet, as chamber jazz that incorporates the violin, guitar and drums. For the most part, The Third Quartet represents a departure in musical style from some of Abercrombie’s more recent projects such as Cat ‘N’ Mouse (2002), Class Trip (2004) and Open Land (1999) which made liberal use of improvisation and less structur …
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Let me be perhaps the first to introduce you to Matt Dusk. Matt Dusk is Canadian. Matt Dusk is adorable. Matt Dusk is, to sum it up, a gracious, thoughtful, fun, mature singer with a reality about the music business that seems to be innate. And he is all this at the remarkably young age of 28. I assumed that Matt was a product of a musical family because his intrinsic ability to make decades old songs sound like I was hearing them for the first time. But I wa …
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More than any other song on Will Call, the title of the song, "Whatcha See is Whatcha Get," defines the personality of jazz saxophonist Will Donato. There is a lot about this CD that gives the listener insight to this gifted, smooth jazz musician, take for instance the back cover of the CD where the beautiful woman whom he is leaning into is his wife Diana. His conversation is peppered with glowing references to his wife and daughter. You get an opportunity in this business to …
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Jack Prybylski (pronounced purr-bill-ski) began playing the saxophone in elementary school and just never stopped. All through school and college, making music played a significant role in his life. Encouraged by his parents and teachers, he became a dedicated student and pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music education and music performance at the State University of New York in Buffalo where he graduated. He spent the ‘90s as a saxophonist in the jazz jamband ThemJazzbeards and played …
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When you talk to blues guitarist, songwriter and singer Bob Margolin, you get the sense this is a man who deeply cares about family, friends, those he meets and animals. Those who know him use words like, "He is a very nice man," to describe him. It is perhaps those sensitivities that have infused the sensibilities that he brings to his music, and have made him a highly regarded musician and songwriter. He has shared the stage with music legends such as, Muddy Waters, "Pinetop" Perkins, The B …
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Bassist and composer Stanley Clarke, like his good friend Chick Corea with whom he has been touring this summer as part of the quartet Return Forever, has long been considered a musical genius and innovator in the world of music. Prior to embarking on this summer’s tour, which also includes Lenny White and Al Di Meola, Clarke took time to speak to Jazz Review about his current album The Toys Of Men, the changing landscape of the music industry, the Stanley Clarke Scholarship Fund and pr …
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This morning I was listening to a sportscaster on the radio describe a team that had been on a tear recently and he said, "They are not hot, they are very good." The same words can be used to describe guitarist Stew Cutler who is a very good, and we might even say, exceptional guitarist from New York City. In early April, Cutler took a few minutes to speak with me about his CD trio live recorded in live segments from the cities of Erie, Pennsylvania and Syracuse and R …
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This is a true story of two people who came together due to the love of Dixieland music. Walter Sereth is a person who enjoys Dixieland music. He says, I lived next door to Alan Crowne and his brothers when I was 12 and some years later, got into play Dixieland. I never, except in the Army, played professionally. Mary Ann Stevens played violin and had an interest in fiddle music when she was going to college in Oklahoma. She says, I learned some fiddle tunes in college and then I came …
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Saxman Jackiem Joyner has moved from being a sideman to center stage. He says, "As a musician, you always start off as a sideman. I've been on the road with Ronnie Laws and he influenced me. I think his jazz chops are really great. I picked up a few licks here and there from him, and I also liked the way he performed. He had a really great performance. The first smooth jazz artist I went on the road with was actually Marcus Johnson. That's where I kind of got the idea of how this smooth jazz con …
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Jimmy Reed, the bluesman who wrote "Honest I Do," and "Boy, What You Want Me To Do?" later covered by Elvis, taught Michael Powers the barre chording technique on a guitar. He grew up listening to Vanilla Fudge rehearse in his neighborhood and when he was a boy, his grandmother hauled his butt into the living room to watch the Rolling Stones perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. One might say Michael Powers was destined to become the powerhouse blues guitarist, singer and songwriter that he has be …
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