Articles by Wayne Zade

"Thousands of Bouquets": An Interview with Gary Burton on Jazz and Japan

by Wayne Zade
March 28, 2015

This article was originally published at All About Jazz in May 2000 as part of a “Jazz and Japan" interview series. All About Jazz: What do you remember about your first trip to play in Japan? Gary Burton: I was 19 years old, playing with George Shearing. We spent five weeks in Japan playing in about five different cities. I had a lot of days off, so I explored Tokyo, Osaka, etc., and began to learn ...

Christian Jacob: On Respect and Knowledge of Jazz in Japan

by Wayne Zade
July 6, 2011

Christian Jacob was born in Lorraine, France, and began classical piano studies at the age of four. His early musical influences included Debussy and Ravel, as well as Oscar Peterson, whose approaches to improvisation impressed him the most. Having won First Prize in a piano competition at the Paris Conservatory, Jacob studied and then later taught at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Maynard Ferguson played an important role early in Jacob's career, giving the pianist a job in ...

Todd Barkan: Continuation and Augmentation

by Wayne Zade
December 23, 2009

Todd Barkan has been one of the most important and versatile producers of jazz concerts and records around the globe for almost 30 years. The list of artists whose projects he has produced reads like a veritable Who's Who of jazz. Barkan has managed many artists, including the Boys Choir of Harlem, Chico O'Farrill and Freddy Cole, has been working since 2001 as artistic administrator for Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he has been Programming Director of Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola ...

Steve Kuhn: On Japan

by Wayne Zade
August 19, 2009

Steve Kuhn's most recent CD, Mostly Coltrane (ECM, 2009), pays tribute to John Coltrane, having been the first pianist in the legendary saxophonist's quartet. He also has played as a sideman with Kenny Dorham, Art Farmer, Stan Getz and many others. Mostly Kuhn has led his own groups, largely trios with bassists including Buster Williams, Eddie Gomez and David Finck and drummers such as Al Foster and Billy Drummond.

Kuhn has a long association with ECM Records, which also ...

Gene Ess: Sandbox and Sanctum

by Wayne Zade
August 14, 2005

Guitarist Gene Ess came to jazz via country rock and blues clubs frequented by US service personnel in Okinawa, classical music studies at George Mason University, and performance studies at Berklee before he hit the New York scene. Upon arriving there, he established key contacts with Matthew Garrison, son of bassist Jimmy; Rashied Ali, one of John Coltrane's last drummers; and Ravi Coltrane, John's son. Ess's early jazz listening centered around recordings by John Coltrane. As he revealed in a ...

One More: Music of Thad Jones

by Wayne Zade
March 26, 2005

Various Artists One More: Music of Thad Jones IPO Recordings 2005

Great jazz things have been happening at IPO Recordings, and they have been for a while. One More: Music of Thad Jones is the sixth CD from Executive Producer Bill Sorin, and it continues the generous spirit of tribute that has informed each of its predecessors.

Three of the six recordings so far have been among the final recordings of the ...

A Choice of Openness: Michael Pronko on Jazz in Japan

by Wayne Zade
July 3, 2004

AAJ: How would you describe your background in jazz? How did you first get interested in the music?MP: My father loved jazz and had huge numbers of records. We went to every jazz show in Kansas City. He enjoyed going to the record store and filling up a grocery bag with records and bringing them home to listen to one by one. He also loved to play the music loud. As kids, we'd parade around the house with the ...

Real Blues People: Jazz in Japan

by Wayne Zade
March 4, 2004

Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan E. Taylor Atkins Duke University Press 0822327104

A recent issue of Jazz Times is devoted to yet another forum on the hoary conundrum of jazz and race. Whose music is jazz and who plays it authentically, African Americans or Caucasians? In discussions such as this, jazz musicians of other races are usually not considered or held to the test of authenticity in their playing. In the Jazz Times ...

The Energy Is One: An Interview with Hiromi Uehara

by Wayne Zade
October 20, 2003

All About Jazz: Your earliest musical studies were at the Yamaha School of Music. Please describe your experience there. Was this in Tokyo?

Hiromi Uehara: It was in Shizuoka, where my home was. I first attended this school when I was five years old. I also attended a regular elementary school, and I was taking piano lessons with a local teacher. I began to study composition at the Yamaha school. And I continued to study there until the ...

Burnin' at the Bistro: The Jazz Composers Collective

by Wayne Zade
February 12, 2003

In the third week of January, 2003, St. Louis was entering its annual deep cold snap as members of the Jazz Composers Collective landed after 24 total hours of travel from a concert in Milan. Although audiences at Jazz at the Bistro on the second night of the four-night run were small, they came prepared for the heat and light that bassist Ben Allison's band Peace Pipe and pianist Frank Kimbrough's Trio generated.

The JCC, a non-profit, musician-run organization dedicated ...