Jazz Artist Interviews (709)
Get up close and personal with your favorite jazz artists!
Pushing ‘PLAY’ on the CD player transports the listener immediately to Copacabana Beach, conjuring up images of sipping a caipirinha in Brazilian paradise. It is really no accident that Anne Walsh invokes such visions of a tropical paradise. She’s had a sort of infatuation with the world of Latin rhythms "since I was a little girl going to a friend’s house and listening to the music," Walsh recalls. "The language itself is infectious," she says. "(The rest is) listening to the music and …
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It’s Monday June 1, 2009 at approximately 6:14 pm and Derrick Gardner, the proverbial titan of hard-bop, is on a journey. After visiting his mother Dr. Effie Gardner (classically trained pianist) and a week long stint (gigging) in New York City, he is traveling across country to do what he does best playing JAZZ! Gardner, at full speed, has hit the road literally traveling almost nonstop for the past couple of weeks to promote his latest work, Echoes of Ethnicity. Gardner rec …
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Bernie Williams bounds across the floor with a major league swagger. He is on the road again, only this time he’s armed with a jazz guitar instead of his trusted Gold Glove that made him one of baseball’s top defensive players four years in a row. Yes, the six-time All-Star Centerfielder for the New York Yankees is on another winning streak, scoring points first with Craig Ferguson during a television taping in Los Angeles, then lighting up the crowd in Sacramento, where his new musical relea …
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People generally have a preconceived idea about how classic jazz music should sound, relying on reference points like the soft timbres of Peggy Lee, the swift scat shuffles of Ella Fitzgerald, or the refined grooves of Duke Ellington, but singer/pianist/composer Daniela Schächter plays classic jazz without adhering to anyone else’s rules but her own. Schächter personalizes jazz music to fit her own voicing and make-up. She admits, "I wasn’t concerned" about making music that appea …
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Even though flautist Alexander Zonjic lives across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario and is a Canadian by citizenship, he has considered Detroit his second home for about 30 years. He is the morning host on Detroit's smooth jazz radio station WVMV, owns a jazz supper club called Seldom Blues in downtown Detroit, promotes five to six major festivals throughout the metro Detroit area and has a successful career as a musician. Although he has been the host of the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards sin …
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It’s common for aspiring artists to hear that they could be an international star from agents and people in the press, but in the case of singer/ guitarist/ arranger/ teacher Martha J, those folks are not just weaving tall-tales. Martha J has the goods and the chops to become much more than a local attraction in her native land of Milan, Italy. The lass has a set of pipes that can appeal to the denizens of Australia’s outback just as assuredly as she can reel in crowds for a conce …
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Composer/keyboardist/saxophonist/singer/producer Jason Peterson ("JP") DeLaire comes from a very musical family whose roots are firmly planted in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His family is to Minneapolis-soul what the Rockefeller’s are to the financial world, the Barrymore’s to the acting world, and the Kennedy’s to the world of politics. His uncle, Paul Peterson, was a member of the dance-funk group, The Time and played in Prince’s 1985 movie, Purple Rain. DeLaire shares about h …
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Jazz music is like catnip to Irene Atman, when she rubs her vocals all around its creamy lathers and emits sensual purrs as if the music is an aphrodisiac that she cannot resist. Jazz calls to Atman like bees swarm to honey, barnacles attach to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, or lightning strikes are drawn to metal. She admits that her attraction to jazz music stems from, "The rhythm, the harmonics and the freedom to make up your own ideas ..and playing with people doing the same thing. …
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Bassist, composer, producer, arranger, and bandleader Jon Burr has learned to not only be an astute musician, but also to be an astute diplomat when it comes to dealing with other musicians, and bringing out the best from them. His latest release is a CD/DVD set entitled Just Can’t Wait that features live footage of him on the upright bass, performing with his band for a special show at the Birdland in New York City. Accompanying Burr on the recording are vocalists Hilary K …
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Forget what you heard, Wynton Marsalis is still one of the widely accomplished jazz musicians of our day and the hottest ticket in the game. With a busy schedule recording CDs, playing at jazz venues both here and abroad and serving as a musical director at the Lincoln Center and not to mention playing Daddy to three boys, Wynton still finds time for his fans. The musician showed how grateful he was to his fans when he turned his Facebook page into a Q and A forum so that his fans could ge …
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Creative, distinctive, self-assured and trendsetting are just a few of the adjectives attributed to one of the most fascinating individuals in jazz, Hammond B3 legend John Novello. JAZZREVIEW: I would like to talk a bit about your most recent release B3 Soul. This is a different sound. What inspired you to create the soul jazz sound? JOHN NOVELLO: It wasn’t something that I premeditated. It’s simply the sound I hear inside my head and I guess it was time for …
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The third solo release from singer-songwriter Rondi Charleston was a challenge to make as well as a celebration of her life. She entreats audiences with a CD/DVD set entitled In My Life, produced by Suzi Reynolds and featuring a number of jazz standards, classic pop tunes, and two original tracks, "Ancient Steps" and "Telescope," both inspired by her daughter, Emma who sings background vocals on "Telescope." The bonus DVD contains footage taken from her show, "Live at Lincoln Center Prese …
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Milwaukee born and New York City-based singer, Andrew Suvalsky has a voice that strums pizzazz in his scat-streaks and chic-bluesy intonations in his crooning. His vocals caress the follicles of the tympanic membrane with the buffed shimmies of Ella Fitzgerald, the crisp indentations of Mel Torme, and the debonair flare of Dean Martin. His latest release, A World That Swings from LML Music Label, takes audiences on an adventure through the realm of old-fashioned swing with a number of …
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Grammy winner Eric Revis knows what he desires and how he prefers it done. As a bass instrumentalist and composer, such power have assisted him fully to establish himself as a high skilled musician and enable him to release his latest CD Laughters Necklace of Tears, which features collaborations with Orrin Evans, Gerald Cleaver, John Ellis, Stacy Dillard and Oz Noy. He remarks that jazz found him when he started off playing electric bass in funk …
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Melody Gardot likes nice shoes. The well-traveled jazz singer has on occasion traded in a pair while visiting a new city. "I’ll let go of whatever shoes I’m wearing and I’ll buy a new pair," she says. "It’s almost as if to transfer my journey." Gardot’s travels continue with the April release of My One And Only Thrill, the follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Worrisome Heart. The new CD further makes the case that Gardot is one of the freshest faces in music. Her arse …
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The life of jazz vocalist Meryl Romer would inspire the staunchest pessimist to believe that dreams are possible. Albeit, they manifest at their own pace, but they know intuitively when to come to fruition. All their maker needs to do is simply have the guts to believe in them. Meryl Romer is proof that not everything has to be accomplished by the time one turns 20 years olds, like releasing her debut recording So Sure and becoming a world famous singer. Romer’s journey begins i …
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The first thing you need to know about Steve Haines is that the man knows how to swing. Both in his writing and his playing, the bassist and bandleader is a hurricane of forward motion, pushing his band into upper atmosphere, and lucky for us all, they deliver. On his new disc Stickadiboom, Haines’ working combo is joined by living legend Jimmy Cobb on drums, he of the long tenure with Miles Davis, and the sole surviving musician who played on Kind of Blue. Rob Smith plays trumpet …
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Keyboardist Joe Sample and singer Randy Crawford have been together for a long time. Sample worked on Crawford's debut album Everything Must Change back in 1976 and Crawford helped The Crusaders, to which Sample was a member, create a smooth jazz classic with her treatment of the title track of their 1979 albumStreet Life. She says, Joe Sample is a wonderful musician and a wonderful person. I kind of wanted to work with him before I ever met him because I was familiar with their …
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The diversity of the artists mind, multifarious at times, offers such an intricate story to unfold in totality, often causing great intrigue. One constant exists though in is this brief yet profound statement it always is "subject to change." In speaking with guitarist/composer/educator Bill Hart, I found a sturdy foundation with cemented principles, driven frequently by his deep passions. Strings often take the form of a gentle instrument of sound, with diverse languages and moods. Mr. Hart …
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A lot of musicians make a record to show off their skill, promote themselves, make a pile of dough. While promotion and profit probably were not completely out of mind when vocalist Tierney Sutton cut her latest disc, Desire, her mode of operation resulted in something more. As with their previous album, 2007’s On the Other Side, the Tierney Sutton Band brought to Burbank’s NRG Studios their sterling chops, a carefully selected set culled from the Great American Songbook, and an …
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Aspiring artists can take music lessons and they can learn from other musicians, but nothing can prepare them to be live performers, which is what makes saxophonist Seamus Blake special. Normally, musicians build their reputations based on their recorded works, but Blake’s reputation is solidly built on his live performances, which captured the attention of John Scofield early in Blake’s pursuit of becoming a professional saxophone player. Blake recounts, "I met John Scofield when he …
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There is only one avenue that someone with jazz singer Marge Notte’s natural born gifts can pursue. With a face that radiates warmth as brightly as actress Marisa Tomei and a register that permeates of passion in every cell so emblematic of Eydie Gorme, Margie Notte has no choice but to seek a life in show biz. Her debut album, Just You, Just Me & Friends was recorded live in April 2008 at Cecil’s, the jazz club owned by drummer Cecil Brooks III that is located in West Orange, New …
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At a young age, David Boswell saw the potential that the guitar has to act as a tool to channel his thoughts and moods into melodic patterns and sonic forms. Effortlessly, his energy impacted the tides that moved around him, and affected people in ways that other artists music had affected him as a youth. He discloses, "I got into the Beatles and Johnny Cash at the age of 8, and it was at that time that I knew I wanted to be a guitar player. When I was 12 or 13 and started playing with other …
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Kenny G is an artist of international acclaim. He was the one who helped bring the smooth jazz format for radio into the forefront with his first smash hit Songbird. That came from his 1986 CD Duotones, which brought three other songs that established him as the genre's favorite and the way for other people to get to know the music. He continued to record fresh music for the next 12 years, with one holiday album recorded in 1994. In 1999, Kenny G recorded Classics in the Key …
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In the deepest of canals within the undercrust of music’s landscape, global lore is unearthed with the romantic direction of the conductor’s notes and imagination. Whether it’s the memories of past influences, or the fantasies one lives as a child, the stories of our youth address one's most cherished experiences. Composer Al Conti took his experiences in time and expressed them within music sheets. Sounds which mirror the fantasy of the tales unearthed by the Middle Eastern storyteller and t …
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